I’ve always been a proponent of building a PC ever since I built my first one over 15 years ago. You’re in full control, you can almost always save money, and it’s just more fun. However, custom PCs aren’t for everyone, and this was especially true for my best friend when he finally decided to move to PC gaming this year. I could have easily built a custom rig for him when he handed me $1,500 and asked me to arrange a gaming PC for him. Considering the kind of guy he is, however, I realized a pre-built machine would work best for him. Plus, with the GPU market we’re dealing with right now, pre-built PCs are more relevant than ever.
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5
The value was better
Pre-built PCs aren’t always pricer
My friend was buying a PC for the first time, after gaming on laptops for years. Naturally, he wanted to maximize the value for money, and contrary to popular opinion, I found that pre-built PCs were the better option in this department. India is still a price-sensitive market, and the pre-built PC vendors operating here need to compete on price and value to survive.
Going custom can save you some money in most cases, but when I was browsing the available pre-built options, I found that many of them were actually cheaper than building an equivalent custom PC. A combination of the unique market dynamics and GPU prices in India meant that my friend’s $1,500 was better used to buy a popular pre-built machine from one of the most reputable vendors in India.
I decided on an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB pre-built PC with a Ryzen 5 7600. Prices in India are always higher than those you’ll find in the US, but I still found this pre-built rig to be around $180-$200 cheaper when I parted it out.
Asus Prime GeForce RTX 5060 Ti
Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti doesn’t provide a massive generational uplift, but it hits the sweet spot on pricing and performance with DLSS 4 at the helm.
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4
It had high-quality and upgradable components
The days of crappy pre-builds are over
Pre-built PC vendors in India rarely use proprietary components. Cost-saving tactics are limited to using off-brand, unreliable, or outdated components, providing limited RAM and storage in the base variants, and using entry-level cases. However, as long as you avoid cheap pre-built PCs and stick to the bigger vendors, you can steer clear of these tactics. The machine I picked for my friend had standard components, a DeepCool Gold-rated PSU, 1TB NVMe storage, and 32GB of DDR5-6000 RAM.
Gamers are often concerned about upgradability when considering a pre-built PC, but standard components used by nearly every reputable vendor ensure you aren’t stuck with the configuration you buy. With an AM5 motherboard on this PC, my friend can easily switch to a future Ryzen processor in a few years. And every other component can be upgraded too, without any compatibility woes.
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3
He isn’t the DIY kind
Plus, he wanted an easy warranty process
One of the biggest reasons I opted for a pre-built PC was that my friend isn’t too keen on learning how to put a PC together or dealing with everything that comes with a custom-built machine. Of course, I could have built it for him, but even then, he would have been responsible for troubleshooting any issues that would arise in the future.
Tweaking the PC to improve gaming performance, diagnosing Windows errors, and keeping up with system updates is a tad bit easier when you have a vendor you can call anytime. Remote technical support for minor problems and onsite visits for major ones are crucial benefits for less tech-savvy consumers, and can’t be stressed enough. Plus, a one-stop warranty process in case anything goes wrong with a component is a lifesaver for my friend.
These days, unfinished PC components and defective models aren’t as uncommon as they used to be. In such cases, dealing with a hardware-level issue is simply better if you have a pre-built PC vendor to rely on. They will deal with any RMA issues with the manufacturer, and you just need to have patience as the component manufacturer takes their time to send the replacement component back.
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2
He was impatient
Fast delivery vs. weeks of research and deal-hunting
An unavoidable downside of building a custom PC is the long research period as you finalize the components and then find the best place to buy them. Whether it’s Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, Micro Center, or something else, getting hold of your chosen components isn’t a particularly speedy process. Even if you can pick up the parts or get them delivered to you in a day, the research period before that will take time.
In contrast, buying a pre-built PC is a seamless process. Once you know the budget, you need to pick a machine that fits it, and then wait for it to be delivered fully built and working as intended from the word go. There’s no arduous assembling process, and diagnosing the reasons behind that first failed boot. My friend wanted the PC in a week, and that’s why I chose a pre-built vendor that promised a 7-day delivery.
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1
He wanted an RTX 50 GPU
He wouldn’t budge
Buying a GPU in this market isn’t easy for anyone. Paper launches and fictitious MSRPs combined with the already inflated PC hardware prices in India meant that one of the latest RTX 50 series GPUs was going to be more expensive than it had any right to be. My friend wanted nothing but the latest RTX 50 graphics card, thanks to Nvidia’s mindshare and the allure of Multi Frame Generation. So, naturally, I started browsing the websites of pre-built PC vendors to find out the stock and pricing situation in that market.
Unsurprisingly, various companies were offering RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 Ti PCs at competitive prices, and the promised delivery timeline showed that they weren’t waiting for future shipments either. The stock was there, prices were reasonable, and the added convenience and warranty meant that buying pre-built was a sensible choice for my friend. So, I went ahead and ordered the machine at my friend’s address, and he couldn’t stop gushing about his gaming experience.
Sure, the RTX 5060 Ti isn’t exactly an awesome GPU, but it’s one of the best options on the current market, especially if you don’t want to compromise on all other components. For $1,500 here in India, an RTX 5060 Ti and Ryzen 5 7600 PC is a good deal, all things considered.
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Buy what makes sense to you
Instead of doing what others around you are doing, you should figure out the pros and cons of buying a custom PC vs. a pre-built PC. If you’re not keen on learning the basics of the latest PC hardware and assembling a PC yourself, and value convenience over customization and control, then pre-built rigs are a great option for you. In India, GPU prices still haven’t corrected, and buying a GPU continues to be a challenge. Hence, pre-built PCs might be the only option for those who want one of the latest Nvidia or AMD GPUs.
