Building a gaming PC can be a daunting task at the best of times. And what personally I’d always recommend giving it a go yourself I also acknowledge it isn’t for everybody. With so many great preview options on the market how do you go about picking? which is best for you and avoid the ones that are plainly a bit of a rip-off well in this article. I’m going to be looking at all the best pre-builts you can buy right now telling you. How to spot a good deal and also a bad deal and what to look for when buying your next pre-built gaming PC let’s do this.
The Landscape of Pre-Built Systems
To say there is a long list of pre-built system manufacturers would frankly be an understatement from older more traditional names like origin PC. I buy Power cyber power and main gear to newer entrants like sky tech gaming and build Redux. You really are spoiled for choice and to make matters even more confusing manufacturers like Cooler Master Corsair MSI and NZXT. Now also sell complete PC builds using primarily their own components so picking the best one it’s a bit of a nightmare
Value and Transparency in Pre-Built Systems
we’ve found that the likes of build Redux and sky tech newer Brands tend to offer slightly more value as disruptive players within the space and offer a little bit more transparency by way of cost and how much money they’re actually making on some of the systems they assemble tier one Brands like MSI Cooler Master and NZXT who manufacture their own individual components also have the unique advantage of well their own components one of the biggest criticisms of pre-builts in Years Gone by is that they used a cheap motherboard or a cheap case or a cheap power supply to cook costs and increase margin and more that is still a widespread practice in the system integrator space
Advantages of Brands Using Their Own Components
the likes of Corsair for example use all their own components in their build obviously they make more money this way as they make the components but it means you’re basically guaranteed a higher quality system with sometimes better Parts you’ll also see system Builders like origin and main gear have gone a bit more high-end
Mixed Reviews and System Availability
there are also advantages to other builders like I buy Power while the reviews may be a little more mixed they tend to have a huge availability of systems with their same day ready systems available to ship pretty much immediately
Starting Your Search for a Pre-Built Gaming PC
now the first place that I tend to go when looking at systems is New egg that’s because they have a huge variety of systems from a wide range of different Builders I’m going to look first of all AT Systems under a thousand dollars and work our way up the budget echelons as we go considering all the different builders that are out there to find the best deals
Budget Considerations and Recommendations
as a word of warning if you’re buying a pre-built I would recommend spending at least 800 but preferably a thousand dollars now don’t you thinking James we want deals I don’t want to spend loads and loads of money but the fact of the matter is that pre-built sites have to make a profit and on Lower tier systems you’re going to see far more cuts that affect performance than on higher end builds and if you haven’t got the money to spend build it yourself that’s where the used Market on a 700 build will really come into play and deliver unparalleled value when compared to pre-built systems
Exploring Newegg and Setting Budget Filters
but let’s go on to New egg shall we and let’s actually have a look at what on Earth they’ve got available I’m going to set the budget from 850 to 1150 US Dollars and hit apply and see what components are actually able to get for this price let’s also sort by best selling so we can get a feel of what other people at this price point are actually buying
Initial Impressions of Sky tech Gaming Systems
and surprise surprise this doesn’t actually shock me the three best-selling systems all come in from skytech gaming we’ve actually seen some really great stuff with skytech and I’ve been pretty impressed with the range of systems on offer my initial impressions of these two systems both coming in at 899 at the time of filming latest pricing and availability will be linked down below shows actually what you can achieve for under a thousand dollars
Detailed Look at a $899 System
at 899 dollars you’ll get yourself an RTX 3060 if we buy that card brand new on New Egg right now that’s going to cost about three hundred dollars I want to say yeah the cheapest one 309 US Dollars and that is by far and away the lowest price card on the list and you can see how already over a third of the potential build budget is dominated by the GPU that’s a good start you can get it with either a ryzen 5 3 600 a chip that’s getting a bit long in the tooth or an i5 12 100f equally not quite as modern but probably going to give you a little bit more power and the rest of the specs look pretty good well the case Choice here is undoubtedly more budget friendly than what I would prefer in my own system
Evaluating the Case and Power Supply
things like a full mesh panel with three fans at the front are a great sign that the system won’t run particularly hot and shouldn’t suffer from thermal throttling as far as other components go you can also see that it’s got a 600 watt power supply it’s 80 plus gold just because you’re buying a pre-built doesn’t mean you should stop caring about the certifications of the components if you would normally buy a power Supply with an 80 plus silver bronze gold rating why wouldn’t you do that when picking up a pre-bill
RAM, Storage, and Additional Features
we can also see that it’s got 16 gigs of RAM a little bit on the low side but for 900 I don’t think I could do much better using my own money and a one terabyte nvme SSD Windows 11 is also included something which would cost you legitimately a hundred dollars I’m sure many of you have ways you can find it a little bit cheaper however pretty good and often a lot of these sites now will give you frame rate indications as to the kind of performance you can expect
Verifying Performance Claims
if you want to verify these numbers the best thing to do is read reviews of the GPU or search for that specific GPU and CPU combo especially with the RTX 3060 there is loads of data available but if I go back to the search results you can see we’re spending a little bit more money has a massive impact in the pre-built Market
Incremental Upgrades in the Pre-Built Market
take for example another sky tech system they tend to be the best builder in my opinion under fifteen hundred dollars as we’ll see in a moment other brands just won’t compete at this price point pop your budget up by 100 from 899 to 999 and the CPU increases from a 3600 to a 56 600x brand new that CPU upgrade is going to cost another 60 or 70 dollars at least while the GPU upgrade from a 30 60 to a 30 60 TI also represents another I want to say 60 or 70 US dollars of spend that means that you’re getting 150 or so and a far better performing system for only another 100 US dollars these kind of gains continue up the price bracket
Impact of Budget on Pre-Built Systems
spend 1 000 just over one thousand one hundred dollars and the card in Choice goes up to a 40 60 TI now I know that’s a GPU with some problems but it’s a lot more powerful than a 3060 from the system we were looking at just a moment ago now this is where you have to be really really careful in the pre-built Market this is both the deals.
NZXT Player One System Evaluation
if we look at nzxt’s build website and take a look at their player one system that’s their cheapest system you can see all of a sudden where actually some of the value can be found their system at 750 so a little bit cheaper than the skytech one only has a 30 50. I wouldn’t even bother move up to the 30 60 building you’d be spending 950 US Dollars yes you’re getting a better value case and in terms of other components CPUs the same memory is the same power supply is the same but the storage is actually less so this is going to cost you 50 more than the sky tech system a worse overall value proposition but admittedly a little bit more upgrade ability if you wanted of course to change it before it is delivered
Best Pre-Built System for $1000
so then the best pre-built system for about a thousand dollars in my view would be the 999 dollar skytech Archangel with a ryzen 5 5600x and a 3060 TI you would struggle to build that system with a legitimate Windows 11 license all in yourself for a thousand dollars making this a really compelling option for those of you on a budget especially in the current climate
Increasing the Budget: $1200 – $1500 Range
let’s say that you’ve got a bit more money to spend let’s pop the budget up to 1200 US Dollars 1200 to 1500 and let’s see what can be achieved let’s hit apply on our New egg window and all of a sudden I’m sorted by best-selling sky tech come up again for fifteen hundred dollars they’re offering a 47 70 PC build I’m not a huge fan of the fans or the case but that’s only an aesthetic point and your opinions May differ with an i5 13 400f not bad but not as good as some of the ryzen options a one terabyte nvme and 32 gigs of ddr5 memory again I think other manufacturers are going to struggle to compete at this price point but let’s give them a chance
NZXT Player Two System Evaluation
let’s go back on to NZXT build and look at their player 2 gaming PC build that comes in at sixteen hundred dollars and again gives you a 4070 but actually drops the memory down to 16 gigs of DDR4 that means the sky tech system actually ends up being better value this is a great example of where you can compare things like for like or component for component NZXT do have the advantage though of a cleaner looking build and a better case for airflow and cooling you pay your money and you take your choice
MSI Options and Budget Increases
once again we see that MSI are charging you slightly more money at around 1 600 USD with 16 gigs of DDR4 memory and while they are on a Z790 motherboard I would have preferred to have seen a bit more upgrade ability at this price Point pop the budget up again to two thousand dollars and while we see i Buy Power on the NZXT build system chiming in I don’t think that these are going to be the best options
Evaluating High-End Systems
as we look at i Buy Power with a 13 700kf 16 gigs of ddr4 and a 4070 this is again a good example of if you know what you’re looking for component wise you can find the best value when it comes to these pre-built systems in my opinion that extra 100 or 200 dollars spent elsewhere would bring more of a reward
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
it’s important to understand the components and the value proposition before splurging on a pre-built system whether you’re on a budget or willing to spend more knowing where and how to find the best deals is crucial in getting the most out of your investment.