Warnings About Pre-Built PCs: Proprietary Parts, Monthly Charges, & Components
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- This video covers common pitfalls when buying a pre-built gaming PC, like less-than-obvious monthly support charges, unupgradeable proprietary parts, & mismatched component choice.
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Between the working-from-home explosion last year and the absolutely insane demand for GPUs at the moment, pre-built systems have gotten more attention than we’ve ever seen before. Whether you’re just trying to get a GPU with minimal gouging, helping your friends and family pick a system, getting your first system, or just willing to pay extra for the service, there’s a lot of reasons to consider a pre-built PC. However, the companies that make these computers have a bag of tricks (not all malicious) to take your money, so today we’re going to go through a short list of the pitfalls you may encounter and how you can avoid them when buying the best gaming PC for your needs. We’ll talk about most of the major SIs and OEMs today, but this advice applies to all of them. Dell, HP, Cyberpower, iBUYPOWER, Origin PC, Maingear, and others are discussed.
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Common Problems with Pre-Builts
04:45 - It’s Not TECHNICALLY A Scam, but...
07:53 - Overpriced Peripherals
15:07 - Poorly Chosen Component Matches
20:38 - Proprietary Components & Uncommon Form Factors
21:18 - Poor or Broken Configuration: XMP & Drives
22:58 - Support, Warranties, GPU Lead Times
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Host, Writing: Steve Burke
Video: Keegan Gallick - Hry
Watch our last HW News video for more on Dell’s shady support options: czcams.com/video/QT6ONBbNy3o/video.html
Grab a GN Modmat, Mousemat, or other item here: store.gamersnexus.net/
MSI makes me puke
For those having issues with getting a video card, Hp has 4650G and 4700g desktop systems that you WILL have to get dual channel ram for ontop of their price.. but it will game most things you want to play well enough for a while til you want to get that Video card. And yes.. likely a powersupply. *shrug* But thats when video cards come back to reality.. a couple years?
By the way the only thing a Dealership should upsell you on is the factory extended warranty everything else will come with the car or is overpriced or just not worth it/scam.
At this point why isn't XMP enabled by default if it's required for a majority of DDR4 RAM speeds... Especially in a motherboard costing >$150, chances are the RAM you're also purchasing is going to be requiring XMP.
One huge issue not covered at end of video: completed credit card and financing before system ships. Always weird to make your credit card payment before "purchased" item arrives (Can confirm HP did this). And yes, I know they are not supposed to charge until item ships, which is the point of this post 😁
My dad just got a laptop from Dell, was able to warn him to check his credit statement next month, all thanks to you guys!
Nice. Also help your elders people. They often fall for the tricks because they are more challenged by the whole techlevel stuff thats displayed. :)
fairly sure in Europe this is more than illegal already so the real question is how the heck they pull this shit in USA and Canada?
@@Souls4Roca USA doesn't care about consumers as long as businesses are making money
Yup, they will sign you up for extended warranties and up charged antivirus and pressure you to do the stupid financing... Compounding interest FTW!!!
@@Souls4Roca Outsourced to India... Whole nother sovereign border barrier to law enforcement.
"New and innovative screwery" is so accurate
Yes... Yes it is. Main gear is a odd one where they are straightforward. I had to rebuild a main gear once because it was returned and it ended up being a bad motherboard. Full custom liquid loop that really wasn't built to be rebuilt imo. 2 day ordeal right there.
I c a guy or girl in a suit, grab my wallet a little tighter.
That really does sound like a category on pornhub.......
It's not necessarily new as a whole, but maybe just back again. 😅
Well, now you know where Dell's R&D budget is going.
Steve: "How to avoid accidentally getting screwed over."
Dell: "I object, we don't accidentally screw over our purchasers, we purposefully screw them over."
5:46 In Germany it's forbidden by law to hide additional charges in the "Kleingedrucktes" [tiny printed]. I just checked this on the german Dell site. I found no hidden cost traps. Every xtra charge is well shown and there are no pre-okayed options.
What a great law, every country should have this. Rip off merchants.
@@wootle ikr, it's crazy this isn't a more common law.
Yeah but in the US this would be communism
Yeeeea our government actively supports companies fleecing the citizenry. When we bitched about corporation’s ability to donate to elections…our Supreme Court ruled the monetary donations are “free speech,” and that a company IS a citizen…with all the associated rights. So when you hear about our healthcare issues and such, realize it’s actually WAYYYY worse than any of that.
Because Companies, or at least large ones. DON'T do the right thing, unless they're FORCED to, by law.
Buying from dell really feels like buying a warranty with a computer on the side sometimes
Yeah my Dell XPS 15 9570 has had completely unexcusable audio issues with my audio jack since I bought it and now will only function if I do a full power cycle on my laptop and plug my headphones in before I boot up my laptop. I wouldn't accept this on a $400 laptop, let alone one that costs $2300 (CAD).
I await the days of a class action lawsuit against Dell for the massive fuck up.
Dell/HP/Lenovo/etc are transitioning to service providers, not hardware retailers. "Yes, we can help you do spreadsheets, network with MS Teams, and manage client email."
Eventually consumer PCs will be like ISPs, where the computer is the router you pay for over the time of your service agreement.
Dell is an insurance company, with extra steps.
@@HerbaMachina I bought the extended 5 year warranty when I got my XPS 5 years ago... It was worth it, it's been a great laptop but had a few problems here and there, some probably not helped by pretty heavy usage! Managed to get half of the insides replaced just before the warranty ran out the other day!
@N Webb Yes, but you're still paying for the accidental warranty coverage at the end of the day...it's not exactly a free ride.
This is the least likely video in my subs I expected to hear the word trebuchet.
“Trebuchet Logistics - Hurling Solutions”.
Is this part of the Roman legionary war game support plan?
Gods own sling! Bad neighbor!
I was waiting for him to say garbage compactor... was not disappointed by the alternative! :D
The old good classic Age of Empires II
2015: Pick your options, then click buy.
2021: Click buy, then check the invoice to see what you bought.
Thought you were talking about voting...🤔
"It doesn't qualify as a scam... For legal reasons." Haha! Brilliant! DELL know exactly what they are doing! You guys are doing a public service!
Dell: Our Pc's are built by the finest lawyers and accountants!
This is why I'm gonna go for the KFC console
I'm waiting for the Chick-Fil-A one. Or maybe Zaxby's
sure, why not use the excess heat to fry some chicken?! 😏
@@mho... *Efficiency* 100
Grab the "reviewed by Gamersnexus" limited edition! It comes with a small bag of Steve Burke's favorite: high airflow mesh nuggets that rapidly cool to perfect temperature for eating. Now only $99!
*Contains same components as regular KFC consoles.
**System or nuggets not individually reviewed by Steve
@Neoand12 If they came out with that I’d consider working for them again to get one early
Dell: “It’s not a scam... It’s a FEATURE”
they dont do that here in ireland. scams are the 1000+ bucks 30 series graphics cards. i bought the aurora r10 with r7 5800x, 32gb ram, 3060ti, 1tb ssd, killer wifi and 1000w psu for 1800 euros. much faster and cheaper than selfbuilding today.
@@murfad in Canada, reasonable priced components are a propaganda brought forth navy the big maple companies to make us by more apple syrup
As EA would say "SURPRISE WARRANTY"
@@vollkerball1 followed by the ability to cancel being locked behind a paywall or loot boxes.
@@agalerex stop going them ideas...
Please
You guys keep proving to be one of the best channels on CZcams by always acting for the purpose of your viewers. You’re independent, investigative and not afraid to mess with even the big brands.
Please keep up your outstanding work. There are hundreds of thousands people worldwide who rely on you and appreciate you.
Dell's new commercial: "Dude, you're gettin' a monthly charge!"
"Dude, where's my charge, dude? Dude, where's your charge? DUDE, Where's My Charge, Dude!?" 😋
What's mine say? - Antivirus!
What about mine? - Warranty!
Uh, I'll have the entry level gaming pc.
And then?
Oh, upgrade the graphics card!
And then?
I guess it's not much extra for the better CPU.
And then?
An extra storage drive would be nice.
And then?
Friend: Sounds like you'll need to upgrade the power supply now.
Oh yeah do that.
And then?
I think that'll do it.
And then?
And you know where this is going. :p
@@Nareimooncatt Every few years you basically have to re-do the whole thing. Case & PSU can often be changed over though... and most of the time RAM. 😅
@@jonathanzimmer8143 thats perfect
The 21st century experience:
*Paying extra for something that used to be free*
@Kenn Honson X Pretty sure they're referring to the support with the computer.
@Kenn Honson X I was referring to the support that used to be pretty much garunteed on almost everything like this but more and more its an additional fee for "extra support"
Everyone is copying Apple these days.
Pay extra to have your product actually delivered to you in one piece!
@@suiton20 I can't figure out why. Apple makes nothing but questionable decisions. I wish that laptop manufacturers would actually copy the one thing that Apple does really well, and that's including speakers that don't suck ass.
I remember trying to upgrade a friend's prebuilt PC, and finding out, that the new graphics card did not fit into the machine, because for some reason they decided to make the distance between the agp slot and the back of the case non-standard.
Pennies/$$$ saving. Smaller or less is cheaper. Hence the "cannot fit a usb in a laptop" actually means "it's more expensive for that type of usb slot/connector on the PCB and in production".
Wow. That's insane. Haven't heard of that one before.
@@user-cr4he8sf3x look up what an AGP slot is. This clearly happened over a decade ago.
This is what Dremels are for...
@@user-cr4he8sf3x The point is that the Razer Core didn't exist when this happened so suggesting it is pointless. And if this were to happen today a dremel would be a far better solution considering the performance loss from an egpu.
The GN team is once again doing the Lord's work and informing consumers about retailer scams 👍
They need dedicated regular videos for this stuff.
Turning consoomers into happy costumers.
"GN secret agent infiltrating retailer by walking in during business hours"
I never tire of the humor in these videos :D
I literally work at the Bestbuy he went to. Didn’t even see him..
@@mothysays1904 what do you like live there too lol I know thats a shit job but jeez
@@davik9003 I mean full time job outta college so basically
@@mothysays1904 does Best Buy pay well?
i yo 😭@@mothysays1904 for women 🙂🥾 for 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 a 😁🤙🤙🤙o 🤙 even 🥾 hi my us are u 🥾u
I'd like to request that all my future GN Store purchases are sent exclusively by trebuchet now.
I appreciate you giving the benfit of the doubt to companies citing possible reasons like warehouse space and onther behind the scenes possibilities and keeping it factual rather than trying to assign mallicious intent wherever possible for sensationalism. Very refreshing to see in todays journalism. Keep it up.
-Alright, Hal. I am going to build a PC on my own.
-With the current GPU prices, I am afraid you will find that rather difficult.
The glass package on the courier's trebuchet got me 😂
Im just gonna share someone else's comment, cause it's so funny:
"Trebuchet Logistics - Hurling Solutions"
Your honor, in my defense I was just being "accidentally evil".
Ah yes an honest mistake. I hearby declare you innocent of scamming hard working people of their money!
@@Alex-mp5xe I actually couldn't understand what I was reading until I realized you meant "hereby" instead of "hear by." Not nitpicking just sounded funny in my head lol
@@catinapue8056 my fault I dont know how I didn't spot lol it does look off
Gotta love the warranty system we have in Europe (or at least Finland), where you don't deal with the manufacturer with the warranty of just about anything, you deal with the store you bought it from. Since I buy my components mostly from like 3 stores, things get consolidated really well over time.
That's true even in Russia, but sometimes it's better to get in contact with manufacturer than the shop, because they are more willing to provide you better and faster service to save your impression about the brand. For example I know that it's better to contact Microsoft than the country retailer for Xbox cause they will provide courier services to take your console from you and back, check faster and send replace way sooner than retailer and also don't screw up your warranty if you scratched console a little bit or something of that nature. And on the other hand there's Sony, when you are no longer their desired customer right after you exit their official overpriced shop. So, I would say, it depends on what exactly you're buying, and how's the local representatives of a brand behave.
Stores will sell warranties which I usually buy cause they ate more comprehensive than manufacture warranties. Like my laptop warranty covers cosmetic damage
I'm totally different then, I usually contact their nordic or EU support and get better service. In example, RGB keyboard: "Verkkokauppa" says: bring it here and we'll look. Manufacturer: after emailing proof to them, they just sent me new keyboard. Get to keep old one which is working, but few blue leds broken. Computer case: Here's new front panel sent by mail (loose front usb 3 port). No need to disassemble everything or bring whole computer to shop..
@@Tsiikki I guess the experiences vary, I've never had issues with warranties. I don't buy from verkkis tho.
It's roughly the same across the entire EU, but only if you know your rights as a customer. You bring your defective product to the retailer, they take a quick look to see the damage isn't done or purpose or is something that is not covered by the warranty (like driving over your phone with your car, unless you have an insurance on it). If they have it stock they replace it on spot (or send you to another store within their brand which has it in stock) or if they can't replace it within the day, they give you back your money and you give them back their product. They can offer you the option to fix it within 2 weeks, but you are not bound to accept it, no matter how much they try to convince you that this is the proper/only way. The only thing that works differently (at least here locally) are the laptops which should be left for testing, again if you don't have insurance or "no matter what" warranty.
I can imagine Steve's proverbial wrath when receiving his HW in the purest trebuchet style. Jokes aside, another pitfall/trap I would add to the list is the bloatware that comes preinstalled when you buy a prebuilt. Here, the main offenders are OEMs. SIs are also guilty of this but to a lesser extent than OEMs. The good news is that you can always nuke whatever nasty bloatware comes with your brand new PC and it doesn't void the warranty of whatever you buy.
Very true. That's why I tell the SI to not install the OS (if I buy with license) because I reinstall it anyway to make sure there is no extra baggage.
Really great video, thank you. I built pc's for myself and pretty much everyone in my family for 20+ years. Getting them to understand why you don't just drive to the nearest pc-store and get something "cheap" and nice-looking has always been a challenge. I will direct them to this video in the future.
ah yes, a monthly subscription to use my computer.
ISP and power company: allow us to introduce ourselves
@@WayStedYou ISP and Power companies continuously deliver something to you. Dell as a company could get vaporized off the planet and your PC would continue to work without them.
Like property taxes.......paying to live on my own property at my own house. Stop paying and I lose the house that I already paid for. The crazy thing is people want to murder me for daring to speak of this. How dare I question Overlord Rothschild and the Beast from Jekyll Island? 😈
@@dakoderii4221 It is as if people just accept paying for stuff that makes no sense!
I also speak about this only to receive weird reactions.
Property taxes go to your county or municipality, not the state. Don't like it? Move.
Crazy how growth on CZcams happens. Steve wearing the 1,000,000 sub shirt that I feel like just came out at 1.35M.
It's because it's always been biased to those with higher subscribers. The algorithm makes the assumption that someone with higher subscribers is clearly offering better content and therefore will suggest the content to more people. In practice this is rarely the case and is can be easily taken advantage of through manipulation of the viewer by the content creator. Some of these manipulations range from reasonably okay, to ethically questionable, to downright criminally negligent.
@@HerbaMachina Subs haven't mattered for a while. Views drive subs. Most channels get 1 sub per 100 views. The more views your video gets the more likely other videos from the same creator are going to be recommended to that user and other users with similar interests. CZcams's Creator Insider channel has explained this many times and it's backed up by research from channels that focus on how to grow a CZcams channel.
Edit: of course views doesn't mean people that click away after 5 seconds. The longer people watch and the more people click the thumbnail also drives recommendations.
7:01 That sounds like some of your customers live in medieval castles with water ditches with crocodiles in them and FedEx is just yeeting the packages over the wall.
"Moats"
The moat is probably covered with supermarket discount fliers.
I bought a set of 4 glasses from the blizzard store, many years ago. One of them arrived broken, having contacted blizzard they sent another set of 4 out free of charge, now I have 7
I love the way you do snarky remarks especially against those companies that are too greedy. In my opinion, those remarks are always reasonable and succinct.
I remember when I bought my last (and probably actually last) dell laptop, the sales people hounded me for like 3 weeks about the warranty. really sad they've gotten so bad over the years
This is why I always recommend a Dell as a used PC, and never as new
It's worth reiterating again:
Just because a PC is "in stock" does not mean it will ship out within the next 2 months.
*Expect delays!*
I just had the weirdest dream. No, really! Steve was singing "Wish i could Build" to the Tune of Buffy's musical episodes "Wish i could stay" about not being able to build PCs and not getting any parts. It was framed like a 90s musicvideo with rapid zoomins and weird lighting and fisheye optics. This is a first. Thanks Steve
This is the another one where Steve unleashes high noon
I think it would be kickass if my courier put up a friggin trebuchet next to my house to send me my packages. Sometimes.
I don't know, man. Hearing that thing go off would give me AoEII flashbacks.
You mean sometimes the trebuchet is broken and they need to ship a new one, but in the meantime, they just throw your packages over the fence manually?
As a courier I would love to oblige you
Exceptionally good, important, (and most relevant) advice for these unprecedented PC system purchasing times, Steven.
The timing of this video is so bittersweet! I literally just finished ordering a new pre built PC from CLX gaming an hour or two before this video was uploaded, and hadn't even considered the idea that they might be really overcharging me for items like a sound card (or anything else for that matter). I also agree that its kind of silly that they upsell the option of having it shipped in a crate format rather just a box (my particular system only had the crate by default, but I did see some mini-atx options come in just a box by default for some bizarre reason, as if the smaller form factor somehow made it more durable!? But then sold the crate for it at a higher price.). At least there was no monthly charge for support shenanigans that I could tell.
Hey, I'm wearing that shirt right now!
Thanks for buying one!
I wish these OEMs and SIs made these kinds of videos. I'd trust my purchase 100% more. Thanks for stepping in GN. Where's that patreon button?
I build my own, but have looked at the ads to see how I did in price.
I expected a much different video, but you delivered a quality video with very valid points that need to be said. Good job!!!
it's very rare for a company to pair "way too much ram" with a lower end system as an OEM, in most cases, they don't give provide enough memory for most people.
Yeah usually you see something like a mid/upper tier cpu with like 8gb of single channel memory or something
How about CZcams is now dropping all video watched on a phone to 480p automatically and won't give you a choice anymore to set it any higher by default...
How new is this? I was just able to select a setting that goes to the highest available resolution that fits within the display res as the default on my Galaxy S10, this video defaulted to 2160p60 (though the menu design definitely discourages that, using non-specific language, and not allowing you to select a specific default value for the res)
If I have an update coming to the CZcams app that makes this worse, I'm going to be upset
not having this issue but I'm using CZcams vanced app. try it. blocks ads and you can play videos with screen off.
yea its shitty
Wouldn't know, havent used youtube without Vanced or Newpipe in years.
my data plan appreciates it
I think of the peripheral thing like when you order a pizza from Dominoes, and they have Ben & Jerry's or whatever available at a markup.
It's obviously cheaper to buy it from a supermarket, but if you want it, it's there.
You are doing good work. This is excellent PSA, and contains lots of good information about best practices for buying electronics. Really nice for people who may be buying for others or for a business that doesn't have a core connection to PCs
Are you going to do a video on recommended OEMs and SIs? Say the top three with what to watch out for on each one?
I didn't know falcon northwest was still around, haven't heard that name in years!
They used to be hot shit in the early 2000s, back in the days of SCSI drives and $300 CD burners.
Got my del taco ready for my lunchtime News
Literally eating del taco right now. 🌮
@@Alex-se3uy Figuratively eating a del taco right now 🌮
@@RawkL0bster im fasting but its ok i got my oxygen ready
@@RawkL0bster Metaphorically thinking about you figuratively eating del taco right now.
It's all about the chicken soft taco 🌮
I didn't know GN had special 90Kg glassware packages, would love to get my hands on one! No wonder some carriers are resorting to 'traditional' methods of transporting such a weight that distance, they must just be assuming that it's the correct fulfilment option based advice from the last time they updated their delivery policies.
I used to sell computers at a small electronics chain. We used to package up all the things a customer wanted and didn't tell them the price of the individual items. We just gave them one price and tacked on a 5 year warranty included in the total. That's how the sales staff made their money.
The "free first month " is a common hook for streaming services . Just give us your CC card to activate your "free" month .... Then they won't cancel it when you tell them too !
Used to be even worse here where you got a free month but they'd charge you two weeks in advance for the next month, so you really only get 14-17 days to decide to continue or not.
Just get a new cc issued.
That's why you use burner cards
Small tip for those who recently bought a prebuilt or plan on buying one:
Virtually any prebuilt comes with bloatware, some worse than others. The obvious ones are things like anti-virus licenses (McAfee mainly) and OEM-specific 'tools' (like troubleshoot or clean-up tools that you'll likely never use), but also apps hidden in the windows search menu like Booking.com which do nothing to enhance the user experience but do take up cpu and ram resources.
I highly recommend scouting your system for such bloatware and deinstalling anything you don't need.
P.s. I didn't mean to make it a link, the app literally is called booking(dot)com, very sneaky of them. Don't click it, just remove it if you find it on your pc.
These reviews are very helpful- most of the results when you go look for advice on prebuilt machines are just people screaming at you for not building your own. The lack of engagement put me off buying for several years- I've got a passing interest in the components but not enough to want to spend the time and take the risks to build it myself.
Always good advice to follow. Thanks for being straightforward and honest.
I got my pv from an SI at the start of all the shortage happening, due to that they couldn't get the lancool 2 mesh as I requested and after shipping a system back twice with the wrong case they gave me a phanteks p500a for the same price. But when I was buying this, I had done months of research on the correct components from many channels and many reddit threads. Other then the make of my graphics card, I really was happy with everything they provided. Ive geooten a 3070 and 5600x system for close to $2000usd and I was bummed out that i migh've paied a bit too much but since they had the best warranty policy over the other SI, I went with them. I was extremely glad I purchased it when I did, as it arrived thats when the shortage hit hard with most components. I now have a really good PC thanks partly to you guys. Thanks Steve and team.
I went with a maingear prebuilt for the first time simply based on getting a 3080 1. In a reasonable time and 2. For nearly msrp. Which is non existent right now. I’m very happy with it, their support, and their setup.
I think someone at DELL saw the video you put out and has since changed the warranty to be not selected by default.
And remember that is not custumer support its damage control.
@@trowawayacc I can't wait to see if they respond to GN, the excuses will be legendary.
Probably will wait a month for the storm to pass and stealthily turn it back on again.
We see scams but I also see plenty of opportunity for some shrewd company to give standard parts assembled at reasonable prices. It may seem foreign to us, but not everyone wants to build a PC. But everyone wants to not get ripped off. The challenge is to convince people RGB lights doesn't mean faster.
I ended up just building my friend a PC to avoid her having to deal with Dell support.
When I see these newer builds that have RGB ontop of RGB, it reminds me of the "pimp my ride" series.
I died at the car-sales analogy. Love this channel.
Good coverage Steve thanks.
Thanks GN this is good for the community. As someone who built his first pc at 32 years old, this would have been great info. I'm kinda 6 deep since then and watch you guys all the time to learn all about the new stuff and what is worth my money. And I have thought about going OEM to get a gpu with current market. My 1080's are getting old now. But I'm just waiting it out at this point till markets stabilise again one day. Till then my 4k dreams will have to wait.
Whenever folks make videos about prebuilts, they always focus on low end systems. I would be curious to see what this looks like in the mid to high range, say 2-3k per system. I suspect that choices will be a lot more reasonable, especially from smaller SIs, and margins will also be more reasonable given the labor costs are relatively fixed in dollar terms
They are paying with their own money, be reasonable and think about them a little. Also I don't think these are low end. He paid 2K for Overpowered one.
they've done it quite a few times by now. if you haven't already, check it out
Dell and sneaky business practices.
Name a more iconic duo.
Dell and no resale value: real boon for me, probably sucks for the people who buy them new
Great timing on this video. I’m looking to get a new pc soon and am considering prebuilts as a way to get my hands on a 3080.
At Playtech New Zealand, we provide a 3 Year RTB Warranty on the PC itself with specified warranties for components that exceed 3 Years, Noctua/PSU/RAM/SSD etc.
Lifetime service warranty is the one that usually gets people across the line.
Some 10 Year old systems come back and the people are so surprised when the repair service costs $0
“Accidentally screwed over” = Great Marketing Dept
About the whole 120mm AIO thing, It's not just about marketing. Tower coolers are much more prone to shipping damage than AIO's.
This is the main reason why they are used as far as I know. Granted the stock cooler is still a more economical option, especially for AMD but tower coolers are just not as viable in prebuilds.
thank you for this, i have a pre written essay i share with friends about the good and bads between building/buying this saves me effort lol
Good Valuable Info Steve ... Thank You Great vid
I can see how sometimes, it might be worth getting a keyboard, mouse, and monitor from the PC seller if you need them at the same time and buying them locally or from another seller would take longer than ordering them with the PC.
Was gonna say the same. Though some of those listed Markups were atrocious
Loving the image of courriers delivering packages by trebuchet.
Thanks for this Steve, will share this to my friends who are clueless about PCs.
Thanks for shedding light on predatory business tactics.
"...and the courier will put the package in a trebuchet and hurl it, about 300 meters..."
I'm dead
Good show. Weird, I was on my way to buy a "UK Beer Vest" for Sundays game, and realized that "uk beer vest" is YOUR NAME, rearranged? Q. How did you manage that? You are freaking me out here. And no, I don't have to much time on my hands. Cheers!
Love your videos mate, thank you for the information!
This is one of those time I’d like to go ahead and say “Visit you local computer stores if you can”. I say this given when I did it in highschool, I had my parts picked and PC assembled for me by an employee at my local store. So it was tailored to the kind of work and games I wanted to play.
That and, almost all friends who were genuinely interested in computers and builds all ended up working at that local shop. So I can say the staff were atleast knowledgeable and wanted to make sure you got a good system.
Hell, when I tried upgrading my graphics card finding out it was a snowball of compatibility issues, a dead ram stick and generation differences. (I had to get a newer motherboard and CPU ontop of the more powerful power supply I had gotten) and the employees who had been helping me trying to get it working in their store, who tested issues with store parts and, cable managed my case threw in replacement ram sticks(32gb in total) for me for free (since my current ram couldn’t be used with the new motherboard/cpu I had to buy)
its funny how buying prebuilds is a solid choice again, like it was during the mining hype days
So in summary we're screwed, it's just what level of screwed we're willing to accept.
I once helped my brother clean his pre-build PC and I was shocked to find ount that the shortened the CPU fan cable so much, it bent the entire cooler and CPU socket.
Fortunately, rotating the fan 90° fixed it, but he was lucky it didn't damage the mobo/CPU.
Love your channel! You probably have your hands full but I watch every video you make about helping avoid scams and companies to help those who are just getting into the computer industry either for prebuild or putting their own together. Question, I know you offer things to purchase but have you considered offering services for putting together proper pre builds? People would pay you to build them a computer that you would approve of? Your very honest and always out here helping tons of people :) I myself being a huge fan of your videos and not to knowledgeable on prebuilts would feel alot safer buying them from a very intelligent hand such as yourself knowing that things would be properly put together and right for the customers at the right price 😀
There’s no such thing as too many fans. I feel attacked 😂
speaking of glassware.. wouldn't you love to send one of your coasters to paul? he'd love to review it.
As usual, outstanding content clear concise, and well worth anyone's time. Really appreciate the calling out the, in my opinion, and words, dishonest and underhanded practices of bigger companies that seem to be praying on consumer's understandable ignorance of industry-specific material and information. Not that the information is impossible to find or even hard but they should be able to trust the big companies to know and advise them fairly and honestly and it seems that the big companies have lost sight of that truth. Thanks again!
Ram, storage and GPU upgrades tend to be the worse up charges for OEM parts that are worse than regular boxed versions of the same parts.
A system that includes a rx5500 OEM up charge for a 1650 super OEM an extra $110 from HP for example.
"Hot glue gpu into slot" Wow, that's a new tactic, not gonna really do anything about gpu shucking but man that's kinda scummy
at this point every time Maingear comes on screen I just celebrate
This video is pretty well timed as the living hell that is component availability continues on. I bet these companies are making a killing right now as people trying to buy parts give up and just buy a prebuilt since they can not find any parts. Also this video made me laugh really hard and cry really sad at the same time when you vanished the GPU at 19:00 XD
Excellent video, as always very good info
@7:20 Linus should take a page out your book on how to plug merch smoothly.
I have no interest in buying OEM PCs, but it was really interesting to hear all the ways in which PC sellers mess with you.
I've always used AVADirect, they build a lot of the PCs we use in several large engineering companies including Lockheed and Boeing and besides the expected markups they're pretty damn reliable and know what they're doing. They did however switch my selected PSU after purchase to another of equal price due to my original one going out of stock right before I purchased it but all it took was an email for them to ask if I would rather switch to a different PSU in stock or wait for the one I wanted. Nothing's perfect but AVA is pretty solid or I at least trust them more then Cyberpower lmao
good timing on this, thx!
...friend of a friend just asked my advice on either building, or buyin a pre-built they had found for sale (i think it was a 3200g for $650 from "PCBros"). i didn't get into all the details over text, but now i can just relay this vid. btw, i told him due to the current market issues, i'm not even taking on client builds right now, & to just find a new hobby for the next year or so.
You’re never gonna let dell live that down...good.
Just bought an origin PC and everything was perfect. I had to do it for a 5900x and a 3080. I saw the video earlier referencing and I was able to check everything and make sure everything was fine. Thank you for the heads up in this time.
I just ordered from origin like yesterday. Did weeks of research for building my own but with this whole GPU nonsense, had to go prebuilt. Thanks for sharing your experience it makes me glad and a bit more relaxed to hear you were satisfied with their work! Im very picky so def gonna be opening up that baby and checking every single component when it eventually gets to me (praying it doesnt take longer than a month 🤞😅)
@@ThePickleWomen mine was shipped before the date. All the parts were correct, nothing was put in incorrectly. The only problem I had were the drivers for the 3080 series, which was kind of expected.
@@ItzSamii Thats amazing to know!! What kind of problems did you have with the 3080 if you don't mind me asking?
@@ThePickleWomen it's just that it was not working right with RTX voice, and it was using the wrong monitor (my main monitor kept being put as my second one which is vertical). that was it really, just some tweaking.
@@ItzSamii ohhh awesome! Good to know it was something that was easily fixed. I'm super excited to get mines now! Haha thank you again for sharing this with me!! 😊
So glad I managed to bag a 3080 FE at retail price recently on scan. Have now ordered the rest of the pc components and I'm ready to start my first build next week.
Wasn't happy with ANY of the pre built pc's I found online and I'll manage to save about £500-800 by building myself rather than buying a pre built with a similar spec so I'm really glad I never got desperate enough to head down the pre built route. This video does a great job of showing why that can be a baaaad idea!
Love the video, thanks for the info. I was looking at prebuilts because I can't get a GPU but am still holding back. I will start a build when I can get a 3070 or 80 at near MSRP first otherwise it will sit on the back burner.
Oh lord Dell being sneaky again. Also holy shit, never been so early for Tech Jesus
@Kenn Honson X Jokes on you! I've actually met Michael Dell!
@Kenn Honson X I'm pretty sure Michael Dell can speak English.
I wonder if "Dawid does tech stuff" has watched this video yet? Bet his house looks like a prebuilt graveyard 😂
Totally, although Neko Loves all the boxes they come in 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
More like frankenstein's lair. Dawid is, at this point, the resurrection man.
I'm happy to have a background in IT and have folks like Steve to help explain the things that I don't. I've always built my own computers since 2003, and have only had minor issues and received Better Tech Support from individual part vendors than OEMs like Dell.