One of the biggest debates in the gaming world is the question of whether it’s better to build or buy a gaming PC. Although it seems like most gamers today would advise you to build your own, are the advantages of customization and lower costs worth the time and effort? Making a choice between buying or building your own computer when purchasing your first gaming PC can be challenging, especially since both options have obvious advantages and disadvantages.
In the end, it comes down to three factors: your personal preferences, your financial capabilities, and the amount of time you have available. There’s a lot to think about so in order to make your decision a little easier, here’s a breakdown of some things to think about when choosing to build or buy your next gaming PC.
Table of Contents
Building Your PC
Making your own PC gives you the opportunity to virtually hand-pick each and every component, which is one of the biggest benefits. This enables you to completely fine-tune your build and adapt it to match your precise performance and spending needs. Additionally, you can completely customize it to your preferences.
Since many system builders have agreements with particular businesses, the variety of available components will be less than it would be if you searched the various parts retailers yourself.
Going it alone allows you to weigh the build according to how you will use your PC. Streaming and video editing in addition to gaming likely to be frequent activities? In that case, you’ll need a lot of RAM, a powerful CPU, and possibly some quick PCIe 4.0 storage as well. Put your entire budget toward the GPU and a processor powerful enough to support it if you’re a purebread gamer.
In the past, buying the parts separately meant you could find a deal and save money on the final build. That’s far harder these days, especially if we’re talking about graphics cards and the painful price increases that have accompanied both the chip supply crisis and the second coming of cryptocurrency mining. Even used GPUs are much more expensive than they ought to be.
The short of it is that a DIY PC is no longer a guaranteed route to being able to save some cash on your new system. Although prebuilt PC producers and system builders have undoubtedly advanced over time, none of them can provide the same flexibility and freedom as doing it yourself.
Making your own PC gives you the opportunity to design a stunningly distinctive system that you’ll be proud to showcase at your battlestation. Making your own gaming PC offers a sense of satisfaction that is hard to match. Personalization is great, but going the DIY route is definitely not for the weak of heart.
It can be exciting and rewarding to build a computer, but it can also be demanding, tiring, and time-consuming. especially true for a beginner builder. For building your first PC, fortunately, there are a ton of excellent resources available. Here is our building a gaming PC for beginners guide. The fundamentals haven’t changed despite being a few generations old.
However, even for an experienced builder, the entire process can take some time and, if something goes wrong, has the potential to be quite stressful. Here is where prebuilt gaming computers really excel.
Buying a Gaming PC
Do not feel guilty about purchasing if you lack the time to sit down and construct your own gaming computer. It’s not a quick fix to buy a computer. Simply put, it depends on what you believe to be the best way to spend your time and money. Although purchasing a pre-built gaming PC might be more expensive, there are many great advantages!
It’s done for you: All the work is done for you when you purchase a pre-built system. The company handles everything, including locating the components, determining their compatibility, turning on the PC, and making sure everything functions. Purchasing a gaming PC relieves the stress and reduces the possibility of something going wrong for people who are unfamiliar with computer components. Also, for people with busy schedules, you save yourself a lot of time by buying a pre-built system.
Warranty: More than just parts are included in the price of a PC. Spending that extra money also means that you get the added benefit of a warranty on the entire build. This implies that the business will be able to fix any problems you might experience. This warranty and dependability will be essential for those who are unfamiliar with a PC’s operation if your computer ever breaks down.
However, buying a pre-built system will probably cost more money than building your own PC. You’re paying for the labour of those building your system, and someone to do all the compatibility checks and testing for you. Additionally, since the manufacturer will be using the parts at their disposal, it is much more difficult to customize your own system. Purchasing a PC is probably not the best option if you’re looking for a specific appearance or component to be highlighted. However, if you have the extra cash to spend, you will be saving yourself time and will know that your build will be functional and ready to use.
FAQs
How Much Cheaper is Building a PC Vs Buying It?
Building your own PC will be anywhere from $50 – 300+ cheaper than buying it. If you purchase the same components for lower to midrange PCs, you won’t significantly reduce your costs. You can invest your money in the crucial hardware when you build your own PC, which is a benefit.
Is It Worth Building a Computer Right Now?
It certainly seems like a good time to invest. Not quite. Building a PC right now is almost guaranteed to get you a worse value than waiting until later in the year, especially as next-gen components loom on the horizon and push last-gen prices down.
How Long Do Gaming PCs Last?
Without replacing or upgrading parts, some gamers may be able to expect their gaming desktop to last for around 5-7 years while others could potentially get more than 10-12 years out of theirs.
Is a $1000 Gaming PC Worth It?
You can create a really reliable system if you have approximately $1,000 to spend on a new gaming PC build. For $1,000 you can build a gaming computer that can max out anything on a 1080P monitor easily.
Summary: is It Better to Build Or Buy a Pc?
The decision to build or purchase your gaming PC is entirely up to you, in the end. Would you rather have a system that you designed and customized or one that was built by someone else but is guaranteed to work? Both methods achieve the same goal but take different paths getting there. You must select the option that best suits your needs because it is a very personal choice. To ensure they have the best components and the best performing rig for their gaming experience, many gamers today opt to build their own systems. However, you can also find some high-performance pre-built systems at a great price with the option to customize or upgrade later on.
Your choice will ultimately be final.
