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Pre-built vs Custom

deathsneeze
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Hello there. I'm extremely new to pc building and tech in general. I've been thinking about building a pc to replace my aging laptop, but wanted to get peoples opinions on whether it's worth the hassle, or if newcomers should just buy pre-built. Looking for honest opinions. 

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Always build. It's not hard, it's cheaper and it's a lot of fun 

I spent $2500 on building my PC and all i do with it is play no games atm & watch anime at 1080p(finally) watch YT and write essays...  nothing, it just sits there collecting dust...

Builds:

The Toaster Project! Northern Bee!

 

The original LAN PC build log! (Old, dead and replaced by The Toaster Project & 5.0)

Spoiler

"Here is some advice that might have gotten lost somewhere along the way in your life. 

 

#1. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

#2. It's best to keep your mouth shut; and appear to be stupid, rather than open it and remove all doubt.

#3. There is nothing "wrong" with being wrong. Learning from a mistake can be more valuable than not making one in the first place.

 

Follow these simple rules in life, and I promise you, things magically get easier. " - MageTank 31-10-2016

 

 

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depends on what you're doing with it. For example, just paperwork, then might as well buy a prebuilt and spend your time on something productive.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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Prebuilt is an issue if you decide to upgrade piece by piece and you're stuck with proprietary stuff

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 11 and Fedora Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

PSU tier list

How many watts do I need?

PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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Personally, I'd recommend going for custom, there's plenty of build guides out there to help you along and it's not that hard (just watch a lot of guides before getting into it)
If you know anyone that knows a thing or two about building computers, try asking them to help you assemble it. 
If you don't have anyone locally, you could always livestream yourself building it to a friend online, so that they can help you out remotely by giving pointers on what you are doing right/wrong.

 

 

But, if you just don't want to risk it. Get a cheap refurb on Newegg, for the price, they easily beat whatever PC you could build.
Like this cheap Acer computer with an i7 7700 in it for 475$.
The CPU alone was worth over $300 on release.
You'd be hard pressed building a PC with better specs for the price and you could always just buy a new PSU if you're afraid of the lower quality one they put in there/if you want to add a graphic card.

There is a stigma around refurb computers, but they are fully inspected, tested/certified as working and got a warranty in case anything doesn't work. (I've bought three so far on Newegg, all worked just fine)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3700x / GPU: Asus Radeon RX 6750XT OC 12GB / RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16GB DDR4-3200
MOBO: MSI B450m Gaming Plus / NVME: Corsair MP510 240GB / Case: TT Core v21 / PSU: Seasonic 750W / OS: Bazzite

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If it's super low budget, prebuilt. If there is a decent budget, custom 100%

 

Once you build your first PC, you'll never want to go prebuilt again. Honestly, the only prebuilt I'd touch these days is a laptop for obvious reasons.

 

 

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