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Best place to buy a pre-built gaming PC?
- Thread starter Kyne
- Start date
Is iBuyPower a good deal? Their Valentine Intel Z97 i5 doesn't look too shabby cost-wise... I see them advertised on DOTA Twitch Channels.
I would personally avoid the cost premium of working with a pre-built seller, and just buy the parts from NewEgg - it's really easy to build a good PC for very little cash. Think LEGO easy.
I would personally avoid the cost premium of working with a pre-built seller, and just buy the parts from NewEgg - it's really easy to build a good PC for very little cash. Think LEGO easy.
Had a completely hassle-free experience with Digital Storm: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
Had the system for almost a year now, still runs as good as the day I got it, and still runs pretty much every game at max settings. Got a Vanquish level IV.
Had the system for almost a year now, still runs as good as the day I got it, and still runs pretty much every game at max settings. Got a Vanquish level IV.
Put all the parts you want into your shopping cart and add the $50 option where they'll build it for you on http://ncix.com or http://ncixus.com
Piercedveil
Member
NCIX will let you pick the parts and build it for $50.
That could work for you if you have an idea of what parts she wants.
That could work for you if you have an idea of what parts she wants.
that kinda defeats the purpose of buying a prebuilt. Assembly is the easy part. Picking out which parts are good and which parts are compatible with each other is the hard part.
I wouldn't go with iBP. But I'm biased after their CS:GO team shenanigans and people reporting their stuff breaking down at CS:GO LANs.
banefirelord
Banned
I got a nice rig from Maingear. No bloatware, excellent experience.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Pay your pc store (30-50 euros, some do it for free if you order all the parts there) to build one for you.
You'll get to pick good parts (or let someone on gaf pick them for you within your budget) and get a better deal than buying some brand name pre built that uses inferior power supplies and cheap motherboards etc to up their bottom line
click on the 'need a new pc thread' , give gaf a link to your pc store where you want to buy it, tell them your budget range, tell them what you'll use it for and they'll give you a list of parts to pick on their website.
e.g : 600-700 dollars, HTPC, office work , internet, this store
gaffer tells you: you don't have to spend that much, here I made you a list
cpu : Intel G3258 2C/2T
motherboard: Biostar Hi-Fi B85S3+
...
etc etc
total cost 400 dollars
You put those parts in your online shopping cart and you're done...
And if you somehow picked something wrong that isn't compatible (idk how you'd not be able to take the parts from a list, but if you're irationally worried about that), your pc store is not going to put together a pc with incompatible parts (so the wrong motherboard or ram) for you, they'll email you about it and fix it
You can't say you don't know anything about hardware or building your own pc and then pretend to knowing better when it comes to the best and cheapest way to buy a computer...
You could also listen to people who just like you had no knowledge and already rationalised overpaying for inferior prebuilts
You'll get to pick good parts (or let someone on gaf pick them for you within your budget) and get a better deal than buying some brand name pre built that uses inferior power supplies and cheap motherboards etc to up their bottom line
What's hard about it...
click on the 'need a new pc thread' , give gaf a link to your pc store where you want to buy it, tell them your budget range, tell them what you'll use it for and they'll give you a list of parts to pick on their website.
e.g : 600-700 dollars, HTPC, office work , internet, this store
gaffer tells you: you don't have to spend that much, here I made you a list
cpu : Intel G3258 2C/2T
motherboard: Biostar Hi-Fi B85S3+
...
etc etc
total cost 400 dollars
You put those parts in your online shopping cart and you're done...
And if you somehow picked something wrong that isn't compatible (idk how you'd not be able to take the parts from a list, but if you're irationally worried about that), your pc store is not going to put together a pc with incompatible parts (so the wrong motherboard or ram) for you, they'll email you about it and fix it
You can't say you don't know anything about hardware or building your own pc and then pretend to knowing better when it comes to the best and cheapest way to buy a computer...
You could also listen to people who just like you had no knowledge and already rationalised overpaying for inferior prebuilts
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Build it yourself with her and have a bonding experience. C'mon bro!
When that PC turns on for the first time, it'll be worth it. You two can have sexy time together while Windows install.
Like... C'mon bro! It doesn't matter if you're a PC Virgin, we can help you build it.
C'MON BRO!
When that PC turns on for the first time, it'll be worth it. You two can have sexy time together while Windows install.
Like... C'mon bro! It doesn't matter if you're a PC Virgin, we can help you build it.
C'MON BRO!
possiblyphil
Member
If you have a Fry's Electronics near you they will let you buy the parts in store, online or any vendor really, bring it to their service desk and for 50 bucks will build it in front of you.
allotheabove123
Banned
If possible you should convince her to buy the parts and put it together herself.
Its not hard, its really fun and it helps you deal with potential problems if you know a bit about how everything works. Its also really cool to customize them and to see your effort and research come together into a capable machine.
Its not hard, its really fun and it helps you deal with potential problems if you know a bit about how everything works. Its also really cool to customize them and to see your effort and research come together into a capable machine.
Ravijn
Member
Or perhaps cry some tears when you get the post beeps.
Seriously though.. If you think you can build it yourself, do it.
1/2 the fun of owning a gaming PC is putting it together yourself. With all the time and money investment, it's like having a child...that plays Crysis 3 at max settings.
ScepticMatt
Member
Also constantly broke down at Dota 2 LANs. Twitch chat called them "iBuyShit"
Go for one of those sites that puts them together for you and you pick things out if you don't want to do it yourself. A lot of the prebuilt ones tend to skimp on things like the powersupply or motherboard. You'll pay a fee, sure, but your computer will be better for it.
Use things like the Computer build thread to help find the parts for you.
Use things like the Computer build thread to help find the parts for you.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Building a PC is so incredibly easy these days that even $50 seems steep to me. It's snapping together legos easy. I've heard bad things about iBuyPower.
drotahorror
Member
ecollegepc.com is good. Had a friend go through them.
+1 for ibuypower. I bought a desktop gaming PC from them in 2009 for <800 after shipping and I'm still using it as my main right now.
http://www.xoticpc.com/ is always mentioned on slickdeals.net for the cheapest configs.
http://www.xoticpc.com/ is always mentioned on slickdeals.net for the cheapest configs.
You might not be looking for this, but what I did was I bought a PC with a good processor and good amount of RAM, and then I bought a GPU separately and installed it. I have an i7 processor 3.4 ghz with 16 GB RAM and a GTX 660. Costed me a total of around $1000. Works great! Plays many games at high settings @1080p60FPS
The PC thread has a range of pretty solid recommended packages, FWIW.
The one thing I don't get about this (http://ncixus.com) is if you search video cards for "nvidia geforce" it only comes up with like 3 cards and none of them seem to be NVIDIA brand... I was trying this back when people were making the "recommended specs pc" back in a Witcher 3 thread.
If you already know how, then why would you be worried about ruining it? I'd say skip the pre built stuff and build your own. What happens when your pc doesn't boot one day due to a faulty ram stick? You have to send it back and wait for the turn around? F that. Replace it yourself.
Or a complete hassle, it all depends.
$1,609 starting price for the Bolt II... lmao fuck outta here
Nvidia doesn't make Geforce graphics cards. A lot of other companies make graphics cards around Nvidia's chips. I kind of get where you're coming from, but it's like complaining that "AMD PlayStation 4" and "IBM XBox 360" don't turn up hits - a little TOO much knowledge about the guts is your worst enemy.
It wasn't a complaint, it was an "I don't understand".
Man I built my PC while watching a Youtube video for directions. It's pretty much become an idiot proof process. Do it together and it'll help her if she ever wants to upgrade parts. I used to be scared to try building bc I was nervous I'd screw something up. I ended up buying a $1200 laptop that I ended up selling for $300 because it fried on me and I only had a 1 year warranty. Never again.
Go to reddit or ask here for the parts and build it yourself!
If even a 5 year old little girl can build a pc, you can build one too!
If even a 5 year old little girl can build a pc, you can build one too!
forgot NCIX sold to the US too. Can vouch for them - perfect cable management and they even ran 3Dmark for me and left a screenshot on the desktop.
This was years ago though, and I only did it because they had a promotion to do it for $20. Plus I was ordering everything at once anyways.
If you don't need the PC right that instant, a big advantage of building your own PC is that you can buy individual parts on sale over a few months and stretch your dollars out a lot further.
I didn't screw anything up but had a DOA Video card mobo and processor when I started building it. The whole process sucked. There's nothing more stressful than having issues when building a new PC.
Oh wow, I can definitely see why that would sour you towards the building process. The main benefit for me was that building helped me learn how to plan and upgrade in the future. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
outunderthestars
Banned
Oh look, a pre-built pc thread shitted up with a dozen "you can build it yourself" posts. Shocking.
I've always heard good things about Digital Storm.
I've always heard good things about Digital Storm.
That $50 saves you the effort of figuring out which of the giant pile of components that you bought is causing weird crashes or making your new computer fail to boot, then having to deal with doing a return/replacement of that hardware, and hoping that a) the hardware you replaced was actually the problem, and b) that the new hardware actually fixes the problem.
Building a gaming PC isn't for everyone, nor should it be. People pay that (small) premium for peace of mind and a single point of contact for warranty issues.
(And yeah, iBuyPower's stuff isn't all that great. That said, there are plenty of builders out there - both large online outfits and local shops - that will put together a decent machine for a pretty small premium over the cost of parts.)
Honestly, there are too much benefits building a pc instead of buying a prebuild one if you want the best performing quality parts instead of getting ripped of.
Iorv3th
Member
It's really difficult to mess it up. If by chance something doesn't work, the parts are all warrantied.
Prebuilt pcs shit themselves up.
I've never seen a prebuilt PC that was worth buying.
Check craigslist OP but have them test it in front of you first.
Conkerkid11
Member
You're completely wrong.
To be fair, there's not much else to discuss after everybody's already named off the only websites that exist for this purpose.
Sure, everybody could talk about their experiences with those particular websites, but most people here either didn't use those websites, or built their own.
I took my parts to Frys and they put it together for me for $50 in a day. The part that terrified me about assembly was dealing with the power supply. Since then, I've replaced the motherboard, CPU, graphics card, added some SSDs, etc... I have yet to completely start from scratch though, because the power supply terrifies me.
The parts are warrantied, but good luck figuring out which part is at fault sometimes. Power supply issues are pretty obvious, but what if the computer crashes randomly while installing or using Windows? Is it the RAM? Is it the motherboard? Is it the CPU, or perhaps the video card? If you don't have an entirely functional second computer to test the parts and find the damaged one, then you're in serious trouble. Why spend hours and hours trying to figure this out yourself when you can pay somebody $50 to do it for you? If the computer doesn't work, it becomes their problem - not yours.
I've built my own PCs for nearly 15 years now. My next PC will be built by someone else. I'm too old to spend my days building and tweaking and troubleshooting faults just to get a functional computer, especially when the premium to have it built for you these days is so damn small.
Boombox On
Member
It is if you are looking for specific performance characteristics.
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