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it used to be that if you wanted a truly high-end well-built pc

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it was a no-brainer that building it yourself was a far better solution than

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ordering a pre-built that came off an assembly line somewhere but these days

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the pc gaming industry is stronger than ever and previously expensive features

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like ssds and many core cpus are

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commonplace as mainstream consumers demand snappy experiences whether

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they're gaming or just trying to get some work done i mean it's quite easy

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these days to find pre-builts with these features and a discrete graphics card

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for less than 700 us dollars so is the pre-built versus diy question

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really all that easy to answer anymore let's start by looking at how current

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pre-built might have an edge over custom rigs other than of course the

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convenience you get from not having to put it all together yourself if you want

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a pc that's somewhere between the low and mid-range a pre-built can be a

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compelling value because pc manufacturers can order large

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amounts of lower range commoditized parts at low cost it's rather difficult

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to achieve the same cost savings if you go out and buy those parts on your own

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but if you want something on the upper end of mid-tier or even in the actual

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high end it's gotten a fair bit easier to find these types of systems off the

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shelf it isn't just the fact that NVMe drives and powerful graphics cards are

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more common in pre-built these days it's also that there are plenty of options

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out there that use the same components you'd find at a major retailer for

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building a system yourself aio liquid coolers motherboards with lots of

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connectivity options and even premium cases do note however that these features are

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more common in machines from smaller boutique builders rather than these

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super big name brands this actually brings us to the things you need to

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watch out for if you're shopping for a pre-built

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if you're not buying from a boutique builder and instead are getting

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something from dell hp or another major manufacturer you're probably going to

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discover some things that frustrate you as they did 10 or 15 years ago these

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companies will often cheap out on the power supply and a bad power supply can

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make your system far less reliable so it should be one of the first things you

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check on before buying however the situation has gotten a little better if

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you buy from a specific gaming lineup from those companies additionally you

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might find a variety of weird quirks none of which will be endearing

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prebuilts from large manufacturers can have proprietary cases and motherboards

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with very limited upgrade paths we've seen even some that don't use a standard

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atx power supply connection so you can't

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change out the crappy included psu even if you want to but lest you think that

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frustrating issues are restricted only to large manufacturers there are some

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issues that plague both the big boys and the boutiques alike thermal management

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can be poorly thought out with weird or insufficient fan placement and cable

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management might not be the same standard as you'd like if you just did

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it yourself if you're the perfectionist type and when you consider the premium

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you're going to pay for a mid to high-end pre-built pc over a diy rig

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these kind of oversights can make the additional cost hard to justify then you

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get to the question of customer experience many people buy pre-built

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because they may not have as much knowledge about the components that they

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might need as a do-it-yourselfer but it's a crapshoot as to whether you'll

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get good advice about what to buy from a manufacturer or a system integrator and

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the larger companies are notorious for trying to upsell you with extended

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warranties and support options in fact we had an experience over on our

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sister channel lions tech tips where dell charged us for additional support

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we specifically told them we didn't want

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multiple times but this isn't meant to scare you out of buying a pre-built if

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you really want one or just aren't comfortable building your own pc there

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are definitely well-built options out there that give you good value for the

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money we're just saying to think about all

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aspects of what you're buying and not just jump on something because the

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components on the spec sheet sound impressive it sounds corny but a pc is

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more than the sum of its parts just like

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crispy salad if you'll excuse me it's lunch time here big thanks to our

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tech so thanks for watching guys if you like this video give it a thumbs up hit

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subscribe and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your ideas for

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topics that we should cover in the future