Do you want to find out if buying a prebuilt gaming PC is actually as bad as people make it out to be? Prebuilt gaming PC hasn’t had the best reputation, but does that mean you should also not buy it?
Well, most of the bad reputation that prebuilt gaming PC get is mostly from hardcore PC gamers. So, this begs the question of whether a prebuilt gaming PC is actually worse for the average PC gamer.
Strictly speaking, a prebuilt gaming PC is always going to be worse than building a gaming PC yourself. Most of the time, the components used inside a prebuilt gaming PC are of lower quality and sometimes might also be refurbished.
That being said, there has been some positive development in the prebuilt gaming PC industry. Many new manufacturers have stepped into the fray, bolstering the otherwise non-existent competition in this industry.
This means that prebuilt gaming PCs today can be somewhat useful in the right situation, although still inferior to their custom PC counterparts.
Is a Prebuilt Gaming PC Worse?
As I have said previously, a prebuilt gaming PC will always be inferior to a custom PC until something groundbreaking happens.
While I am not expecting anything groundbreaking to happen soon, I cannot deny the positive change that the PC gaming industry has been going through.
From being a laughingstock in the past, prebuilt gaming PCs today have gotten to the point where they are certainly usable, to say the least. If you search hard enough, you can score yourself a decent prebuilt gaming PC that can play modern games without much of a problem.
Keep one thing in mind though that prebuilt gaming PCs are always going to be more expensive. The price will only rise if you want to go for a boutique high-end prebuilt gaming PC from the likes of Origin PC or iBUYPOWER.
Why Prebuilt Gaming PCs Have Gotten Good Over the Years?
The major reason that has caused a shift in the prebuilt gaming PC industry is the increase in competition. Today, we can see many manufacturers having a footprint in this industry. Besides your mainstream brands like Asus or HP, other small manufacturers are also doing a great job with their prebuilt gaming PCs.
This increase in competition has certainly helped to move the industry along. Healthy competition has benefited consumers by breaking the monopoly that otherwise existed in this industry. As a result, prebuilt gaming PCs are now not only cheaper but higher quality as well.
The other factor that has been for the prebuilt gaming PC industry is that due to the microchip shortage and the unavailability of graphic cards many gamers have resorted to buying prebuilt gaming PCs.
This has driven up the demand for prebuilt gaming PCs. Hence the once-neglected industry has been rejuvenated and manufacturers also want to keep it this way. Therefore, the production quality of prebuilt gaming PCs has certainly increased.
Why Is Buying a Prebuilt Gaming PC Better in 2022?
If you are scavenging for a gaming PC in 2022 then you might have realized how difficult it is to get hold of PC components. The graphic cards especially are unavailable and there is a long waiting list for buying one.
If you want to buy it on spot, then you have to pay a premium over the manufacturer’s MSRP price which is not favorable for many gamers. You can check out my article on why gaming PCs are so Expensive right now to learn more.
Therefore, the only viable option for many gamers therefore in order to have a gaming PC is by going with the prebuilt gaming PC route. Otherwise, attaining a gaming PC is not possible at all.
The reason prebuilt gaming PC companies get away with graphic card unavailability is that most of these companies have contracts with graphic card manufacturers and hence get their stock separate from mainstream consumers.
In this way, they don’t have to have extremely high prices and also don’t have to worry about stock unavailability.
Related PC Guides
Check out our price-focused prebuilt PC guides below.
- $500 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- $800 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- $1000 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- $1500 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- $2000 Prebuilt Gaming PC
Check out our GPU-focused prebuilt PC guides below.
- RTX 3060 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- RTX 3070 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- RTX 3080 Prebuilt Gaming PC
- RTX 3090 Prebuilt Gaming PC
Check out our aesthetics-focused gaming PC guides below.
Check out some of the other related guides.
- How to Check PC Part Compatibility (Including CPU & Motherboard)
- Why Are Gaming PCs So Expensive?
- Is It Cheaper to Build Gaming PC or Buy Prebuilt?
Conclusion
There is no denying that a prebuilt gaming PC is worse than a custom-built PC. The quality of components used is not up to the mark and sometimes even prebuilt gaming PCs malfunction very quickly.
That being said, there is a time and place for a prebuilt gaming PC as well. Keeping in view the ridiculously high asking prices for PC components these days many gamers are forced to go down the prebuilt PC route to attain the latest gaming PC.
In this case, a prebuilt gaming PC despite being the inferior option is the viable way to go. This ends our article and now before I sign off do let me know down below if you have a prebuilt gaming PC and what your experience with it was.
