Why to build instead of buy Pre-built

Comments

• EMT-P Member Posts: 19

  February 2013

  Originally posted by Aori

  While I always appreciate seeing more people helping those who need it.. I feel as though we're being viewed as the backwoods folk of some hick village.

  It is great you touched on the pricing of DIY and Prebuilt, however you also scare people at the time time. You have to be Intentionally careless to damage PC parts. Also providing a link to videos on DIY installations is great for newbies.

  I have to disagree with you on RMA process, after 30 day periods end then the RMA process can turn into a PITA. For a general PC user a general warranty on a PC of 1-3 years can be far less daunting. Because when you're new lets face it, they're going to struggle to find out what part isn't working or died. Then dealing with the seperate company on the RMA is a battle sometimes.

  I want to add prebuilt system have the same maintenance requirements as a DIY system. It isn't like prebuilt system have self cleaning abilities.

  Prebuilt systems are a viable option for people as long as they helped making an informed dicision on the system itself. Sure there is a premium however some people really like the peace of mind and less hassle aspect of it all.

  Good point I'll add some great DIY videos that helped me. I'll include that at the beginning of the post,

   

  As for for you last comment "Prebuilt systems are a viable option for people as long as they helped making an informed dicision on the system itself. Sure there is a premium however some people really like the peace of mind and less hassle aspect of it all."

  Good point about the peace of mind and less hassle, (Which is one of my pro's of being quick,fast and easy) DIY vs Pre-built is mainly a budget + effort decision. If you are willing to put in effort to save some money it's totally worth it. If you aren't on a budget then go with the pre-built. You'll get a much better built PC if you build it yourself (Considering if both are the same price)
• eddieg50 Member UncommonPosts: 1,809

  February 2013

  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research
• EMT-P Member Posts: 19

  February 2013

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 
• miguksaram Member UncommonPosts: 835

  February 2013

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 

  CyberpowerPC and Ibuypower (different companies but certainly appear to be under the same ownership) do indeed at least offer one of the most comprehensive prebuilt part selections available but their reputation preceeds them with regards to their attention to detail and customer service (or rather lack thereof in this case).  All companies that manage to keep their heads above water will have customers that don't experience the well documented negative sides of said company.  And yes someone who has a negative experience is much more likely to be vocal about it than someone who's experience was pleasant (as that is usually what we expect).  As someone who appears to understand computers and the general markup charged by online retailers I would think you can also appreciate just how do companies like these offer such stellar deals over their competition?  My advice to anyone seeking to purchase a prebuilt is compare various customer reviews from numerous sites before pushing "buy".
• EMT-P Member Posts: 19

  February 2013

  Originally posted by miguksaram

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 

  CyberpowerPC and Ibuypower (different companies but certainly appear to be under the same ownership) do indeed at least offer one of the most comprehensive prebuilt part selections available but their reputation preceeds them with regards to their attention to detail and customer service (or rather lack thereof in this case).  All companies that manage to keep their heads above water will have customers that don't experience the well documented negative sides of said company.  And yes someone who has a negative experience is much more likely to be vocal about it than someone who's experience was pleasant (as that is usually what we expect).  As someone who appears to understand computers and the general markup charged by online retailers I would think you can also appreciate just how do companies like these offer such stellar deals over their competition?  My advice to anyone seeking to purchase a prebuilt is compare various customer reviews from numerous sites before pushing "buy".

  I do wonder everytime I see there deals how they manage to do it. When I first looked at the site I was very skeptical at how they were offering and what they were holding back on. One of the major ones I found was they hide the OS making a build seem 100$ less then it actually was.

  And it ALWAYS is a good practice to look around for the best deals. I simply used CyberpowerPC with my experience with them.
• jtcgs Member Posts: 1,777

  February 2013

  Whenever I hear someone say they are getting a pre-built I go into internet retro mode and turn into James Hetfield screaming "Pre-Built bad!"...

   

   

  /for you newfags thats from "Napster bad"

  “I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
• Vrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,990

  February 2013

  Originally posted by EMT-P

   

  Self-built Pro's

  • Easier to RMA(return merchandise authorization) parts that arrive DOA(Dead on arrival)

  Pre-built Con's

  • If ANY piece arrives DOA you have to RMA the entire PC

  Otherwise really good post, but I have to disagree with that.

  For average PC user it's a huge pro that you can return entire pre-built PC if it's not working, and a huge con that with self-built PC you have to be able to diagnose which part is faulty and return only that part. Telling what isn't working when the computer doesn't start is normally way beoynd the skills end equipment your average PC user has.

   
• Vrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,990

  February 2013

  Some good links for those trying to choose PC parts:

  MMO-Champion forums have an excellent thread with sample computer builts at different price ranges: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/986175-Marest-s-Sample-Builds

  Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com has

  • GPU performance charts http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2012-vga-gpgpu/19-Tom-s-Hardware-Index-B-Performance,2976.html
  • CPU performance charts: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/cpu-charts-2012/-07-PCMark-7,3150.html

  And articles like

  • Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html
  • Best Graphic Cards For the Money: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
  • Best SSDs For The Money http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html

  You can use the charts to quickly look at (roughly) how fast some processor or graphic card is, and the articles give good recommendations of products at different price ranges. Articles links go to January 2013 articles which will be outdated when Tom's Hardware releases their February 2013 articles.

   
• Kabaal Member UncommonPosts: 3,042

  February 2013

  Personally i'm for RMA'ing individual parts, but then i haven't bought a pre-built since an old HP system about 10 years ago that did nothing more than run excel.

  It's worth pointing out that RMA is more useful if you plan the brands you buy based on where you live. For example Gigabyte are hugely recommended in the UK because their RMA is UK based and can take as little as 3 days to recieve a replacement part from the day you post it back to them. Generally the further away the company is the longer it will take and the more postage will cost, Corsair for example are just across the water in The Netherlands and can take a couple of weeks but are generally quicker than that. Then you get companies like XFX who's time isn't really down to where they are but more bad practice, they can take a couple of months on occassion and aren't averse to physically breaking parts themselves then blaming it on the customer.
• eddieg50 Member UncommonPosts: 1,809

  February 2013

  Originally posted by miguksaram

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 

  CyberpowerPC and Ibuypower (different companies but certainly appear to be under the same ownership) do indeed at least offer one of the most comprehensive prebuilt part selections available but their reputation preceeds them with regards to their attention to detail and customer service (or rather lack thereof in this case).  All companies that manage to keep their heads above water will have customers that don't experience the well documented negative sides of said company.  And yes someone who has a negative experience is much more likely to be vocal about it than someone who's experience was pleasant (as that is usually what we expect).  As someone who appears to understand computers and the general markup charged by online retailers I would think you can also appreciate just how do companies like these offer such stellar deals over their competition?  My advice to anyone seeking to purchase a prebuilt is compare various customer reviews from numerous sites before pushing "buy".

     Agreed!  If you do carefull research companies like Ava Direct and Digital Storm have much higher ratings than other companies-stats do not lie.  That being said if you are confident in your abilities to put together a computer yourself go for it
• miguksaram Member UncommonPosts: 835

  February 2013

  Originally posted by eddieg50

  Originally posted by miguksaram

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 

  CyberpowerPC and Ibuypower (different companies but certainly appear to be under the same ownership) do indeed at least offer one of the most comprehensive prebuilt part selections available but their reputation preceeds them with regards to their attention to detail and customer service (or rather lack thereof in this case).  All companies that manage to keep their heads above water will have customers that don't experience the well documented negative sides of said company.  And yes someone who has a negative experience is much more likely to be vocal about it than someone who's experience was pleasant (as that is usually what we expect).  As someone who appears to understand computers and the general markup charged by online retailers I would think you can also appreciate just how do companies like these offer such stellar deals over their competition?  My advice to anyone seeking to purchase a prebuilt is compare various customer reviews from numerous sites before pushing "buy".

     Agreed!  If you do carefull research companies like Ava Direct and Digital Storm have much higher ratings than other companies-stats do not lie.  That being said if you are confident in your abilities to put together a computer yourself go for it

  I've found that AVA direct tends to offer some of the best prices from an online retailer with a well documented positive history.  The only thing I don't really care for is their lack of options compared to their competition but I'm assuming their pricing model is based on bulk purchases of the same equipment which allows to offer the systems at the price they do.
• miguksaram Member UncommonPosts: 835

  February 2013

  Noticed a new article on Anandtech today that might interest those in the market for a Xbox 360 size "desktop".  I wil caveat this by the fact it is brought to you by Ibuypower but I've yet to see a retail MB that allows the configuration they are offering in their new system (it is honeslty quite unique but the verdict is still out on whether or not it's either smart or efficient).

  http://www.anandtech.com/show/6752/ibuypower-revolt-system-review-closing-the-boutique-and-opening-the-store
• EMT-P Member Posts: 19

  February 2013

  Originally posted by miguksaram

  Noticed a new article on Anandtech today that might interest those in the market for a Xbox 360 size "desktop".  I wil caveat this by the fact it is brought to you by Ibuypower but I've yet to see a retail MB that allows the configuration they are offering in their new system (it is honeslty quite unique but the verdict is still out on whether or not it's either smart or efficient).

  http://www.anandtech.com/show/6752/ibuypower-revolt-system-review-closing-the-boutique-and-opening-the-store

  Is that just a case mod basically? it looks interesting, but I don't know the advantages of it other then looking like a 360 :P.

  The specs are decent though, curious to see the price.
• Yizle Member Posts: 517

  February 2013

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by eddieg50
  You have made a nice little comparison. I do however disagree with you on cyberpower rep which is awful. Check out AVA Direct which has an excellent rep. I compared parts at new egg and tiger and compared those to Ava and Ava was about $150 more on a $1400 system. I decided to go with Ava based on their rep and price and I just did not want to take the time and effort to do it myself and yes I was afraid I would mess it up etc. It also came with a 3 yr warrentee. It arrived in a big box surrounded by air foam, the interior of the comp was very neat and again had foam protecting the parts. I have had this for about 5 months and it works perfectly.   So if you ar going to buy a pre built do not get if from cyber or Ibuy or any of those crap houses do a bit of research

  I've had many friends I've recommended to CyberpowerPC, who have gotten great deals and great customer support. 

   My experience as well as my brother's with them was completely horrid.
• miguksaram Member UncommonPosts: 835

  February 2013

  Originally posted by EMT-P

  Originally posted by miguksaram

  Noticed a new article on Anandtech today that might interest those in the market for a Xbox 360 size "desktop".  I wil caveat this by the fact it is brought to you by Ibuypower but I've yet to see a retail MB that allows the configuration they are offering in their new system (it is honeslty quite unique but the verdict is still out on whether or not it's either smart or efficient).

  http://www.anandtech.com/show/6752/ibuypower-revolt-system-review-closing-the-boutique-and-opening-the-store

  Is that just a case mod basically? it looks interesting, but I don't know the advantages of it other then looking like a 360 :P.

  The specs are decent though, curious to see the price.

  In this case it's not just a case mod.  Check out the orientation of the motherboard and the GPU.  It's a custom motherboard that I assume must be using a daughterboard to all the GPU to fit the way it does.