Thinking of going prebuilt vs. building my own

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
For the last 16 or 17 years I've built my own computers. I'm getting to the point where I no longer enjoy fiddling with and upgrading my computers. At most, I'd like to just swap a video card out when gaming performance becomes inadequate.

Years ago, it used to be the case that companies like Dell and HP had proprietary case designs that required a video card made to be used in a Dell or an HP or whatever the manufacturer happened to be. Is that still the case today or do they all use standard form factors now for video cards?

If they do, what model lines should I be looking at from companies like Dell or Lenovo that could support a high end video card? Are there any other smaller companies that specialize in custom spec computers that I should look at?
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
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Are there any other smaller companies that specialize in custom spec computers that I should look at?
Well, I don't know about specialize, but Micro Center will build custom computers for a $100 fee. Edit: And you can usually save close to that much by bundling a mobo and CPU there.

You say you're in SE Michigan. Is that near Madison Heights?

If you're thinking of more stock brands, most don't have good PSUs, but almost all will take at least a 750ti.
 

daveybrat

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jan 31, 2000
5,725
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Well, I don't know about specialize, but Micro Center will build custom computers for a $100 fee. Edit: And you can usually save close to that much by bundling a mobo and CPU there.

You say you're in SE Michigan. Is that near Madison Heights?

If you're thinking of more stock brands, most don't have good PSUs, but almost all will take at least a 750ti.

That's the best option. Microcenter has fantastic prices on their bundles. If you need a hand picking out the parts Jeff, let me know. Then all you have to do is go there and they'll build the pc for you saving you all the hassle but getting a killer pc at a great price and locally.
 

mistersprinkles

Senior member
May 24, 2014
211
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0
Dude, no. Build your own. OEM pc's use garbage motherboards, coolers, power supplies, etc. You know how to build your own, there is no excuse not to. It's not like it'll take you a long time with years of experience. Just throw it together, one time, and you're done.

Don't do the noob thing and buy OEM. It's never smart. Only if you are a total uber noob or have less than $500 to spend should you go OEM.
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
I don't really have a problem picking out parts. I keep up pretty well on new technology so I know what's out there and what the differences are.

My PC at work is an Optiplex 9010 with an i7-3770 and 16 GB of RAM. It's compact, powerful, quiet and has a lot of external ports. I realize putting a powerful video card in it would nearly double the power draw of a system like this, but it would be pretty convenient to buy a PC like this and stick a R9 270X in it and have a solid gaming PC.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
Trust me, build your own, especially if it's for gaming. I thought I was getting a deal, on a $500 lenovo i3-3240 pre-built that I picked up at Staples for like $330. But as it turns out, the pre-installed Windows 8 is no good, since it was installed with "Secure Boot" installed. I bought and installed a 7790 into it, which also required upgrading the PSU. But my understanding is, because the video card BIOS doesn't support UEFI GOP, then I have to install without secure boot. And since I don't have an 8 install disc, I just disconnected the 8 HDD and installed my own and put in 7.

In the end, I would have just been better off building my own anyways. What a boondoggle.

Thinking of taking the video card and 7 HDD out, re-enabling Secure Boot in BIOS, and selling it off.

Edit: Short version: UEFI and SecureBoot in OEM rigs will cause you countless hours of pain trying to upgrade the rig with a video card. Don't bother. Build with custom parts, so you can control the system.
 
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Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Trust me, build your own, especially if it's for gaming. I thought I was getting a deal, on a $500 lenovo i3-3240 pre-built that I picked up at Staples for like $330. But as it turns out, the pre-installed Windows 8 is no good, since it was installed with "Secure Boot" installed. I bought and installed a 7790 into it, which also required upgrading the PSU. But my understanding is, because the video card BIOS doesn't support UEFI GOP, then I have to install without secure boot. And since I don't have an 8 install disc, I just disconnected the 8 HDD and installed my own and put in 7.

In the end, I would have just been better off building my own anyways. What a boondoggle.

Thinking of taking the video card and 7 HDD out, re-enabling Secure Boot in BIOS, and selling it off.

Edit: Short version: UEFI and SecureBoot in OEM rigs will cause you countless hours of pain trying to upgrade the rig with a video card. Don't bother. Build with custom parts, so you can control the system.

Hmmm, I didn't think of all that crap. You're probably right. For $500 I can get a new (high end) motherboard, i5 and 16 GB of RAM and keep the other components that I already have. Maybe that's the way I'll end up going after all.
 

Dassem

Junior Member
May 10, 2012
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0
0
Something that i have done a few times for computer that were going to other people is : buy everything on ncix, pricematch everything to the lowest cost elsewhere and make them assemble everything(50$). They did a pretty good job on cable management so the inside look pretty neat and that way i never had a problem with people comming back to me saying i messed up something during the installation as i didnt touch anything! But it also works for you if you dont want to bother assembling everything.

No cursing in the technical forums.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator
 
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DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
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71
Since you build your own do you have friends who do as well? If you're really that tired of building yourself you could handpick the parts and let someone else build it.

I know if one of my friends wanted a computer built I'd be happy to do it for a 6-pack and a pizza, or a new Steam game, or some packs of Magic cards. But maybe that's just me.
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
I'm sure I could find a friend to do it, but I guess if I'm not going to buy an OEM PC and stick a nice video card and SSD in it, I may as well build it myself since I know how and it would be done to my standards.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
CyberPower has a decent selection of name brand parts including cases, along with the no-name stuff. The markup on the parts isn't much over newegg, you'd probably pay an extra $100-150 on a $1,000+ system.

It's easier than ever to build your own though -- 2 screwdrivers and an hour or two and you have the exact mix of parts you want.
 

mistersprinkles

Senior member
May 24, 2014
211
0
0
You like tiny PCs? Build in an EVGA Hadron. Everything you need in 1ftx1ftx6". There are fantastic ITX boards available today. Maximus VI impact, i5 4670K, and EVGA's ITX cooler (made for the Hadron case). Throw in a GTX 760 (or better. Up to 10.5") and off you go. Case includes an SFX 500W gold PSU.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,751
3,068
121
Hmmm, I didn't think of all that crap. You're probably right. For $500 I can get a new (high end) motherboard, i5 and 16 GB of RAM and keep the other components that I already have. Maybe that's the way I'll end up going after all.
Good idea, I'd say.
 
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
126
Trust me, build your own, especially if it's for gaming. I thought I was getting a deal, on a $500 lenovo i3-3240 pre-built that I picked up at Staples for like $330. But as it turns out, the pre-installed Windows 8 is no good, since it was installed with "Secure Boot" installed. I bought and installed a 7790 into it, which also required upgrading the PSU. But my understanding is, because the video card BIOS doesn't support UEFI GOP, then I have to install without secure boot. And since I don't have an 8 install disc, I just disconnected the 8 HDD and installed my own and put in 7.

In the end, I would have just been better off building my own anyways. What a boondoggle.

Thinking of taking the video card and 7 HDD out, re-enabling Secure Boot in BIOS, and selling it off.

Edit: Short version: UEFI and SecureBoot in OEM rigs will cause you countless hours of pain trying to upgrade the rig with a video card. Don't bother. Build with custom parts, so you can control the system.

Cant you disable secure boot in the BIOS? I agree though, that this is one of those cases where I hate the intrusive "security" obsession. Glad I got my last prebuilt with Win 7. Bought a close-out Dell XPS, put in a HD7770 and was good to go. Not a powerhouse, but decent enough for the games/settings I use. I feel I got a good deal on mine, but now I have to admit the Dell XPS prebuilts are outrageously overpriced.
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
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I'd only really recommend a pre-built for super budget builds without much power needed, like my friend picked up a refurbished Dell rocking a current gen i5 for ~$300 and added in a 750 Ti for his gaming needs. That situation and basic office PCs as well as high end professional work systems are the only things I'd go to pre-built for, otherwise building it yourself or having someone who knows what they're doing put it together for you is a much better option in quality and component configuration, not to mention better value most of the time.
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
I must admit I haven't kept up to date with AMD's CPUs. A quick look at benchmarks make me question why anybody would pay for an AMD CPU as it seems a similarly priced Intel CPU knocks them around quite handily at most things. Do they overclock like mad or something?
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
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They can overclock fairly well but they get very hot doing so. Even if they overclock to 6 GHz since clock frequency doesn't translate between architectures at all it doesn't really make that big a difference aside from bragging rights.

And the main selling point of AMD in the performance sector is that you get more cores for your money, that being said their definition of a core is pretty loose. Can be great value for money depending on the type of software you run though but I just prefer Intel's CPU's currently because they're a more efficient design package overall.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Dude, no. Build your own. OEM pc's use garbage motherboards, coolers, power supplies, etc.
BS. That may be true if you go to Best Buy and pick out the highest-spec crap you can find, but the big OEMs use perfectly fine components, if you're not buying the cheap junk (it's cheap for a reason, and people at retail will not pay more for quality). Dell XPS towers are fine, Optiplexes are good, HP Elites are good. Thinkcentres (sans Edge) are good. And so on. Add your own RAM and video card, and you'll be good to go.

I'd also vote to build, but there's nothing wrong with the major OEMs. If you buy cheap, you get cheap, whether you build or not.
 
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Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
I don't really have a problem picking out parts. I keep up pretty well on new technology so I know what's out there and what the differences are.

My PC at work is an Optiplex 9010 with an i7-3770 and 16 GB of RAM. It's compact, powerful, quiet and has a lot of external ports. I realize putting a powerful video card in it would nearly double the power draw of a system like this, but it would be pretty convenient to buy a PC like this and stick a R9 270X in it and have a solid gaming PC.
I've got a 7010, and it drives me nuts when the rest of the office is quiet. With a good heavy case, and any number of non-Intel CPU coolers,you can beat that thing's noise easily. A Fractal Define Mini is the go-to case for such things.
 

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,004
63
91
I'd much rather build it myself. It's like changing the brakes on a car or doing the oil- simple tasks that you can do for virtually no cost should be done yourself. It's satisfying and you know exactly what went into it.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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www.mfenn.com
BS. That may be true if you go to Best Buy and pick out the highest-spec crap you can find, but the big OEMs use perfectly fine components, if you're not buying the cheap junk (it's cheap for a reason, and people at retail will not pay more for quality). Dell XPS towers are fine, Optiplexes are good, HP Elites are good. Thinkcentres (sans Edge) are good. And so on. Add your own RAM and video card, and you'll be good to go.

I'd also vote to build, but there's nothing wrong with the major OEMs. If you buy cheap, you get cheap, whether you build or not.

Agree. Business-class OEM machines come with good warranties, so it's not in the OEM's interest to put crap parts into it. A single tech dispatch completely eliminates their profit margin on a ~$700 machine, so it's in their financial interest to ensure that the vast majority of machines don't have to be serviced.