Desktop Computers
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Mist
Eeyore Enthusiast
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You get way better parts for about the same price. The parts the major PC manufacturers use are dogshit. Some OEM video cards have the same 'name' but are like 30% less powerful.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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That's essentially what I'm dealing with here, although a little less strict. He's a bit OCD with certain things, computers being one of them.
I was just saying I'll never talk him out of a tower, he doesn't believe in anything else. If it helps someone else then that's good, but he will never change.
Jovec
?
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Depends. Generally it's cheaper to buy pre-built in the sub $500 range. It's cheaper to build if you are going $1k+ (due to the huge premiums on things like extra RAM, SSD drives, and high-end GPUs). $500-$1k it probably depends on any deals you can get. While some of the pricier pre-builts use high-quality stuff, the appeal of a full build is complete control over all the components.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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For gaming PC's it's almost always cheaper, although by how much is dependent upon what you're building. Going with a pre-built company you're definitely paying for overhead.
popsicledeath
Potato del Grande
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Not really. The main reason to is because you're a hobbyist and/or enthusiast. It was never really about saving money, though, more about getting what you want for the purposes you need. If you're looking for a new gaming PC and are nerd enough to be on these forums, in this thread, you're probably in the camp of building a new PC.
Mist
Eeyore Enthusiast
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Building your own PC opens up superior warranty options. Everything you buy has a 3-7 year warranty built in, where if you buy a PC from a vendor you are a) at the mercy of their support rather than going directly to the component manufacturer, and more importantly b) prebuilt generally come with a only 1 year warranty and you have to pay extra for a mere 3 years.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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you don't save money, actually, you also have to factor in the mail in rebates you have to do yourself to even match a pre-built price, this is w/ 3yr
PCPartPicker part list/Price breakdown by merchant
CPU:Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor($229.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler:Cooler Master Seidon 120M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler($44.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory:G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage:Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive($47.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card:EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Case:Thermaltake Core V31 ATX Mid Tower Case($60.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply:Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply($62.98 @ Newegg)
Keyboard:Razer DeathStalker Essential Wired Gaming Keyboard($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Mouse:Corsair Raptor M30 Wired Optical Mouse($32.99 @ Amazon)
Total:$928.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-29 16:45 EDT-0400
is what i copied as much as possible from this cyberpower special at 925
Customize Mega Special II Gaming PC
looks like you get free shipping too (i didn't take it all the way to checkout, but says free shipping)
i obviously chose not to include OS to make it as exact as possible.
PCPartPicker part list/Price breakdown by merchant
CPU:Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor($229.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler:Cooler Master Seidon 120M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler($44.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory:G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage:Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive($47.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card:EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Case:Thermaltake Core V31 ATX Mid Tower Case($60.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply:Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply($62.98 @ Newegg)
Keyboard:Razer DeathStalker Essential Wired Gaming Keyboard($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Mouse:Corsair Raptor M30 Wired Optical Mouse($32.99 @ Amazon)
Total:$928.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-29 16:45 EDT-0400
is what i copied as much as possible from this cyberpower special at 925
Customize Mega Special II Gaming PC
looks like you get free shipping too (i didn't take it all the way to checkout, but says free shipping)
i obviously chose not to include OS to make it as exact as possible.
popsicledeath
Potato del Grande
- 7,524
- 11,780
If you search for deals, buy comparable parts, do rebates, look for free shipping, don't have to pay tax on newegg, etc, there are times you can actually save money. Purchasing power can certainly drive the price point down with pre-builts, though, so it can be hard to match their prices, but you're getting their options and decisions, not usually your own. And often people have old parts that can still be useful, which you can't really incorporate into a pre-built; for instance they aren't ever going to not ship with their hard drives.
Xexx
Vyemm Raider
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My pc has recently started being funny, sometimes it wont go past bios and it will "always" free inside bios. I did a fair amount of troubleshooting including clearing CMOS and decided to take a hammer to it when my new parts get in. My trusty 3770k is going to be replaced with a 4790k, still havent decided what speed ram to go with but from the previous post it seems that just for gaming the speed ends up being irrelevant in most cases.
Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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On paper, the two machines might look similar, but self-built you can get far superior brand name components. Instead of unknown oem generic RAM at 1600MHZ, I can put in quality branded (and faster / lower latency) modules. Power supplies are notoriously generic and questionable from pre-builts. Motherboards can be a complete crapshoot from generic brand to scaled down versions of the big boys. Video cards usually have the highest mark-up from pre-builts. SSD from pre-builts are often generic or very low quality vs a premium Samsung Pro or Evo you could buy off Amazon. A processor is a processor if you buy the same model. Cases are a personal preference.
I firmly believe that building your own gaming PC is better bang for your buck unless you are going the shoestring budget approach.
I firmly believe that building your own gaming PC is better bang for your buck unless you are going the shoestring budget approach.
Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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From your wording, it sounds like you purchased already? I would wait if at all possible. The next gen Intel CPUs (Skylake) paired with the next gen motherboard chipsets (100 Series / Sunrise Point) are due in September. That's right around the corner.
Mist
Eeyore Enthusiast
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Just take the ram out of the old machine. If you have a 3770k that RAM will be fine, assuming it's not what's fucked.
All you need to do is swap out the CPU and motherboard if it really is as fucked as you say it is.
I'd flash the BIOS to whatever the current version is and reseat the RAM before doing anything.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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actually if you looked at all the parts, it's all brand name stuff, i copied part for part what cyberpower can customize (they are actually pretty customizable, with tons of options, have to give them props for that)gskill ram/corsair ps/evga vid card, i mean what's generic really?
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Skylake is the next big generation. Haswell was from 2013 and Broadwell was just a die shrink of the same. Skylake gets you the next 2 years worth of tech. Plus there are some big leaps coming in the Sunrise Point chipset. (Tons more native USB3 ports, 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes, DDR4 support, Thunderbolt 3, etc etc)
The main point is, in traditional Intel fashion the new gen is priced exactly the same as the outgoing. If you can get by for 2 months, for the same price you could have the latest and greatest.
Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I was really talking about the behemoths like Dell / Alienware and the like. It's been ages since I screwed around on the Cyberpower website, but I always looked at them as a middle of the road company that is basically taking parts and putting it together for you. An assembler service, if you will. Last I checked, they do not have manufacturing like Dell churning out thousands of generic Dell-like OEM parts (PSUs, RAM, etc).