Pre-built vs DIY PC building

[amd133mhz]

SO the ad that pre-rolled before the latest and greatest LTT video I just watched , was an ad for a " boutique system builder"
I decided to check it out, not for myself but out of curiosity. I build my own and have seen some pretty competitive builders out there. After doing an apples to apples pc part picker vs a pre built machine from this builder, I put them together and thought I would share it with you. The results were not surprising in the fact that building the same or very similar system yourself would result in saving money. I was surprised at how much money. About $175-200 approx. 

 

I wanna know your thoughts. Pre built means you click 'Buy Now' pay and in a week you're gaming. DIY means ordering your parts from multiple retailers , or just one local store in my case, saving a few bucks but having to do the work yourself. Usually it takes about 1-2 hours if nothing goes wrong to get it up and running maybe 3 if you really enjoy it.  You also risk the headache of running into bad ram, bad hdd, dead graphics card. shipping back and forth dead parts or running back to the store. I know linus did a great video about this on techquickie.

 

What say you? 

 

 

[TheRandomness]

Both have bad CPUs, GPUs and PSUs

[AverageHardware]

Agreed. DIY is always cheaper as the pre-built companies have to pay for labor/building costs while still making a profit.

[Knaj]

Honestly I would still rather build it myself..

That $200 can go into parts.

[SPAS-ID]

ofc PC Building, you can get some Upgrade with that left money

[amd133mhz]

Both have bad CPUs, GPUs and PSUs

well yea My intent was to build the same ,minus the case, pc as they were selling pre-built to see what I would save. I was expecting 50 maybe 100 but it was almost 200 :0! So for 800 that they are charging, yea you could seriously upgrade that to a MUCH better machine easily if you were to spend the same amount 

[DKL]

1) What answer do you expect coming here?

2) Yeah, the part choices are not good at all. CPU is bad in general, GPU is old and bad for its price, and if you got the AMD Athlon CPU that is equivalent(860K?) to this APU and added the difference in price to the GPU you end up with a better CPU and GPU. 

 

The CX Line of Power Supplies is made for word processing and web surfing systems. Gaming I expect to kill it in a matter of two or three years. 

 

Also, why no dual channel memory? 

 

I prefer the S340 to the Phantom, personal choice. Saves you money that could be put towards the CPU/GPU/A better power supply or a small SSD.

[Tasuma]

I could see the appeal to pre-builts. Sure you're spending extra but how much do you value time? Are you getting it as a gift for someone? Even putting a good build can take time if you're new to it. Sure for most of us on the forum we could throw together a good build pretty quickly. But if you're new to it or a smart shopper tons of research should be done. While look at originpc.com they have a "origin recommended" button that throws what they recommend into the rig. Ezpz. So to some it may be worth the extra money to not have to deal with all of that. 

[amd133mhz]

1) What answer do you expect coming here?

2) Yeah, the part choices are not good at all. CPU is bad in general, GPU is old and bad for its price, and if you got the AMD Athlon CPU that is equivalent(860K?) to this APU and added the difference in price to the GPU you end up with a better CPU and GPU. 

 

The CX Line of Power Supplies is made for word processing and web surfing systems. Gaming I expect to kill it in a matter of two or three years. 

 

Also, why no dual channel memory? 

 

I prefer the S340 to the Phantom, personal choice. Saves you money that could be put towards the CPU/GPU/A better power supply or a small SSD.

well yea   My intent was to build the same ,minus the case, pc as they were selling pre-built to see what I would save. I was expecting 50 maybe 100 but it was almost 200 :0! So for 800 that they are charging, yea you could seriously upgrade that to a MUCH better machine easily if you were to spend the same amount 

[Norseman4]

It's more the case that I like building my own PCs and am relatively secure in my reasoning for each part. Sometimes I make the wrong decisions*, and while those may be frustrating, I know I'll research further when the same situation may come up.

 

If the machine is for a relative, pre-built. This way, they have the warrantee and support, instead of calling me.

 

* My most recent build was in a Corsair 250D case using the H100i and a Gigabyte 1151 board. The DDR4 slot is too wide, so the memory latch could not extend enough to actually add the RAM. True, I could have added the memory, then mount the cooler but ...

 

My card is longer that recommended so if it ever needs to come out I have to remove the RAM to get the right angle to do so. (I'd essentially have to take the computer apart to remove the GPU.

[Yoinkerman]

I do it myself because that was I get exactly what I want and a higher quality build.

[LogicalDrm]

Thats pretty bad example of semi-custom (or custom-prebuilt). Good prebuilts can get into same price range with better part. Why? Because shops can buy in bigger quantities and get bulk rates from manufacturer. Plus things like pre-OC...

[DKL]

Thats pretty bad example of semi-custom (or custom-prebuilt). Good prebuilts can get into same price range with better part. Why? Because shops can buy in bigger quantities and get bulk rates from manufacturer. Plus things like pre-OC...

Can you show an example? With shipping included since I've found some get into same price range and then you go to purchase and it's like 'yeah, it's the same price as pcpartpicker plus THREE HUNDRED for shipping'. >.>

It's why I'm going to buy parts this Black Friday weekend instead.

[LogicalDrm]

Can you show an example? With shipping included since I've found some get into same price range and then you go to purchase and it's like 'yeah, it's the same price as pcpartpicker plus THREE HUNDRED for shipping'. >.>

It's why I'm going to buy parts this Black Friday weekend instead.

For starters, I speak what is/has been going on in my area/country. I did small research over few system builders I could google and local retailers selling prebuilds. I can say that pricing is all over the place. If I add 40€ of building fee (which one store used for customized builds), biggest difference between premade system and part-by-part was 105€ for part-by-part style. And for prebuilds biggest difference was 70€.

Notable thing is that stores rarely list full specs like the store OP shows. So I'm taking cheapest available matching part and using the two main stores I normally buy from. If I'd take more reputable or better parts/brands (now using Chieftec for PSUs etc.) it would be more even. Plus shipping isn't such problem here. Normal shipping fee to nearest post office is 12€. Or to door 20€. Thats one shipping fee for whole order from one store.

 

I was also wondering how much taxing has effect here. AFAIK Finnish tax for electronics is per part and included in price. So what if system builders can use taxfree while building and add tax for whole system afterwards? General sale tax is 24%...

[Patrick3D]

The main benefit of pre-built is warranty coverage from a single source, preferably with a quick turnaround for repairs, and being able to get an extended warranty covering several years. I always recommend pre-built for family members and tell them to get the extended warranty, also because I don't want to deal with fixing their systems.

[TheRandomness]

The CX Line of Power Supplies is made for word processing and web surfing systems. Gaming I expect to kill it in a matter of two or three years. 

I'm calling my CX special for living 4 years and counting c:

[PlayStation 2]

how high can you be to put an r7 360 into a $600 build

[ApolloX75]

Did anyone else catch the "CPU Cooling: Intel OEM Cooler" line in that little pre-built specs picture in the OP?

 

Cause that made me have a good laugh.

[PlayStation 2]

Did anyone else catch the "CPU Cooling: Intel OEM Cooler" line in that little pre-built specs picture in the OP?

 

Cause that made me have a good laugh.

just saw it

i now don't trust them

[Swndlr]

Most if not all of us are gonna recommend DIY, and for good reason.

With DIY PC's comes experience and youll learn how to do it (its really not that hard, trust me!), once you get past the initial building, it becomes easier and easier and in the future youre less afraid of the stuff inside your PC and you will be 100% more willing to go in and have some fun tinkering with what youve already got. On top of that, upgrades will become easier and you will learn how to practically self-diagnose technical difficulties within your own PC, which is nice, no more having to go to the PC shop and pay the dude $100 to pop in a few parts to see whats wrong, then not even fix it.

With great PC comes great responsibility, my friend.

[LogicalDrm]

Most if not all of us are gonna recommend DIY, and for good reason.

With DIY PC's comes experience and youll learn how to do it (its really not that hard, trust me!), once you get past the initial building, it becomes easier and easier and in the future youre less afraid of the stuff inside your PC and you will be 100% more willing to go in and have some fun tinkering with what youve already got. On top of that, upgrades will become easier and you will learn how to practically self-diagnose technical difficulties within your own PC, which is nice, no more having to go to the PC shop and pay the dude $100 to pop in a few parts to see whats wrong, then not even fix it.

With great PC comes great responsibility, my friend.

I started with boutique build and installing more ram into it. After that bigger HDD and later even new mobo and CPU (Plus GPU and PSU at some point). Actually I would say ro pick up boutique build as first if you aren't sure that tech is your thing. Or don't right now have time to deal with possible issues. Its good to get into it with something as easy as adding drives or more ram.

[Swndlr]

I started with boutique build and installing more ram into it. After that bigger HDD and later even new mobo and CPU (Plus GPU and PSU at some point). Actually I would say ro pick up boutique build as first if you aren't sure that tech is your thing. Or don't right now have time to deal with possible issues. Its good to get into it with something as easy as adding drives or more ram.

I went straight from my prebuilt which broke to building a new system from scracth, its really not that hard. I had no experience with PC's either, building a PC now is pretty easy.

[FairladyZ]

Both have bad CPUs, GPUs and PSUs

The CPU and PSU for both are bad. The 360 is not bad. Being someone who used its predecessor, the 260 (non-X) and it was able to play 1080p games med/high settings, it was perfectly doable. Just because the card doesn't cost trillions of Shitdollars or whatever doesn't mean it's bad.

[TheRandomness]

The CPU and PSU for both are bad. The 360 is not bad. Being someone who used its predecessor, the 260 (non-X) and it was able to play 1080p games med/high settings, it was perfectly doable. Just because the card doesn't cost trillions of Shitdollars or whatever doesn't mean it's bad.

Compared to what you can do for less that $550...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VztvMp

[DKL]

I just want to add that I went to google onto alienware's site to see what their prices on steam machines were for what specs and I get  a redirect loop error from Chrome. Lol... Silly Dell.