Have you ever claimed you could build a faster machine than top-tier vendors, but needed proof? We dig into five off-the-shelf sub-$500 configurations to figure out what they can and cannot do. The results probably won't surprise Tom's Hardware regulars.
Occasionally, someone asks us to recommend a desktop gaming system. A pre-built gaming system. That tends to catch us off-guard because it cuts against our natural instinct as enthusiasts who construct platforms piece by piece. We're always on the hunt for better performance, but that means we need the freedom to pick and choose parts that work well together. When you buy a pre-built system, you largely give up customization in favor of convenience (or, at the very least, a price premium).
To be fair, there are some benefits to buying a system built by someone else. There’s a certain attraction to not getting your hands dirty, and there's no arguing that the price tags you see at retail stores have been dropping in recent years. However, buying a system, even at today’s discounted prices, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the most out of your money. Cheap isn’t the same thing as value. A computer’s worth is just as much about performance as it is about cost.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to buy a pre-built machine. You only need two minutes, a credit card, and a device with Internet access. Building requires significantly more effort: time spent shopping for each part, plus you need to know which component combinations deliver the best experience. And then there's the build process itself. Generally that goes well, but we'll all had our share of run-ins with compatibility issues and hardware that lands dead on arrival.
Really, this is what separates the enthusiast willing to do some homework and his mom or dad, who oftentimes don't have the patience, time, or interest to learn what cards plug into what slots. There's an in-between approach, too. Buy a complete system for convenience's sake, and as it gets older add upgrades here and there to suit. Is that any more worthwhile for keeping a machine gaming-worthy?
Today we're pitting building against buying in the entry-level space in order to gauge the difference. We gave ourselves a $500 budget and bought five pre-configured desktop PCs in our quest for cheap performance. Using our recent $500 Gaming PC as a reference point, we're curious to see how five builders measure up to the configuration picked by Tom's Hardware writer Paul Henningsen.
- Build Or Buy? Hunting For Cheap Performance
- System Roundup: What Do You Get?
- BIOS And Overclocking: Now There’s Your Problem
- Benchmark Setup
- Benchmark Results: General Performance And Content Creation
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Integrated Gaming
- Power Consumption
- Benchmark Results: Graphics Upgrade
- Final Words

I know you mentioned the discrepancies in the article, but if you aren't going to try a little harder to make a good comparison you shouldn't even make the article. Shop around online at better retailers than Best Buy, find the very best systems you can that cost about $550, THEN compare those to your own system.
I still expect the prebuilt systems to fall behind, but the article we have here isn't even a real comparison.
All you did was compared the systems performance and then list the Custom-built specs at the end without any benchmark comparison.
I was going to use this article for ALL of my friends to understand why they should build their own. But, since you guys compared the rainbow of feces available at Best Buy without showing the splendor that is home build, it's useless.
Come on...
I just configured an iBuyPower rig for $489. It has Athlon X2 250, 4gb Ram, 500GB HDD, 500w Power Supply, Liquid cooling, Radeon 6570. For $24 more bucks I could get a 6670.
I know its not a killer machine but it puts these big box vendors to shame.
Also if you already have windows OEM you can get it reactivated on a new PC if you get the right Microsoft rep, also lie about motherboard dieing and not replaceable... Some will choke up a code.
I know you mentioned the discrepancies in the article, but if you aren't going to try a little harder to make a good comparison you shouldn't even make the article. Shop around online at better retailers than Best Buy, find the very best systems you can that cost about $550, THEN compare those to your own system.
I still expect the prebuilt systems to fall behind, but the article we have here isn't even a real comparison.
sincerely,
Mackenzie
All you did was compared the systems performance and then list the Custom-built specs at the end without any benchmark comparison.
I was going to use this article for ALL of my friends to understand why they should build their own. But, since you guys compared the rainbow of feces available at Best Buy without showing the splendor that is home build, it's useless.
Come on...
iBuyPower is not globally available
I second that. If I hadn't bought it on steam, I would have sold it somewhere. It is bad compared to the first in terms of gameplay and even graphics. Yeah, Crytek are touting that they made a better looking game with lesser system requirements, but that is not true.
But here is a real challenge for Tom's that I would like to see: what can you build for $300-400 that includes what the pre-built's supply (keyboard and mouse, OS, etc)? Yes, I know the builder will have to receive therapy once it is over, but maybe you could let him throw it out a third-story window when the article is finished.
Let's assume you can get the OS at the discounted rate Dell or HP gets, and you can even add $50 to your budget by pre-loading crapware if you want. I won't expect the labor cost to be added in, since the assumption is that someone is doing this on their own time.
If you can beat the performance of those off-the-shelf pieces of carp, even by a little, I will be impressed (and happy to know it can be done). Now that is a real challenge: is anyone there strong enough to take it on?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+Inspiron+Desktop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i3+Processor+/+4GB+Memory+/+1TB+Hard+Drive/1677209.p?id=1218278292663&skuId=1677209
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Desktop+/+AMD+Athlon%26%23153%3B+II+Processor+/+4GB+Memory+/+1TB+Hard+Drive/1757098.p?id=1218289373194&skuId=1757098
That are right at the same price point as your built system, and that's not even figuring in the OS cost, which gets you in the range of:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Essentio+Desktop+/+AMD+Phenom%26%23153%3B+II+X6+Processor+/+8GB+Memory+/+1TB+Hard+Drive/2634102.p?id=1218341075428&skuId=2634102
I don't disagree that you can build a better system for your specific use than what a pre-built can do for you at a given price point, but I don't think you did a good job of actually showing that with this shockingly one-sided article.
I'd kinda like to see what's available from the smaller systems makers of the world, and take that into account. I for one wouldn't want it any other way than to build my own. And if building budget systems themselves aren't that exciting, I enjoy the challenge of working in the budgetary constraints. So, keep up the good work -- I'd like to see more of this in the future.
The Dell is 400 dollars. That includes everything: OS, keyboard, and even a warranty.
The 500 dollar home-built costs quite a bit more than 500 dollars. It's actually closer to a 654 dollar build: 525 base + 99 for the OS (seriously, OEM copies of Windows 7 are 99 dollars) + 30 for mouse and keyboard (these are not negligible expenses for a true budget build).
Does the home-built have an SD card reader? That's about another 20 dollars. So maybe it's a 674 dollar build
So you are comparing a 654-674 dollar system to a 400 dollar one. The home-built computer is at least 60 percent more expensive than the Dell.
Take the 255 dollar difference and use it to upgrade the power supply and the video card in the Dell (I could get a 6870 and a Corsair PSU in that Dell for 255 dollars). Then do your comparison.
You just seen what it takes to make a prebuilt play games, and that's the cost give/take a few dollars of buying an OS. And that's if you only have to buy a graphics card.
Also heres another way to look at it. Since prebuilt can't play games, pop a linux OS onto the other one, and bam takes that out of the equation. Although you would be able to find certain games that do run on a linux OS. And there are other ways to get an OS (although lets not get into the debate about that.)
So look a little deeper, and it's clearly obvious how/why when you build yourself you get more bang for the buck.
Btw I'd realy like to see a guide to windows versions and licensing. I am lost there ...
Case + PSU: IN WIN BK623.BN300BL 0.6mm SECC Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 300W Power Supply - $61.99
Motherboard: Foxconn M61PMP-K AM3 NVIDIA MCP61P Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $44.99
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - $57.99
RAM: G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) - $39.99
Video Card:HIS H567FO1G Radeon HD 5670 1GB - $59.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $39.99
Optical Drive: LG Black 22X SATA CD/DVD Burner - $19.99
Keyboard: Rosewill RK-101 Keyboard - $5.99
Mouse: Rosewill RM-C2U 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Optical 800 dpi Mouse - $5.99
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1-Pack - OEM $99.99
Total: $436.90
It's got the same CPU and hard drive space, more RAM, and vastly superior graphics as all those pre-builts for well under $500. Obviously I can't vouch for the quality of those components, but they're not going to be worse than what's in those budget boxes from Best Buy in any case. Oh, and I even checked on shipping, and it's under $30, so that's about what you would pay in tax anyway if you bought a PC at the store. I did find it a little ironic that the OS was the single most expensive item in that build.