Question Building vs Buying

[Scarpozzi]

I priced out building a Ryzen 3700x, 1Tb M.2, 32GB RAM,Gigabyte x570 Mobo and $100 Loan Li case and already at $950 before video card, power, and OS.

It just seems that video cards these days really make it tough build cost-effectively. What am I missing?

 

[JWade]

i usually wait for good deals from delloutlet and when they have a coupon code. unless i get a REALLY good deal on used parts. my latest upgrade is an i7-9700 system with a 1660 6gb super card from there for just under $650

 

[Scarpozzi]

i usually wait for good deals from delloutlet and when they have a coupon code. unless i get a REALLY good deal on used parts. my latest upgrade is an i7-9700 system with a 1660 6gb super card from there for just under $650

I'd been checking the deal sites, but I'll check Dell Outlet.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'd been checking the deal sites, but I'll check Dell Outlet.

It looks like the best bang for my buck is still going to be spending more cash than I want to. I may give up on PC gaming and stick to console games for now. Even to get a 2060 Super, I'm looking at $400 minimum.. I'm thinking when I get more time to play, anything I buy will be out dated....

I think I'd rather throw that $1000+ to stocks savings towards my boat fund.

 

[pauldun170]

I priced out building a Ryzen 3700x, 1Tb M.2, 32GB RAM,Gigabyte x570 Mobo and $100 Loan Li case and already at $950 before video card, power, and OS.

It just seems that video cards these days really make it tough build cost-effectively. What am I missing?

Ryzen 3700x
Noctua cooler
32gb memory
500gb m.2 os drive
1tb m2 storage
Gigabyte B550
h510 case
650w Antec Earthwatts gold

OS= Free unless you really need to set your background in Windows (Bout the only thing you lose by not activating windows)

$957

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sJ76CL

All thats left is the video card.

 

[pauldun170]

Chipping away at cost for a micro atx build
Sticking with stock cooler
Single 1tb M2
Season Focus
Down to $803

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pCLb7T

 

[pauldun170]

Down to 750

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/n89RDx

 

[RLGL]

It just seems that video cards these days really make it tough build cost-effectively. What am I missing?

A fat checkbook.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah it is hard to compete in the low end today. My estimate is if you are sub $800 you are building just to build. Basically a off the shelf machine will be similar to whatever you build at a lower cost.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Down to 750

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/n89RDx

And you are still using superior components to the OEM hot garbage.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I had a Lian Li case that was $50 more and spec'd a bigger Gigabyte motherboard for another $100...everything else was about the same. My point was that even then, the video card options push the price up significantly to get something fairly recent. By the time I build that, I could go for a Dell or even an ABS from NewEgg for almost the same price. I'm slowly talking myself into sticking with my laptop and Xbox consoles for gaming.

If I even get 6% return on $1000....it'll be worth $2400 in 15 years. If I buy a PC, it'll be worth nothing in 2.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

you can just wait the end of pandemic since computer components are on demand, components cost more today. that's just my thought if you are on budget. It's still up to you.

Prices have mostly normalized in the US. I think power supplies are still hard to find and over priced.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I had a Lian Li case that was $50 more and spec'd a bigger Gigabyte motherboard for another $100...everything else was about the same. My point was that even then, the video card options push the price up significantly to get something fairly recent. By the time I build that, I could go for a Dell or even an ABS from NewEgg for almost the same price. I'm slowly talking myself into sticking with my laptop and Xbox consoles for gaming.

If I even get 6% return on $1000....it'll be worth $2400 in 15 years. If I buy a PC, it'll be worth nothing in 2.

That is some serious hyperbole about the PC being worth nothing in 2 years. Most get 60-75 percent of the value of the components after "renting" them for that period. Now, if you have to choose between investing and spending money on entertainment devices, investing FTW.

And you do sound like the perfect candidate for console gaming. High FPS and maximum graphical quality, extensive mod communities, and PC only titles, are obviously not draws for you. Get the new Xbox and enjoy. But DIY and OEM are not the same, not by a long shot, and reading that false equivalency in a tech forum makes me sad.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

That is some serious hyperbole about the PC being worth nothing in 2 years. Most get 60-75 percent of the value of the components after "renting" them for that period. Now, if you have to choose between investing and spending money on entertainment devices, investing FTW.

And you do sound like the perfect candidate for console gaming. High FPS and maximum graphical quality, extensive mod communities, and PC only titles, are obviously not draws for you. Get the new Xbox and enjoy. But DIY and OEM are not the same, not by a long shot, and reading that false equivalency in a tech forum makes me sad.

As a sales guy scratching the itch has value. Doing nothing always has zero cost but what is the opportunity cost.
I’m not sure what the box is intended for but here are examples.
What is the opportunity cost of not playing mine craft with your kid
What is the opportunity cost if your laptop fail and it no place is open to replace it
What is the opportunity cost of not gaming with friends

 

[Scarpozzi]

That is some serious hyperbole about the PC being worth nothing in 2 years. Most get 60-75 percent of the value of the components after "renting" them for that period. Now, if you have to choose between investing and spending money on entertainment devices, investing FTW.

And you do sound like the perfect candidate for console gaming. High FPS and maximum graphical quality, extensive mod communities, and PC only titles, are obviously not draws for you. Get the new Xbox and enjoy. But DIY and OEM are not the same, not by a long shot, and reading that false equivalency in a tech forum makes me sad.

If you care about assembly or doing water cooling...ok. DIY may be a fun project. I don't care about ownership as much as I was trying to build to get exactly what I wanted without paying markup from the vendors. OEM isn't a bad word to me. I have a history with big computing companies and have been happy with the bang for your buck most have to offer. I get it though if you care about BIOS modifications, OC'ing and other aspects of performance computing.

To me, I'm trying to acquire a system with a decent video card and processor with an appropriate number of cores....I know what I would be missing and gaining by purchasing a system from Dell or a company that assembles from parts they're able to acquire in bulk for decent discounts. Bottlenecks will always be present in a system but ultimately, my network will probably be my biggest bottleneck. I'm really looking for a system that can run Flight Simulator 2020.

I've not built a system since probably 1999 because Dell and HP have undercut parts prices. It's only been maybe 12-15 years ago that power supplies needed to be upgraded to handle video card power consumption requirements. Also, when you purchase a system, you usually get warranty for that system and only have to interact with one support network. There's a lot to be said for that....eventually, computer parts for those systems flood eBay as they're chopped....so you have support for the system even after death. =P

 

[HerrKaLeu]

The only real advantage of buying is, the OEM get a huge discount on the windows OEM license and probably commission on installing bloatware. That way they can keep the AIO PCs cheap. And you as DIY would not be able to get the crap hardware (case, PSU, board...) at a price they pay.
So if you buy a cheap crappy PC with no-name PSU, bad case, etc., you are financially better off buying a completus PC as opposed to building with similar components.

OEM make most money with service plans anyway. At my work our IT department forces our department to buy Dell PCs. the PCs are still overpriced (IMHO), but the real kicker is, IT forces us to buy the 3-year service plan, which more than doubles the cost. Even in a cheap case, most PCs make it past 3 years. I have to explain why i need to get a $3,000 PC, while I know I could build a similar PC that would last longer due to better cooling for $1,000.

If you want specific and good brand parts, you are better off building. the few OEM that use good parts, are expensive. Another money saver is, that a good case and PSU can live through multiple builds. Same for drives. So the second build, or upgrade, is relatively cheap.

In my recent life I've been building PCs since 2006. Not top of the shelf, but brand name components, and relatively good cooling. Always upgraded the main rig, and then passed the whole PC, or parts, down to the other PCs. All those 5-6 PCs still work with family, or work as media PCs. To the point they are so outdated (no 4K etc.), I want them to fail, but they don't.

And part of the fun is selecting the parts, discussing the build here on the forum, waiting for a new product to be released.....

 

[VirtualLarry]

I bought an OEM pre-built PC in recent memory (not a refurbed one to take apart and re-build and sell as a gaming PC, I'm talking about just buying it as-is and using it). It was that "HP Power Gaming PC" that was sold at Walmart B&M stores back in like 2018 or 2019 BF-esque (maybe older, maybe 2017).

It was cheaper than buying the parts, at the time, heck, the GTX 1060 3GB (which turned out to be an inferior OEM-specific version), and the i5-7400 CPU, were alone mostly worth the purchase price. Plus, it was easily upgradeable to a SATA SSD as a boot drive, having a spare SATA power cable and SATA drive bay. Also, the factory PSU was a Lite-On 80Plus-something, with dual 6-pin PCI-E cables (only one used by the GPU, but there were not dual GPU slots).

So all in all, not actually too bad. Benchmarks, were excellent. Gaming was pretty decent, according to YouTube reviews. But they also touched on the Dark Side of OEM PCs... LACK of upgradeability. There really wasn't much that you could upgrade to the core component. Yes, you could swap out the video card, and yes, you could swap out the HDD, and/or install a SATA SSD for a boot drive, so that wasn't SO bad. But as far as re-using the case, and slapping another mobo in, not really going to happen.

Custom PCs, IF YOU UPGRADE AT ALL, are WAY better, IMHO. Even if you could physically upgrade an OEM pre-built, to a new platform (new mobo/CPU/RAM), the OEM Windows license doesn't transfer. So you're NOT saving any money, if you are the upgrader-type, by going with an OEM pre-built as a base, just to get the Windows license included. (*)

If you instead, purchase PCs as if they were consoles, and upgrade in completely discreet PC steps, meaning, you buy a new PC, and completely replace the old every time, and never do partial upgrades, like you can and probably should with a custom-built rig, then I guess I can understand the logic behind it, but I don't agree with the reasoning.

(*) The exception to this rule is, for really budget gamers that can't afford or don't want to spend money on a full custom build, you can pick up off-lease corporate refurbs, mini-towers are best, that come with a COA on them with a Windows product key, and then just slap in a lower-powered GPU like a GTX 1650 4GB, that doesn't take PCI-E power, or if you were lucky or judicious with your choice of OEM system, you might have an ATX-compatible PSU connector and PSU size, and you could possible upgrade the PSU wholesale, to accommodate a better GPU.

But building a newer, custom-built rig is almost always better, longer-term, if you have the budget for it initially.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yeah, the mining boom messed the market up terribly. Even I was suggesting S.I. hot deals it got so bad.

And I will keep beating the drum to not build or buy right now. New CPUs and GPUs are too close to release. Hold out.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Yeah, the mining boom messed the market up terribly. Even I was suggesting S.I. hot deals it got so bad.

And I will keep beating the drum to not build or buy right now. New CPUs and GPUs are too close to release. Hold out.

I'm in no real rush. Flight Sim 2020 comes out in 4 days for PC...they haven't announced the Xbox release date yet. I'm really leaning towards maybe even waiting until they do some patches on whatever they release and just going with the Console version to save money and be able to play on my massive TVs from a recliner while sipping scotch through a straw. Enough scotch and I won't even notice the reduced graphics quality and Xbox One S system lag.

I'm really at the point in my life where I just turned 40 and am going to value continuing to save cash where it hasn't been as possible prior to this past year. I'm like 2-3 years from being debt free, but prior to that, I'm trying to save as much cash as I can by not buying stuff that I don't need. =(

 

[CP5670]

I do custom PC builds because I have done that for decades, but they are not really cost effective anymore versus a Dell/HP/etc. box (at one time they used to be). As the OP said, video card prices are the main problem, and tend to be more reasonable if bought as part of an OEM system. However, custom builds do let you customize and upgrade much more easily. I only upgrade individual bits and pieces of my PC when they get outdated, usually not the whole thing at once, and have some components that are 10-15 years old.

 

[VirtualLarry]

and have some components that are 10-15 years old.

Still got that Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi, eh? LOL...

Or maybe it's a mechanical keyboard that you love.

 

[CP5670]

Still got that Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi, eh? LOL...

Or maybe it's a mechanical keyboard that you love.

It's still a great card and works perfectly on Windows 10. I especially like the environmental audio effects for music on headphones, and have found nothing else like it out there. I also have a 10 year old hard drive, and until a few weeks ago I had a 15 year old Coolermaster Stacker case and a 10 year old optical drive as well (replaced by a USB one only because cases don't have drive bays anymore).

 

[HerrKaLeu]

One thing the AIO have going for them, they come in very small cases since they have the proprietary downgraded everything. Everything inc. PSU is only as small as really needed for that built, no spare capacity. Obviously this is at the expense of cooling and upgradability. But if you want a small itx case and SFX PSU, you would spend quite more money DIY. For some reason the small stuff is more expensive.