March 5, 2024 -

If you don't know much about modern gaming PC hardware and you're looking to buy a prebuilt computer, you've come to the right place! Buying a prebuilt gaming PC can be very confusing if you're unfamiliar, I was there once too. Without wasting anymore of your time, let's get right into it!

General Brand Info / Brand FAQ / Intel vs AMD vs Nvidia

Intel CPUs

Intel CPUs offer great single thread, multi thread, and gaming performance. They're very good all-rounder CPUs, and that's why they're very common in prebuilt gaming PCs. Ultimately the company building the gaming PC doesn't know what you're going to use it for beyond gaming, and so their best bet is to put an intel CPU in it. This versatility may be of interest to you if you record and edit or stream your gameplay or do other CPU intensive tasks.

The 13th and 14th generation intel processors are very similar, the 14th generation CPUs have slightly higher clock speeds making them a touch faster. The 13th and 14th generation i5, i7, and i9 are all very capable gaming processors, don't skip a prebuilt PC because it has an i5, the i5-13600K and i5-14600K are right up there with the most powerful gaming CPUs.

AMD CPUs

AMD CPUs are generally cheaper and are typically found in some budget prebuilt PCs. It's important to note that their CPUs that end with a G perform a good chunk worse than the models that don't. For example the Ryzen 5 5600 and Ryzen 5 5600X perform much better in gaming than the Ryzen 5 5600G. This is because the "G" CPU features on board graphics, meaning you can display stuff to your monitor without a graphics card. This feature holds back AMD CPUs, and also isn't necessary for a gaming PC because we will have a dedicated GPU.

The AMD CPUs that are powerful for gaming end with X3D, and they're kind of rare to find in prebuilt gaming PCs, but they're out there. They work much better for gaming because of the CPU's L3 cache, it has a ton of it, and while it isn't necessarily important for you to know why, it is important for you to know that it does mean that the X3D chips are very powerful for gaming specifically. Here's a quick chart stolen from Tom's Hardware that shows average FPS for each modern CPU at 1080p:

This chart is kind of busy, but it can give you an idea of how important it is to have a powerful gaming CPU in your system. Up at the top are AMD's latest X3D chips, followed by intel's latest performance chips. It's important, but not quite as important as your GPU...

NVIDIA GPUs

NVIDIA has been the king of gaming GPUs for quite some time. They offer quite a few features that AMD cards don't. If having ray tracing in your games is important to you, you want to stream or record your gameplay, if you like artificial frame generation, or you want to use CUDA cores for something like deep learning neural network training, or you use other applications that take advantage of NVIDIA GPU architecture, then get an NVIDIA GPU.

The FPS per dollar typically isn't as good as AMD, but with the above features in mind, you may consider getting an NVIDIA card if you want some of the features that come with one.

AMD GPUs

AMD has made some amazing strides in its last two generations of GPUs, starting to compete with the long-time king of gaming GPUs, NVIDIA. While they're not good at high performance ray tracing, and lack the features I mentioned above, they do generally offer great FPS per dollar for gaming. If an NVIDIA card and an AMD card get the same FPS at the same resolution in a game, typically the AMD card is cheaper, and if you don't care about the NVIDIA bells and whistles, ultimately the AMD card offers a better deal.

Here's a quick chart stolen from Tom's Hardware that shows average gaming performance at 1440p Ultra:

The latest GPUs are shown on the left, and older generations go towards the right. You can see how AMD has put up quite a fight with NVIDIA the last two rounds of GPU generations.

But what about Intel Arc GPUs? If you're new to the gaming PC space, I'd suggest staying away from Intel Arc GPUs, they have many driver issues. While these issues are getting better each time intel releases a new driver update, many games still run poorly or not at all. To avoid these issues entirely, go with an AMD or NVIDIA GPU.

Brand Conclusion

The vast majority of prebuilt gaming PCs are going to come with an Intel CPU and an NVIDIA GPU, and this is fine, but just be aware of the potential performance per dollar benefits of AMD and weigh these in your considerations. For a gaming PC that's capable of recording and streaming as well as getting good performance in games, the Intel and NVIDIA combo is the way to go.

Where Do We Get Started?

You'll want to find a prebuilt gaming PC retailer, in the United States newegg.com is a great example. For this example, we'll be using newegg, but you can use other websites just the same. It's also important to try multiple websites to compare deals. From a couple previous projects I've done, I can tell you that Lenovo, MSI, iBUYPOWER, NZXT, and HP Omen / Victus offer decent performance per dollar for prebuilt gaming PCs on their own websites. Be warned though, that deals vary massively even within one company, some are good deals, some are terrible deals. But those that I've listed generally offer some of the best performance per dollar.

On Newegg's home page, click the bars in the top left, Computer Systems > Desktop Computers > Gaming Desktops. Now on this page, you'll want to click Power Search on the left.

Now, the theory here to maximize our performance per dollar is to get the best GPU possible for the cheapest. It's kind of rare that a poorly performing CPU is put with a good GPU, but it is fairly common for a good CPU to be paired with a poor performing GPU. Refer back to the Tom's Hardware GPU Hierarchy picture, and select a modern GPU that you think you might be able to afford in a gaming PC. This first search can be sort of a shot in the dark, but that's okay.

For this example, let's say that I have a decent budget, but nothing crazy, and I want to be able to stream. I have referred to the Tom's Hardware GPU Hierarchy and see that the RTX 4070 gets about 100FPS on average at 1440p Ultra and that's exactly what I want. In this case, I'll use Power Search (search filter) to look for gaming PCs that have an RTX 4070.

Then hit the search box at the bottom of the page. This brings you back to the Gaming Desktop list, but it should only be gaming PCs with an RTX 4070 in them. However, the default sort is "Featured Items" which isn't what we want, we want to change it to Lowest Price to look for some good deals on prebuilt PCs with an RTX 4070.

Now, we have all Gaming Desktops on newegg that have an RTX 4070 in them, sorted by price low to high.

The cheapest prebuilt gaming PC with an RTX 4070 will be displayed first. In my case, it is $1,159 and features an i5-13400F Intel CPU. The 13400F appears on the Tom's Hardware CPU Hierarchy for modern gaming CPUs, it's towards the middle of the pack for modern gaming performance, but so is the RTX 4070, making this a decently balanced gaming PC.

Other things to consider may include things like if the CPU is powerful enough for any CPU intensive tasks you're going to throw at it, 16GB of RAM is plenty for most people but maybe you need more if you want to have a lot of applications open at the same time. If you want to store a lot of large files or games you may want a larger storage drive. If any of these types of things are important to you beyond gaming capabilities, you may want to refine your "power search" (search filter) and include these things in it.

Now what?

If my budget is comfortably more than $1,200 and I shot too low and I'm looking for more performance, I'd try the same thing again with an RTX 4070 Ti or RTX 4070 Ti Super, etc. until I found a PC that is more suited for my allocated budget and performance goals. If I shot too high, and my budget is lower than $1,200 then I'll try my search again with an RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 4060.

Change the GPU in the search filter to be higher or lower tier depending on your budget. If your budget is on the lower side and you're having difficulty finding a gaming PC with a modern card that fits your budget, you might consider looking for one that has a GPU from last generation, i.e. RTX 3000 or RX 6000 series.

The end goal is to get the best GPU you can without getting an outdated or weak CPU in the process. The bulk of your gaming performance comes from your GPU and the second most important part is your CPU.

Why don't we just simply look at prebuilts that fit my budget?

The reason we don't just simply search for gaming PCs and sort by price is because not every $1,200 prebuilt PC is created equal. Some will have parts from a couple generations ago, some will have weak modern parts, some will be good deals like the one that we found by searching for the GPU first.

For example, I'll navigate back to the Gaming Desktops page, and only put a price filter for $1,100 to $1,250 and see what comes up. The first result has a Ryzen 5 5600X and an RTX 4060, both of which are weaker than the PC we just looked at.

Weaker components at the same price point

Or this one, which while looking a little cooler, it also has significantly weaker parts than the first PC we looked at while being more expensive. Compare an RTX 4070 to an RTX 3060 back on the GPU hierarchy graph.

Even weaker components at about the same price point

This is why it is important to search for the GPU first, and look for the most affordable options for prebuilt PCs with the GPU we are looking for.

And just for fun, here's an example of how bad performance per dollar can get, a PC that costs enough to buy a prebuilt gaming PC with an RTX 4090 (the most powerful gaming GPU at the moment) that has an RTX 3050 in it, again, refer to the GPU Hierarchy graph and compare an RTX 4090 to an RTX 3050...

It's just baffling that someone somewhere entered that price and hit submit with a straight face.

Conclusion / TL;DR

I hope this has been informative for some people who are new to the PC space. If you don't want to build yourself and want to make sure you're getting a good deal on a prebuilt gaming PC, this is how you should go about it. Search for the GPU first under gaming desktops, then sort by price. There are absolutely laughably terrible deals on every prebuilt PC retailer, and there are decent ones as well. It's important to be able to distinguish them and find the good deals where they are.

November 21, 2025 -

Both Bestbuy and Amazon have some honestly great deals this year. Here are some I found:

CyberPowerPC (i5-13400F + RTX 5060) - very affordable 5060 prebuilt

Lenovo Legion Tower 5 (R7 7800x3D + RTX 5070) - great value and they'll definitely run out of stock soon

Alienware Aurora (Ultra 9 285 + RTX 5080) - this seems like amazing value for a 5080 lol

July 2, 2024 -

I’m aware building your own is better but it’s my understanding that prebuilt is cheaper and obviously easier

December 19, 2024 -

I'm needing some recommendations for a cheap gaming pc I can buy, but will still run decently. I know next to nothing about computers, but would love something that is straight forward to upgrade if I ever want to in the future. I'd prefer to stay as far under $800 as possible as I am a college student with a horse who costs me more money than I can afford to keep alive lol.

My current device I use to game on is a 10 year old macbook air which is at the point where I can't run base game Sims 4 (which was heartbreaking). I don't need anything fancy, though I would like to play Baldurs Gate 3 and Hogwarts Legacy in the future, I honestly just need something I can play my ridiculous horse girl games on.

I'm not going to be playing any online PVP games really where I need to be running on High Resolutions and framerates. The most online action I get into is Star Stable online, since I panic playing RDR2's storyline's combat, which I can't even run on my laptop lol, so that's about as much combat as I need.

If anyone has any recs please help me! I've been looking at a Periphio because they're cheap and I don't need anything fancy, but I honestly have no clue what I'm looking at and the more I research the more confused I get.

October 17, 2025 -

Building a setup in my new apartment - I've got the desk and the peripherals, but I don't have the actual hardware yet (and I’m not knowledgeable at all lol).

I want something balanced and future-proof, mainly for gaming + productivity. I also stream from time to time (on my laptop which is pretty trash). Budget’s around $2000 total.

I'm mostly torn between Intel vs AMD. I’ve been eyeing stuff like the CyberPower i9-14900KF + RTX 5070 variant, some iBUYPOWER models, but I'm honestly lost

If you had $2K for a prebuilt gaming PC, what would you pick and why?

Any regrets or “I wish I…” stories are super welcome :)

Edit:

I made a list for future readers of some good deals on Amazon right now:

Budget tier

• CyberPowerPC Gamer (i5-13400F + RTX 5060) - $987 - Entry-level gaming PC. Good for 1080p at medium to high settings. Not ideal for consistent high-FPS 1440p.

Mid tier

• CyberPowerPC Gamer (i7-14700F + RTX 5060 Ti) - $1,359 - Noticeable step up from the RTX 5060. Strong 1080p performance and acceptable 1440p gaming.

• CyberPowerPC Gamer (i9-14900KF + RTX 5070) - $1,979 - Very strong CPU paired with a capable GPU. Smooth 1440p at high settings, 4K possible with compromises.

• iBUYPOWER Slate (i7-14700F + RTX 5070) - $1,789 - Similar gaming performance to the i9/5070 system but cheaper. Solid all-around 1440p machine.

High tier

• iBUYPOWER Y40 PRO (Ryzen 9 7900X + RTX 5070 Ti) -$2,269 - Strong jump in GPU power. Excellent 1440p high-refresh and capable 4K gaming.

• Alienware Aurora (Ultra 9 285 + RTX 5080) - $2,799 - Top-end option here. Best choice for high-refresh 1440p and consistent 4K gaming, but priced accordingly.

September 3, 2023 -

I have zero experience on building them aside from connecting the wires and HDMI ports. I do indeed have a good PC with a 3060 graphics card, but I find it tempting to upgrade it to a 4090 and expand the storage, but I do not want to go into the hassle of simply upgrading it because I have no experience and YouTube tutorials are still confusing as hell.

1 month ago -

I’ve got a $2,500–$3,000 budget for a prebuilt gaming PC, but honestly I’m starting to think spending that much is kind of a scam.. most “high-end” pre-builts in this range seem like overpriced RGB boxes with mid-tier parts, insane markups, and specs that barely outperform rigs $800 cheaper. Is there actually a prebuilt out there that’s worth this kind of money, or is the whole $3K prebuilt market just hype?

Currently I am looking at these pre-builts companies:

• CyberPowerPC

• iBUYPOWER

• MSI Codex

Thanks in advance for any recommendation or tips!

July 24, 2025 -

Hello everyone, I'm in the market for a solid prebuilt gaming PC and was hoping to get some recommendations. I'm looking for something that's ready to go out of the box, with great performance for modern AAA titles and ideally some future-proofing.

Budget is flexible, but I'm aiming for the best value around the $1500–$200 range. I'd also love to hear any brands or specific models you’ve had good experiences with (or ones to avoid). Bonus points for good thermals, build quality, and upgradability.

Thanks in advance!

January 29, 2025 -

Are any of these good deals/worth getting?

April 17, 2025 -

It's about time to upgrade my PC that I've had since 2013 and was prebuilt. I know I can save a few hundred building my own but I don't want to do that.

What is the best PC on the market in the 1,500-2,000 range? I've always had nivida GPUs but I potentially won't have an issue switching to AMD.

November 21, 2024 -

Are there any good gaming pc deals in Canada? I am thinking about spending CAD 1700 to get a gaming pc...

February 29, 2024 -

Hi, I'm looking to buy a prebuild pc for under 400USD, in the US, west coast.

I have never owned a gaming pc and am super unknowledgeable. I'd mainly like to run modded skyrim and stuff like that.

Most of the options I'm looking at ether tell me I'd need to [upgrade](https://www.pcgamer.com/best-cheap-gaming-pc/#section-under-1000) or are [no longer available](https://toprigz.com/400-usd-budget)

I've also found [this](https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?Tpk=gaming+pc&Order=1&Submit=ENE&pageTitle=Gaming+Desktops&N=100897483&LeftPriceRange=300+400) but Idk what is good here or what filters I should use.

In essence, I am really lost and am looking for some kind of advice. (Building one myself is not an option)

May 17, 2023 -

Introduction

The allure of owning a gaming PC has recently skyrocketed, breaking free from niche corners and seeping into mainstream culture. Yet, for many, the prospect of assembling a computer from scratch is a formidable task. Questions abound: Is it worth the effort to build one? Is opting for a pre-built gaming machine truly a cardinal sin? Do the convenience and peace of mind justify the extra expense? And if one does venture down the pre-built route, which company offers the best value for money?

To answer these pressing questions, I'll be scrutinizing three tiers of PCs from an array of well-known pre-built gaming PC manufacturers: an entry-level budget PC ($800-1200), a mid-range offering priced around $2000, and an ultra-powerful high-end beast. Each company will then be assigned a score reflecting the value, or lack thereof, we obtained from purchasing a pre-built system.

A few disclaimers:

• The prices were recorded in the United States and are in USD.

• Prices were accurate as of May 16th, 2023. I spent the night compiling the data, polishing the post on May 17th, 2023, so please note some pcpartpicker prices may have already shifted.

• I've purposefully chosen well-known brands like Samsung or Western Digital over less renowned ones, prioritizing warranty, reliability, and realism. For instance, our go-to case is the Corsair 4000D, a quality choice with great airflow at a reasonable price of around $100. Specific parts mentioned in the pre-built specs, like the "Corsair RM1000x 1000W 80+ Gold PSU," have been included as such; unspecified parts, like a mere "1000W PSU," are replaced with similar offerings from reputable brands.

• For simplicity, I've stuck to identical or as near-identical builds as possible. Constructing a higher-performance machine at the same price point is a different ball game altogether. Our focus here is to gauge the potential savings from purchasing the same hardware separately and assembling it yourself.

• For each company, I've picked one model from each price range - entry-level ($800-1200), mid-tier (~$2000), and high-end. I've then calculated an average percentage surcharge based on the difference between the pre-built and DIY costs.

• Note for future readers: as of the time of writing, GPU prices have eased from their previous crypto-induced highs, and are somewhat back to normal. Additionally, both NVMe and SATA SSD prices have seen substantial drops in recent months.

To kick things off, I'll walk you through a detailed analysis of the first two companies. For the remaining manufacturers, I'll provide the pre-built link, the pcpartpicker link, and the score. Given that the analysis process remains consistent across all brands, simply envision the same procedure being repeated for each.

Dell / Alienware

The Budget Alienware

I entered the dell website and navigated to the Alienware Desktops page, I found one of the cheapest budget gaming desktops for $1200, the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 Gaming Desktop. Although they claim it used to be $2079 and is now on sale! Trying to see what specs it has is a nightmare, you can customize it, but finding out all the specifications it has by default I could only get it to do once I was one click away from checkout by finally getting a “View Full Specs” button… For $1200 what we get is:

• Ryzen 7 5800

• B550 Chipset

• AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

• 2x8GB DDR4 3200

• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

• 120mm AIO

• 750W PSU

So, without further ado, we go to pcpartpicker. Now it turns out the Ryzen 7 5800 is OEM only, so we can’t actually buy that processor on its own. So, we’re going to have to go with the Ryzen 7 5800X, the next closest thing. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/d4VCjZ

Our total is $996, or $1000. So far, I’m actually decently surprised, not as bad as I thought it’d be. The budget machine is only 20% more expensive to buy from Dell. Okay, onto a high-end gaming rig.

Mid-Tier Alienware

For the $2000 Alienware, I found the Alienware Aurora R15 Gaming Desktop at $2000. Also, I cannot for the life of me figure out what chipset it has so, I’ll just assume it has a B650 chipset because it probably does.

• Ryzen 7 7700

• B650 Chipset (probably)

• RX 6700 XT

• 2x8GB DDR5 4800

• 512GB NVMe SSD

• “Air cooled” CPU, which I can only assume means stock cooler, all the pictures are renders…

• 750W PSU

On pcpartpicker, we get https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QgGHwc At merely $1025… Which means Alienware walks away with an extra $950 of your money, or +92% of the cost… Wowzers, that’s pretty bad.

The High-End Alienware

Alright, now we navigate back and pick a high-end machine. This is where pre-built companies have the capability to squeeze out some more margin. On the budget end of the spectrum an extra $100 is hard to add on top, but at the high-end, another $500-1000 can go almost unnoticed by some. To major companies like Dell, that’s what matters most, is that sweet, sweet margin. Because of this, I think I’ll be going with simply the most expensive pre-built from each company.

So, that gets us the Alienware Aurora R15 Gaming Desktop (boy they really don’t have many names) at a whopping $4300…

• i9-13900KF

• Z690 Chipset

• RTX 4090

• 2x32GB DDR5 4800

• 2TB NVMe SSD

• 240mm AIO

• 1350W PSU

On to pcpartpicker! https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KWRHwc And we get the exact same components for a total of $3059. Which means Dell / Alienware is ripping us off a whopping $1241 or 41% more expensive to buy from Dell than to build yourself!

Dell / Alienware Score [+50% Average Price]

For the scoring, it will simply be the percent of the “build it yourself” price that would have to be added on to the build for it to equal the price the pre-built company wants for it. I will be doing separate scores for low-end, mid-tier, high-end, and average. So, for Dell this is simply +17%, +92%, and +41%, for an average +50% average markup. Yikes. My prediction is that Dell / Alienware will be one of the worst ones. Let’s continue! But less talking, more scoring.

CyberPowerPC

Budget CyberPower

On the low-end, at $899 we get the Prebuilt Gaming PC GX 99162, catchy name. We also get quite a weird arrangement of parts, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s for future upgradability.

• i5-12400F

• Z690 Chipset

• AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT

• 1x16GB DDR5 4800 (Just one stick?)

• 1TB NVMe SSD

• Stock Intel Fan

• 600W 80+ Gold

On pcpartpicker we get, https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9pPYnt at $789. So CyberPower takes an extra $110 or +14% here on our budget build. Not bad, better than Alienware. On to the mid-tier machine.

Mid-Tier CyberPower

Near our $2000 target at $1945 we find the ULTRA 4070 GAMING PC

• Ryzen 7 7800X3D

• B650M Chipset

• RTX 4070

• 1x16GB DDR5 6000 (Still one stick? at this price point???)

• 1TB Kingston NVMe SSD

• 240mm AIO

• 1000W 80+ Gold PSU

Aaaand on pcpartpicker, https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Qk2T8r at $1645, CyberPower gets an extra $300, or +18% not too bad.

High-End CyberPower

We get the Hyper Liquid Alloy Black Mamba at a staggering $5147 (with the custom water loop changed to a 240mm AIO)… Okay, maybe Alienware won’t be so bad…

• i9-13900K

• Z790 Chipset

• RTX 4090

• 2x16GB DDR5 6000 (Finally dual channel RAM!)

• 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD

• 240mm AIO

• 1000W Corsair 80+ Gold

It comes with an ASUS PRIME Z790-P board, but we’re here for features, not brand names so we’ll be going with a cheap Z790 chipset board. And to try to keep up with all the RGB fans, we’ve added two 3-packs of Corsair RGB fans. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nPrWxs Coming out to $3138, that gives CyberPowerPC an extra $2009, or +64% more expensive to buy from CyberPowerPC than to build yourself.

CyberPowerPC SCORE [+32% AVERAGE PRICE]

Much better than Dell / Alienware, but I’m still a little surprised. +14%, +18%, and +64% for an average of +32% of your money that could have been saved or better spent building your own PC.

Alright, it’s time to make these more brief…

iBUYPOWER

Low-Tier

Gaming RDY SLMRG210 - $1200

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wJ6mY9 - $857.35

Price Increase - $343 or +40% over DIY

Mid-Tier

Intel Z790 DDR5 Competition PC (6800 XT, 750W NZXT PSU, default everything else) - $1925

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bswjtn - $1423

Price Increase - $502 or +35% over DIY

High-Tier

RDY Element Hybrid Max II - $4399

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/z7zWxs - $3101

Price Increase - $1298 or +42% over DIY

iBUYPOWER SCORE [+39% AVERAGE PRICE]

Origin PC

Low-Tier

I cannot find a gaming desktop here for our lower price target…

Mid-Tier

CHRONOS V2 RTS RTX 4070 - $2000 (CPU and Chipset conflict B760 and 13600K?)

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rG7Ztn - $1700 (Would be even cheaper if we went with a 13600 due to chipset conflict in prebuilt)

Price Increase - $300 or +18% over DIY

High-Tier

NEURON 5000D RTS RTX 4090 - $3799

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZZk8nt - $3289 (Almost makes me want to cheat by putting cheaper components in)

Price Increase - $510 or +16% over DIY

Origin PC SCORE [+17% AVERAGE PRICE]

HP OMEN & VICTUS

Low-Tier

Victus by HP 15L Gaming Desktop - $970

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Md4GKp - $801

Price Increase - $169 or +21% over DIY

Mid-Tier

OMEN 40L Gaming Desktop GT21-1455se - $2000

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zMPYnt - $1252 (They really get you on this one, at $2000 you only get a 3060…)

Price Increase - $748 or +60% over DIY…

High-Tier

OMEN 45L Gaming Desktop GT22-1455xt - $4000 (doesn’t specify chipset or PSU wattage)

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pBfkFg - $2865

Price Increase - $1135 or +40% over DIY

HP OMEN & VICTUS SCORE [+40% AVERAGE PRICE]

COSTCO

While Costco isn't really a "pre-built gaming pc" company, posts from people seeing a pre-built at Costco are pretty common, so I thought it'd be nice to include them.

Low-Tier

Lenovo IdeaCentre Gaming Desktop - $800 (With random $400 off, proceeded to checkout, still $800)

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tgTN3y - $828… Well I’ll be. We finally found one. This is definitely a one-off though, Costco PC’s aren’t usually great deals, and this one is normally $1200… So take this with a grain of salt.

Price Increase - -$28 or -3.5% under DIY

Mid-Tier

iBUYPOWER TraceMR257i Gaming Desktop - $1900

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3btHwc - $1378

Price Increase - $522 or +38%

High-Tier

iBUYPOWER Y40 Gaming Desktop - $2900

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zscVJM - $2360

Price Increase - $540 or +23%

COSTCO SCORE [+19% AVERAGE PRICE]

Pre-Built Tax by Company and Tier / TL;DR

	Low-Tier	Mid-Tier	High-Tier	Average
Dell / Alienware	+17%	+92%	+41%	+50%
CyberPower PC	+14%	+18%	+64%	+32%
iBUYPOWER	+40%	+35%	+42%	+39%
Origin PC	-	+18%	+16%	+17%
HP OMEN & VICTUS	+21%	+60%	+40%	+40%
Costco	-3.5%*	+38%	+23%	+19%*
Average	+17.7%	+43.5%	+37.7%	+32.8%

*Was only possible because they had a random $400-off coupon, making a $1200 computer $800, deal is temporary, but was still present at time of price comparison.

Conclusion

In the realm of entry-level gaming rigs, the price competition is surprisingly fierce across all brands, with a relatively modest pre-built surcharge of approximately $200. This additional cost can be justified considering the convenience of having your PC assembled and shipped with Windows pre-installed. Ideally, I'd like to see this premium reduced to around $100 on average in the entry-level segment, making pre-built machines an even more tempting proposition for those on a budget.

However, the landscape changes drastically as we scale the performance pyramid. In the mid-range and high-end pre-built market, I would assert that purchasing pre-assembled is seldom a cost-effective decision. Origin PC came the closest to a reasonable pre-built surcharge, but even then, the premium is substantial.

The pricing structure in the mid and high-end tiers is highly erratic, ranging from unimpressive deals to price tags almost double what you'd incur if you assembled the machine yourself. We're talking about potential pre-built surcharges of $500-$2000, an expenditure solely for the privilege of having someone else assemble your PC.

Consider this: let's assume, as a novice, it takes you a cautious four hours to assemble your own PC. If the pre-built PC you're eyeing carries an extra $400 in pre-built surcharge, then by choosing to assemble it yourself, you're effectively saving - or earning - $100 an hour for those four hours! If you ask me, that’s well worth my time!

For those considering a pre-built PC, I strongly recommend a thorough comparison. Utilize tools like pcpartpicker.com to select the identical or realistically similar parts, then compare the cost to that of the pre-built system. This will give you a clear idea of the 'pre-built tax' you'd be paying. Remember, the key to a satisfactory purchase is informed decision-making.

Real TL;DR

Buying a pre-built is pretty much always a bad idea, as we already knew. On the cheap-end it's not that bad usually around $200 in pre-built tax. Once you surpass $2000, you can be paying anywhere from $500-2000 in pre-built tax.