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Key Takeaways
- Building a custom gaming PC is still a better option as it generally costs less and allows you to choose better components.
- Custom builds are easy to upgrade, unlike prebuilt PCs, which often have restrictions on modifications.
- Custom builds also offer absolute control and greater customization options, allowing you to optimize performance and personalize the aesthetics of your PC.
Building a custom gaming PC has conventionally been the preferred option for enthusiasts or those with some technical know-how. However, over the past few years, we’ve seen many prebuilt gaming PCs offering competitive performance and looks at prices often lower than building the same configuration yourself. While this could be attributed to supply issues leading to ridiculously high prices for components like graphics cards, many PC gamers have gravitated to prebuilt PCs nonetheless.
Prebuilt gaming PCs have some strong benefits for those who value convenience above all else. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, building your own PC is still the better option.
4 Custom builds still cost less
And they allow better components
One of the biggest reasons to build a PC yourself is that you can usually save money instead of buying a similarly-specced prebuilt. These manufacturers try to inflate PC prices to account for overheads while picking inferior and often off-brand components. Not only are you getting a bad deal, performance-wise, for the same price, but you’ll also have to tolerate lower-quality internals.
You might find some prebuilt PCs with components like the GeForce RTX 4090 that cost much less than a custom PC with the same specs, but this is an exception due to the recent stock issues of the Nvidia flagship. Barring this unique case, almost any prebuilt gaming PC from reputable manufacturers can be built for less with better-performing and better-looking components.
You can always pick superior components and keep your budget in check at the same time.
You can choose the best gaming GPUs with top-notch cooling and acoustics. You can also pick a slightly lower core-count CPU among the best gaming CPUs and prioritize a faster GPU with the money you save. Whether it’s high-speed DDR5 RAM for gaming or the best gaming SSDs with top-of-the-line Gen 4 speeds and endurance, you can always pick superior components and keep your budget in check at the same time. You can’t find these easily in prebuilt gaming PCs.
3 Custom builds are easy to upgrade
You can’t always modify a prebuilt
Even if you stretch your budget and buy one of the pricier gaming prebuilt PCs, you can’t be sure that you’ll be able to upgrade it in the future. Prebuilt manufacturers often include spotting proprietary motherboards, insufficient storage connectors, small cases, and power supplies with older connectors. This can cause you severe headaches if you want to add an NVMe SSD or a newer RTX 4000 graphics card.
You can make all the necessary choices at the outset to make future modifications.
You’re restricted in terms of the tweaks you can make to a prebuilt gaming PC. Sure, you might be able to swap out your CPU, graphics card, RAM, and even the PSU with the help of a friend or technician, but many prebuilt owners end up getting stuck with the configuration they bought. In sharp contrast, when you arrange a custom build, you can make all the necessary choices at the outset to make future modifications.
For instance, you could make it a point to choose one of the best PC cases to allow room for any future graphics card, cooler, or fan upgrades. You could also pick a modern ATX 3.0 power supply with a native 12VHPWR connector so that installing an RTX 4000 graphics card later is seamless. Selecting a motherboard can give you the freedom to expand storage, add additional RGB components, or simply be ready for a PCIe 5.0 SSD later.
2 Custom builds allow for absolute control
From optimization to overclocking
Let’s say you’ve sourced a prebuilt gaming PC at terrific value with decent components. Even then, chances are high that the manufacturer won’t set up the basic elements required to maximize performance. These could be as simple as setting the right XMP or EXPO memory profile in the BIOS or tuning the CPU and GPU fan curves. These are only a few things you should do after building a new PC. And if you’ve purchased a prebuilt gaming PC and are unaware of these things, you’ll probably go on for years without ever realizing you’re leaving performance on the table.
You’ll probably go on for years without ever realizing you’re leaving performance on the table.
They can also cripple performance by using underpowered motherboards with poor VRMs that can’t handle CPU overclocking. It doesn’t matter if you only gain single-digit FPS by overclocking your CPU, but the option is always present if you build a custom PC with one of the best gaming motherboards.
1 Custom builds offer far greater choice
Customization to the gills
For many custom PC builders, the freedom to choose every single component — down to custom cables and screws — is the biggest attraction. If the way your PC looks is equally important as performance and upgradability, you’ll always enjoy greater choice in terms of aesthetics going the custom route. From full-tower, mini-ITX, wood-infused, and white PC cases to weird and unique PC cases that look like nothing else, you can go as far as you want to customize your build’s chassis.
The degree of customization on offer is endless.
Once you get into the core components, you’ll have your pick of the best white GPUs, best white motherboards, premium RGB RAM, liquid AIOs with LCDs, watercooling loops, RGB cables, sleeved extensions, and much more. The degree of customization on offer is endless. And yes, the price will increase as your setup becomes more premium and complex, but the choice lies with you. You can build the kind of PC you want on your fixed budget — something prebuilt PCs can rarely offer.
Many boutique, prebuilt manufacturers offer some degree of customization and themed PCs, but the choice is far more limited compared to configuring your PC yourself.
Custom vs. prebuilt gaming PC
As I said, prebuilt gaming PCs make a lot of sense if you don’t have the time or desire to assemble your PC yourself, and you either don’t ‘mind paying a premium or can find one on sale. But if you’re already confident building a PC and want the best performance, absolute control, and limitless freedom, a custom build is your only option. From my Intel dual core to a Ryzen 8-core PC, I’ve built many gaming PCs and always loved the entire process. If you enjoy the process, too, you should always prefer a custom build.
If you’d rather explore outside gaming PCs altogether, a great gaming laptop or PC handheld could be worth a look.
** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
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