What's the deal with prebuilt vs DIY gaming PC these days? I know the cryptocurrecy insanity caused GPU prices to skyrocket about a year ago but now I've seen bitcoin tanking. Thinking about getting a new PC soon and am unsure about which route to go. Last built a PC about 5 years ago and there was no question at the time to go DIY.

I would figure out what specs you want, price it on pcpartpicker.com and a pre built site. You will most likely save money DIY.

I personally go build it yourself but that's because I enjoy doing it and making it "mine".

However, theres some really good machines out there at great prices now.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227807

Best buy also has similar priced high end systems like above.

See This thread for a recent discussion. Briefly, more bang for your buck with a DIY system, especially at the higher end, but obviously more of a pain in the butt.

Also the proliferation of quality prebuilders means if there is a good deal you might pay a 5 to 10 percent upcharge on the build. Not terrible. Thinking of getting a pre-built early in the new year.

most entry level pre-built gaming PCs are pretty fairly priced/spec'd to a homebuilt machine. when you start to get into the $800+ budget range, building yourself pays off.

lots of good guidance available here on TexAgs, and as always y'all can shoot me messages via gmail, twitter, twitch, etc.

See if you live close to a Micro Center, for DIY build local pickup is about as cheap as you can get from my experience.

IBuyPower and NZXT BLD are some pretty solid options for prebuilts that don't charge much of a premium over DIY. The GPU crytpmining boom is over and GPUs can be had for reasonable prices with the exception of the new NVIDIA 20-series RTX cards. You can currently get some solid deals on a 1080 or even a 1080 Ti before supplies run out.

Personally, I prefer to build my own, but I enjoy doing it, not to save money. Heck, I've probably spent more on my current system due to my constant tinkering than if I had just bought a prebuilt. I'm actually going to transplant my system from an NZXT H700i case to a Phanteks Evolv X this weekend in anticipation of building a custom watercooling loop. It never ends, lol.

Anyone have opinion on air cooling vs AIO water cooler? Building a computer soon and seems over locking is much simpler/safer than in the past. Is one va the other really better in any way?

aggiebq03+ said:

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Anyone have opinion on air cooling vs AIO water cooler? Building a computer soon and seems over locking is much simpler/safer than in the past. Is one va the other really better in any way?

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Overclocking is stupid simple these days as long as you have a half decent motherboard and decent RAM. You can get pretty close to equivalent cooling between high-end air cooling and decent AIO watercooling.

The big difference from a performance standpoint between the two is that it takes longer for the heat to saturate the water in the closed AIO watercooling loop than it does to saturate the metal in a high end air cooler (which happens in a few seconds). What that means is that given enough time (usually about 30 minutes) of sustained load, the temps will even out between the two. Another difference between a high end air cooler and a good AIO watercooler is that you can usually run the fans a bit slower (and therefor quieter) on the AIO, though that's not always true when comparing against oms of the newer air coolers like the Noctua NH-U12S DX-3647 that uses a brand new fan design (though you can buy those fans separately.

Functionally, if you have a modern case (like the NZXT H500 or the Fractal Design Meshify C) that can easily support a 240mm or 280mm radiator, current AIOs are easier to install than high end air coolers as they will have fewer issues with height clearance with other components on the motherboard (like RAM and VRM cooling).

Corsair and NZXT tend to make the better AIO watercoolers on the market right now. Most performance differences across the board though are due to the fans the various manufacturers include since the AIO systems themselves are really only made by a handful of companies (Asetek makes the vast majority with CoolIt, Apaltek, Swiftech and a few others here and there). Right now the cream of the AIO watercooler crop include the NZXT Kraken x62 and the Corsair Hydro H115i RGB Platinum, which are both 280mm radiator units. There are some units out there with 360mm radiators like the Corsair H150i Pro (which is what I currently have in my system) and the NZXT Kraken x72, but the performance and sound differences don't really justify the increased cost and increased issues with radiator compatibility that come along with the larger rads for most people.

If you're looking at high end air cooling, the best options are the Noctua NH-D15 SSO2, the Noctua NH-U12S DX-3647 (which uses their brand new NF-A12x25 120mm fans that outperform most 140mm fans), and the be quiet! 250W TDP Dark Rock Pro 4 . There are a few other options out there, but all three of those will perform on par with a good AIO watercooler under sustained loads. If you look at the pictures of these coolers, they are BIG and can cause compatibility issues with some cases (though no problems with either of the two cases I mentioned above) and especially issues with height of other components around the CPU socket like the previously mentioned RAM and VRM cooling. Just be sure to research the specific cooler, RAM and motherboard you're looking at to double check for issues prior to buying. The air coolers do provide a little piece of mind in terms of long term maintainance/reliability as you don't have to worry about pump or tubing failure (rare in modern, well-regarded AIOs, but possible) or liquid permeation (slow evaporation of coolant through the tubing, not a big leak that can damage components) that can reduce efficiency after a few years of use. Personally I'm not worried about the issues with AIOs that I mentioned, but it's something worth considering.

It is best to build your own PC as then you can get a version of windows that can be toned down in regards to telemetry and surveillance. If you're buying a prebuilt, you're gonna have to spend a long time fiddling with Win10 to not be so crappy and regain some degree of control.

Dark Helmet said:

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It is best to build your own PC as then you can get a version of windows that can be toned down in regards to telemetry and surveillance. If you're buying a prebuilt, you're gonna have to spend a long time fiddling with Win10 to not be so crappy and regain some degree of control.

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You know you can easily do a Windows refresh/reset and accomplish the same thing, right?

https://www.pcmag.com/news/348679/how-clean-up-windows-10-with-the-refresh-windows-tool

Dark Helmet said:

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It is best to build your own PC as then you can get a version of windows that can be toned down in regards to telemetry and surveillance. If you're buying a prebuilt, you're gonna have to spend a long time fiddling with Win10 to not be so crappy and regain some degree of control.

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Yeah... That's not true.

Thanks all for the advice. May try picking up a few parts today on amazon.

Perhaps what he meant was that you avoid bloatware?

Anyone have any opinions on if its worth it to get an i7 over an i5? The only games I've played lately are GW2 and BF1. Once I have a new PC I plan on playing BF5 pretty regularly.

I was initially leaning toward an i7 8700 but once I priced everything out its getting a little expensive all together. May go with an i5 based on what I've seen on Tom's Hardware.

I largely agree, however with the latest chips, power delivery/cooling is critical for moderate to heavy overclocking. sure, bumping up the multiplier is easy, but at some point cranking voltage is required.

If that sounds like something you'll be doing, focus on higher-end motherboards that have more fins/grooves rather than mass on the heatsinks DIRECTLY ABOVE the CORE VRMs. A good example is the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7. That VRM is cooled properly and can be cranked pretty hard. ASRock's VRM cooling solutions are less than optimal, so just be careful (or ask us here). MSI's top tier boards are good, but bumping down can be misleading

and I don't typically like JayZTwoCents, but he is spot on with watercooling

theterk said:

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I largely agree, however with the latest chips, power delivery/cooling is critical for moderate to heavy overclocking. sure, bumping up the multiplier is easy, but at some point cranking voltage is required.

If that sounds like something you'll be doing, focus on higher-end motherboards that have more fins/grooves rather than mass on the heatsinks DIRECTLY ABOVE the CORE VRMs. A good example is the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7. That VRM is cooled properly and can be cranked pretty hard. ASRock's VRM cooling solutions are less than optimal, so just be careful (or ask us here). MSI's top tier boards are good, but bumping down can be misleading

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True enough in regards to VRM cooling and quality if you really want to dig into overclocking, especially as core counts rise.

My 7900x can pull over 300 watts when it's really under load before I max out r the cooling capacity of the AIO I currently have, which is why my next project is going back to an open loop cooling solution. My Asus Rampage VI Apex doesn't break a sweat though pushing that much power to the CPU and the VRMs don't typically go above 75c.

300w, childs play!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/314012111

back when I hit 4.1GHz on the 2990WX (32core threadripper) Probably one of my best videos/streams regarding computer overclocking

You can reload a clean version of windows with the key they provide. I've done it on the last few laptops I bought.

theterk said:

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300w, childs play!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/314012111

back when I hit 4.1GHz on the 2990WX (32core threadripper) Probably one of my best videos/streams regarding computer overclocking

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Hahaha, nice! Sadly I don't have a 9980XE to really push the power delivery on my board, lol.

I'll have to watch that video later!