Pre-built vs Custom/Barebones PC

[greenhunt2003]

Guys, just out of curiosity, do you think prebuilt pcs or custom pcs are better? Post your opinions here.

[rapidkillerx]

custom. ps, everyone here in this forum is gonna say that

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Guys, just out of curiosity, do you think prebuilt pcs or custom pcs are better? Post your opinions here.

I've gone both ways (wait...that sounds worse than it is)

Currently my system is a Dell Precision T5610 dual CPU Xeon workstation, and that's just fine for me. Prior to that I always built my own systems with little or no issues, but the T5610 came along at a nice price so a switched.

 

As long as you don't scum out on parts in self built, or cheap out on pre-builts, both have their advantages and drawbacks.

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, rapidkillerx said:

custom. ps, everyone here in this forum is gonna say that

Not everyone...I am using several pre-builts and they are just fine

[greenhunt2003]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

As long as you don't scum out on parts in self built, or cheap out on pre-builts, both have their advantages and drawbacks.

Prebuilts come with warranties but custom built pcs don't. Therefore, if you don't know how to build or fix your own PC, consider going for a Prebuilt.

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, greenhunt2003 said:

custom built pcs don't.

More or less accurate, the individual parts do, but on-site service and/or warranty doesn't, in that you are correct

[greenhunt2003]

7 minutes ago, rapidkillerx said:

custom. ps, everyone here in this forum is gonna say that

I assume you are saying that everyone here are good at building their own PCs with individual parts. Think again. Think about newbies as well.

[gloop]

Customs always. The only times I’d recommend going for prebiotic is for workstations which have xeon’s/epycs. 
 

Customs will already have better quality. 

[gloop]

2 minutes ago, greenhunt2003 said:

I assume you are saying that everyone here are good at building their own PCs with individual parts. Think again. Think about newbies as well.

What does everyone on this forum gave in common? We were all newbies once. We made the choice to build our own, and I think that 99% of people would say they made the right choice. 

[TVwazhere]

3 minutes ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Think about newbies as well.

Every Build Post in my signature (Except for Project ITNOS) as well as others I've not posted were builds that I helped friends complete for their first times. 

 

Anyone can do it. Newbies or Pro. And sites like this can often help newcomers gain the knowledge they need to pick out and build it themselves.

[Drama Lama]

There are good prebuilts if you are on a budget it’s often a good idea to equip your old prebuilt with an gpu

but most of the time i consider diy as better 

[Boomwebsearch]

13 minutes ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Prebuilts come with warranties but custom built pcs don't. Therefore, if you don't know how to build or fix your own PC, consider going for a Prebuilt.

Swapping in and out components and/or building a desktop computer is quite easy and even if you don't know how to yet, there are plenty of free resources available on the internet to learn from. The components of your system will come with their own warranty if you ever need it. I used to think that it was always just better to buy a cheap/used prebuilt and upgrade the components, although I have learned the hard way that some components may not work well together in a pre-built system and it's mainly to do with non-standard BIOS/motherboard implementations and the manufacturer only planning the computer to work with certain components that they plan to ship the system with.

 

[greenhunt2003]

Prebuilts and custom built PCs are both upgradable.......... if you learn and find out how to do it. When upgrading internals such as RAM and hard drive, you learn how components are put into the PC/motherboard.

[gloop]

1 minute ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Prebuilts and custom built PCs are both upgradable.......... if you learn and find out how to do it. When upgrading internals such as RAM and hard drive, you learn how components are put into the PC/motherboard.

Yet most prebuilts (apart from premium ones) have budget motherboards for powerful CPUs and some of the absolute shit psus you have ever seen. 

[Nena Trinity]

Pre-built is fine if its using standard parts

[greenhunt2003]

Just now, gloop said:

Yet most prebuilts (apart from premium ones) have budget motherboards for powerful CPUs and some of the absolute shit psus you have ever seen. 

That, I can agree with. CPUs are overclockable but motherboards in prebuilts don't let you overclock it. Ngl motherboards and PSUs in prebuilts are not that decent.

[Dravinian]

17 minutes ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Prebuilts come with warranties but custom built pcs don't. Therefore, if you don't know how to build or fix your own PC, consider going for a Prebuilt.

I am not entirely sure I understand there difference being applied in this thread.

 

To me:

 

Pre-Built = usually named PC (like Raptor etc.) with parts and case, already built, gets sent in 24 hours probably got a few sat on a shelf.

Custom Build = you can select from a variety of parts, mix n match what you want, in the case that you want and it usually takes a couple of weeks to build it and ship it.

 

Both come with exactly the same warranties in the UK. I can't speak to other places, but I do not see why they wouldn't come with the same warranties. Parts, Labour etc.

[Dravinian]

For me, I would never recommend buying, nor ever buy a pre-built as defined above.

 

Custom builds, where you pick the parts and someone puts them together for you, for me, that is the only way to build a high-end machine.  Having someone else build it, in terms of time and insurance on breakage is worth more, imo, than the saving of building it yourself.

 

If you are building a low-end machine, then I think building it yourself is the best option, because even in the worst case scenario, you are not spending $800-$1,000 dollars to replace a single part that you broke.

 

That is my line of thinking: Pre-built - never a good idea, Custom built - good if high-end, DIY - fine for low-end machines.

[LogicalDrm]

14 hours ago, gloop said:

Customs will already have better quality. 

This claim has very little backing. Quality is relative after all. It depends if builder knows what they pick, and how to use them. And even then there's always risk of DOA parts. Pre-builds are tested before being sold. And come with warranty as whole, like said. Since most are purpose-built, arguments about their quality for the purpose could be made as well. You should think pre-build like a laptop. Are laptops automatically bad because you aren't one in charge?

 

I would point out that there are two types of pre-builds. Ones coming from the giants, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus; and even the smaller, iBUYPOWER, Origin, Maingear, maybe even Puget. But also those where you can pick everything and someone else does it for you. NZXT BLD could be seen like this, but I mainly mean service from Newegg or MemoryExpress and likes. My first two PCs are the latter. Much better upgradability than with that HP my dad had. Or those SFFs I disassembled during one summer job.

 

I would say each have their spot and it's pretty much same pointless debate like pc vs console, android vs ios, microsft vs apple, air vs aio vs water.

[greenhunt2003]

1 hour ago, LogicalDrm said:

Are laptops automatically bad because you aren't one in charge?

To add to that point, you can't build your own laptop because mobile components are not affordable and they cannot be bought individually. Also, most components of the laptop are soldered to the motherboard, although some laptops have socketed CPUs and SODIMM slots as well. But hey, you don't need to waste your time putting the components in - the manufacturers will waste their time for you.

 

 

Custom PCs and prebuilt PCs are just built the same way, with the same components and stuff that a computer needs. The difference is that who will build it.

[PeachGr]

I ordered a PC with the parts that I wanted it to have. To be honest I could build it myself, and if all gone well, save 100€. But we don't have any big shop with all parts to where I live, so I ve had to order, and that takes time and money, and if something gone bad I d still have to reorder. The company that made mine, tested it and gave me a guarantee, shops here many times scam by selling refurbished or used as new and it's a hell to return them. Anyway it is different from region to region.

[D13H4RD]

The problem with a lot of prebuilts is that while a lot of them have good specs on paper, they tend to pair them up with questionable component choices such as low-tier boards, unfavorable power supplies and even a case that might not be great for airflow.

 

Some SIs do a much better job in that regard, but the general rule to go custom mainly stems from how you are free to mix and match components based on your needs.

[Spindel]

What is your time worth?

 

For your home PC, if building it is a hobby (enjoyable project) I won't argue that you should't do it by yourself. 

 

If it is a computer for your work you should go pre-built.

Not only you save time by not having to assemble (given it is much easier now compared to when I last built a PC 20 years ago), you also get (with the right vendor) right to on site support and in many cases the right to a loan machine during the time your machine is offline. In my line of work I charge around US$150/h towards my costumers (I have friends that charge upward $500-600/h in their line of work). The money I would save building custom is quickly eaten up by the money I could potentially make working towards my end customer.  

[Borgus Bohr]

23 hours ago, greenhunt2003 said:

Guys, just out of curiosity, do you think prebuilt pcs or custom pcs are better? Post your opinions here.

Custom. But a i7 8700 will be an i7 8700 in any computer from any brand, and if it has a proper cooling system , then its fine.  A custom build is more time consuming but more fun if you enjoy building computers, obviously. You also can get more bang for the buck on a custom build, by purchasing hardware at the right time... But at the end of the day, apples are apples.

[kpluck]

On 6/16/2020 at 8:30 AM, greenhunt2003 said:

Guys, just out of curiosity, do you think prebuilt pcs or custom pcs are better? Post your opinions here.

 

Better? In what way? "Better" is a judgement based on suitability for a purpose. Without a specific use case, it is impossible to answer your question in any way other than saying that each has its pros and cons and which would be better will be dependent on the user, and use, of the system.

 

-kp