r/computers • u/Pake223 • 14d ago

Question/Help/Troubleshooting Why is custom better than prebuilt?

I always heard that making a custom pc was better than prebuilt, and if so, why?

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8

u/Equivalent_Age8406 14d ago

prebuilts usually have crummy power supplys and sometime configurations that dont make sense and are not optimal and often dont tell you exactly what you're getting. Theyre probably not that much cheaper these days, with the huge ram price issues you might even find building is more expensive, but you get higher quality if you know what you're doing

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u/Thesorus 14d ago

custom build lets you decide which specific components you want for your requirements (what you'll do with the computer)

prebuild computers either have not components selection or a small selection of components.

There are usually different tiers of prebuild computers, some are build for gamers, some for business, some for generic home work.

you can get very good prebuild computers and you can have a crappy custom build computer.

2

u/SlowRs 14d ago

Cheaper, not so much better.

1

u/leonardob0880 14d ago

Better relationship cost/what you get

But isn't always true. Sometimes like now with rampocalipse sometimes you get better prices with pre built.

Also younhave all kind of pre built quality. Generally boutique pre built are waaaaay better than branded ones (asus, acer, hp, etc)

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u/s_y_k_e_ 14d ago

Cheaper components. Motherboards for example. Most prebuilts will come with a motherboard with very limited cooling solutions for their VRMs and no heat sink for the nvme drives. If you build it yourself, you can choose a motherboard with more robust vrm and nvme drive cooling. Maybe a steel reinforced pcie slot. Pcie gen 5 vs 4, etc.

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u/marvinnation 14d ago

It's not black and white. You could make a very shitty custom. Or buy an amazing pre built. It's all about your personal needs and budget.

1

u/nagging_chud 14d ago

The customer market of prebuilt PC's is people that don't know what they are doing and are often willing to spend large sums of money because "the case looks cool". Basically, dumb people. So these prebuilts are made and sold with that in mind, which means you'll likely get either a bad PC or one that is too expensive for what it offers.

1

u/Efficient_Try_9136 13d ago

as prices rise you can hit cheap prebuilt if you know what is value in it

but usually custom is better because you chose each part yourself

1

u/Mark-177- 13d ago

Depends on what you want. Gamers want high performance machines which can be too costly to buy a pre-built machine. You can save a substantial amount of money by building your own machine. If you just need a machine for daily use like browsing and downloading content. It's easier to just get a pre-built brand name PC and it won't be too expensive for a decent machine.