Buying an alienware is actually cheaper than building now?

[Dave419]

Was bored today so i was trying to find the most budget gaming OPC I could built. Always built my own PC's because well it's easy and it's cheaper. For some reason or another I ended up on Alienware's pre built pc's and to my surprise, for their base model, I could not build that PC for cheaper than the specs were, even using the crappiest/cheapest parts I could find.

 

Alienware Specs:

Intel® Core™ i5 8400

AMD Radeon™ RX 560 with 2GB GDDR5

8GB, 2666MHz

1TB (64MB Cache) 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s

Windows 64 bit

on board wireless

their case.

 

Shipped price with tax: 770$ ( This is with their 10% off special going on right now )

 

PC part picker same specs/absolute cheapest could make.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T3NfKZ

 

Shipped price with tax: 796.47$ (didn't include wireless)  ( mail in rebates would bring that down to 769.47$, but i really don't think that should be counted.)

 

And to be honest I much prefer the Alienware case to the much better looking than the cheapest case i could find.

 

 

This might be the first time I have ever said this.... but I would rather buy than build. It's cheaper, the case looks better and I would go ahead and say it is better than the 18$ case that was in the partpicker. Only downside I can see is the bloatware.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by Dave419
Forgot to mention I did not add any wireless adapter or connectivity.

[beigedenim]

The link you posted says $720?

[AresKrieger]

Buying windows 10

There is no need to do that, especially not for 100 bucks

[RollinLower]

1 minute ago, ashzx said:

The link you posted says $720?

that's without shipping or taxes tough

[Herman Mcpootis]

you can get windows from reddit for $25 to help compete, but sometimes there are good value prebuilts.

edit: thought i saw a 580, not a 560. that's a pretty shitty gaming rig for that price.

Edited January 6, 2018 by herman mcpootis

[Dave419]

1 minute ago, ashzx said:

The link you posted says $720?

720 does not include the tax. It also includes the mail in rebate discounts. Which is not exactly out the door price.

[beigedenim]

Just now, RollinLower said:

that's without shipping or taxes tough

oh yeah lol im from UK so i'm used to seeing the sales price being the actual price

[AresKrieger]

1 minute ago, RollinLower said:

that's without shipping or taxes tough

I love not having to pay for sales tax

[genexis_x]

Because manufacturers can get Windows license at a cheap price. For those who build their own PC, they will probably buy from websites like Kinguin or, left it unactivated. Here's a similar build using GTX 1050 2GB, better PSU quality, still about $100 cheaper with $25 Windows key: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NsvHVY

Edited January 6, 2018 by ZM Fong

[Dave419]

1 minute ago, herman mcpootis said:

you can get windows from reddit for $25 to help compete, but sometimes there are good value prebuilts.

To my knowledge almost all of those cheap 25$ keys are, well they were purchased through less than kosher means.

[Thermosman]

Thats a terrible unbalanced build. Get a ryzen 1600 and a better graphics card

[AresKrieger]

Just now, Dave419 said:

To my knowledge almost all of those cheap 25$ keys are, well they were purchased through less than kosher means.

You don't need to pay for it at all, the only downsides are a lack of the personalization option and a watermark in the bottom right which usually goes away but can be removed if it does not.

[Dave419]

Oh I'm definitely not buying it, was just making the point i remember a day when Alienwares were just overpriced and used cheap components. Now they just use cheap components.

[Dave419]

1 minute ago, AresKrieger said:

You don't need to pay for it at all, the only downsides are a lack of the personalization option and a watermark in the bottom right which usually goes away but can be removed if it does not.

Ah gotcha lol

[iLoveCaptTeemo]

I am surprised that they even sell RX 560 systems LOL.

[Jurrunio]

Another advantage is to have a PC that matches up well. I wouldnt match an 8400 with something as weak as an RX 560.

[Nicnac]

the case does look really nice but 2gb ram gotta be a joke, right?........

[Komplett]

35 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

you can get windows from reddit for $25 to help compete, but sometimes there are good value prebuilts.

edit: thought i saw a 580, not a 560. that's a pretty shitty gaming rig for that price.

This PC is $850 in Sweden..

[Sauron]

The motherboard you included, while being the cheapest with z370 (by the way I just found out coffee lake only supports one high end chipset... what the hell intel?), is probably much higher quality than whatever you'll find inside a prebuilt.

 

Aside from that, you're right, building the same exact pc isn't that much cheaper - BUT, that configuration is a bad choice for the price if you're looking for a budget gaming machine.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($196.97 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($60.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Patriot - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.68 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB OC Low Profile Video Card  ($164.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: DIYPC - Solo-T1-BK ATX Mid Tower Case  ($24.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($38.59 @ SuperBiiz) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($92.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $711.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-06 10:35 EST-0500

[Firestorm2003]

Heres another one

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zKrxLD

 

[Firestorm2003]

Just now, Firestorm2003 said:

Heres another one

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zKrxLD

 

You can also get windows 10 for free