Build Or Buy? Five Sub-$500 Store-Bought Systems Compared

[qwertymac93]

[citation][nom]boletus[/nom]... here is a real challenge for Tom's that I would like to see: what can you build for $300-400 that includes what the pre-built's supply (keyboard and mouse, OS, etc)?... Now that is a real challenge: is anyone there strong enough to take it on?[/citation]
Agreed, A true challenge to a builder is to beat multi-million $ companies even at These ultra low prices.

I know I'm not a Tom's writer, but here goes*:

Samsung DVD burner= $20
Sunbeam Ventmax Case= $40
WD 500GB Hard drive= $44
Xigmatek 400W PSU= $37
2X2GB G.skill DDR3 RAM= $40
Combo Biostar 880G + AMD AII 250= $101
MS Windows 7 premium= $100
Logitech MK120 KB+Mouse= $23

TOTAL= $404.66

*All Prices include tax and shipping

At most i could shave $20 off that, But that would require REALLY compromising on quality and performance, and i just can't bring myself to do that.

The case I picked is very ugly IMO, but at this price you very rarely get both function AND form. The case has 5 fans, the PSU is 80+ bronze certified, and the mobo has a modern chipset(not the nvidia 6150 crap...)+relatively solid looking power phases so it should perform decently.

 

[eddieroolz]

The charts were so bad, I started laughing.

I got much of the same experience for the two years I used my Compaq Pentium 4 machine when I was 14. That box didn't even come with an AGP port - it was stripped out. As you'd expect, it didn't even run Halo for PC properly - it had an Intel 815G Integrated chipset.

That's when I swore I'd never use Intel chipsets if I could help it. I was only able to break free in 2008, though.

 

[Gulli]

[citation][nom]chriskrum[/nom]For the record, I'm an avid home builder who has built almost all of his own PCs and (and those for friends and family). I am also thoroughly annoyed by a locked BIOS and a 250 wtf power supply but that doesn't mean I can automatically write off all OEM computers and not see that there are certain budget ranges where they have a place.[/citation]

I don't dispute that: pre-built have a place in offices and as non-gaming PCs, but if you plan on gaming, or video editing, or photoshopping, you're always better off with a custom build.

 

[ms5555]

This article is interesting, but not terribly useful, as anyone with any sense knows a sub-500 prebuilt will be crap. The reason why is fairly obvious, the overhead costs (assembly, shipping etc) for a prebuilt are fairly static so there is not a lot of room for profit, so on a 450 dollar pc you're getting maybe $300 worth of hardware?

I would like to see a comparision of the 1000 build from the same article against a 1000 prebuilt machine. You can get some nice core i5s with good gpus prebuilt from cyber power, or heck even dell has decent offerings at that price. They will still fall short of the custom built one, but it should be a lot closer.

 

[greenback]

to build a comparable rig to the $2000 which now would cost $1860 would cost $2460 just for a little tester and thats both without os and such

 

[mariushm]

The article is truly horrible... sorry to say the quality of the articles goes down.

Is benchmarking really the only way to compare these systems?

Here's what's important when comparing some systems, imho:

- form factor
- extensibility
- noise
- quality of components

The cheap systems come with power supplies made using designs from the ages of Pentium IV - compared to the power supply of the custom system, these 200-300w power supplies will struggle to supply the systems with enough power even without any extra video cards connected to it.

Yet, you only bothered to show graphs for idle power, no graphs for power consumption while playing a movie or when running some stuff they're designed for (printing some complex document, or compressing files or something).
How noisy are those systems compared to the system you did yourself? It affects the quality of life of the user using the systems.

Then, with those power supplies, the systems would be at best efficient at idle, at around 75% efficiency. At load, those power supplies will have even less efficiency.

Why not compare the power supply of the custom system with the ones in these OEM systems? It's easy to just measure the power usage at idle and load and then swap the power supplies and measure again. Then, see how much money on their power bill will a family keeping this system running 6 hours a day, every day, save? Is it worth saving 30$ on a pre-made system when you will lose 50$ on the power bill in a year?

It's sad to see you skipped so fast over the fact that these systems don't come with PCI Express x16, or even x8. I also didn't notice you mentioning how the motherboards come equipped with the most "value" chipsets out there, obviously the cheapest OEM designs motherboard manufacturers offer.

For example, the Compaq has Radeon HD 3000 is probably in the 760GM chipset - a MB with that is 48$ on Newegg. One with the 780G chipset is 55$ on retail - I'm sure the OEMs probably get these boards for 30-35$.

I don't see any comparison between the quality of the motherboard (power phases, capacitors used) versus the quality of the retail motherboard? I'm sure the retail board probably has extra heatsinks, of course it has much better overclocking capability, much higher warranty?

Did you bother to check if you can actually replace the processor in those systems to a quad core or even one with other frequency? I'm almost sure the cheaper systems' bios won't detect other processors.


Really, the article is so bad, it gives the feeling that when you factor in the operating system cost, the 400$ systems are actually better value wise compared to the 600$-ish custom system, when in fact they're not.
Oh, it doesn't help that you didn't even bother to search Newegg for parts with the same specifications (ex mb with Radeon HD 3000 - any 760G chipset based MB etc) and add up the prices.

You would have seen that a much better custom system with OS included would only be about 40$ extra.

 

[swimswithtrout]

There's no doubt you can build a better rig for < $500 compared to big box stores. But you won't have an OS unless you decide to go Ubuntu and have another rig to download it to, which brings me to my main point.

Where can you find Windoze 7 64 Home Premium for $70 ??

 

[mariushm]

Oh brother.... the OS is 100$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116983&cm_re=windows_7_home-_-32-116-983-_-Product or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986&cm_re=windows_7_home-_-32-116-986-_-Product

So:

350$ : eMachines EL1850-01e -> we have a budget of 250$....

40$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138293 OR
48$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157215
+
61$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103903

35$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811322001 OR (with card reader but power supply that sucks, probably not capable of powering the extra pci express)
35$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154079 (better psu, no card reader... too lazy to search now newegg for a case with psu 2-3$ more expensive with both)

20$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136216
40$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701
40$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

=> total of 236-244$. add keyboard and mouse for the difference for 14$ and you get the same price. Better chipset for the motherboard, with pci express x16, pci slots, ...

6$ keyboard : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201029 ,
6$ mousse : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826147016

You're over the budget by 6$, maybe a bit more if the shipping is a few dollars. That's not even a McDonalds visit, probably.

So look, I managed to make a better build, WITH OS and keyboard/mouse for just a few dollars more. Now think how many corners are cut in the quality of the motherboard and the power supply, the only part that can really be customized or made on order, as the rest are pretty much OEM from manufacturers. The case is not something they can skimp on, as buyers would notice.

So the manufacturer's profit is the 20$ saved on motherboard and power supply, the 10-20$ on everything else as they buy parts in volume and the 50$ or so they get from Microsoft for the Windows (they only pay about 35-40$ for a license to Microsoft, not the retail 100$ people pay in stores). Then they may get a few dollars in commissions from the crap they bundle on systems (antivirus and toolbars and so on).

 

[aldaia]

Many people have already mentioned tha fact that if the OS & mouse+keyboard are factored in, the "do it yourself" systems costs actually around $650. However, there is another factor not considered, TIME, and for some people time is way more valuable than money. I've build my own systems sometimes, just for the fun of it, but if I have to value the time spent, it amounts to several hundred dollars (yes, I'm a busy & well paid professional). So there is a segment of population that will gladly pay, lets say, $150 more to save time and troubles.
My point is, can you buy a $800 pre-built system similar to the $650 (was $500) "do it yourself" system?

 

[greenback]

[citation][nom]aldaia[/nom]Many people have already mentioned tha fact that if the OS & mouse+keyboard are factored in, the "do it yourself" systems costs actually around $650. However, there is another factor not considered, TIME, and for some people time is way more valuable than money. I've build my own systems sometimes, just for the fun of it, but if I have to value the time spent, it amounts to several hundred dollars (yes, I'm a busy & well paid professional). So there is a segment of population that will gladly pay, lets say, $150 more to save time and troubles.My point is, can you buy a $800 pre-built system similar to the $650 (was $500) "do it yourself" system?[/citation]

Well if your only looking t browsing the net and basic things not gaming then gat a $400 laptop if your well paid and want to game youd more then lightly want something better like the $2000 (now $1860) which pre-built is $2460 thats $600 more to build a pc and instal windows about 45 minutes so if you want 1 Il'l do it for you charge you $500 for 45 minutes of my time then I'd be better paid

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

I was so excited when I saw the title of this article but Toms you let me down The comments by cmcghee358 and lordravage share my views on this article.

 

[aldaia]

[citation][nom]greenback[/nom]Well if your only looking t browsing the net and basic things not gaming then gat a $400 laptop if your well paid and want to game youd more then lightly want something better like the $2000 (now $1860) which pre-built is $2460 thats $600 more to build a pc and instal windows about 45 minutes so if you want 1 Il'l do it for you charge you $500 for 45 minutes of my time then I'd be better paid[/citation]

Of course someone that builds computers relatively frequently can do it in 45 minutes (personally I think it's quite tight). However, a person building 1 computer every several years will need more in the range of 2-3 hours, plus the time of selecting and searching/buying the components. In my last build I spent many hours because the Video Card was not working, It took me some time to guess it was the problem (easy if you have other computers to check, very hard if you only have the mobo you build, and have to guess what is the component that fails, without any mean for testing all of them) , return, buy a new one, get back to home. If I count the time spent it was worth more than $600, but don't count on building my next system, as I said I do it for fun.

 

[antilycus]

Ha, I literally JUST purchased a complete system (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) with a Phenom II X6 1055T w/ 4 gigs of DDR3 ram, 500gb WD SATA drive 450W powersupply, some MSI motherboard (can't remember the model, its relatively irrelevanHa, I literally JUST purchased a complete system (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) with a Phenom II X6 1055T w/ 4 gigs of DDR3 ram, 500gb WD SATA drive 450W powersupply, some MSI motherboard (can't remember the model, its relatively irrelevant since its a Business computer) and a copy of Windows 7 PRO (business has a domain) and a case all for 501 w/ 2 day air shipping. No GPU, but don't need one.t since its a Business computer) and a copy of Windows 7 PRO (business has a domain) and a case all for 501 w/ 2 day air shipping. No GPU, but don't need one.

This was order June 4th 2011

 

[greenback]

[citation][nom]aldaia[/nom]Of course someone that builds computers relatively frequently can do it in 45 minutes (personally I think it's quite tight). However, a person building 1 computer every several years will need more in the range of 2-3 hours, plus the time of selecting and searching/buying the components. In my last build I spent many hours because the Video Card was not working, It took me some time to guess it was the problem (easy if you have other computers to check, very hard if you only have the mobo you build, and have to guess what is the component that fails, without any mean for testing all of them) , return, buy a new one, get back to home. If I count the time spent it was worth more than $600, but don't count on building my next system, as I said I do it for fun.[/citation]

I would agree on the researching bit thats the bit that takes the time Iv'e only just built the pc I have now and cann't afford to get the top line of cpu and gfx so spent a week looking into what I can get now that will still be good in 3 years time for playing games I got an i5-2500k on offer and a hd6870 on the plan to crossfire the gfx in 18 months time when they will be under £100 and it will unless anything drastic happens in game developement I should be good for 4 year with little extra expense. So by the sounds of the hourly rate your on it probably would be cost effctive for you to work while getting some1 else to do the building though I wouldn't go in and buy a shop built pc as 9/10 they would no less about pc's then my grandmother

 

[The Halo Don]

It cant be safe with that 380w's can it?

 

[sdeleon515]

I'd have to say for the most part, the article is rather correct. Additionally while systems like iBuypower or Cyber Power might offer a more robust system than a vendor (ie Best Buy, Tiger Direct and Micro Center) I'd also go out and point out that some of the items on their list could've been purchased cheaper if you know how to approach it inexpensively (and No I'm not talking craigslist).

For example I went to the B~stock for Coolermaster and got my Coolmaster Haf-X 942 for $99, no tax and free shipping. Likewise you can pick up an Antex 300 series case for under $50. Also for the processor they used, pending where you buy it, have some places where it includes a free mobo which allows for a single graphics card. Granted it isn't fancy but you can choose an upgraded board for crossfire/SLI for $30 more. I'll also toss in one factor, AMD prices are going very sweet at the moment given the expectation for the new processor units so there are places throwing in good packages for cheap to get rid of the inventory before it hits clearance pricing and they loose money.

Allomancer has a good price point and roughly I'd come slightly under since I have a free Windows 7 copy due to working at a PC repair center and I also get at cost the AMD processor. Otherwise in the open market and relying on probably newegg, b-stock from online retailers and other clerance items, under $500 is easy.

 

[Olle P]

There are different ways of looking at the peripherals and OS. Some you might have from before, and some you might need to buy.

Assume this is a first off computer, starting with nothing at all. Then one should also include monitor and speakers, at the very least, and some pre-builds have these included at a low cost.

As for OS, if you want Windows for your home built computer MS is very straightforward telling that a Retail licence is the way to go. (OEM is for when you build the computer for somebody else and take all the responsibilities of a System Builder yourself.) These cost about twice as much (~$200) as single OEM licenses.

There are some real benefits from building your own computer, but a very low starting price isn't one of them.

 

[Guest]

A major omission, imho, was not to consider factory refurbed systems. At a certain auction website, you can consistently buy i7 systems for $500 or less (860, 870, 930) with 4 or more gb ram, windows 7, dvd-rw drive, 500 or more gb ram with (admittedly weak) discrete graphics cards. I recently bought an hp 590t with i7 extreme 980x, 9 gb, 1.5 tb, bluray disc, radeon 5570 for $950...including shipping. The parts alone would cost more than that. If I'm dissatisfied with performance, I've got a great start on building my own system.

This is the 3rd refurbed hp I've bought from the site (last one was 5 years ago for 550 was a core 2 duo 6600 loaded to the gills and it's never broken even once). I added a radeon 5770 a while ago, and it still plays all games at reasonable settings.

Only downside? 90 day factory warranty instead of a year.

 

[cburke82]

A major omission, imho, was not to consider factory refurbed systems. At a certain auction website, you can consistently buy i7 systems for $500 or less (860, 870, 930) with 4 or more gb ram, windows 7, dvd-rw drive, 500 or more gb ram with (admittedly weak) discrete graphics cards. I recently bought an hp 590t with i7 extreme 980x, 9 gb, 1.5 tb, bluray disc, radeon 5570 for $950...including shipping. The parts alone would cost more than that. If I'm dissatisfied with performance, I've got a great start on building my own system.

This is the 3rd refurbed hp I've bought from the site (last one was 5 years ago for 550 was a core 2 duo 6600 loaded to the gills and it's never broken even once). I added a radeon 5770 a while ago, and it still plays all games at reasonable settings.

Only downside? 90 day factory warranty instead of a year.

In most cases the warranty is 3 years if you buy the parts yourself that being said you have a good point. Tho the extream eddition makes the saving more than they should be. Who would spend $1000 on that CPU when the could just buy a 2600k?

 

[Guest]

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-System-Builder-Version/dp/B002NGQLMU/ref=sr_1_10?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1308065618&sr=1-10
Windows 7 Home Premium - $81.98


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Item #: N82E16819103808 $114.99
ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157176 $ 59.99
IMC FX-087 All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader
Item #: N82E16820717005 $ 10.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200
Item #: N82E16822136073 $ 43.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Item #: N82E16820231313 $ 42.99
Sentey Classic Series CS1-1399 Mid Tower Case w/ Power Supply
Item #: N82E16811322001 $ 34.99
SAPPHIRE 100323L Radeon HD 6570 1GB
Item #: N82E16814102934 $ 74.99
Pixxo KB-9AA1 104 USB Wired Standard Keyboard + Optical Mouse Combo
Item #: N82E16823664006 $ 14.99
Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R
Item #: N82E16827118039 $ 19.99

I'm at $500.89. And that's with the quad core. You could easily save $70 if you went down to dual core (on CPU and motherboard). And this is all with free 2-day shipping, you could also find these parts on Amazon with free Prime and no tax. I've noticed parts from Amazon tend to be the same price or slightly cheaper than Newegg.

 

[cburke82]

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-System-Builder-Version/dp/B002NGQLMU/ref=sr_1_10?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1308065618&sr=1-10
Windows 7 Home Premium - $81.98


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Item #: N82E16819103808 $114.99
ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157176 $ 59.99
IMC FX-087 All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader
Item #: N82E16820717005 $ 10.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200
Item #: N82E16822136073 $ 43.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Item #: N82E16820231313 $ 42.99
Sentey Classic Series CS1-1399 Mid Tower Case w/ Power Supply
Item #: N82E16811322001 $ 34.99
SAPPHIRE 100323L Radeon HD 6570 1GB
Item #: N82E16814102934 $ 74.99
Pixxo KB-9AA1 104 USB Wired Standard Keyboard + Optical Mouse Combo
Item #: N82E16823664006 $ 14.99
Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R
Item #: N82E16827118039 $ 19.99

I'm at $500.89. And that's with the quad core. You could easily save $70 if you went down to dual core (on CPU and motherboard). And this is all with free 2-day shipping, you could also find these parts on Amazon with free Prime and no tax. I've noticed parts from Amazon tend to be the same price or slightly cheaper than Newegg.

I guess the qualifier here is what would you expect out of this rig you posted? Looks good but the GPU is weak and 32bit OS? Also im willing to bet that PSU that comes with that case is suspect at best.

[edit] I looked up that case and now am more than sure I would not want that PSU....just saying. If this is only ment for movies and light gaming at low setting them just maybe anything else then nope.