QOTW: Have you ever bought a pre-built desktop?

by Parm Mann on 11 June 2021, 16:31

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We suspect most HEXUS readers take the time to build their own PC, but these days there are reasons to consider taking the turnkey route.

The simplification of various components is such that the build process arguably isn't as rewarding as it once was - what used to feel like a day-long operation can now be completed in 30 minutes flat - and with the advantage of buying in bulk, system integrators often offer base units at price points that individuals will struggle to match.

Factor in the warranty and the possibility of being first in line for otherwise out-of-stock components, and you might argue that an off-the-shelf system is the way to go. On the other hand, what could be more satisfying than booting up your own build and seeing it come to life?

We're curious to know which way you lean, so for this week's question we're asking: have you ever bought a pre-built desktop? If so, let us know how it turned out, and if not, is it something you're ever likely to consider?



HEXUS Forums :: 68 Comments

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I have always built my own for the enjoyment and self education..
Only once, not long after I switched to PC's from my extensively modified Amiga 1200 (towered, 603e PPC accelerator with the Blizzard vision GPU), a Packard Bell with the first 1GHz K7 Athlon CPU. Cracking little machine to be honest and served me well. After that I built my own.
I always build my own PC because I can pick the parts I want within my budget and color/theme. With prebuilts you may end up getting questionable quality parts. You can still take a full day making your build look clean and neat, or sloppy if you want to finish fast (30 mins).
I typically build my own - i've only ever bought a pre-built once, and that was back in 2008 when I bought a Mac Pro (and promptly put windows on it) as it was over £500 cheaper to do so than to buy all the parts individually.

Granted it was a specialist case as I wanted a dual Xeon machine given my workload at the time wasn't entirely gaming (I did spec it with an 8800GT though, as it was also used for gaming).

Since then it's been cheaper to source my own parts and build myself - so i've gone back to that approach and will likely continue…but the main driver for me is the cost more than anything else.

I have promised myself I will do a hard line watercooling build next time though, which does make me nervous enough that I would consider going pre-made…at least until you look up the cost of pre-mades with hard line cooling ;)
My first PC was a pre-built Mesh around 20 years ago, the second was a custom build from Kustom PC. Since then I've built my own with the aim of achieving the quietest system I can get using quality cooling and psu from Noctua & Seasonic. The case (Silverstone FT01) has remained since the first build. That press brake bent aluminium unibody is fabrication art!