Do you regret not buying a prebuilt PC /v/?

>>715491716 (OP)
no. it was quick and easy and i haven't had an issue with it since i got it

I don't give a shit about your stupid article. Shoot yourself in the neck.

I built my PC 13 years ago. If I had bought a prebuilt I wouldn't have been able to slowly upgrade parts. Prebuilts come with shitty generic parts that are terrible and you'll instantly have to upgrade them. Meanwhile a good PSU, case, mobo, and RAM last a long time without needing to be swapped due to incompatibility since needing to upgrade that shit is so rare.

>>715491716 (OP)
So tired of this woke website being in my recommended

>>715491864
My PC from 15 years ago has no more upgrade paths.

>>715491716 (OP)
>something goes wrong in your prebuilt in the first year or so
RMA it and it gets fixed for you, even if it's replacing major components, I've had a motherboard get fried by a power surge 2 weeks after I got a new prebuilt PC, RMA'ed it, new motherboard, no cost to me.
vs
>something goes wrong in your custom built by your own hands PC
you're totally fucked unless it's an easy fix you can do yourself, but if it's something like the power plug on your GPU melted cause it's a 4090 or 5090.. you're fucked.

>>715491864
nah as time goes on you can upgrade prebuilts provided it's not from Dell or HP or somewhere that uses a lot of incompatible proprietary parts
but you can upgrade any component in it, based on the same things as one you built yourself, can your power supply handle it, can your case fit it, and can your mobo support it.

I mean after a year or so warranty is done if you need to service it you do gotta do it yourself, like I'm repasting my GPU and CPU to stretch them out a bit longer, replacing some fans, and I had upgraded RAM from 16GB to 32GB about 2 years ago
But it does beat having something fry in the first year and just being out of a computer.

>>715491716 (OP)
the PC market crashed, glorious PC masterbros. Consolekings are laughing at us.

>>715491864
And just to put it out there, the things I've had to upgrade:
>case, 1 time because I wanted a bigger case, might do it again in the future since parts have gotten a lot bigger and I can only fit two fans on my water cooler radiator even though it's supposed to have three because my 4080 is so fucking huge, haven't had any cooling issues though
>PSU, 1 time to accommodate a 4080
>RAM, 2 times, one time from 8gb to 16gb, second time 16gb to 32gb, I used to only play games but now I do editing, programming, aswell as AI shit
>mobo, 2 times to accommodate new CPUs
>CPU, 3 times
>GPU, 3 times (650ti -> 1060 6gb -> 1080 ti -> 4080)
Meanwhile if I had a prebuilt I would've had to upgrade EVERYTHING extremely fast, and that would have defeated the purpose of going the route of a prebuilt. And if I did was play games, I would have done a lot less upgrading.

>>715492345
>you're totally fucked unless it's an easy fix you can do yourself
Buy from Amazon if you're worried. Very rarely do you ever fuck up enough to brick the entire build, and if you fucked up a part, Amazon will normally do returns no questions asked. Buy from Micro Center if you're not a third world troglodyte and are confident. They will offer you support free of charge for any PC you build. I built a PC recently for my nephew, couldn't get it to boot, took it back to Micro Center and they got it working in 10 minutes, no charge.

>nah as time goes on you can upgrade prebuilts provided it's not from Dell or HP
There is literally no reason to buy a prebuilt nowadays unless you're buying a Dell or HP because they're built for buying and then just shoving a GPU inside. All other prebuilts are overpriced.

>But it does beat having something fry in the first year and just being out of a computer.
I have been building PCs, again, for 13 years. I built mine and upgrade it multiple times, my mom's, two of my nephews', my cousin's(twice), never had this happen. Stop scaremongering.

>>715491716 (OP)
My build has been running since 2017 without issues.

building it wasnt that fun desu

>>715492793
>scaremongering
fearmongering, my b

You nerds never agree on anything. Prebuilt pc being good or bad completely depends on what parts it uses. And it's incredibly hard to fuck up to build one yourself unless you're extremely clumsy, this also goes the same with the workers putting up the prebuilt themselves.
Though I'll never buy one myself.

I went to a dedicated computer building company with a physical store, which made my PC to spec with no delay, really great cable management and it was barely any more expensive than the hardware on its own. That gave me 3 years warranty and free repairs if ever needed.
Best decision I ever made.

>>715492793
I fucked up thermal paste on building my own PC a few computers ago (short on the board that burned the board and CPU, this was back during arctic silver which is electrically conductive) that lost my motherboard and CPU.
nothing I could do about it but buy new ones as it was my fault.
I was afraid to do pasting myself (reinforcing my buying prebuilts from then on) for a long time after that. I've only gotten comfortable with the idea of doing it myself again recently because of learning newer compounds are NOT electrically conductive, but I won't ever touch liquid metal I don't care about the better thermals, because I don't want to fry another board.
I'll use Kryonaut because then some overspill doesn't matter.

the other thing, that was a prebuilt, that was a transformer literally exploded, killed my UPS and killed my motherboard.
But that? I RMA'ed it and had a new mobo, no charge not even shipping.
after the warranty was gone, as I needed parts, I replaced parts. On that build I ended up replacing the GPU, upgraded RAM, added another drive, and added another intake and exhaust fan. No problems upgrading even though it was in a proprietary case.
A lot of times the prebuilt sites like something like Cyberpower or Ibuypower just put together retail parts and the only proprietary parts are the Case and maybe the CPU cooler.

If graphics cards didn't cost an arm and a leg I'd probably have a go at it, but the cost vs reward isn't such a massive difference that I want to save $500 bucks or so. When I'm using a computer I don't have time to troubleshoot it. I need it to work.

>>715493221
the one thing I fear is having to deal with any liquids or pastes or gummy pads.
those things can be fucked up pretty easily. air bubbles in your paste, if the paste is conductive and runs off the side of the die, pads cut too thick or too thin or not the right dimensions (graphene pads are also conductive), and of course if you're doing water cooling and filling the thing and it's not tightly sealed enough.. have seen some nightmare scenarios on custom water loops.

But sure if you're going all air cooled, using a non conductive paste, and don't have to cut any pads yourself and it's just all solid parts.. and you've checked compatability, THAT part is just legos for adults.

>>715491716 (OP)
I build for myself, but if anyone comes to me for advice, I point them to a prebuilt with a warranty. I'm not going to become 24/7 tech support.

>>715491716 (OP)
Buying a prebuilt is how people get scammed into buying garbage parts for inflated prices. There is nothing smart about it.

I always go the route of buying every component myself then letting a shop put it together for me
Shops here gladly do it for you assuming you bought most of the parts from there

>>715491716 (OP)
No! I love my Blu-ray drive!

>>715494042
Link them a youtube video on how to build and say your on your own. Or just say "what's a computer?" Don't give people deliberately bad advice.

building a pc now has never been easier than before, if you buy a pre-built you are not lazy yes, however if you buy a pre-built you are a retard

>>715494079
so a lot of prebuilts you can customize the parts on them, you can pick from parts that are compatible including brands, it will adjust the price up and down accordingly.
Sure if you know nothing about what you're buying, you can get cheaped out on something like the power supply, they like to cheap out on that, but I'll just go and make sure I get a better brand power supply with a gold rating and I'll give myself another 50-100 watts over what they were going to put in there, yeah it'll cost me an extra $30-$40 or so but it's worth it having a better power supply since that's the thing that'll hinder you from doing any upgrades, if you go with whatever cheap power supply they throw in and then you add a new fan and then the system just shuts off suddenly after booting.
But you can choose it.

>>715493763
>I fucked up thermal paste on building my own PC
Everyone knows you don't need too much and to avoid overspill. Every guide tells you this. You only need a single drop in the middle.
>as it was my fault.
At least you own it.
>I was afraid to do pasting myself
I still don't like it due to the mess if I can't immediately stick on the cooler in one go. This is why I've found an air cooler that is EXTREMELY easy for builds, and why I enjoy using water coolers on my own PC. Super easy installs, no hassle. Fuck Hyper 212 Evo.
>the other thing, that was a prebuilt, that was a transformer literally exploded, killed my UPS and killed my motherboard.
That's just extremely horrible luck.
>A lot of times the prebuilt sites like something like Cyberpower or Ibuypower just put together retail parts
Yet it's still a lot more expensive. Most of the time what I tell people is, if you REALLY don't want to build it yourself, go to Micro Center, set up a build, and have them build it for you. They charge an extra $150, but it's way cheaper than what you would get charged for higher-end prebuilts online. For those of you who don't have a Micro Center within driving distance- my condolences.

I bought a pre-built in mid 2020 before the GPU craze hit. Rode it until last year where I slowly started replacing bits. It's now been wholly replaced with new parts and I've reassembled the old parts and let my wife use them.

>tanveer

>>715494486
Yeah, normally when I upgrade, I give my parts to my family. Both my mom's PC and my nephew's PC are frankenstein'd from old parts I had. Both can still play new games at 60 FPS.

>there are butt hurt morons who have a false sense of superiority only because they assembled a Gaming PC that even little kids can accomplish because it's just like putting Legos together!
You sissy boys can't be serious!

buy an ad

>>715494621
Yeah it's great. I'm hoping we can have a good co-op playthrough of BG3 or something. We don't have a spot to set her up yet but when we move...

>>715491716 (OP)
I couldn't build a pc because I have heavy ogre hands with poor coordination that easily break fragile things like pc parts

>>715494460
Microcenter isn't everywhere dude. If I wanted to go to a Microcenter it's a few hours drive.

as for the paste. that's what I did, was just a pea sized dot on the center of the die. What happened was when I was clamping on the cooler, it slipped, which #1 created an air bubble and #2, had some run off of arctic silver.
frankly I'm never doing the dot method again.
I'm doing the spatula method. Then I can spread it on nice and thin and even, cause I noticed with the dot methods, well, "use even pressure" is a bit hard when you can't see how that paste is spreading under pressure.
with the spatula, I can make sure it's spread even, I can make sure it covers the entire die, and I can prevent air bubbles since there's no part where it's thicker or thinner.

>take a computer class almost 20 years ago
>"remember if you don't ground yourself with special equipment then the tiniest static shock could completely ruin your PC!"
I'm convinced shit like this is why normies are so fucking scared to build their own machines even though I know zero people this has ever happened to and it's a borderline urban legend.

>>715494736
Zanoba browses /v/?

>>715494736
That's fucking nonsense

t. enormous hands and just built a new PC.

>>715495027
lol I remember my first PC I was extremely paranoid about that happening while I was building it. I CONSTANTLY tapped my grounding thing cause I was worried about damaging my PC. I was actually gonna wear rubber gloves but my friend told me I didn't need to go that far

>>715491716 (OP)
>Tanveer Singh

>>715491716 (OP)
>shit mobos (shit capacitors, shit expansion ports, shit chipset, shit power circuit, few i/o ports, shittiest audio codec ever, shit wi-fi and NIC, few m.2 slots, few sata ports, etc.)
>shit cases (no 3.5" bays, few 2.5" bays, few fans, shit placement for radiator, no space for gpu, poor ventilation, shitty riveted psu shrowd, painful as fuck ssd and/or hdd installation mechanism, poor cable management, shit front panel, no fan air filters, etc.)
>shit ram (slow timings, low clock speed, too tall for hsf clearance, too many ranks (cpus have a rank limit), etc.)
>shittiest gpu (not all gpus are made equal)
>shit psu (you DON'T wanna skimp out on this. shit capacitors, shit rail layout, ripple and other issues)
>shit ssd (forget about TLC. you're gonna get the shittiest QLC chinesium drive in existence)
>shit mouse and keyboard
>shit monitor (shitty response times, no menu options to disable garbage like dynamic contrast, no options to minimize ghosting like overdrive, no strobing backlight, dithering and frame rate control (i.e. not real 32-bit colors), etc., etc.)
prebuilts are shit. shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit

>>715494770
>it slipped
So it wasn't the dot method that fucked up, it was you. The instant it slips, you should be taking the cooler off and cleaning everything IMMEDIATELY.

>>715495415
oh yeah, and don't forget another hidden caveat
>proprietary hardware such as proprietary PSUs (hp and dell are fucking infamous for this)

>>715491716 (OP)
No, because I got all the parts on discount and now when something goes off or needs replacing I know how to do it.

>>715495027
shit can happen. I've given 2 examples of things going wrong with a new PC. In the prebuilt's case I had a warranty, in my own fuckup's case I didn't.
There is also a 3rd thing that can go wrong, though, this might be less likely to happen now.
When I was really young, and didn't know what I was doing, I wanted to get a new GPU, the problem was.. I didn't know about the connectors.
So I bought a card that had a PCI-express connection but my Mobo still only had regular PCI slots and an AGP slot (this was forever ago).
So now I had a GPU I couldn't use unless I got a new motherboard, and because I'd opened it and everything, I couldn't return it.
But if you don't know what you're doing you can get incompatible parts. A PSU that doesn't fit in your case form factor, a motherboard and CPU that are incompatible slots
RAM DIMMs that are incompatible slots.
This can happen more during upgrading than building a new PC yourself admittedly, but it can happen.

But I did buy, like 12 years ago. But I have upgraded every single part on it including the case since then.

>>715495462
the dot method was bad because it created a glob with differing thickness and thinness that I was trying to spread out by putting pressure on the cooler
spatula method I didn't have to worry about that, I made a line, I spread the line over the surface nice and even, I didn't have to squish it to make it cover.
>it was you.
and yeah, that's a reason why people will avoid building their own PC, because they know they can make mistakes, doing so, and those mistakes can cost them expensive parts with no recourse, vs a warranty.

>P&V translation of Dostoevsky

>>715495415
>>715495503
just don't buy from HP or dell, go to one of the sites that basically just puts together retail parts and are charging you extra to put it together and give you a warranty.... and make sure you customize which parts go in it.
The one thing you usually can't customize is the case.

>>715491716 (OP)
hmmm...

>>715496060
I don't think you understand
>the glob method was bad because I messed up the part where I literally only have to push down because I put so little paste on there that it's extremely hard to have spill over
>I would rather use a spatula and carefully paint on the thermal paste
It's user error, not a faulty method. It's okay if you like it more, but it doesn't make the method better.

>>715496218
Indeed! Those butt hurt dumbasses have obviously never heard of the Skytech!

The Skytech is based!

Bought my prebuilt for 15% less than building it and didnt have to spend my time doing it.
Sure theres a lot of shitty overpriced builds, but its the same as buying anything. know what you're getting.
Building it isnt a flex either. its basically plug and play with a few screws

>>715496327
eh, I've seen some videos on the subject and the dot method was one of the worst results, especially on something like a threadripper where it's not square, they couldn't get it to cover the entire die.
X was better
double lines across both sets of dies was even better
but spatula was ultimately the way you made 100% sure the entire die was covered and in even thickness so you were less likely to have spillover.

>>715494380
It's as easy as it was 15 years ago when I put together the first iteration of my previous build and the same as it was like 8 years ago when I upgraded that to its second iteration. None of the process changed.

>>715496494
>eh, I've seen some videos on the subject and the dot method was one of the worst results
>source: my ass

>>715496509
it can some. 20+ years ago before USB it was even more complicated.
I gave the example also of incompatible graphics card slots, you had PCI, AGP and PCI express all within a window of a few years and you had to know which slots your motherboard supported.
it has standardized a lot more recently. So it has gotten easier when dealing with potential of incompatible parts.

>>715496718
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWu2tcm4wL8

>>715491927
Isn't xda a forum where you go get the latest lineageos flash image compiled by A. Pajeet?
-
...
-
oooh

>>715491716 (OP)
Custom prebuilt bought from a brick and mortar PC store is fine, brand garbage is not.

>>715497172
and in case you're gonna complain about it being on a non square CPU die, which is fair..
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AEg0rr6eUEI

>>715492345
>you're totally fucked unless it's an easy fix you can do yourself, but if it's something like the power plug on your GPU melted cause it's a 4090 or 5090.. you're fucked.
Except if you live in Europe since you get warranty on every single component and they are often longer than the warranty you get for your pre-built PC

>>715491716 (OP)
no

>>715497275
this is a fair point.
there's prebuilts like everyone thinks of dells, where you aren't customizing and just getting whatever they throw in, or a customizable prebuilt where you can pick the parts and you're just having someone else assemble it and you're paying for the assembly.
if you can't customize the parts.. don't do that prebuilt go elsewhere.

>>715491716 (OP)
I've never had a prebuilt that just worked for more than a few years. Yet I've never had a single problem with the two I've personally built. I guess even the big prebuilt brands cheap out on manufacturing or something.

>>715493989
Water cooling is a meme, liquid metal is a meme and I have no clue what you are using pads for when assembling a PC

>>715497172
So wasn't our original topic which is the least easy to fuck up? Since you fucked up the dot method? So why are we posting benchmarking results in a discussion of which method is the easiest to apply and least likely to fuck your build?

>dot method is best for new builders
>um no i fucked it up!
>okay, YOU fucked it up
>yeah well it's not the best for benchmarks!
You're retarded.

>>715494079
Whenever I read posts like this I'm reminded that /v/ does really live in 2008.

I have no interest in prebuilts either, but we're not fucking living in the Dell world anymore, grandpa. Every prebuilt SI has all the exact parts listed on pages, and usually also give you choices.

>>715491716 (OP)
No, I will not do the needful.

>>715497275
Brand garbage is fine if you're getting it for a huge bargain(which can happen). Otherwise yeah you're right.

>>715495027
I'm convinced that static shock causes some kind of silent damage to parts. Because my friends and I all built PCs and I used to make some kind of effort to avoid static but they were of the "lol, doesn't matter" and would happily lay out the parts on the carpet and drag them around. And yes, their PCs worked... for a while. They were always replacing parts that "just died" after a year or less meanwhile in 20 years I've had 1 GPU out of god knows how many develop a minor fault, never had RAM go bad, never had a mobo fail... It's hardly proof, but there's something to be said for being cautious about something that's hard to prove one way or the other.

>>715497490
>Water cooling is a meme
I kind of was thinking of switching to an AIO, not for thermals, but just not not have a bulky heat sink from an air cooler getting in the way of everything.

>>715497490
well, pads are something you're going to deal with if you ever need to repaste your GPU. GPU's contain lots of gummy pads on the vram, and those gummy pads can tear when you're opening it up to repaste (which you don't do until you're for sure past warranty), so you might have to replace the pads, meaning you're probably going to be cutting them yourself.

>>715492214
you shoulda swapped out ur mobo by now

>>715497605
That anon is retarded. Water cooling is not a meme. Been using AIOs for many years and they've never let me down. Way easier to install, takes up less space, and better on temps.

>>715491803
This, took less than an hour.


The only awkward bit was panicking over why it wasn't showing anything on the monitor when I started it. Turned out I just plugged the hdmi cable in the motherboard instead of the graphics card

ZERO. FUCKING. EXCUSES.

>>715497504
watch the second video, it's easy to fuck up the dot method because you won't get full coverage on the die often times and you can have runoff.
spatula never has these issues, because you spread it over the die yourself, and since it's already spread thin, you won't have spillover too.
I fucked up the dot method
I didn't fuck up the spatula method
if I'm retarded and can do the spatula method and failed the dot method, why would you recommend dot method to anyone if the foolproof way is spatula?

>>715491716 (OP)
>Do you regret not wasting money on a useless brick with no games?
Not really.

>>715497641
I have no clue why you would ever need to repaste a GPU. That is not a thing. You legitimately seem like a tech illiterate retard trying to sound smart about shit you know nothing about. 99% of GPUs nowadays have thermals applied that will prevent you from needing to repaste for 10 years at least. I hope you're baiting because if not, you are fucking retarded.

Should i just buy a gaming laptop?

>>715497528
>we're not fucking living in the Dell world anymore, grandpa
hell, even in the dell hell world I wasn't terribly convinced self build was worth it unless you absolutely needed the highest end PC it was possible to build. If all you needed was a gaming shitbox, Dell had you covered. "Oh noes, proprietary PSU and mobo means you can't upgrade!" Upgrading is a total meme that belongs to those who get scammed into rolling debt into more debt. You buy a good machine it's going to last you longer than the hardware platform. Intel obsoleted all their shit in 2.5years every 2 years and the only way bi-annual upgrades are any use is when you cheaped out and went for a "works on every today game with no hope for the future" cpu/gpu. Saving money now to spend more in the future costs more than spending more now. When it comes time to upgrade you're going to need to replace everything. Might as well replace literally everything and then you've got a backup box or a whole system you can sell rather than a collection of mediocre parts you're conning yourself into believing represents an "upgrade path."

>>715491716 (OP)
never heard anyone ever say that buying a prebuilt is lazy, just a poor financial decision

>>715497704
I've been using air coolers for decades and they have never let me down, water coolers are just a meme and they all end up with a dead pump in a few years or gunk buildup in the block

>>715491716 (OP)
i mean its the exact same as buying your own custom PC, except you pay a $50 surcharge for the technician to assemble it for you.
then you can hold them accountable if there's a fuck-up, and you'll usually get a 2-5 year warranty as well in case something happens.

>>715497881
repasting a GPU is what you do when you're trying to stretch out an older card when newer cards are scalped to fuck.

>>715491864
>If I had bought a prebuilt I wouldn't have been able to slowly upgrade parts
the retarded shit /v/ makes up sometimes really gets me holy shit

>>715491716 (OP)
>Prebuit PC with rtx 5080 is cheaper than the actual GPU
Wtf I-i don't understand... It doesn't make sense

>>715497961
>buy 3080
>4080 comes out
>sell 3080 for almost retail price
>buy 4080
>5080 comes out
>sell 4080 for more than retail price
>buy 5080

>>715497846
With the dot method, if there's spill over it's because you're retarded and can't apply even pressure, or you put way too much. It should not cover the ENTIRE CPU. The spatula method is retarded because yes, you can still be a retard and put too much, but then you also have to MANUALLY spread it across the whole CPU.

To put it into simpler terms for you
>dot method
>put too much, oops build goes fucky wucky
>spatula method
>put too much, oops build goes fucky wucky
>spread like a retard, oops build goes fucky wucky
Except either way the build won't fail except in your retarded case, but the fact remains, with the dot method there's less ways to fuck it up. You are just a fuck-up.

>>715498052
>when you're trying to stretch out an older card when newer cards are scalped to fuck
Then don't be retarded and buy them as soon they come out instead of when they're being scalped. I got my 4080 for $900. Literally all of your replies are "I'm retarded please help me"

Building yourself was cheaper in the 00s. Now it's barely any difference. Prebuilts are fine nowadays

>>715497704
Water cooling with custom loops is a meme. It's purely for looks, the maintenance alone makes it wholly not worth it.
AIOs are a mixed bag. Their primary usefulness is in giving you a large thermal mass away from the CPU which helps if you've got a terribly constrained case. But if you have space for a decent tower air cooler you *shouldn't* be getting better temps on an AIO. Many times people are confused by AIOs because all that liquid and the radiator gives them all this extra mass that has to soak up heat before their temps start to climb. But because they are extremely limited on airflow due to all those dense fins they don't realise that once the 360mm rad reaches saturation the actual transfer to the air is not really much more than a decent tower cooler. But your ADHD LTT watcher only runs some benchmarks for 15 minutes, reads the temps and declares victory. Worse if they are comparing to a badly fitted stock cooler or something.

>>715491716 (OP)
prebuilts are very competitive nowadays, especially selfbuilts, which are the new evolution of prebuilts.
only retarded /g/troons care about it anymore.

>>715498180
>It should not cover the ENTIRE CPU
Yes it should. Also you keep crying about spilling out, that literally doesn't matter, just leave that shit there after it spills out

>>715498151
Sounds like you're in the home owner's fallacy there. It matters not that your house value rises when so does everyone else's which forces you to buy at an equally inflated price. Worse for GPUs since nvidia increased the baseline and dropped the performance.

>>715498282
The whole point of the discussion was that the retard was claiming spilling fried his mobo. Either way, unless you're a sloppy faggot who lives in some shithole and can't afford anything, you should at least try to make a proper build by having your thermal paste not being sloppy as fuck. If it's spilling over you're doing a shit job.
>Yes it should.
Been doing it this way for years, running at 1440p 144fps currently in the newest games with no framerate drops. Suck my cock faggot.

>>715491716 (OP)
I do not.

>>715498180
... that is exactly why you'd repaste an older card and keep it going for longer, waiting for prices to come down.
that was a retarded take.

>>715498282
it mattered if you were using an electrically conductive thermal compound, like arctic silver or liquid metal or conductonaut.

>>715497646
Naa.

>>715498449
If you get a good price when selling your GPU, you can upgrade for cheap and instead of going from a 3080 to a 7080 and paying 5 grand for it, you can pay a couple grand in total while upgrading every gen

>>715498548
I think you might be retarded
>i am retarded and can't buy a card as soon as it comes out and need to be the runner up and get scalped
>therefore i must repaste my GPU to make it last because i am desperate!
I am telling you to be one of the first ones to buy instead of waiting and getting scalped. I have never been scalped in the last 15 years, perhaps you should plan ahead better, retard-san?

>>715498474
The better your coverage, the better your thermals. Just because it runs doesn't mean you couldn't be running cooler

>>715498728
they get scalped day 1 buddy.
People lining up, availability shot day 1
that is WHY there is scalping.
So for most people they're gonna have to wait for availability to go up so prices can go back down, or, wait for new models of cards/competitors to hit the market and drop prices.

>>715498781
Again, the original argument was what's more retard-proof. Keep moving the goalposts though, anon.

>>715498848
and you keep calling me retarded and I can't fuck up spatula method therefore it's more retard-proof isn't it?

>>715498638
>using an electrically conductive thermal compound
These are literal memes too. Liquid metal is the only one with any difference to a normal thermal paste and it's not worth the hassle if you aren't doing overclocking

>>715498846
Huh. Crazy how I got my 4080 without getting scalped then. Must be a miracle?

>>715491716 (OP)
I did buy a pre built and don't really regret it but I've since changed out both the GPU and the hard drive so I probably could do the rest without issue. Though anything fucking with the mother board scares me a bit.

>>715498912
The fact that you don't understand how retarded that sounds kind of dumbfounds me.

>>715498848
Yeah and the most retard-proof is a big blob of normal thermal paste, enough to spill over on all sides so you know it's fully covered

>>715498087
not entirely untrue, HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc the big manufacturers still make proprietary cases and crappy custom mobos and PSU's. HP Omen PC's for instance have RAM limitations as low as 32GB, PSU is custom so you need a new case if you want a new one or if you can't find the upgrade on ebay.

iBuyPower and the other ones just use shitty off the shelf parts, you can fuck those for days on end.

>>715491716 (OP)
No thanks Mr shekelberg. I make my own machines in this house and people pay me to build them.

>>715497810

There's a store in South Australia called "Techfast" that frequently does prebuilts for barely above, or sometimes even below, the price of JUST the GPU on its own, and always has more stock than the stores do. It simply doesn't make sense to build it yourself in these conditions.

>>715498920
4xxx series didn't have the availability problem 5xxx series did IIRC.
3xxx series and 5xxx series had horrible problems with scalpers when they first released.
actually 5xxx series you still can't find things MSRP that often, newegg right now there's 1 5070TI model (Zotac) that's MSRP everything else is $80+ over.
Lowest price 5090 is $400 over MSRP
and we're 6 months after the release of the series.

>>715498979
>call someone a retard for having a spillover issue with the dot method
>they say they did the spatula method without any problems and recommend that to people instead
>stick to claiming the dot method is retard proof
I'm beginning to think you're the one with an IQ that throttles itself when it crosses the threshold of 90.

>>715499284
if you can get a good deal like that do it, I was gonna build one for a nephew over christmas but MSI had 4060ti i714000 box for $800

>tanveer singh
GOOD MORNING SAAR

>>715499356
I've literally stated why the dot method is better for new builders, yet you exclaim "ERM SPATULA BETTER". Actual retard. You literally do NOT NEED IT TO COVER THE ENTIRE CPU.

YOU ARE RETARDED IF YOU THINK IT DOES NEED TO COVER THE ENTIRE CPU.

>>715499370
Unfortunatelyish I buyedboughted some components myself literally 6 hours before their 5080 one went up a few months ago, but with the absolute state of the 50 series I'm not actually that bothered and my 3080 is still going strong. Would have been nice all the same I suppose but now I can at least just replace the GPU itself whenever makes sense.

>>715499284
That sounds like they are using used parts or some really low tier shit or are selling at the price they get them for just to hopefully drive sales of other shit they sell

>>715498918
yeah but at the time I had this issue a lot of the newer pastes weren't around.
This was before even MX-4 came out, so everyone used arctic silver which is conductive.

>>715499497
5000 series can't run anything using 32-bit so you're better off

>>715497646
>>715492214
Same, I know I need a new motherboard but I figure I may as well buy a whole new computer at that point

>>715491716 (OP)
I had to install BIOS blind because the new MB and CPU I got didn't work out of the box together.
I can't be assed after that. If I'm wasting money to enter pc gaming, then I have the extra money to hire the good Indian or Korean at a shop to build it for me.

>>715499476
covering the die results in better thermals, you have multiple people relaying this to you, there are tech youtubes all over the place benchmarking that it is better to cover the entire die.
Spatula covers the entire die and has less risk of spillover, therefore it is the most foolproof way to do it.
Insulting people when they have a problem when they tried your preferred method doesn't make your method better.

>>715499502
They definitely pinch every penny they can elsewhere (no used parts, they send the boxes too) but they're still insane deals for what you get.
>>715499562
The 50s and njewdia's tricks in general seem like an absolute train wreck

>>715499594
mobo upgrades are essentially a whole new compy you need the following with it

>new CPU
>new RAM
>new PSU due to new power requirements/ports if it's old as fuck

>buy prebuilt after researching what MOBO the seller will probably put in there (gotta read a lot of reviews)
>immediately replace the cheapo NVME
>immediately replace the cheapo CPU cooler
Worked great for me when GPU's where impossible to get during covid. I also upgraded the RAM.
Added more NVME's, too.

HOWEVER! Swapping out the SSD and re-installing the OS would be too difficult for a noob. I've built plenty of computers so I could figure out the Windows 11 security shit in the BIOS. Took me a while, so a noob would probably die trying to figure it out.

Protip: Never have it delivered to your house. Do in-store pickup at BestBuy or something. Mine was mint when I picked it up. Let your PC relax on pallet delivery. Don't let the mail people throw it around.

>>715499948
I did the store pickup with the Spider-Man PS5, box came damaged, called them and they gave me $100

I bought mine right before cheeto of zion took over. feels good man

>>715491716 (OP)
None of those reasons are price or a lesson on how your computer was built so that you can diagnose its problems yourself.

>>715491716 (OP)
you get a warranty for the whole thign, and that's it.
other than that, they usually want to charge you as much as they can, and put a shitton of useless shit on it, IE, "gaming" RAM and LEDs up your ass.

>>715491716 (OP)
A laptop is a prebuilt PC though...

>>715498524
>14th gen intel
Lmao. You will respond to this with cope.

>>715498548
>waiting for prices to come down.
Should we tell him chat

>>715499064
i mean if you buy any of those then thats on you for being retarded. those machines are designed as copy-paste workstations for schools, offices and normies that dont know what a PC is.
in 2025 "pre-built" means you pick what parts you want in the cart then select the $50 "build it for me" fee and you're done.

>>715500865
come on man, don't crush my hope, they gotta come down when the supers come out right?

>>715501050
lol; lmao

I bought a prebuilt because it was the only way to get a 4090 for less than scalping price.

>>715501141
bruh.. really? the supers being the new hot scalper object won't push the TI and normal versions down closer to MSRP?

>>715500891
no it doesn't, prebuilt is you walk into a store and buy what's on the shelf

i always buy prebuilt. i know it's overpriced. i have expendable income and building a pc isn't exciting to me. they've all lasted until i just felt like replacing (5-10 years). at most i'll add some RAM further down the road.

>>715501231
Even with the build up of stock of various models now, prices aren't going under MSRP and are mostly still well above it. They know they can just wait. This is just one of the problems with an effective monopoly.

>>715501156
You're a retard buying a 4090 because you have more money than sense, why the fuck do you suddenly care about not getting scalped?

>>715501351
that is really sad.
I don't want to downgrade from what I'm used to but I also don't want to pay double what I last paid for a card of that grade. If it was MSRP it'd be just.. well that's inflation, but the markup over MSRP? That's ridiculous
like if you skip every other genration
say you got a 3090 at launch, $1500, now you pay $3000 ($1000 over MSRP) for a 5090
3080 $700, 5080 $1500
3070 $500, 5070 well, this one isn't that bad of a markup must be close to MSRP $620 roughly must have hit a good level of supply on those recently.

>>715491716 (OP)
I've owned 2 pre-built PCs and they both fucking sucked. Technically they had good GPUs and CPUs for their time but every other part was beyond dogshit that broke within a year so in the end I had to spend more money on them than I did on PCs I've fully built myself.

>>715498052
That's not a thing.

>>715502339
Says you, I am still using my Pre-built 7 years after I got it.

What I use: HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop 790-00xx

Got that for 700 dollars back then and I got more than my money's worth out of it.

>>715493826
>I need it to work.
That's why I build my own stuff. Way more reliable than whatever a store clobbers together.

>>715494412
>b-but I get to pick my GPU
You're getting fucked on the power supply, motherboard, cooling, RAM and whatever else you know nothing about.

>>715491864
why upgrade your PC when you can just buy another prebuilt in like 5 years? you even get to have a collection of old PCs this way

>>715498027
>you pay a $50 surcharge
You wish.

>>715491716 (OP)
Not at all. Bought one for about 2 k in with a 1080 in 2016 and it still works great.

I never got this argument, doesn't muttland have stores where you can just freely pick parts and have them build the PC for like a 50 dollar fee or something?
Paying that 50 bucks is well worth the time and warranty.

>>715501361
You're not very bright, friend.

>>715502427
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fEYOIsfnBs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Euy3oMysNk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7NMeu0QiYk
and I found similar results of about a 10c drop in temperatures both average and hotspot on repasting a 4 year old card.
it's definitely a thing unless you're replacing cards every couple years.
maybe it's not a thing if you're using pads instead of paste.

>>715502523
you can customize power supply, RAM, cooler, GPU, CPU, Motherboard, primary storage, even case in some of the prebuilder sites
some others they might not let you customize the case cause they have their proprietary case that's part of what they're saving money on.
Obviously if you go with their defaults you're getting skimped on other things particularly power supply. But yeah, spend the extra $40 to get a good power supply 50-100w higher than what they default have in the build.
Most times these prebuild sites do not include a monitor and do give you el cheapo keyboard and mouse, so you're on your own for those, but those you just plug in, but you'd have to do this even if they did include those parts anyway. So you might as well buy your own good ones.

>>715502768
If you have any sort of budget you shouldn't be buying a 4090 in the first place.

I bought a pre built during that period half a decade ago when it was cheaper to buy one than buy the components separately. Idk if that's still the case right now.

>>715503417
it's cheaper right now too

MSI CODEX R2 A13NUD5-265US, Intel® Core™ i5-13400F, 32GB DDR5, 1TB M.2 SSD, NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060Ti

https://computers.woot.com/offers/msi-codex-r2-a13nud5-265us?utm_medium=share&utm_source=app

>>715500891
>$50
You mean $800
The prebuilt markups are insane.

>>715499948
Most sellers don't list the names of internal components, just basic surface level specs like "5000 mhz 16 gb ram" and trying to figure out what motherboard is inside of it based off whatever snippets you can catch on the preview image is a fool's errand because very often the computers on display inside adverts have got little to do with what you actually buy. I wouldn't buy a prebuilt that has kingston, seagate or dell parts in it, and you can guarantee that a prebuilt will have exactly that and some shitty chinese psu that will burn down in a year.

>>715505579
goy, how can you be this anti-semetic? this needs to stop you bigot, oy gevalt

>buy prebuilt pc last year, my first pc than wasn't a walmart emachine from 2004
>it's great, no issues except one
>the led light strip inside the case starts flickering erratically, random colors, coil whine gets bad
>disable the strip with msi center
>it still comes on by itself and goes nuts
>lots of people on the internet had the same problem as me with this model, no solution
>finally resort to just shutting the pc down and unplug the light strip

Just maingear things.

What if you pick the parts and the guys at the shop assemble it for you

>>715508938
That's an assembly service not a prebuilt.

>>715491716 (OP)
I bought a prebuilt with a 7700k and 1080Ti when that was new and it lasted me until last year. In fact it was perfectly fine but I needed something new if I wanted to play newer games.
Never really had an issue with it.

>>715497898
I had one like 5 years ago, back when I was traveling a lot for a company and spent a couple of days/ a week or so at a job site. It was definitely worth it at the time, until I got promoted and spent far less time away from home, then it definitely became shit due to constant overheating.

I'd say they're great for short gaming sessions but suck if you play something for hours on end.

>>715491716 (OP)
I starded with a pre built back in 2016 but since then i added and taken away from it there is nothing left but the oem license. Ship of theaseus. All the data over the years still there but nothing remains of the old hardware, even the tower frame.

>>715491716 (OP)
The last prebuilt I ever bought was some Gateway in the 90's.
I still remember walking into the store with my parents to pick it out, really made you feel like somebody.

>>715509217
But the PC does come home already built...

>>715502629
Those secret stores that let you pick everything and then charge less for the PC than the GPU alone would cost are mostly not real.

if yo want a good laptop (not for games), buy a gaming laptop that's on sale for 500 bucks. i have an HP victus 15 from a few years ago and it's the perfect laptop for my shop. i might have played games five times on it throughout the years

>>715503417
That was a coof thing, because GPUs were scalped to hell and back between the crypto hype and people sitting at home wanting a better PC.

I'll never understand the appeal of rbg lights, do you really want that thing flashing constantly in the corner of your vision?

>>715509516
i used my default gateway mouse for over ten years until the scroll wheel finally gave out

>>715510461
do you know any cool, decent people who have them? because i don't. it's always faggots (non-gay type)

>>715510407
Nope. The coof had no part in it. Gpus were readily available all year during the coof until the moment crypto took off.

>>715491716 (OP)
I bought pre-built as in I picked the parts and they put it together for me. Was like 200 bucks more than I'd pay if I get everything and built my own. For that price they put it together and tested everything / installed all drivers.
Yeah easiest decision of my life.

>>715491716 (OP)
This is the most retarded shit. All OEM's are proprietary now. Good luck replacing anything. Build your own or fuck off.

I don't mind people who buy pre-builts. You do you.

>>715491716 (OP)
I haven't upgraded since 2015 and I haven't needed to since games have been shit for a decade and graphics havent improved at all

Since OP is a faggot i'll post the 5 reasons by Tanveer Singh, from 5 to 1
>The convenience of prebuilds is underrated - Worth a small premium
>They are competitively priced - What's not to love?
>Scalping makes custom PC building harder than ever - It's not a good time to build your own PC
>You don't need to compromise on esthetics - Pre-built vendors offer customization
>The novelty of building a PC has worn off - The hobby has lost its charm

>>715491716 (OP)
>build own pc
>can't be fucked to clean it
>buy laptop
>runs better than old desktop
>mfw

>>715491716 (OP)
building it for you with cable management and all cost like $50, surely people are not paying 2K gamer build to not pay this

>>715514641
Good morning SAAR

>>715491716 (OP)
>Bought a pre-built with a 3060(12GB) and a Rynzen 5 5600 in 2021 because covid and crypto were raping GPU prices
>GPU has ONE fan, having various GPU to screen issues
>Temps are high
>Have to take off sidepanel to avoid temps rising
>cut to 2025 playing E33
>Runs well on medium at 1440P using DLSS quality
>Tinker with shaders to high
>fight starts
>Lune attacks
>game freezes on her ass and pink spots keep dotting the screen
>immediately turn off PC
>reset
>screen full of dots and artifacts
>Win10 doesn't recognize the driver
>Runs basically with a default driver
>swap to my backup 1660S
>no issues
>build myself a new PC the following week with a 5090
Never ever buy a pre-built. Mine lasted almost 4 years.Totally not worth it.

>>715514720
do you think the laptop doesnt absorb dust or something?

>>715514739
no way... he died..

>>715514801
Do you think I cum in my pc? Retard.

No, we don't really have commercial pre-built PCs in my country. PC shops just build it for you. And their quality fucking sucks. Every time my friends buy a new PC, I end up fixing so many fuck ups.

I built my PC in 2010. Over the years the only thing that ever broke was the PSU because it hit its end of life cycle.

>>715514641
They basically admit that they're too retarded to configure bios settings and they deal with Intel/Nvidia driver issues

>>715514641
i bought my graphic card when bitcoin lose x10 value and every faggot were panicking about having useless stock

>>715514641
Thanks mechahitler

>>715514868
Nta but laptops do gather dust at an alarming rate, and they are arguably more of a hassle to clean than desktops. Also you don't void your hardware warranty when removing components to do a deep clean in a desktop.

>>715498524
>intel
>in the current year
kys

>>715491716 (OP)
no

>singh
this is an ai generated article isnt it

There is only one reason to buy a prebuild. If you can get your company to buy it for you and get the sales tax reimbursed and then give your boss the cash and take it home with you, which is what i did. God I love avoiding taxes.

MR SINGHH!!!
is everyone a jeet now?
everyone in this thread could be a jeet and i wouldnt even know

>>715498524
>5070
Anon my 4070 super outperforms this shit
>Meme fans
That is what they using to jack up the price
>750w PSU
Wow it's not even modular have fun when you want to replace anything.
>32gb ram
For a new pc this is fine but for this kind of money if should be 64gb
Also check what motherboard they are using that is another place they can save money.

>>715491716 (OP)
I built two of my own PC's over the years and never regretted it a single time its actually pretty fun to set up and nothing is better than the first time you boot it up and it just werks

>>715515808
You can do that with components too

>>715491716 (OP)
The best games ever made are all from 2015 or older.

I can't think of a single good game that needs more then an RTX 2080.

Literally just buy a steam deck 2 whenever that comes out. Don't pay more then 500$ for it either.

If you really want a PC then go for a pre built.

the custom built amd linux chad

vs

the prebuilt intel windows loser

I always build my own PCs but I didn't see anything wrong with going prebuilt if that's what someone prefers. That changed since I started watching the prebuilt reviews on gamersnexus, they ALWAYS fuck something up and it's usually something significant.

>>715516773
>command line to do the most basic thing
ok fag

>>715517175
whats easier? ctrl+v? or doing a bunch of gestures?

>>715491803
I built my pc 10yr ago and its never had an issue other than replacing mobo battery. I even handled the components while wearing socks on carpet. Static sissies btfo.

>>715517175
packman -S [x] or apt install [x] is 10 times faster than googling shit and downloading installers, even if you run adblockers and SERP filters to remove the slop
sorry you're too retarded to memorize 2 commands, if you need it, retard proof distros have an app manager

>>715497360
>europoors need warranty on every component
kek, the jokes write themselves

The parts they put in these premades are dogshit. You can get a much better pc for actually way cheaper with some shoping around. Just watch a youtube video on how to put it together.

>>715518109
What's the joke I don't get it

>>715518109
every piece of electronics in EU has automatically minimum 2 years warranty
Sorry your corporate overlords aren't treating you kindly as of late, things will get better once the wealth trickles down i promise

>>715516052
This is true but it is sometimes easier to get it past accountants if you order some dogs bollocks of a PC from a pre-building company. I never bought an off the shelf one either it was always a choose-your-own-components thing.

got a cyberpower pc during covid due to no gpus available and my gpu died so it was the only way to get a gpu
computer still working great with no issues . I upgraded the gpu recently and like some more ram and thats all. worth it

>>715491716 (OP)
I just bought the computer parts from a shop and they offered to put it together for me

>>715498008
>gunk buildup in the block
this is the biggest meme in the watercooling space
you only get buildup if youre a literal trannyfaggot using those gay ass sparkly fairy princess faggot fluids
using distilled water with biocide is all you need, and anyone who's build isnt purely utilitarian is a gaynigger who i will forcefeed their gay fluid to
picrel has been running for over 2 years without any flushing and the performance is still the same

Prebuilts are only bad if you are not actively looking for something under $1000. Get whatever that will get you 60 fps then just upgrade down the line.

>>715491716 (OP)
i regret buying a high range gaming pc
all i use it for is playing older games

>>715491716 (OP)
>>715496257
hmmm I wonder why he ai generated this article

>>715516773
why is right all in chinese?

>>715517468
this made /g/ seethe so hard, I swear some of them threw their $100 xiaomis at the wall

My last PC was a prebuild from a small shop. It was cheaper than what I would have paid by building it myself.

>>715521390
actually both are chinese
but still
why is it all is chinese?
was this filmed on a PC found in a dumpster

time is money. im not wasting it on building a pc. just hire someone on fiverr to do it.

>>715516773
literally takes 30 seconds, your "test" on the right is clearly rigged bullshit and you should kys immediately

>>715491716 (OP)
nah im getting mine prebuilt i know i will fuck it up somehow, plus i get warranty for it too

>>715520947
>Tranime
The most consistent sign of ESLism once again.

>>715496436
Post your specs and the price.

I don't see the point of buying a prebuilt with some shitty psu and ssd/motherboard when there's plenty of companies that will put together literally every part you want for like 50 bucks. I'd rather pay that than the markup on some hp or alienware shitbox for half a computer I don't even want

>>715491716 (OP)
You can save $100-200 in my shithole over buying the components yourself but this assumes you have no existing components. Prebuilts are great for fags that don't have a PC already.
Fucked GPU pricing can still make them worthwhile if you can resell the parts you don't need.

>>715492345
>RMA computer
>no computer you're fucked
>hardware fails
>RMA individual part. Still no computer you're fucked
Anon... You might be the dumbest motherfucker alive.

>>715525456
you know companies send out temporary pcs now bro?

>>715491716 (OP)
>Do you regret not buying a prebuilt PC /v/?
You casuals disgust me.

I'm learning to upgrade my PC the last month and it's dope. I wish I'd tried to learn this stuff a decade ago. Definitely don't be scared to try to learn and to get inside your case unless you're genuinely poor as fuck to the point that a PC shop can't save you if you break it