Don't Buy Pre-Built: Build Your Own PC

You might think purchasing a pre-built computer might be a good investment. You save your valuable time, you don’t have to worry about messing up your cabling, or breaking something. Maybe you don’t know much about computers in general, and that’s okay. However, purchasing a computer pre-built is almost always a downside for the buyer. Besides extremely high markups which you’ll likely be susceptible to, there’s even more things that just aren’t great about pre-built computers.

Since Alaskans can go through weeklong shipping times or even longer, there might not be any appeal to ordering parts and waiting a week or so instead of being able to purchase a computer at Best Buy in Anchorage. Though you can also purchase parts at Best Buy as well, none of them are very great value, and there is very limited selection. For example, if you wanted to buy a WiFi adapter for my motherboard, you would have to order it online, or purchase a USB dongle from Best Buy or Walmart, and USB dongles don’t exactly have the greatest reputation.

Now, it may seem purchasing a prebuilt computer might be better, but don’t let that fool you. Looking at options such as Amazon or Newegg, there is a far better selection of parts, available at lower prices than whatever Best Buy is charging. For example, you can pay as little as $105 for a beefy 360mm CPU liquid cooler (with free shipping) rather than $230 minimum for a similar or worse performing 360mm CPU liquid cooler. The same applies for a variety of other parts such as motherboards, RAM, storage, etc.

Now, what’s actually bad about purchasing a prebuilt computer? The majority of prebuilt computers that are available at Best Buy are by large corporations who produce dozens of these each day.

Some unlucky pre-builts are very likely to have proprietary components such as motherboards. It might not seem like a big deal, but a proprietary motherboard can limit things such as RAM speed, which gives a user an edge in gaming or rendering, editing, making an article for CTHS Media Club, etc. Proprietary parts may also have very little documentation, and this can be bad if you already have a prebuilt computer and decide to modify/change parts yourself.

Though it may seem this article is only here to benefit those looking at options for a gaming computer, building your own computer is also beneficial when you’re looking to make a home server, testing router, etc. By building your own server you can determine how expandable you want it to be, and change processing power at your own discretion. With some leftover parts from an old, useless desktop computer, you can turn it into a home storage server in no time if you know how to build your own computer.

Finally, building a computer isn’t as hard as it used to be. Most motherboards and power supplies are built to withstand a poor mistake or mistakes. Motherboards are also labeled everywhere, so you know exactly where to put your USB power for example, and if not, there is an extremely high chance your motherboard manual knows where to place it.

There are also hundreds of videos available online on how to build your first computer. Even a little bit of deliberate force is not likely to damage something. If some pins are bent on your motherboard, it’s completely safe to bend them back into position in most cases. Though if you do decide to purchase a prebuilt computer, there’s no shame in that. However, if you decide to build your next, or first, computer, then enjoy! There’s nothing better than the sweet sigh of relief when everything powers on after an hour or two of mindlessly working on your new computer.

Image Credits

Cover image: IT-Service 24 Datenrettung