How Worth It Is It to Build Your Own PC?

[DWait]

Hey everyone, as of the past few months I have been considering building my own PC and I have saved up money in order to do so. If all the stars align, I should get my new PC in about one week. The question is, should I build it myself or buy it form a reputable service such as CyberpowerPC or similar? I've asked around about the different builds I should go with and I am down to a prebuilt and a DIY. I am not at all experienced in troubleshooting possible PC issues. I am pretty new to the PC space as well, only having been a viewer of LTT for about 2 1/2 to 3 months. Should I go with a prebuilt for the basic fact that it has a warranty service on the ENTIRE pc itself and if anything goes wrong I have someone to call? Or should I build it on my own despite my lack of knowledge in the space if anything goes wrong? I mean, I'd like to build it on my own but possible issues I cannot possibly know how to fix could arise. Any insight? Thanks, guys.  

[Canada EH]

Just buy a prebuilt, much easier!

[GoldenLag]

Prebuilds are at this time either identical value or cheaper due to the included win 10 OS. Unless you are really into it, at this point in time it isnt stupid to buy a prebuilt. 

 

Building a PC is quite simple, qlmost like Lego. Just dont accidentally bend on frontpanel connectors like i did >_>

(USB 3.0 stilld does charging for some reason)

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

Build it on your own!

- learn something new

- have an easier time troubleshooting in the future

- it's fun

- tons of videos out there on how to do it

- don't be scared

 

Hint:

Show the build you picked of here in the forum before buying anything :-)

Since you are "new to the PC space" chances are there might be some f**up going on that can easily be avoided by the LTT hive mind.

[Herman Mcpootis]

a prebuilt is more convenient but a PC gives you more flexibility in parts choices and might be cheaper.

[DWait]

2 minutes ago, ItsTheDuckAgain said:

Build it on your own!

- learn something new

- have an easier time troubleshooting in the future

- it's fun

- tons of videos out there on how to do it

- don't be scared

 

Hint:

Show the build you picked of here in the forum before buying anything :-)

Since you are "new to the PC space" chances are there might be some f**up going on that can easily be avoided by the LTT hive mind.

Greatly appreciate your input on both of my posts. I am leaning towards the DIY build as of right now. Again, thanks so much.

[seon123]

Definitely build it yourself. 

You get to choose the parts, and know that the PC isn't built using crappy components. E.g. you don't end up with a crappy motherboard that'll die in 2 years, a crappy PSU that'll kill everything in 2 years, a crappy SSD that'll lose all your data in 2 years etc. 

You generally get better value. An equivalently priced prebuilt will (in the best case) perform the same in games, but will use crappy components and have little/no upgrade path. Otherwise, it'll perform worse, use crappy components and have little/no upgrade path. 

Then there's the satisfaction, and learning where the things plug in and stuffs. If you get any issues, you have the forum. 

[Ordinarily_Greater]

if you are a bike enthusiast and you do custom bike builds, then pc building is gonna be similar. if you are not sure which way to go the community of PC building is widely spread around the world from reddit, youtube, to the forums 

[LogicalDrm]

I would say look at prices first. Something from CyberPowerPC and likes could do, but do some research on them. What parts they have, what case, PSU etc. If your area has smaller computer shop which does customer builds, that would be best. You can get still good price and full warranty while having bit more input on parts. In all, think about how long you are going to use that PC, The second main reason (besides price/performance ratio) why custom builds are often more recommended is ease of upgrades. You already have good case, PSU and mobo to get better cooler, CPU, GPU and so on. Not have to worry about random PSU or propitiatory mobo or tiny and stuffy case.

[MaxBunny]

54 minutes ago, DWait said:

The question is, should I build it myself or buy it form a reputable service such as CyberpowerPC or similar?

I watched them build pcs on their twitch channel. They don't treat it with respect or as an art. Things get banged. I even won some prize from them but they never delivered on that.

 

If you do get a prebuilt one I'd recommend from just about any other company (ibuypower, dell/alienware, originpc, digital storm, etc. etc.).

 

Building it yourself is a fun learning experience too. It's just a bit more expensive these days than it used to be when we did it because equivalent prebuilts were $1000+ more. Now that the gap has closed dramatically it's less enticing on the wallet-side. It's best to know how and get someone else to do the labor + warranty it, unless you're trying to make your own thing as an art/achievement or have very specific desires.

[Greys0n]

If you're asking this question, you're not ready to build a PC yet. Do some research. Anyway why most PC gamers choose to build their own PC is because.
1) Selection of parts - more selection, choose what you want to go with your build.
2) You don't get ripped off *cough cough* Alienware *cough cough*
3) You save a bit of money.
4) It's fun.

[DWait]

41 minutes ago, Greys0n said:

If you're asking this question, you're not ready to build a PC yet. Do some research. Anyway why most PC gamers choose to build their own PC is because.
1) Selection of parts - more selection, choose what you want to go with your build.
2) You don't get ripped off *cough cough* Alienware *cough cough*
3) You save a bit of money.
4) It's fun.

Yeah. I understand. The difficulty, of course, doesn't come from the building aspect as much as the troubleshooting since I don't want anything to go wrong in my hands. I guess a way to learn is by simply doing it. However, I still need to weigh both options. Thanks for the input.

[fringie]

Building it yourself holds tonnes of benefits previously mentioned in this thread but one thing I think people forget is convenience with prebuilts. You just buy it and it's done. It doesn't work, take it back to the store for them to deal with. That being said if you're a diehard nerd like me you want your problems fixed asap so you get minimal downtime but that has meant many hours spent trying to fix problems and in some cases, never really fixing them either (i.e. defective usb case hub or motherboard in my earlier version of my pc, despite replacing the hub it never worked).