[SOLVED] Build or buy, this pre built seems like almost the same value?

[bull2118]

I've been pricing out a new build from the ground up. This deal from Costco seems like almost the same value proposition without the chance I screw something up.....

It says liquid cooled, is that a hastle or is it plug and play/last for a decade?
Gimme yo thoughts please and thank you.

Costco I buy power. Link.

 

[USAFRet]

"seems like" is the operative phrase.

One thing you'll notice is the complete lack of info on the specific make/model of many of the parts.
RAM, SDD, PSU....who knows.

iBuyPower (and others) are famous for cheaping out on.

Liquid cooled? Thats a cheesy little 120mm. Worse performer than most good air coolers.

 

[bull2118]

Great feedback thanks.

Could I replace the liquid cooler with fans? Haven't built in 10 years.

Pretty rusty, the convenience of opening a cardboard box appeals to me, but I'm not averse to doing it myself.

 

[vMax]

There are always a few areas where they cheap out big time, like the motherboard (have no idea), the SSD which is a SATA III SSD, Power supply and RAM. But on the other hand you have a complete built system with a guarantee all ready to go and five free games which do add up to quite a bit of extra value....For the same price you can build the same system but with better overall components but that means you or someone has to put it together....

Example of the same system but with a few better parts including a better motherboard with a solid VRM if overclocking, faster RAM, NVMe M.2 SSD which is much faster, Gold rated power supply and a better case.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkmfrV

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($58.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card ($704.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1782.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-28 13:36 EDT-0400

 

[bull2118]

There are always a few areas where they cheap out big time, like the motherboard (have no idea), the SSD which is a SATA III SSD, Power supply and RAM. But on the other hand you have a complete built system with a guarantee all ready to go and five free games which do add up to quite a bit of extra value....For the same price you can build the same system but with better overall components but that means you or someone has to put it together....

Example of the same system but with a few better parts including a better motherboard with a solid VRM if overclocking, faster RAM, NVMe M.2 SSD which is much faster, Gold rated power supply and a better case.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkmfrV

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($58.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card ($704.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1782.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-28 13:36 EDT-0400

Great info. Appreciate the time you took for that. I can't imagine things have changed since I last built a PC over a decade ago.

Almost all motherboards come with Bluetooth ya? I want to throw on some headphones so I don't bother the wife.

For my last build I loaded windows via a disc. With no disc drive how would I install an OS?

 

[vMax]

Great info. Appreciate the time you took for that. I can't imagine things have changed since I last built a PC over a decade ago.

Almost all motherboards come with Bluetooth ya? I want to throw on some headphones so I don't bother the wife.

For my last build I loaded windows via a disc. With no disc drive how would I install an OS?

No problems at all....

You can get the OS pre installed on a bootable USB thumb drive. Or download it and install to a bootable USB thumb drive. Thankfully it is fairly easy now...And if you have built a PC before, it is no different now. As to blue tooth, yes no issues....

 

[bull2118]

There are always a few areas where they cheap out big time, like the motherboard (have no idea), the SSD which is a SATA III SSD, Power supply and RAM. But on the other hand you have a complete built system with a guarantee all ready to go and five free games which do add up to quite a bit of extra value....For the same price you can build the same system but with better overall components but that means you or someone has to put it together....

Example of the same system but with a few better parts including a better motherboard with a solid VRM if overclocking, faster RAM, NVMe M.2 SSD which is much faster, Gold rated power supply and a better case.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkmfrV

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($58.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card ($704.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1782.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-28 13:36 EDT-0400

Also, what changes would you recommend?

I.e. the gentleman above referred to fan cooking being better. Wouldnitake sense to swap that out?

 

[vMax]

I got confused for a moment on the 'Fan Cooking' I think you meant 'Fan Cooling'...I hope. A good CPU air cooler will do the job as well, something like the Hyper 212 if you are not looking to go big on overclocking:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hH...ck-edition-573-cfm-cpu-cooler-rr-212s-20pc-r1

And if you do want to overclock to the max, then something like the mighty Noctua NH-D15 though quiet pricey.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

The Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB I suggested, is actually fairly easy to install and pretty quiet and will do a very good job. AIO's have greatly improved so they are worth looking at. The one included in the Costco build was very cheap and not good but the Cooler Master 240mm is a lot, lot better.

 

[bull2118]

I got confused for a moment on the 'Fan Cooking' I think you meant 'Fan Cooling'...I hope. A good CPU air cooler will do the job as well, something like the Hyper 212 if you are not looking to go big on overclocking:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hH...ck-edition-573-cfm-cpu-cooler-rr-212s-20pc-r1

And if you do want to overclock to the max, then something like the mighty Noctua NH-D15 though quiet pricey.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

The Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB I suggested, is actually fairly easy to install and pretty quiet and will do a very good job. AIO's have greatly improved so they are worth looking at. The one included in the Costco build was very cheap and not good but the Cooler Master 240mm is a lot, lot better.

Awesome, thanks. Great advice.

And yeah, it was cooling. For some reason I was faster on my Blackberry wit T3 keys and my Google Nexus 1 keyboard was more accurate with killer predictive text. I can't believe the iPhone keyboard and G board are the best humanity can offer.

 

[Finstar]

Some observations from looking at the photos of the prebuilt:
-Cheap motherboard, no cooling on VRMs, couldn't recognize the chipset or the brand.
-Ketchup and mustard PSU cables, likely an OEM design, likely not upgradable. At least the cables were sleeved which makes me think it's not all that bad.
-Cheap RAM, no heatsinks or cover shrouds. Possibly Adata. Relatively good clockspeed but likely very bad CL rating.
-Gigabyte GPU, likely the cheapest one available to them.
-Weak liquid cooler, cpu will run hot under load, the pump will degrade much faster and fail sooner due to the heat.
-No case fans aside from the LC, very small front intake, little to no airflow through the case.

I would avoid that thing like a plague.

 

[bull2118]

Some observations from looking at the photos of the prebuilt:
-Cheap motherboard, no cooling on VRMs, couldn't recognize the chipset or the brand.
-Ketchup and mustard PSU cables, likely an OEM design, likely not upgradable. At least the cables were sleeved which makes me think it's not all that bad.
-Cheap RAM, no heatsinks or cover shrouds. Possibly Adata. Relatively good clockspeed but likely very bad CL rating.
-Gigabyte GPU, likely the cheapest one available to them.
-Weak liquid cooler, cpu will run hot under load, the pump will degrade much faster and fail sooner due to the heat.
-No case fans aside from the LC, very small front intake, little to no airflow through the case.

I would avoid that thing like a plague.

Yeah. I'm not opposed to building. Will probably go that route. Thanks for the input.

Any thoughts on a new monitor? 32in1440? I play mostly RTS like TW and Civ