Building your customized gaming PC is nearly always better than purchasing a prebuilt one, but not always, if you want to play games on it. On rare occasions, you will get an excellent prebuilt gaming PC. However, most of the time the assembler or vendor will rip you off with inferior hardware.
Keeping that in mind, let us understand the reasons why building your custom gaming PC is better than buying a prebuilt one.
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Price vs. Performance
Build quality plays a significant role in gaming PCs. Therefore the performance vs price is always on my mind. It is due to this why I do not see much value in the cheaper preconfigured gaming PCs. The performance versus price is not justifiable when I can get more power for the same amount or slash the costs further by building it myself.
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No doubt, most companies add value to the deal by including an operating system plus a cheap mouse and keyboard. However, you will probably end up paying more than you should, apart from a few exceptions.
Sometimes you will get a guarantee on "parts & labor," but you will have to pay the shipping costs to send the non-functional PC. In my opinion, it is not worth it. Individual components you purchase to build your PC have a minimum of one year's warranty (up to 10 years for parts like the SMPS). It is faster to have a replacement component shipped to you compared to shipping the entire PC for servicing. Assuming that you have assembled the PC yourself, taking out the damaged part and replacing it with a new one should be quite easy.
That being said, there are exceptions, and you can purchase an assembled PC for a pocket-friendly price. While recently reviewing the CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR I noticed that it offered a high performance vs price ratio. It will be tough to assemble a PC with the same configurations on my own. The above model is not an exception with more and more awesome prebuilt PCs being freely available.
Conversely, there are many prebuilt desktops in the same price range that ship with 50-100% less power! Always do your research!
Bad Parts or Overpriced
Most cheaply prebuilt gaming PCs do not contain the best hardware. For example, they might include a powerful processor with a third-grade graphics card. This wrecks the capability of an otherwise good PC, particularly those used for gaming. Else, they will include outdated hardware.
No doubt, you could upgrade later. However, why do you not purchase a decent gaming PC the first time around, for the same price or less. This is why it pays to research. You can often get outstanding deals on prebuilt desktops if you know the hardware configurations to look out for. If you have no idea about hardware, be prepared to get ripped off.
Bloated prices are quite common when searching online for the best-prebuilt gaming PC. You will often find additional increases in prices. While putting together, a PC takes time, on occasions the premium is too much.
On other occasions, you will find gaming PCs that are good. For example, take this 4K gaming PC. You can purchase the components along with the Windows 10 operating system for about $2100. Alternatively, you can opt for a prefabricated one with some minor differences for $2000.
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Take for example the CybertronPC Borg-709. It retailed for around $700 - $800 in 2018 but only had an AMD FX 6300 processor, 1TB HDD, 1GB Nvidia GTX 750 graphics card, along with cheap keyboard and mouse combo. You could have assembled this combination in 2015 for $500 or less. You would have been extremely disappointed if you spent your hard earned money on this desktop. Had you compared that with my $700 gaming PC, you would have understood what I mean? Even my primary $500 computer will defeat it both price wise and power wise.
The scene is not bad. You can sometimes get exciting and unique features when purchasing a prebuilt desktop. Be careful though, as these additional features hardly do anything to affect the actual gaming performance positively.
The CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A4 is a prime example of a prebuilt gaming PC, which offers you great value for its price. Priced around $699 this PC contains an i5 7400 processor, (neither the best nor the worst) a 1TB HDD, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 4GB RX 580 graphics card, along with Windows 10 preinstalled, which is a lot of value.
However, you have more control over the performance of your PC when you assemble it on your own. This is why DIY kits are almost always better than purchasing a preassembled PC.
When to build or buy a prebuilt desktop
On occasions, you might not be able to create your dream PC. Fluctuations in the market either lead to a shortage of components or inflate their prices. As manufacturers of prebuilt desktops have a ready stock of components and purchase them from the wholesale market, they can assemble computers at a lower cost compared to persons buying parts online during periods of scarcity or when their prices are inflated.
This article educated you why you might want to purchase a prebuilt gaming PC. However, you should search online to find out the specs and prices of some prebuilt gaming PCs. This can help you when you cannot purchase parts from online stores without burning a hole in your pocket due to market-related factors. You might find exactly what you were looking for.
The Bottom Line
Most companies manufacturing prefabricated gaming PCs either use below par hardware or mark up the prices of the PC to earn more profits. You can use this knowledge to save your hard earned cash.
Not all prebuilt gaming desktops are so bad. Some offer an impressive performance vs price ratio that you cannot meet by building it yourself. However, such builds are quite rare. Do your research and check the configuration of the PC before clicking on the "buy" button. It is paramount that you know your budget and the shape of your gaming PC.
Our website 25pc.com provides information about the best DIY builds possible at your price range. Assembling the PC yourself costs much less.
