Build Or Buy? Five Budget Store-Bought Systems Compared
Table of contents
- 1. Build Or Buy? Hunting For Cheap Performance
- 2. System Roundup: What Do You Get?
- 3. BIOS And Overclocking: Now There’s Your Problem
- 4. Benchmark Setup
- 5. Benchmark Results: General Performance And Content Creation
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.
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- Build Or Buy? Five Budget Store-Bought Systems Compared
Just terrible performance from these contenders as opposed to a custom built machine even considering that not all the $500 was spent. The lack of upgradeability such as graphics and ports, the builders' profit margin, and the aged components means that at any cost, it is advisable to build your own.
You could at least change the scales of Just Cause 2 to "frames per minute" or "frames per hour" (cue sarcasm). Or just writing a nice DNR (did not run?) in the scale.
On the other hand, WoW is quite an ancient engine, with good scalability (as proven in other articles). It is pretty amazing it ran at full 60 fps, though.
I think there's some decent pre-build's here for general usage, considering the price and any limited warranty support. Perhaps the AMD rigs can also be upgraded at a later date, with Phenom II x4 BE, or even x6?
However, I am quite dismayed that so few of them are so lacking in the graphics upgrade department. That is one big turn off for me, and if i bought such a system only to find I was stuck in first gear so to speak, well, I'd be a bit miffed.
I mean, look at the cases: you'd be forgiven for thinking that due to their size, these systems would swallow a decent GPU upgrade with some ease.
The benchmarks also make you realize that unless you wish to play yesterday's games like GTA San Andreasor Half-Life 2 (not saying that's a bad thing), you really need a half-decent GPU - and you really need to pay attention to what your PSU is capable of kicking out including what plugs. However for watching HD media, I can't fault the onboard IGP's like the 780g/785g. I also like the option to tinker with unlocking cores on suitable AMD chipsets.
All in all however, this Gaming PC looks like a right little monster especially for anyone wanting to run GTA IV at decent frame-rates, with plenty left over for other tasks. I also prefer to build my own.. can't beat the accomplishment one feels switching it on for the first time and watching the POST come up.
Thank you, Andrew Ku for a very interesting read. You're bound to save a lot of headache by reading articles like this
You should create an alternative build which includes a keyboard, mouse and OS which doesn't go over the $500 budget.
Quote 'there's no way we'd orphan a quintet of Benjamins...' LOL
Brilliant use of language - love the way THG writes
Ofcorse it best to build it on your own ! It's cheaper compared to the same PC in store .
And don't forget that manufacturers seem obsessed with pre-loading your PC with as much crapware as possible. Lots of trial versions which won't uninstall without a fight and usually lots of custom software to make little extra features work but for some reason take ages to start up and keep crashing. I hate having to deal with this BS on laptops, there is no way I'd put up with it on a desktop too!
You should create an alternative build which includes a keyboard, mouse and OS which doesn't go over the $500 budget.
Too right - at the low end the inclusion of keyboard, mouse and O/S makes a huge difference to what it costs to build your own machine.
Note that I managed to pick up an ex-demo pre-built machine which was being sold off at half-price in a store last year. The addition of an entry level graphics card made a fine machine for our 10 and 9 year old boys and undercut what I could have built myself by quite a margin.