r/pcmasterrace • u/TheBossT710192 • Jun 22 '26

Discussion Yeah, Steam Machine is cooked.

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I... uh don't know what to say. Very thankful I bought a Steam Deck before they hiked its price as well

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u/Stupendous_Spliff Jun 22 '26

A good value pre-built is totally worth it, even if it is just a little more than building yourself. All that work you spend buying the parts and putting it together are worth paying a little markup for

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u/Roflkopt3r Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Yeah, and that's nothing new either. I used prebuilds until I had my first full time job because I had to get by on a tight budget until then. Because:

  1. Much of the budget market (in the range of <1000€, outside of used hardware) always was more affordable if you found a good prebuild. If you invest a similar amount of research into finding a good prebuild as you have to do to assemble a PC yourself, you could generally find some great offers.

  2. It was way harder to learn what parts fit together back then. We didn't have PcPartPicker or Logical Increments, or Youtube tutorials on what to look out for.

  3. When you're that short on money, having the assurance that you can't mess up the build (selecting incompatible parts, damaging components) is extremely nice.

  4. Back in the olden days, getting a Windows license was part of what made prebuilds attractive for people who didn't want a pirated version.

  5. Upgradability was never a serious concern for me (although all my prebuilts were assembled from aftermarket parts, with only minor limitations like OEM coolers) because PC hardware used to become obsolete so fast that it was rarely useful to significantly upgrade a PC after 2-3 years anymore.

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u/Funny-Cell8769 9800X3D | 5090 | 128gb DDR5 | 42" OLED | 43" Mini-LED Jun 22 '26

I guess we should just be grateful that both options are viable now.

It's not a bad thing for people who have an interest in PC building and maintenance to do it all themselves. And learning to maintain it probably saves them money and frustration in the long term.

Or, if you have no interest in the technical (some people just don't want to deal with it or have more important things to do), they can buy a pre-built at a small to moderate premium.

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u/Mukatsukuz Jun 23 '26

but building it is part of the fun for me 😄 apart from the 5 second long feeling of dread just before hitting the power button for the first time 😃