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Do you feel building your own computer is less stable (more prone to crashes, etc) then buying a pre built?

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
I don't trust pre-builts. Not just from a stability perspective, but also being certain you actually got what you paid for.
Pre build will always be cheaper tho.
If you want new stuff.

good luckgetting an 9900K+2080ti build for 1500 euro 😹😹
 

Bolivar687

Banned
I've had lots of prebuilds with problems but the one rig I've out together hasn't really had any issues. There was a weird slowdown a few years ago that I resolved by creating a different Windows profile. I also had an issue where having too many cables expanding the back of the case behind the motherboard would cause the CPU cooler to not work but now I know better and it didn't seem to cause any damage. It randomly turned off a few weeks ago and wouldn't turn back on but I opened it up the next day and cleaned the dust off everything and for whatever reason it's fine now. Other than that, GPU upgrades, fan reconfiguration and new storage have all been easy and hassle free.

It's going to be six years old and I expect some parts to start going now and my only concern is I won't be able to tell which one is causing a problem.
 
Building a PC can be problematic, then again pre-built PCs can come with so much crapware--it will take so much time cleaning it up that you may as well build one for yourself and as long as you don't install each part manufacturer's crappy tools (MB "tools"/Video card vandor drivers/etc.) you should be fine.

A good example is my current x470 motherboard from Asus, if I do any kind of fan control or overclock with the damn tool it crashes (not necessarily right away, so it took me a little while to figure out what was going on), now I can disable the tool from auto-loading, but I can't even un-install it, remove its files or services, this is beyond annoying. Before then I had an Asrock motherboard, the tools were more stable, but some features did not work (no crash, just no effect).
 
Building a PC can be problematic, then again pre-built PCs can come with so much crapware--it will take so much time cleaning it up that you may as well build one for yourself and as long as you don't install each part manufacturer's crappy tools (MB "tools"/Video card vandor drivers/etc.) you should be fine.

A good example is my current x470 motherboard from Asus, if I do any kind of fan control or overclock with the damn tool it crashes (not necessarily right away, so it took me a little while to figure out what was going on), now I can disable the tool from auto-loading, but I can't even un-install it, remove its files or services, this is beyond annoying. Before then I had an Asrock motherboard, the tools were more stable, but some features did not work (no crash, just no effect).

Why not just do a clean reinstall of Windows? Takes about 10 minutes on a modern NVMe.
 

Elcid

Banned
I've built computers my whole life until my latest that I bought in 2016 which was a pre built Power Spec. It's been great, absolutely no issues with it. In contrast however, every PC I've built as had some issue with it. My last PC I built would randomly restart within the first 20 minutes of it being turned on, then it would be good to go for the rest of the day. Since I would drive home for lunch and turn on my PC to watch a couple youtube videos while I eat, this got annoying real fast. So that prompted me to buy a pre built and see if they were more stable. So far it has been.

What are your thoughts? Did I just happen to get lucky with a stable pre built PC?

I'm mainly asking this question because when the new Nvidia 3000 series comes out I'm not sure if I should buy a pre built or build my own. Since I know pre built will be significantly more expensive and I'm considering building my own, but not if it's going to have issues.
The computer I built is 100x more reliable than anything I've ever pre-purchased due to all the shit they pre-load it with.
 
Why not just do a clean reinstall of Windows? Takes about 10 minutes on a modern NVMe.
Windows sure, but I have tons of applications custom settings, etc. This means at least one days worth of fiddling around for an annoyance like this.

Oh and it will take it a couple of hours to fetch the updates, get around the creation of a stupid MS account, then having to deal with the constant nagging to create the MS account...
 
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Iorv3th

Member
Building a PC can be problematic, then again pre-built PCs can come with so much crapware--it will take so much time cleaning it up that you may as well build one for yourself and as long as you don't install each part manufacturer's crappy tools (MB "tools"/Video card vandor drivers/etc.) you should be fine.

A good example is my current x470 motherboard from Asus, if I do any kind of fan control or overclock with the damn tool it crashes (not necessarily right away, so it took me a little while to figure out what was going on), now I can disable the tool from auto-loading, but I can't even un-install it, remove its files or services, this is beyond annoying. Before then I had an Asrock motherboard, the tools were more stable, but some features did not work (no crash, just no effect).

Hmmm you should be able to uninstall it unless a service it uses is running.
 
Hmmm you should be able to uninstall it unless a service it uses is running.
I wish, from what I found in the support forums this issue has affected many people for around a decade now, there are instructions on how to remove some old version someone even made a special tool to assist in some portion of the process... but it just won't work for me. This is an horrible tool, whoever coded it deserves to burn in hell for eternity.

Edit: I do not recommend people actively kill others, I am just saying that once someone dies they should pay for their misdeeds.
 
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Hinedorf

Banned
I worked in high end PC/Servers for over 15 years from the guts to the cables to the domain and I can tell you there is a point where building your own PC loses it's luster. Assuming you can acquire all the parts it's always functionally easier and faster to build one on your own.

For the last 2 high end PC's though I've decided to buy prebuilt machines because the time to build a PC in my opinion isn't worth my free time anymore. That being said with my first prebuilt it has a long term issue where when you turned it on for the first time on the power cycle it would reboot after about 3 minutes after that it ran fine.

My second prebuilt which is basically a godmode PC right now i9-9900 2080ti yadda yadda when it first arrived would not power on correctly. I had to pull off the side pannel and reseat all of plugs from the power supply to their respective places and then the machine worked like a champion.

BUT......if I didn't have the PC knowledge I do and that expensive unit arrived dead in the water I can imagine some customers losing their shit. However being in the business I know that a PC in a shipping box bouncing around can have any problem along the way and sure enough reseating the cables had me running in under an hour of checking.

IMO Don't by prebuilt if you can't build your own PC. It's really not that hard to learn how, there's only so many components. And there is something very satisfying about building your own PC for the first time. There's also nothing wrong buying a prebuilt if you have the cash and prefer a certain look to your PC, just make sure you know how maintain it.
 

jaysius

Banned
The fright of BULIDING A PC DUN DUN DUN (flashlight under chin)

Is one of the silliest phobias or whatever it is, in ages.

They're modular and they just go together easily.

It's even simpler than Legos.

Maybe you're worried that you won't pack the cables as neatly as a pro? Well that's ok, air flow will be a little shitty but the ENTIRE MACHINE won't catch fire.

If you have a weird CPU cooler or something, you can watch a million videos that walk you through that specific one and how to install it properly without any issues.

That's the other reason not to fear or placebo premade PCs, there are VERY indepth videos on EVERY ASPECT of building a pc nowadays.

Don't listen to the assholes that pretend making a PC is some kind of fucking art. it's probably the only thing they're good at and they want to make sure you don't realize how simple it really is.

Building a PC is very simple, it's paint by numbers, no need to gatekeep it or scaremonger about it.
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
Not at all. It all depends on what you're buying. Every component plays a role, and if you get crummy parts then you're going to run into issues. Over the years I've only stuck to certain brands with certain components and I've never had any problems. The only issue I've experienced more than once is a dying/dead PSU. But at that point you buy a new one, swap it out, and you're golden. Not to mention the 2/3 times I've had that happen I had them for 6-7+ years and definitely put time into them.

The only other issue I've ever had was my mobo dying. But nothing caused it to happen, it was just it's time I suppose. I had it for a LONG time though, it was actually my first ASrock piece.

TL;DR buying trusted components and brands will take you far. Never by used or refurbished ones. Especially for internal parts.
 

sendit

Member
One of the primary reasons for system instability when people build their own PC is using cheap parts. Specifically an insufficient or cheap/horribly rated power supply.
 

nkarafo

Member
I don't trust pre-builds. I even had one where they didn't install the heatsink properly, causing it to fall off during operation.
 
Nope. My self built PC has been the most reliable PC I've bought.

Since I know all the parts, I also have all the manuals, warranties and whatever else I need to reference. But mostly I didn't cheap out on any parts. My PSU hasn't died. I know it's wattage, what it can handle. I know my Memory and that it's paired plus compatible.

The only thing I have had fail on me was the original SSD, but earlier SSDs had that issue. It was still under warranty and I got it replaced with a newer model.
 

Ten_Fold

Member
It’s easier to buy a pre-built one and upgrade later, but to me it’s more fun going to the computer store and buying all the parts yourself. Plenty of YouTube videos on what kinda build and parts to buy so you shouldn’t run into any issues, but again it depends if you wanna put the extra work in or not.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
??? You usually pay more for prebuilds. They also usually skimp out on the motherboard and PSU and usually don't allow much in the way of future upgrades.
Is that you talking or are you parroting other people? Because if you buy at the right moment. Prebuild is a LOT cheaper.

No shit its the worst to get day 1
 
A good pre-built from a reputable builder is fine if you don't want to assemble one yourself. You're basically paying someone for a couple hours of labor and depending on who assembled it the end result is the same. I like to do things myself and find working on a PC as interesting as working on a car. It's similar in many ways. I don't trust mechanics to actually do the work I pay them for on my car which is why I do my own car maintenance and I don't trust a pre-built to have been assembled properly either. If I forgot to tighten something, it's on me, but I tend to go over things before I call it finished.

Assembling your own PC means the only software on your system is the software you put there yourself. No bloat, no garbage anti-virus bullshit, nothing slowing down your system running in the background you don't know about.

Just keep things updated as new versions come out, which can be set to happen automatically and you shouldn't have issues. I'm coming up on 5 years with the same overclocked i7-5820K CPU/X99 mobo/OS and I've crashed twice in that time. Both times were my fault and I was back up and running in under 15 seconds. When I moved my OS onto an NVMe SSD I had no issues there. When I got a new GPU I installed the drivers for it and had no issues there. When I replace this CPU/mobo I anticipate I'll also have no issues.

I know everything is hooked up properly and parts are high quality because I picked out the parts myself and installed them myself. No surprise stripped screws, no surprise shitty PSU, no paper thin low-end mobo. I know the fans are set properly because I set them. I know case airflow is good because I set up the case multiple ways to be sure I was getting the best cooling I could. I know updates will happen because I set that. I know every detail about this box because I was responsible for all of it.

The other nice thing about assembling is being able to better control costs. Shit goes on sale. I got my 2080ti for the same price I would have paid for a 1080ti at the time. Any money I save now goes towards the next upgrade.
 

Iorv3th

Member
Is that you talking or are you parroting other people? Because if you buy at the right moment. Prebuild is a LOT cheaper.

No shit its the worst to get day 1

I build PC's a lot. I have never seen a pre-built (with like/similar components) cheaper than what I can build one for.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Exact opposite here, buying a store bought you get all kinds of bloat ware and weird drivers.

When I build my own I know almost everything that’s set up. I say everything because windows 10 likes to update on its own and change configurations without your knowledge.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
I build PC's a lot. I have never seen a pre-built (with like/similar components) cheaper than what I can build one for.
I sold pc's a lot. I have seen plenty of pre builds drop way below loose part pick lists. Like i said now is the time to actually get prebuilds as shops are clearing stock for the new stuff.

Last weekend i spotted an alienware m15 RTX2070 240hz screen for 850 quid at curries. Not that i picked it as it's hand down the fugliest looking laptop i have seen in years
 
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