Pre-Built vs Custom Build Question

[CZuvie94]

Hi all,

 

I have been looking to build a PC for a while now, and have my list pretty much completed.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/CZuvie94/saved/fHx2RB

 

However, I got an email from Best Buy with their Black Friday deals and saw this pre-built PC.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-desktop-amd-ryzen-7-series-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1070-120gb-solid-state-drive-1tb-hard-drive-black/6092500.p?skuId=6092500

 

I have always heard it is better to build a PC for gaming, but the pre-built model has both a better GPU and CPU from my understanding, for about the same price as my custom build. From a spec standpoint, the pre-built PC seems to be the better option. Could you provide me some thoughts and feedback about this? It almost seems to good to be true when I'm looking at the Best Buy PC.

 

By the way, I am aiming for 1080p gaming right now if that plays into any decisions.

 

Thanks a ton!

[Herman Mcpootis]

you can try this, and get OS from reddit for $25:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($269.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($41.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card  ($404.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1039.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-23 10:07 EST-0500

 

[seon123]

Do keep in mind that pre builts tend to have absolute garbage PSUs, slow RAM, crappy SSDs, and crappy motherboards. 

If you get Windows from Reddit or Kinguin for $25, you could get something like this, with a 1070 Ti. But tbh, that's way overkill for 1080p.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: SK hynix - SL308 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: *Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($41.77 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB Video Card  ($459.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400 TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Rosewill - 550W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($33.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1064.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-23 10:08 EST-0500

[Zyndo]

4 minutes ago, CZuvie94 said:

Snip

probably a better deal to go with the pre-built tbh. that 1070 is going to yield more performance than your 1060 by a fairly noticeable amount and the 1700x will have a better lifespan than your 1600x (not that it will live longer exactly, but will stay relevant for longer). but there are a few things to keep in mind. the cooler they have in this PC will not be well suited for overclocking, so you may need to replace that if you want to overclock your CPU. pre-builts tend to use the cheapest versions of whatever is available to them, so expect a low end 1070 (looks like MSI 1070 Armor OC), a mediocre PSU, stock 2133 memory, and probably the cheapest mATX B350 board they could find(looks like MSI B350 Bazooka).

 

Also keep in mind that your cart is unmodified by Black Friday pricing so far, and that there are other redeeming qualities in your build over this prebuilt (such as its faster RAM, larger SSD, and so on). If you wait for those deals, adjust your build a bit, step down to a 1600 and ignore a cooler for now (use the stock cooler), maybe step down to a 256GB SSD if needed, change your case and PSU to better ones for similar costs, maybe get one of those cheaper motherboards.... you could very likely get a 1070ti for little to no additional cost and be even better off than this prebuilt.

 

 

[Zyndo]

1 minute ago, seon123 said:

you could get something like this, with a 1070 Ti. But tbh, that's way overkill for 1080p

it's nothing of the sort.