Huh, Costco looks to have a decent gaming PC

[Craig234]

Used to a lot of compromises from Costco, but this looks decent? 2080 based system.

https://www.costco.com/.product.100507739.html?&EMID=B2C_2019_0926_Oct_Savings

 

[quikah]

Looks OK, but seems like a waste to pair a 9700k with a SATA III SSD rather than an NVMe. Also would wonder about the quality of the power supply.

 

[Aikouka]

Looks OK, but seems like a waste to pair a 9700k with a SATA III SSD rather than an NVMe. Also would wonder about the quality of the power supply.

I don't think it's too big of a deal. As long as it's a quality SSD (i.e. not DRAM-less), most people will never really notice a difference in real-world use anyway. I would actually prefer that the SSD was a bit bigger! I just downloaded the Steam version of Destiny 2 and it was 80GB, which is 1/6 of that SSD.

I probably wouldn't be too worried about individual components unlike what we saw with the Walmart Overpowered PCs since these are actually just iBuyPower PCs being sold through Costco.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Considering how easy it is to build a PC, there's really no good reason to buy a pre-built system. Not only can you usually get much better hardware, but it doesn't come filled with bloatware that most store-bought PCs come with. The PC doesn't look bad, but if you're asking if you should buy it, then I'm going to say no and that you should build one yourself.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Considering how easy it is to build a PC, there's really no good reason to buy a pre-built system. Not only can you usually get much better hardware, but it doesn't come filled with bloatware that most store-bought PCs come with. The PC doesn't look bad, but if you're asking if you should buy it, then I'm going to say no and that you should build one yourself.

-A good middle ground solution for some folks is to get a solid non-gaming PC and do piecemeal upgrades to get it up to gaming status. You get a functional PC out the gate (none of that first power-up anxiety) and learn things by swapping in and out parts as you go.

Worked better back in the day when sockets actually spanned multiple chip generations, but not a bad way to go if you're building without an knowledgeable friend to help you out if things go sideways.

Microcenter's pre-built PC brand (powerspec I think?) Is a good one since they use 100% off the shelf parts with little bloat (at least it's super easy to get rid of).

 

[BoomerD]

Considering how easy it is to build a PC, there's really no good reason to buy a pre-built system. Not only can you usually get much better hardware, but it doesn't come filled with bloatware that most store-bought PCs come with. The PC doesn't look bad, but if you're asking if you should buy it, then I'm going to say no and that you should build one yourself.

I dunno. I built my own for 20+ years. This year, I bought one of the IBuyPower rigs from Costco. I7-9700k, 2070, 16GB. Sure, only has a 240GB SSD and 2 TB HDD, but I added an NVMe 1TB drive to it.
It's fast and powerful, price was very close to what I'd have paid for similar components, and comes with a 2 year warranty from Costco.
My only "complaints" would be that it has an FSP PSU, and the liquid cooler is a bit noisy and doesn't seem to cool very well. I got better cooling (and quieter) with my Noctua dual fan air cooler.
Plus...I didn't have to stress about bending pins during the CPU install or "will it fit" when buying components.

 

[JTsyo]

I dunno. I built my own for 20+ years. This year, I bought one of the IBuyPower rigs from Costco. I7-9700k, 2070, 16GB. Sure, only has a 240GB SSD and 2 TB HDD, but I added an NVMe 1TB drive to it.
It's fast and powerful, price was very close to what I'd have paid for similar components, and comes with a 2 year warranty from Costco.
My only "complaints" would be that it has an FSP PSU, and the liquid cooler is a bit noisy and doesn't seem to cool very well. I got better cooling (and quieter) with my Noctua dual fan air cooler.
Plus...I didn't have to stress about bending pins during the CPU install or "will it fit" when buying components.

PCpartpicker.com is great for pointing out incompatibility. You can also use others' builds as a template. Part of the experience for me is preparing to build and reading up on all the new tech and trying to min/max cost/performance.

 

[Aikouka]

the liquid cooler is a bit noisy and doesn't seem to cool very well. I got better cooling (and quieter) with my Noctua dual fan air cooler.

That’s probably not too much of a surprise. They’ve likely got a 120mm AIO cooler in there and Noctua’s high-end tower coolers easily keep up with nice 240mm AIO coolers or better. The only thing that I prefer about AIO is that it removes weight from pulling down on the motherboard (if mounted vertically). Outside of that, it’s hard to beat a good, 140mm air cooler.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have to agree with those people that say build your own. For that price, and shopping sales for components, and if you value your time at zero dollars (because you are an enthusiast, and enjoy building PCs), then I would say build. Overall, though, seems a bit pricey, but the specs are nice.

 

[balloonshark]

Did you all see the "OVERPOWERED DTW3 Desktop: i7-8700, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1080 Ti 11GB for $999 + Free Shipping" posted at slickdeals? It just appeared on their front page today. Just thought I would mention since I remember seeing this topic. https://www.walmart.com/ip/66JOIO7GH9ZB

 

[WhiteNoise]

Putting together a PC with the same specs on Newegg, buying the cheapest priced item for each category, That PC would cost $1749.91 plus tax to build yourself. Course I would change a few things out and end up spending a bit more myself but all in all you are kinda getting your monies worth from that costco box.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Did you all see the "OVERPOWERED DTW3 Desktop: i7-8700, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1080 Ti 11GB for $999 + Free Shipping" posted at slickdeals? It just appeared on their front page today. Just thought I would mention since I remember seeing this topic. https://www.walmart.com/ip/66JOIO7GH9ZB

Several of the tech tubers have reviewed them, and they are hot garbage. Even at a grand, I'd have serious reservations about recommending it.

 

[BoomerD]

Putting together a PC with the same specs on Newegg, buying the cheapest priced item for each category, That PC would cost $1749.91 plus tax to build yourself. Course I would change a few things out and end up spending a bit more myself but all in all you are kinda getting your monies worth from that costco box.

That's kind of what my mindset was when I did my comparison shopping. Yes, I could have gotten a slightly better cooler, a better mobo than the ASRock board I got, a slightly better video card, a larger SSD, ETC...AT A MUCH HIGHER PRICE. This current config works just fine for my current needs...and I can upgrade things as I choose later. (Already added the NVMe drive and have a Seasonic PSU to install when I'm not so lazy.)

 

[UsandThem]

I've bought a few pre-built PCs over the years when they had a too-good-to-pass-up sale, and they were cheaper than a person could build it for on their own.

The problem for me with each one of them is I am just too picky about the components.

 

[WhiteNoise]

The last pre-built I bought was back when I was 27 years old and it was my first PC. (I'm almost 47 now) and my second PC and every PC since I have built myself except for the ones I get from work on occasion and when Newegg asks me to review them.

In fact I have a really nice prebuilt that Newegg sent me and after I finished the review I gave it to my son. Only thing I had to do was put a RX560 in it that I also got from Newegg to review and its a great little PC for a 5 year old.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Considering how easy it is to build a PC, there's really no good reason to buy a pre-built system. Not only can you usually get much better hardware, but it doesn't come filled with bloatware that most store-bought PCs come with. The PC doesn't look bad, but if you're asking if you should buy it, then I'm going to say no and that you should build one yourself.

That is not necessarily true!!

 

[WhiteNoise]

I agree with JEDIYoda. Pre builts have their place and bloatware is not really an issue when you can do a clean install on them. Sure you can build a pc with better specs but not always for the cheap amount a prebuilt can be.

 

[Hans Gruber]

My last pre built computer was a Dell back in 1999. It was a good PC. Pentium 3 700mhz. I had the original GeForce 256. The very first Nvidia card. It broke but was under warranty. This was before Dell had people come to your house and mail in warranty service. The customer service agent said, unscrew the screws on the case. You see that card that says Nvidia. They sent me a Geforce 2 and after I swapped out the graphics card with telephone support. I asked myself why I was not building my own PC's. in 2003 I built my first system. An AMD 1800+. I think I had the ATI 9700pro right away and later the 9800pro. I had the great Dell Sony Trinitron flat screen 19" CRT monitor.

 

[alcoholbob]

Considering how easy it is to build a PC, there's really no good reason to buy a pre-built system. Not only can you usually get much better hardware, but it doesn't come filled with bloatware that most store-bought PCs come with. The PC doesn't look bad, but if you're asking if you should buy it, then I'm going to say no and that you should build one yourself.

I find when prebuilts are on sale they are cheaper than building it on your own--maybe by a good 20% or so. I still assemble on my own for fun but custom builds these days are going to be more expensive since you are buying the parts individually and these companies are buying parts in bulk.

I find similar experiences when I build speakers, if I'm DIYing with high end parts from Madisound or other OEM often a bespoke company selling speakers with good volume discounts can offer something equivalent on sale--fully assembled--for less than the cost of buying just the parts yourself. For example i tried to piece out a speaker that one manufacturer offers for $1300. I got to over $1300 in just the cost of drivers and crossover components and I hadn't even priced the cost or labor. Thing is a company buying parts in volume is often paying 30-40% less on parts than me trying to buy 1 of some random part.