Try checking out gamers nexus reviews of prebuilts.
This. Steve and co is the best source for this.
Also welcome to PC gaming. Nothing is ever good enough for pc gamers.
Buy from a reputable company, make sure stuff isn’t soldered onto the motherboard for some dumb reason, and chances are it’s okay
It’s generally because there’s no pre-built PC that is going to be as good bang-for-your-buck as one you build your own, so even the best prebuilt is already starting off with a poor footing.
Does that mean prices have gone to normal? I remember for a long time that wasn’t the case because of how hard it was to get video cards, so only way to get it even close to msrp was to buy a pre-built. Then was was a time when ram was overpriced too.
And costs more
A lot of people that perfect get in the way of good enough. You just need to know what’s good enough for you.
A lot of the criticisms people have for pre-built gaming PCs is the fact that the consumers of those machines don’t know enough to fix any problems. There’s a huge difference between knowing that there’s something wrong, and just suffering and silence.
Whatever you buy benchmark it with your favorite benchmarking tool and make sure you’re getting results roughly in the ballpark you expect. If not then you’re going to have to debug the system. Which I know you’re trying to avoid by getting a pre-built but you’re going to have to do it anyway
People love to talk shit. They think it makes them look smart. So there’s always gonna be some dick with something negative to say.
I’d say stay away from Dell/Alienware, mainly because all their stuff is proprietary which makes upgrading a pain in the ass. Besides that, just about anything else will probably be fine. If you find something that looks good to you, I’d recommend looking up what the company’s customer service is like, and if it seems satisfactory, there’s no reason not to get it.
Also check the warranty policy regarding who pays for shipping.
My general advice would be to try to find a company that lets you select the individual parts like G. Skill 16GB (2x8) 3600Mhz vs a generic +16GB RAM upgrade (just an example and not a hard rule). Stuff like Origin PC and iBuyPower or whatever is local to you.
That way you avoid stuff like Dell and other big OEMs. You’ll probably pay a bit more but that way you know exactly what you’re getting in terms of quality. It’s easier to look up reviews on individual parts than a whole prebuilt and they will likely be priced by quality.
That being said, if you know anyone who’s put together their own PC or is the “computer person” maybe ask them for help with choosing those components.
A PC needs 7 main components: CPU, motherboard, GPU, RAM, storage, a power supply and a case.
Your choice of CPU and GPU can come from any youtube channel like Hardware Unboxed. Your motherboard, RAM and storage doesn’t matter much tbh. Your case should have good airflow (anything with mesh really) and your power supply should be rated gold ideally from a reputable brand with enough headroom for your components (750W will cover most mid-high end stuff, 550W is likely fine for most). And you can figure out how much they’re charging you extra for the building and warranty by checking how much the components cost on their own.
If you can make those few decisions then you’re most of the way there barring the company techs messing up but if it performs as expected in games and temps are OK when you get it then you should be good to go.
Also recommending PCPartPicker, which lets you select compatible components, so you don’t accidentally get things that wouldn’t work together. It’s not 100% guarantee, but it’s served me really well over the years.
Yeah, it’s a good tool for sure but I’m still recommending they go with a prebuilt just a more ‘fine-tuned’ one so they don’t need to worry about compatibility. If you can choose the two options together on the custom PC company’s site then they are compatible. But it’s definitely the best way to tally up how much a comparable PC would cost you if you put it together yourself.
I second this.
About 6 years ago I had to make 20 upper mid teir pcs for a client’s art department. I normally build my own but 20 seemed like a lot to do at once so I outsourced it to a company called Xidax.
I could pick the parts that met my spec and perhaps because it was a larger order I was able to get some parts they didn’t have on their website after calling and asking. But most importantly it wasn’t too much more expensive than a big box store pre-built but with quality parts, not just economy parts you might normally find in a lot of prebiilts. (PSUs and drives are important not to skimp on, especially in enterprise environments.)
I would say, building your own is better. Both from a cost and learning perspective. It’s a lot easier then it seems, I know it’s intimidating. But if your uncomfortable building your own. Go with a company you can pick name brand quality parts from that will last.
Also, I would avoid water cooling unless your workload demands it. Water cooling is honestly not worth it.
PS if you plan to upgrade it yourself. A case can either be very important or something you replace easily. The better your case is to build in, the longer you might keep it. Case in point. My fractal design silent case is the oldest PC part I have (at least 10 years old) and it’s probably never going to need a upgrade.
What are your reasons to want a pre built? I got my PC built by a local computer shop and it only cost like $100 and I was able to get exactly what I wanted. They did stress testing on it and I feel like it was totally worth it
@fidodo I never actually thought about going to a local shop to get a custom build. I might have to look into that.
My first pc was from a local shop as well and i had a really good experience. I wouldnt do it now that I can and have built my own but id recommend it over a prebuilt.
Personally I just don’t have the patience to build my own computer. A big part of that is I was really particular about the case, I wanted the meshlicious small form factor case and small form factor cases are pain to set up efficiently. They did a great job putting it together cleanly and since they did such a good job it’s a lot easier for me to upgrade if I did it myself and did a less professional job.
If you have reservations about building a PC yourself due to lack of experience, there is nothing to be worried about. It is honestly a lot like building a Lego set. Most components are difficult to attach improperly. There are decent pre-built PCs out there but you will be paying a premium. You might even be able to save money in the long run by hiring a local shop or a friend with some experience to put a PC together for you.
@lemmy_party The problem is less building the PC and more to do with picking the parts. My first gaming computer as one that I picked the parts out for and someone else put together and it was the worst computer I’d ever owned. Despite PC Part Picker assuring me that the parts were compatible, they apparently weren’t because it was an unstable mess. My current PC was built by someone who knew what they were doing and it’s the best PC I’ve ever had.
You could just pick the parts (I’d suggest researching at least a little bit) and have someone check what you picked before committing, easy. Post them here too and people can give some better suggestions if necessary, with a reason why.
The building part is (usually, unless you go for an oddball case) easy, picking the parts is indeed tricky without a second pair of eyes if you’re new to this.
I was always told that if you’re building your very first machine, buy the core components from the same firm.
That way if something is screwy, it’s the firms job to help you fix it. Otherwise you’re not sure if it’s the ram, cpu or motherboard.
After you gain confidence and will have spare parts to self diagnose for future builds.
There is something really satisfying about doing your own build. Back in the day, used to be a side gig for something I enjoyed doing. Happy days.
There’s always going to be negative reviews. Set a budget, find the best pc in that budget or build it yourself. Pcpartpicker.com is great for making part lists
Sorry for the forthcoming wall of text but here’s my advice:
I’d suggest you build your own PC. If you take the 5 hours to educate yourself on what the various components are you will save yourself trouble down the line and enable yourself to upgrade your pc as needed / want because you will not be locked in with crappy hardware.
The actual physical process of building a PC is about as difficult as putting together a basic Lego set or 7-part-end table from Target. The initial complication of choosing the parts really does make it seem more complicated than it is.
**Issues with pre-built PCs are: **
Crappy motherboards, which limit upgrades down the line wimpy power supplies, which limit upgrades down the line Crappy Hard drives, which run the risk of data loss down the line Shitty cases that limit upgrades Crappy components overall.
I don’t want to suggest specific components you should look for because I don’t know what you want to do with it and am not 100% up to snuff on the latest / greatest hardware. I can however give you the following general advice:
**1. **Choose your processor (CPU): AMD or INTEL. **2. **Choose your GPU: AMD or NVIDIA (ignore the various manufacturers, that can be figured out later)
**(these choices are really not that difficult, just get what is in your budget and what can do what you need it to do) ** **3. **Find a case you want, this is really as simple as aesthetics, hardware compatibility and cooling potential (i e space and lots of fans are good) . Does it come with fans? great!
- Based on 1 and 3, find yourself a compatible motherboard. Your chosen ** CPU** will dictate the motherboard you need, but other wants will inform your decision, (eg, do you want built in Bluetooth and WiFi? do you want optical audio out?.) The reason 1 and 3 are what you need to take into account here is because the CPU will need a specific socket on the mother board, and the motherboard will need to correspond to a specific case size. your choice of CPU and Case will tell you what motherboards are compatible as a starting point for looking for more in-depth features.
This is where pre-built PCs will really cut corners, they might load in a RTX-4080 but they’ll rig it to a SLamboTEG 2892834 PrEpp motherboard that has trash hardware and trash potential.
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Once you have your Motherboard, Case and CPU locked down, decide on the amount of RAM you want to incorporate. The type of compatible RAM will be dictated by the motherboard, just refere to its documentation for what you need to get.
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Choose your storage devices. One for the OS and one for everything else. Don’t bother with magnetic storage at this point–Solid state is the way to go. You can get SATA SSD drives (which look like small external HDs) or M.2 drives (which look like little RAM sticks). either option is good, fast and will make for a snappy compy. (M.2 connects directly to the Motherboard, most modern gaming MoBos have multiple M.2 slots.)
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Choose a power supply that will run everything you have selected (specifically the GPU and CPU). I think latest greatest Intel / Nvidia combo wants a 800watt or even 1000watt PSU but i could be wrong, just get what your components need + some extra. There are lots of nice high end modular PSUs that are not very expensive and will allow you to upgrade in the future.
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Get a heatsink for your CPU. As mentioned earlier in the case choice section, the case you choose might have built in fans, if so GREAT! if not, get compatible fans for the case, regardless you will need a heatsink for your CPU- this is simple as getting one that is compatible with your motherboard and CPU.
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Buy a Windows license (I’d suggest 10 pro but I assume the only thing available now is 11, get the pro regardless because you’re gonna become a power user and don’t want to limit yourself to lame-ass windows home edition right??)
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Get the peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse). You’ll need these to use your new computer.
I might’ve missed something in this rant list but seriously: building your own PC is really not that hard and totally worth it for a long-term.
I bought my PC as a prebuilt nearly 10 years ago but luckily it was from a supplier (Microcenter) that had made a machine that was more or less upgradable. I have put both a lot of new components in and also begrudged the limitations that it currently has so really. Just take some hours and build your PC from the ground up.
I’d also note that if you’re getting 32GiB or bigger DIMMs for your RAM you really want ECC. That means AMD or jumping up to Intel’s Xeon workstation/server CPU line. Much more expensive to go Intel in those cases.
A problem as well is that reviewers judge pre-builts typically for MSRP and they’re usually overpriced. But a good sale on a pre-built can go a long way.
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Probably the only company I’d trust for a pre-built. Everyone else is sells cheap components at inflated prices in the name of profit. Especially DELL/Alienware, and iBuyPower. Avoid like the plague.
(Edit: But seriously, OP, save hundreds and just build it yourself. It’s not as difficult as you think. Installing all the necessary drivers is more difficult than assembly.)
If you like modifying your prebuilt, I recommend against Alienware/Dell. Just changing the loud fans to quieter models causes a warning at each boot. On mine, the power supply, motherboard, and liquid cooler are proprietary and can’t be replaced without heavily customizing the chassis. I also had my Alienware rebooting constantly. And it wouldn’t sleep. I had them replace it under warranty, but I had the same issue. I also had to have them send me a new WiFi card, as the first one stopped working for no reason. I just had an absolute awful experience with my Alienware. I ended up installing Linux on it and stopped having issues. But the default Windows 11 experience was just abysmal.
Couldn’t tell you any personal recommendations since I’ve always built my own but Gamers Nexus has a whole crap ton of reviews on pre-builts and the company experience you might want to check out.
Spoilers, avoid Dell/Alienware.
