One of the biggest advantages to building your own PC is the ability to essentially hand-pick every single component in the system. This allows you to really fine tune your build and customize it to fit your exact budget and performance requirements. You also have the added benefit of personalizing it completely to your liking.
Building your own PC opens the door to creating a beautifully unique system that you'll be proud to display at your battlestation. There's a definite satisfaction that comes from building your own gaming PC that you really won't find elsewhere. That being said, personalization is great, but the DIY route certainly isn't for the faint of heart.
Building a PC can be exhilarating and rewarding but also stressful, exhausting, and time consuming. Especially so for a first time builder. Luckily, there are a ton of great resources out there for building your first PC. Here's our beginner's guide to building a gaming PC. It may be a few generations old now, but the principles remain the same.
And, right now, buying a prebuilt PC is your most reliable route into the latest generation of graphics cards. GPUs today are so rare, and so expensive to buy as individual components that you are far better off relying on the bulk buying power of a big system builder. That way you can avoid the brutal markup that gets added to individual cards if you can find them.
Some might consider it vain, but another great reason to purchase a prebuilt is actually the design. Prebuilts like the Alienware's Aurora (opens in new tab) designs, or the beautiful Corsair One (opens in new tab), use completely unique in-house chassis you wouldn't be able to purchase when building yourself. You can take some comfort in knowing that these systems were designed and built specifically to house your configuration.
Best of all, you don't have to worry about cable management with options like these. Some companies will even offer competitive pricing that can actually rival building it yourself in some cases. However, you do tend to lose out on quite a bit of customization from those.
Every geek knows that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. But, for PC gamers and enthusiasts, there's an even more important question: build a rig or buy one pre-built? For many of our readers, the answer seems obvious: purchase your own components and build a desktop PC to meet your own exacting specifications. But there are also some very legitimate reasons to save your time (and often money) by buying a prebuilt desktop.
So, putting aside the laptop argument (if you want a laptop, you have no choice), let's look at what costs to buy or build three different gaming PCs. You might think that building your own is always a lot cheaper, but keep in mind that OEMs and boutique PC builders often get components at lower prices than you do. Also, even if the prebuilt PC costs just a little more, the savings in time and hassle could be well worth the money.
The price delta between building your own PC from parts and buying a similarly configured system ranges from as little as $100 to as much as $500. As you move up the price stack, it seems like the deltas get smaller. For example, the Alienware Aurora (old design) was only $181 more than our nearly-identical custom build, including a full copy of Windows that wasn't included in our custom build.
Now, if you already have some components you can re-use from your old PC, the price delta between building and buying becomes much more significant. But, if you're starting from scratch, the main question you need to answer is: "do I want to have complete control over the part selection or do I want to save time and hassle?" The right answer really depends on you.
Not to mention, building a PC is easier than you might think. (And we have a handy guide to walk you through it.) However, it does require enough technical expertise to select and install your own components.
If you build your own computer, in most cases, it will cost you less than if you bought a prebuilt system from the store. (Although, as we saw that with the global supply shortages that affected the GPU market, it was actually cheaper to buy a prebuilt gaming PC for a year or so.)
When you choose a case while building your own PC, you can select one that has options for cable management as well as slots to install fans. Even with mid-range builds, you should be able to find a case that allows for two or three fans.
Whether you are a student or an adult in the workforce, building a PC gives you an advantage over those who have not built their own computer. If you put 100 people in a room and ask how many of them can build a computer, I can guarantee that a small percentage would raise their hand.
If your computer has problems, you can fix it yourself. Maybe your parents, friends, children, or other relatives are having computer trouble too. Rather than spending thousands of dollars to replace it, they can call you over, and you can help diagnose and fix it yourself.
Yes, it is true that you place more responsibility on yourself when you build your own computer and take it upon yourself to fix any problems that arise during your build. However, in the process you will learn a lot about the inner-workings of a computer and most people who build their own computer find that any problems they run into can be easily solved with a quick search in Google for the solution.
When you buy a prebuilt computer from a retail location, it usually comes with a warranty that lasts for a year. These warranties typically cover the entire computer, which may sound nice but it ends up being an inconvenience if something goes wrong. If one part breaks or has a malfunction, you need to send your entire computer in for a repair, which leaves you without a computer in the meantime.
If you are a child or a teenager that is interested in building a computer, the process will help you mature faster and teach you some responsibility. PC parts are expensive, and if you are paying for it with your own money, then you will quickly learn the value of a dollar.
However, you might decide to jump into gaming in the future. Instead of buying an entirely new computer, you can just swap out a couple of parts on your existing PC to maximize your gaming experience. The parts that can be switched for customization include your graphics card, memory, case, optical drive, power supply, processor, motherboard, mouse, monitor, keyboard, and speakers.
Learning to solve problems in an efficient manner is a skill that can translate into other aspects of your life as well. During the computer building process, you are going to encounter some obstacles and bumps along the way.
If you encounter a problem during the building process, or even years down the road if you have an issue with one of your components, I guarantee someone else encountered these obstacles before. Reach out to someone on these message boards, comment sections, and other online forums for help. These communities are special because everyone shares a common interest. Maybe one day you can even contribute and offer advice to a first-time builder.
You will enjoy yourself throughout the entire process of building your PC. Sure, there might be a few mishaps or hiccups along the way, but those challenging aspects make things more interesting. Overall, building a computer is not a difficult process. There are step-by-step guides (including ours!) to help you along the way. All it takes from you is the concentration and ability to precisely follow instructions.
By building your own PC you get to spend the same amount of money, but on components that will actually improve your FPS. You can spend more on your graphics card and your RAM, while getting a processor that is just good enough.
When it comes to pre-built PCs, there are almost always overhead costs. Someone had to pay for the labor that went into picking the parts and building the computer, and those costs are relayed to you after the fact. Manufacturers get around this a little by ordering parts in bulk.
Purchasing your office computers ready to go straight out of the box isn't the only option available to you. Consider the advantages of putting together your own computer or series of computers, and it becomes apparent that the time and effort you need to invest the project is rewarded through cost savings and other benefits.
Building your own computer is often cheaper than buying a ready made one, because you can focus on the features you do need and leave out the ones that you don't. Computer manufacturers and retailers include the cost of assembly, support and other overheads in the price of a finished computer; build your own, and you only have to pay the cost of the components, as you'll be taking care of everything else yourself. Source your own components for a system that matches one sold as a complete computer online, and in most cases you'll be making a saving. The amount you can save depends on the type of components you're purchasing, and the retailer you usually buy your machines from, but it can be up to several hundred dollars.
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