I’ve been working on PCs for 10 years. Building your own computer is no longer cheaper

Anyone dedicated to saving money can spend time researching, shopping, and toiling to build their own computer. This has been true since the early days of personal computing. This usually results in a significant discount compared to a pre-built, ready-made PC.

That has changed. AI-driven confluence Ramageddonthe NAND-pocalypse and the huge demand for powerful GPUs have made the current PC components market a nightmare to navigate. Things that were sometimes affordable, like RAM and storage, have skyrocketed in price. Graphics card prices rarely drop below retail price, but now high-end models can be several times more expensive than their MSRP launch price… and that is if You can find it at all.

With the decline of the market, building personal computers is no longer what it used to be. OEMs and PC builders have advantages that DIYers don’t when it comes to sourcing components, meaning a lot of pre-built systems actually have a price advantage. I searched the market for competitively priced prefabricated systems and then determined the cost of a similar DIY configuration using PCPartPicker. The truth is that eventually building your own computer isn’t cheaper anymore. I explain how I got my price estimates in the end.

Every end of the market is affected

I wish I could say that only luxury products from the DIY market are becoming more expensive, but it’s not. The DIY pricing I’ve found has proven to be more affordable than more competitive pre-builds across budget, mid-range, and high-end configurations.

Most of the budget models I found were more expensive than the DIY models, but there were still some models that were cheaper. There was more variation in the mid-range and high-end market, but always, there were too many pre-made options that existed to undermine the DIY version.

This was one of the most affordable pre-builds I’ve spotted HP Omen 16L from Sam’s Club Priced at only $1,199. To build a PC with the same CPU, GPU, memory, and storage, I was looking at $1,544. The Lenovo LOQ Tower 26ADR10 available at Micro Center costs just $999. The DIY budget to replicate this was $1,071 even before including the CPU and motherboard, which couldn’t even be replicated because Lenovo used a proprietary motherboard with the laptop’s CPU.

In the mid-range, Sam’s Club delivers Asus ROG G700 With an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 5070 with 12GB of VRAM and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 storage for $1,749. I was looking for $2033 for a similar DIY. For what it’s worth, I really tried to do the best I could in my DIY attempts, and I chose Case $74, $89 for power supply (Don’t skimp on the power supply, people!) And cheap Cooler $54. Even if you got these three components for free, the DIY build would still cost $1,816.

I’ve seen the biggest swings at higher prices simply because the spreads add up so much more. One is pre-builtOne of these pre-built devices was $649 more expensive than DIY, while another pre-built one was $632 cheaper than DIY. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter some Pre-buildings are more expensive than DIY. There will always be expensive options. Average price differences can paint a more balanced picture between DIY and prefabricated products, but it only takes one bad apple to skew the data. Only a few pre-builds need to cost more than the DIY cost to be effectively undercut, and that’s exactly what I’ve seen.

The place where you shop is huge

It doesn’t matter your budget, it matters where you shop. Whether you get a good deal on a pre-built PC depends largely on where you’re trying to buy one.

The major OEMs weren’t making their pre-designs look great while browsing. Dell, HP, and Lenovo didn’t offer many models that were compelling value for money. Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10

It was $456 more expensive than DIY. HP Omen 35L It was $73 more expensive, despite its budget Omen 16 litres It was actually $198 cheaper than DIY. Dell Alienware Aurora It was $602 more expensive. I couldn’t find anything worth considering from Acer, and Asus wanted $300 more than Sam’s Club for its price Rog G700 (And a Sam’s Club membership is well under $300.)

Best Buy has been a bastion of reliable retail pricing during the GPU crisis of 2021, but I didn’t find many exciting options there without looking at brands I’d never heard of, like Yeytian or Andromeda Insights. I found three that seemed like good value, but all three were more expensive than the DIY ones, averaging $129. Best Buy had it HP Omen 35 litre $2,899 configuration which undercut the DIY by $79, thanks to a $200 rebate at the time, but that almost doesn’t matter because I’ve found better pre-configured systems for less.

Going directly to pre-designed specialists was also hit or miss. For example, iBuyPower’s RDY Trace Beats DIY by $147, while MainGear Classic MG-1 | elite and Classic MG-1 | Sapphire An average of $420 over the DIY price.

Even outlets known for customer savings, like Costco, are not universally reliable. Costco averaged $222 more expensive on the six pre-made systems I analyzed. Two of them were a better than DIY deal, but four of them cost $408 more on average. Costco has special incentives for its members through Costco Next, which offers discounts at boutique builder CLX, and the brand CLX Group Pre-building proved $185 cheaper than DIY. In contrast, Sam’s Club had HP Omen 16L and Asus ROG G700 Which was much cheaper than DIY, but also had many options that didn’t seem competitive or even up to date.

The largest nugget of gold I found was Micro Center. DIY enthusiasts will likely know the name since stores are full of DIY components. They also carry large quantities of pre-made systems, both from major brands and through their in-house PowerSpec brand. The options I found from Micro Center were almost always cheaper than DIY, with an average savings of $336 and a maximum of $632 (for PowerSpec G757). They also got pregnant Alienware Aurora ACT1250 For $2399 it beats the DIY by $532. Unfortunately, there is a hitch. Most Micro Center PCs are for store purchase only. It only had two rechargeable gaming desktops, and they weren’t cheap. However, the HP Omen Max 45L The configuration they offered for $5499 is $297 better than DIY. However, if you have a Micro Center near you, it’s worth taking a look at what they have in stock, as you can save a significant amount.

Don’t rule out smaller upgrades

All indications are that DIY is not the best deal in town. I even created the value of reflection Mid-range build For myself with Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, RTX 5070 Ti 16GB, 32GB of DDR5-6000, and 2TB NVMe 4.0 SSD. It was priced at $2,377, roughly the same price as the high-end Alienware Aurora ACT1250 with a Core Ultra 9 285K processor and an RTX 5080.

Just because building an entire PC from the ground up isn’t the deal it used to be doesn’t mean you have to rule it out entirely. The beauty of desktop computers is the ability to make changes as needed. My first gaming desktop was an open-box iBuyPower rig pre-built with an AMD FX 8320 and an Nvidia GTX 960 that was too close to DIY price for me to pass up in 2015.

After that, I never bought another pre-built one. I eventually upgraded the GPU, added an SSD and swapped cases. On top of that, I moved to Ryzen with a new motherboard and RAM, then another new GPU, some CPU swaps, some extra RAM, more storage and more. My computer is unrecognizable today, but it still has the SSD I purchased in 2016 as my first DIY upgrade. More importantly, none of these upgrades cost me the same as buying a new, fully pre-built device, but they all gave me a jump in performance and capabilities to keep up with the times.

There’s no shame in starting with a previously created design and moving on to DIY in the future, especially when it allows you to get more value on both fronts.

methodology

To configure my DIY options, I assumed the worst of pre-made systems when presented with vague component specifications. I would look for exceptionally cheap options to compete in DIY. For example, if a previously built system advertises a 1TB SSD, I wouldn’t assume it’s a powerful PCIe 4.0 SSD or even a PCIe SSD at all. Instead, I would look for an inexpensive SATA SSD to build your own. However, even this is not a safe assumption. For example, the PowerSpec G757 lists a 2TB NVMe SSD online, but it actually includes a PCIe 5.0 Crucial P510. In cases where construction is done in advance an act Providing more detail or even the exact components advertised, I tried to match my DIY configurations exactly.

Even when I tried to evade the pre-set prices, I generally couldn’t. For most DIY builds, I include the same 750-watt power supply and integrated radiator. It is possible to find a cheaper power supply that might work in these designs, but not too much before entering risky power territory. I chose this AIO cooler because of its affordability, but also because it should be able to handle any of the different CPUs in these versions. So it may be possible to save a little money by using a small tower chiller, but again, it would be a marginal saving. I’ve also included a $139 Windows 11 Home license for each DIY build.