Should I Build a Computer Myself or Buy a Custom Computer Already Built?

In my opinion you should build it yourself, do your due diligence. Building a computer is not that hard it does take time to research, read from other posts watch 20 hours of videos on youtube etc. Toms will be your best friend as well as pcpartpicker that site will help you as well.

If you buy the parts yourself and build it yourself you will save money plus gain KNOWLEDGE of knowing everything going inside, how it works, why it works however you will need to purchase your own operating system because a retail comes with pre installed as custom doesn't. The plus is having your own operating system you will not have a operating system filled with junk and advertisements like a retail one does. Also having your own operating system anytime your computer is slow, or you get a virus or whatever because you have the OS instead of trying to find out why it is slow or tracing this or that down just slap the disk in and reinstall.

You can also make your recipe (the parts) and if you do not have the money all at once slowly buy the parts and stockpile them until you have everything and then build it. If you try to buy a performance PC already built good luck (they) whom ever you buy it from it is going to cost you a lot more than buying the parts yourself.

Another cool thing as well is when you build it yourself you will choose what you want, meaning you go buy one already built there is always something you do not like maybe the case or the window in the case or the power supply etc. from the case to every part inside you pick them so you will like everything.

The warranty will be better as well. If you buy retail or pre built you are getting a 1 or 2 year warranty and then pay X amount of dollars for extended. If you buy the parts individually most come with manufacturer warranties on all individual parts not one warranty on the whole thing.

Plus if you build it yourself you can always upgrade later, if you cant afford the video card you want get a lower cost one that will fit to that motherboard use it and save money then buy the better and either flip the old card or keep it and build a secondary system. That is what I did and now I have 4 computers-lol.

I will say and some others might say I am wrong however I run into people all the time that will say 'I want a budget gaming laptop' and I always say gaming is gaming it takes a lot of resources, power, heat and oomf to make it work well so why people think they can get the ooomf out of a laptop below 2500 is beyond me. Also As when dust and heat builds up over time you cannot just open a laptop to perform routine maintenance like you can with a desktop. Routine maintenance, changing thermal grease, cleaning dust out and adequate cooling.

Again between Toms Hardware and use the other site pcpartpicker they have a forum board as well you can easily build your own system. I will also say watch out for Craigslist... Ebay is good, this site and pcpartpicker you can pick up parts on the classifieds but CL is more a risk. You can find parts on there but usually they are overpriced and/or you are taking a gamble.

I bought a prebuilt at a good price. cheaper then it would have been, if it came as separate parts so if it comes out to cheaper go prebuilt. Or else normally its more expensive for less when it comes to prebuilt. Another thing is bc I went prebuilt I didn't educate myself on the parts so now two months later im spending extra to get the performance I want now.

Yep pre built and/or used computers are okay, you see them and think 'cheaper than building my own' however after you buy you start looking at the build and realize one or two parts are off or even you say now why did they put this in this case or insert any scenario. Also unless you really know the person and/or use a reputable site like ebay- CL is not a reputable site... At times overpriced parts and dont know where they truly came from you are gambling on the longevity left in the item. That is why Yes it might cost a little more building yourself but you are getting- 1- manufacturer warranties on each single part, 2- the exact parts you want for the build (nothing mickey moused etc) 3- piece of mind and if you even try to plan it out further you can start the build to get the computer up and running and then still upgrade later. 4- Your own real operating system instead of the pre bundled disk (if you even get that) most times they charge you extra for it. Once you have your own and I gave up along time ago trying to hunt down a virus or figure out why my computer is running slow once it does I slap the disk in and reinstall. Easiest that way.