Prebuilt or build myself?
Posted by MyPcIsAnnoying@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 11 comments
Hello! I am upgrading from a Ryzen 5 3600 and GTX 1080 and have approx 2000-2500 for an entire new PC. During my research, I found this prebuilt from Microcenter that seems great: https://www.microcenter.com/product/698877/powerspec-g757-gaming-pc
The last time I built a computer I would have 100% recommended building over buying a prebuilt, but with now the costs of parts seems to be fairly comparable. What are you thoughts for buying a prebuilt vs building at that price range and with those general parts?
Just for additional context: Budget: $2000 - $2500 *Would prefer to be closer to the 2k Use-Case: Gaming mainly Country of Purchase: US No peripherals needed
its_the_bees@reddit
just rebuilt my PC for the first time in 10 years, you can do it! Pre-builts (even ones from microcenter) are sort of rip-off. Build in ATX format for ease of use, and get 32gb of ram if you can. Keep in mind that Microcenter has great pricining combos for motherboards, ram and cpus.
TheTwinHorrorCosmic@reddit
Get 64
32 has unfortunately become the standard baseline because of how badly optimized a lot of games are
its_the_bees@reddit
64 is just ludicrously expensive right now. I always forget that new games are so demanding, I play like 5 games and the most demanding of them are from 2016-2017 era. buy a 2x16 kit now, and hopefully buy another later when the world isn't so fucked up.
TheTwinHorrorCosmic@reddit
I’d agree if the whole boom and bust cycle hadn’t gone the way of the dodo thanks to crypto and AI.
I remember when GPU prices exploded and everyone said wait and they’ll go back to cheap. They still haven’t.
It’s a roughly 200-400 for double the size ram (Fuck even saying that makes me sick) but it is well worth it.
There’s a lot of games where if you have any google tabs open, discord and the game 32GB is barely enough. Especially with a lot of the newer titles being so horrifically unoptimized
Especially with larger games and as games get larger, it’s a whole lot worse to bite a worse bullet later than one now. Because RAM is stupidly expensive but it’ll still realistically be expensive for the next 4 years. It’d be silly to pay $650-750 now and then the same in a few years when you can pay $850-950 and be set for basically 15 years gaming wise.
its_the_bees@reddit
Well said.
TheTwinHorrorCosmic@reddit
Thank you.
After building PC’s for about a decade the main thing is you don’t cheap out on components you could carry over to the next build. Such as your memory, motherboard and storage.
You can always get a new GPU, or CPU, but once you start going “welll maybe I need another TB for gaming” or “welll maybe I could use another stick of ram/faster ram”, as well, you’ll inevitably end up at getting a whole new build for what was originally just upgrading for a few more FPS.
A huge amount of RAM will last you ages, and for the longest time I’ve done “double what games are using”. Well, 3 years ago 16 was still sorta entry level. Now it’s 32. 64 will realistically never be “entry level”, but it’s much more affordable (and realistic, and faster) than 128GB. So, I tell people to cheap on the GPU for better ram that’ll last them multiple cards.
Especially now that hardware requirements have flipped it seems, can’t remember the last time a game was more graphically demanding than CPU. Honestly I’m surprised when I see a game use 100% gpu without majorly impacting your CPU.
That and yeah it’s always nice to get the next biggest and best card and chip for 5 more fps at .7gigasharts faster, but with how slow the industry has become on actual improvements, there’s no reason to get the best card anymore which saves hundreds.
That coupled with the fact AM5 (not well versed in intel chips tbh) is here to stay, it’s better to splurge on ram and CPU’s and get a decent GPU because basically any GPU nowadays will get you ultra 144fps 1080 and high 120fps 1440p.
So, it’s better to have raw computing power and ram to back it up than the next biggest GPU for 4K that your CPU can’t register that well with ram that’s being slowed down and hogged
scrollingforgodot@reddit
Honestly, I've seen some incredible deals on FB marketplace. You can't beat the value of used. To the point where I've considered buying some of them just to part them out on ebay
its_the_bees@reddit
This!!! I’ve seen whole PC’s that easily double my old pc’s performance for hundreds of dollars less than what I’d need to buy if I was starting from scratch. Helps that I live in a very tech-heavy area but yea
Plenty-Industries@reddit
Microcenter's prebuilts are pretty well priced. As with most everything they have in store.
With such competitive pricing, its honestly difficult to build a PC with the same components and try to match the pricing - mostly because of things like bulk pricing and whatever special contracts they have to offer better deals.
Microcenter is Tech Mecca for a reason.
I'm so glad they're finally opening their Austin store this year. So I can go more frequently than scheduling a 3-hour one-way drive to either Dallas or Houston.
the_mighty__monarch@reddit
You’re in a PC-building sub, so your advice is going to range from “you should probably build it” to “how could you even consider not building it?”
At the end of the day, it depends on you. Building takes time, and it’s possible to fuck it up. If you wanna save time and mitigate the risk, go prebuilt. If you want a little project, and you’re confident in what you’re doing, get building.
DiarrheaPope@reddit
Building your own is always better. Not only cheaper but you'll have better quality parts (hopefully). I think everyone I know personally who buys prebuilts eventually has their PSU die or their motherboard gets fried somehow. Right now I got a friend who's prebuilt PC is smoked. I've never once had a problem like this. My very first PC when I was a teen and had no idea what I was doing still works like the day I built it.