Prebuilt or Selfbuilt?

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Dmk7001

New Member
My family is looking to buy a new computer and we don't know whether to get prebuilt or not. The main issues are whether we can get a good enough prebuilt for our budget to be able to play any pc game for the next few (3ish maybe more?) years (even if not on the highest settings) versus the possible complications regarding warranties and what is broken if the custombuilt one stops working. Expanding on the warranty thing abit it's my mum who's worried about this as we have been plagued with problems with our now completly broken pc, the ease of just sending a prebuilt back saying it no longer works and having them fix it rather than presumably having to prove which part is broken with a custombuilt (which we would definately not be able to say with certainty as none of us have any technical expertise with computers. Our budget is 600-700 pounds (the symbol on my keyboard is not working??) although I can add in maybe 200 more if it makes a big differance.

Basically I think what I'm asking is:
Which do you think would be best and why? Is it hard to prove which part is broken and get it replaced with a custom pc? Can we buy a good prebuilt in our budget? ect.

Whichever we decide I'll probably be posting another thread asking for suggestion. Thanks in advance.
 
depends on how much you want to spend and where you go check out newegg.com and then check your local computer places check around to see if someone builds them near you
 
Are you comfortable not only with selecting the components, assembling the computer, installing OS and all applications BUT ALSO troubleshooting any issues that may crop up? If not, I would stay away from self-built.

If you purchase a pre-built from some place like Dell, not only do you get a warranty ON THE WHOLE SYSTEM but they will send someone to your home to do the repair. With a pre-built each individual component will have its own warranty but you will need to determine which component is at fault, remove it, return/exchange it, then install the replaced component.

There's pros and cons to both methods but, for some people, building your own may be more than they can or want to handle.
 
i like to build but if you want the comfort of the warranty and all check newegg, they always have good deals for both ways on parts and pc's, and they have decent brands that charge little for good gaming comps.
 
I recommend buying Dell Optiplexes to all of my clients, for under $500 USD you can get a solid computer with LCD and a 3 year next day warranty. You can build them for less than that, but will it last 3 years? You definately will not have a warranty to cover it...
 
Dmk7001 said:
....budget to be able to play any pc game for the next few (3ish maybe more?) years (even if not on the highest settings)....
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That is harder to do. Buying a prebuilt that can run any of today's games and for the next three years will run you some dollars. You could do it with a good gaming custom for less than a nice prebuilt.

But, a thought.... what if you guys bought a PS3, or Wii or XBOX 360 and bought/built a simpler PC? You're talking about this being a family computer. So when mom wants to get on coupons/facebook/or other, dad wants to look up car/woodworking tools and read the news, your sibling wants to get more music on iTunes and sit on Facebook all day playing bingo or farmville, and you want you play Fallout New Vegas for 6+ hours.

Then some of you will be able to play a game, or watch netflix, etc... instead of everyone always arguing over the computer! :D

If you do this you could afford a cheaper computer and buy a gaming console and STILL have money left over for iTunes, games, and whatever else. And this way you wont be using the computer for heavy gaming loads it will have a greater chance of lasting longer.
 
Thanks for all the advice. With our lack of techinal expertise I think we have to go prebuilt so I guess we just have to find the best within budget. I'll post another thread when I've found whatever seems to be best within budget asking if they are ok and if I've missed anything obvious or any good deals. Thanks again for help.

Gamblingman, I already have a ps3 it's just not all games I want are on ps3 and some are but are better on pc, it's abit greedy I suppose but my dad does play the total war games abit on pc as well.
 
well unless you're stupid, no offence if you are even though i can't see how you wouldn't take offense, it is easy to build a computer, it's just some screws and a couple wires, and most cases and mobos come with manuals telling you what to do, i took apart and reasembled a computer within 30 mins with no techn ical knowledge of any sort in my room and put it into a new case all by myself and i'm 14, if you and your dad can't figure it out then three's something wrong with you, just look up a vid on youtube and there should be a guy assembling his computer, and tha'll show you how it is, not that hard at all
 
It's not the putting it together that's the problem, just google for videos, bit of logic and a free afternoon and that's done, the problem is if it breaks having to identify which part is broken and prove that's the part that's broken to be able to claim warranty whereas with a prebuilt can just say it's not working and send it off. We have had numerous problems with computers in the past so my parents are wary of anything that will add further complications to getting it fixed. But yes I know we can get tons better for money with prebuilt :(.
 
believe me, my prebuilt's mest up now, and i'd rather have built it cuz they're saying our warranty is out so i have to prove our purchase, and the warranty was a 1 year parts and labor, and was purchased on 07/18/10, and they say nay, and i know the psu is what's wrong, and our protection plus from bj's won't work cuz it kicks in 1year after the purchase, and we already called them bout it and once it kicks in it'll be a pre existing condotion that isn't covered by them, so in other words, prebuilt warranty sucks in numerous cases, and you can get cards that will test most cables to check, or take it to a shop and they can check it for you for a couple bucks, and btw, without the warranty for this its 200+tax+1 way shipping, so warranty sucks in this case with and without it, and we already know what's wrong with it
 
gamblingman said:
what if you guys bought a PS3, or Wii or XBOX 360
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If not something like this ^, I'd suggest building. Like said, by the time you buy a prebuilt of the components you want, and the hassle free type of warranty you want but will have to pay extra for, you'll need a bigger budget.

You speak of "complications regarding warranties". I know you mean PC complications. But there can also be complications with the warranty itself being honored without you having to pay something anyways.

I'm thinking the "plague of problems" have been with prebuilt. Buying a better than standard warranty won't get you a better machine. You want one for which you won't have to use the warranty.

The one you build will be less apt to fail because there would be no quality compromise on any part. The parts have from 1 to about 5 yr warranty.

If help is ever needed, there are many highly experienced members here that can diagnose and instruct the fix on whatever,,, the symptom may be.

btw, if you wanted to see about fixing that broken pc, you could make a new post on that with what kind it is and what it's doing or not doing, and get some feedback on it.
 
yeah, i forgot to mention this, it took us almost an hour just to find a way to talk to someone without paying the 100 buck to use the phone, and the internet guy was so slow to answer every time and was a complete dumb $H!t thanks to our prebuilt's warranty, trust me, it truly will save you much trouble to build it since you're far less likely to need it unless it arrives dead, which newegg is easy to get to replace it, as far as i know, and otherwise it's alot cheaper to replace the part, and by then it'll probably need to be upgraded anyways, so you'd've done it sooner or later anyways
 
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Thanks for the further replies (even though it's making the choice even more difficult -_-). I've never bought self built before, how hard is it to get a part replaced? I mean is just saying some guy on a forum said this part is broken enough? Additionally won't I have to buy a OS (windows 7), looking on http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en-GB/Microsoft/Windows/Windows-7 it costs alot doesn't this balance out the cost differance somewhat?

We've had someone look at the old machine and while I can't remember everything thats broken I think it came to a estimated 350 pounds to fix which as it was starting to struggle with the newer games means it's just not worth it and we might as well get a new one. Sorry for the late response with this post and maybe further ones, lots of stuff has been happening lately and now we have relatives round so a new computer is temporarily low priority.
 
Dmk7001 said:
... how hard is it to get a part replaced? I mean is just saying some guy on a forum said this part is broken enough? Additionally won't I have to buy a OS (windows 7), looking on http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en-GB/Microsoft/Windows/Windows-7 it costs alot doesn't this balance out the cost differance somewhat? ...
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I've never had an issue asking to return a part for replacement, they generally don't argue with you if you tell them the part is defective and ask for replacement. Returning a part for a refund is a little sticky since they will often want to charge a restocking fee.

Yes, you will need to buy an OS and that is a factor in the price difference. A company like Dell can buy an OS like Win 7 for much less than you can for several reasons. They buy 1,000s of copies so MS gives them a discount there but they also install trial software and such which companies like MS pay them to do which helps defray their cost. A major annoyance factor of buying a pre-built is that it needs to be "decrapified" to remove all the junk trialware that the system builder may load it up with.
 
oh, and the part about when it's not playing well and you said isn't it better to just get a new one, that's when you upgrade the gpu and lower settings, manly shaders and resolution
 
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