Is it worth building your own computer?

[jvogs]

I've recently saved $1100 to buy a Gaming PC. However, recently I've been seeing a lot of videos on YouTube titled, "Are custom PCs worth it in 2018?" and others similar to it, but most of these videos were from early January. So, is it worth it now? Should I spend my $1100 on a custom PC or can I get better value out of buying a prebuilt for the same price? Thank you for the help.

 

[Barty1884]

Memory and GPU prices have been high for a while now. Buying pre-builts enabled you to get some of that hardware for (closer) to MSRP than you could yourself.

The problem with most (not all) pre-builts, is the component choices. Especially in motherboards and PSUs. A lot of the time you'll be told which chipset, and the wattage/80+ cert of the PSU..... but that's not really enough to make a decision.

Some systems, like Cyberpower et al, can be "worth it" for the majority of the components - but typically you should really look to replace the PSU, at a minimum.


NZXT's "BLD" service is pretty appealing though. There's no huge markup and, while component choices are limited..... they're all typically top tier components.

https://www.nzxt.com/bldnow

For example:

For that kind of money, today..... no. I don't think it's "worth it" unless the premium ($100, I think) is worth the warranty etc to you.

That same system (give or take, as I didn't not down everything it included) is ~$850 or so, and not a great use of funds.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.69 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken M22 Liquid CPU Cooler ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B360M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($55.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.39 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $839.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-21 18:07 EDT-0400


Considering, for the same money (ish) as the BLD service you could have something along these lines:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B360M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($55.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Green 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.90 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.64 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1044.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-21 18:10 EDT-0400

 

[toshibitsu]

Most of the time you can get a pre-built system with the same specs as one you'd build yourself for cheaper(especially when there's sales/promos). The up side of building it yourself is of course being able to say "i built it!" and feel more of a 'bond' towards the system. That and normally if you're someone who likes tinkering with electronics/building things then obviously you are going to build it yourself. Not to mention when you build it yourself, you get to pick each and every part of the build and know exactly what you're putting together... as opposed to a pre-built("what motherboard is in there? what psu is that? etc...)

 

[USAFRet]

My personal build/buy line is $500.
Over that, build it.

You get to choose the exact parts, and you get to take that extra time to build it correctly.
And if things do go a little bit weird, you'll have a much greater concept of what it might be. Rather than the PC simply being a broken black box.

 

[velocityg4]

The key advantage in DIY is choosing parts. Typically prebuilts use a cheap PSU, cheap motherboard (with no OC support), cheap heatsink, cheap case and cheap fans. Sure by doing this they keep the price down while putting the fastest CPU and GPU and the most RAM they can. By building it yourself you can have a higher quality computer (ie reliable) and one with a better future upgrade path.

Prices vary a lot. DIY prices are down at the moment. I've chosen the best $1100 deal on newegg.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883102378

I've beat it in terms of part quality, CPU cooling, added a 240GB SSD and increased HDD space to 2TB. It includes Windows 10 which a lot of lists on this site skip. Not that this is the best for the money. I'm just comparing what they offer and what you can do.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($238.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright - Macho Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime Z370-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($119.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Team - L5 LITE 3D 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - RE4 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.90 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1106.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-21 18:23 EDT-0400

 

[Barty1884]

Rather than the PC simply being a broken black box.

.....with RGB :lol:


When GPU prices were sky-high, some of the pre-builts were appealing enough (with some modifications), almost regardless of price-point. But now we're seeing some normality return in GPU prices, they've lost most of their appeal.

In the ~$500 space, pre-builts can bring some value....
Much beyond that though, and building your own is the way to go.

 

[toshibitsu]

speaking of RGB... I was wondering when it was going to happen to SSD's: https://www.newegg.com/promotions/storage/18-1577/index.html?cm_sp=SubCat_Internal-SSDs-_-storage%2f18-1577-_-https%3a%2f%2fpromotions.newegg.com%2fstorage%2f18-1577%2f1920x120.jpg&icid=453176

 

[USAFRet]

speaking of RGB... I was wondering when it was going to happen to SSD's: https://www.newegg.com/promotions/storage/18-1577/index.html?cm_sp=SubCat_Internal-SSDs-_-storage%2f18-1577-_-https%3a%2f%2fpromotions.newegg.com%2fstorage%2f18-1577%2f1920x120.jpg&icid=453176

ewww....
I'd pay extra to have that removed.