Are prebuilts worth it at the moment?

[ayrefo]

I'm going to build mine but I'm just wondering for friends who are new to the whole thing and want to get pcs over the next few months to a year or so, is the prebuilt option worth it?

[wazzickle]

I've seen some fantastic value pre-builts online recently. Make sure you can see all the components, though, and check them out as well as tot up the price using pcpartpicker or similar to see how much of a markup you're paying. Sometimes they just show you the cpu and gpu and cheap out on important stuff like motherboard and psu and that is very much a false economy. So go with a reputable brand i.e. check out the reviews for the company online before you buy.

[Rob_B]

"It depends"

You need to compare budget and requirements. I've seen a prebuilt with a 3400G for £275, not convinced you could build it for much less but you get a better choice of parts doing it yourself.

[DDY]

One other thing to consider as of January 2021 is stock.

If the prebuilt is within a reasonable price bracket, with a graphics card you want, and it's in stock - it might actually be the only way to get that graphics card at the moment!

[wazzickle]

One other thing to consider as of January 2021 is stock.

If the prebuilt is within a reasonable price bracket, with a graphics card you want, and it's in stock - it might actually be the only way to get that graphics card at the moment!

This is very much a thing at the moment and would be the #1 reason i'd recommend pre-builts to friends right now, but hopefully it isn't a thing for long