Is building your own PC worth it anymore?

jns575

New Member
I've recently been looking into doing a new PC build. I've gathered up all the parts that I'm looking to put in. I'm not looking for anything too extravagant. Honestly, something cheap and powerful. I've been able to make builds in the $800-900 range. Which is a little bit more than I was wanting to spend.

Although, I go on websites and find PCs with comparable hardware for $660.

Am I doing something wrong?

Any advice on building a budget PC?

I was hoping to utilize the FX8350.

Thanks!
 
You have to remember that already prebuilt systems have cheap hardware and only a 1 year warranty. When you build it yourself, you are getting better parts and most come with a 3 year warranty such as power supply, hard drive, cpu, motherboard. Memory has a lifetime warranty. Building your own is so worth it especially if you know how to build already.
 
Thanks John.

Another huge advantage is I'm not in a rush so I can wait for sales to pop on the pieces I want.

Whats the big difference between EVGA, ASUS, etc. GPUS? Is there one I should be looking for? or something different?

Thanks
 
Are you buying an OS as well? If so, that is part of the reason, large companies get much better bulk deals on OS's than we can get ourselves. You also need to remember that when you build your own computer, you generally use higher quality parts, and make slight upgrades in certain areas. For instance, when you are picking out a component, if something better is only a few dollars more, you'll go for it. Pre-built machines usually skimp on having the cheapest of the cheap motherboards, power supplies, and cases.
 
Whats the big difference between EVGA, ASUS, etc. GPUS? Is there one I should be looking for? or something different?

Not a lot really. They may use slightly different PCBs and have slightly different cooling on their cards and different warranties and so on, but they are both really good brands for graphics cards so I would just go with whoever is cheapest.

EVGA only makes NVIDIA cards but ASUS make both NVIDIA and AMD cards. The brand I've always bought for AMD cards though is Sapphire and usually I end up buying EVGA for NVIDIA.
 
Pre-builts usually use no name power supply and that's a most vital part to maintain your PC's health. They may use other no name parts as well. Their goal is profit.

Building your own means you can select the parts and there members here that can help you select parts from budget to gaming PCs.

I've built my i3 system with a budget ($300+) in mind and still have better parts.
Now I have an i5 system with better parts for $600+ and this here is from waiting for sales and discounts from Newegg. I was using my i3 system doing it and It paid off.
 
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