The Worst Prebuilt PC Mistakes We've Seen (So Far)

[@GamersNexus]

There were too many bad prebuilt mistakes to list in one video, so please add your own experiences below! Check out our playlist of pre-built reviews here: kzbin.info/aero/PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM We also collaborated with Digital Foundry to test the Playstation 5: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJi6pnp3bch4rtE

[@dkat1108]

About 20yrs ago a friend needed help with his Dell computer, would not boot so I looked at it and confirmed it was the motherboard so as a young enthusiast I said ya sure looks like we can swap the MB Oh man open mouth insert foot. The case did allow for a standard MB but I also had to buy a power supply, memory and still had to Jerry rig a reset switch in the damn thing this is when you needed a reset...That was the first and last time I did that.

[@rlosangeleskings]

My mother got took in by a COMPAQ brand in 1997... Bloatware beyond belief...a slower than dead chipset...and a case so sharp that I believed the French Revolution was going to make a comeback... Lucky for me...with my Linux skills even back then knew that everything inside needed an upgrade... It took three days to get the case dulled enough to avoid cutting myself on it (again) and another three to get the upgraded parts... Then the 26 CD install of SuSE Linux caused another headache because I forgot which would work best on the new build (later finding out that I could have gone with 16 home use install CDs)... Remember that she paid $1950 for this NEW... It took six months of gar(b)age sales (from trying to piece out Compaq's garbage) to break even with the new components I substituted... She did go back to Windows eventually...but when this new rebuild sold for $2100 at auction...we finally decided that I build whatever I wanted and she would like it... It eventually got spread that I could improve the performance of any computer and a small business of a repair shop was born... I just never did MacWindows...strictly Linux builds...

[@wildparrot3802]

I recently bought a Cyberpower Prebuilt and I got exactly what I wanted: an rtx 3080 evga ftw3 plus an i7-11700kf with an aio it performs really great! Only when I take the side panel off cuz my card is cooking my pc to a 90⁰c. Side panel off is now 52⁰c max on the cpu and 75⁰c max on the gpu... so yeah

[@dkat1108]

@@rlosangeleskings Ya know you brought up an interesting point I paid I think $1700 for a stupid 286 computer like 30 yrs ago now look what you get for a $2,000 dollar computer WOW!

[@liowik]

I would rather see the best high-end prebuilds with decent value.

[@dontmatter4423]

Thanks to you, I sometimes look at my build and say to myself, "at least I did a better job than multi-million dollar companies"

[@solouno2280]

Even a blindfold caveman can do a better job than NZXT

[@codexofoverthinking]

For real. I felt horrible about my level of skill, especially cable management, then I started watching this series.

[@Roach22]

You mean "billion" dollar companies, they are literally a joke sometimes. I've had friends ask me to look at a pre-built because certain components weren't working. Sometimes it can be because plugs were just loose or plugged in the wrong spot.

[@ScoobyShotU]

Me and u both lol and mine was 5 years ago

[@camotech1314]

Yeah I kinda had to do my own last year after seeing how bad these companies are... I just didn't feel like I could rely on any of them. Sad

[@PoEDeathIsHere]

"These companies ensure that their shit is perpetually at the top of the landfill." best sentence of 2021

[@luziferius3687]

The follow-up made it even better. xD

[@kekaikobatake4598]

Obviously you never heard of cyberpower pc 👀

[@solouno2280]

I want to live 100 years or more so I can see how that is sent to space

[@SweepSwapInUrWalls]

@@kekaikobatake4598 you're right, those ended up in the middle, they were bought, thrown out, then never bought again.

[@arch1107]

the competition for the disappointment pc is really strong this year

[@BrianCroweAcolyte]

Hope they use a $2,000 3080 lol, or maybe the 6600XT because it has the worst MSRP since Turing.

[@lttweety6397]

The most scandalous part about the disappointment PC this year is definitely going to be that you can't pick and choose the components. Can't even match the shitty mobo form factor of alienware crap with the shitty PSU from HP. Truly a time to be alive!

[@drunkhusband6257]

@@BrianCroweAcolyte You can get a 3080 for $1400 now

[@BrianCroweAcolyte]

@@drunkhusband6257 I'd still rather "get" kicked in the balls at that pricing lol

[@kanseidorito5287]

@@BrianCroweAcolyte I bet you'd rather get kicked in the balls than get a legitimate job to afford it also

[@heatherswanson9133]

“Mcafee is speeding up your app” is the best joke a software makes, I love their sense of humor!

[@therealMrA]

I'd like this comment but it has 69 likes already and I'm immature

[@solouno2280]

Well it was a reliable antivirus back in 1998... But nowadays, antivirus are more of a nuisance than a help

[@zachconant7031]

Wait so is McCafé that bad? I’m new to pc gaming (bought a gaming laptop) and thought it’s good to have virus protection.

[@solouno2280]

@@zachconant7031 actually is not THAT bad, there are worse options (Norton, Panda...) But antivirus software is no longer viable unless you literally put your pc at risk intentionally. Windows defender is the best antivirus nowadays, it generates less false positives than any other. Antivirus software just clogs the ram nowadays

[@zachconant7031]

@@solouno2280 yeah that’s good to know, I remember years ago my parents spent quite a bit of money on Norton and we still faced a ton of issues.

[@Piketom1]

The last time I purchased a dell laptop, I had to do a clean install of windows to get rid of the bloatware. Not only did that dramatically improve the system performance but it also added 3 hours to the battery life of the laptop. That is a 20% improvement in battery life just from running a clean install of windows.

[@-HughJass-]

Insane. I just got an HP pre-built with windows 11 (no option for anything else). I was planning on just wiping it and running Linux Mint anyways, but I played around with Windows 11 just to see if it was as bad as everyone says. Not only was the OS itself bad, but the amount of bloatware pre-installed was infuriating & shocking. If I were an average user, I'd have no idea that all of that extra crap was throttling my performance so drastically and spying on me.

[@spicynoodle7419]

@@-HughJass- I just built a PC with Linux compatibility in mind. Been running Linux for 7+ years now. It's superior at just about anything, especially nowadays. Team RED CPU and GPU + an Intel network chip. It kinda bugged me that I was putting Intel in my otherwise 100% AMD build but Realtek is absolute junk and barely supports Linux which is sad because Realtek has a monopoly (like 80% share) in the LAN/WiFi market chipset.

[@crylune]

@@spicynoodle7419 Sure it is bud

[@crylune]

@@-HughJass- If you have a SIM card you’re being spied on anyways, get a grip

[@-HughJass-]

@@crylune What a shitty argument. So because youre being spied on against your will in one way, you should be okay with being spied on in every way. Also, my comment said bloatware. It didnt say anything about privacy concerns (which are real), so learn to read before you tell others to "get a grip".

[@retrosean199]

Here's one, and it covers most of the models you reviewed: inherently illogical configurations are possible when putting it together on their web site. The 'almost but not quite as good as a crappy Intel stock cooler' on a Ryzen 7 8 core CPU is an example of something that you shouldn't even be able to order.

[@apocalypse3039]

The fans that do absolutely nothing has to be my favourite part of a pre-build

[@rtyzxc]

You need to check out the legendary 12-fan Abkoncore Ramesses 780 case

[@mrmoosetachio]

@@rtyzxc was that the one with something like 20 fans that created essentially dead pressure in the case?

[@shaneeslick]

@@mrmoosetachio Yep, with Fans Mounted in front of solid panels

[@mrmoosetachio]

@@shaneeslick yes! I knew I remembered this one. It was the most chaotic response to undercooled complaints 🤣

[@oldfrend]

@ZIV installing a turbo in an EV XD

[@electrospank]

I'll never forget working on a prebuilt where one of the unused molex connectors had pins extending beyond the housing, not a lot, but just enough to arc when resting against bare metal within the case. I'm not against naming the company but honestly I don't remember. I'll never forget how much that has impacted me and I always make sure to keep any unused power connectors safely wrapped and ensure they're situated to keep them reliably away from the case.

[@SMhMrMurhpysLaw]

shhh dont give them ideas before oems use this to say pc's are not safe to repair yourself please buy pay the $200 extra for an extra 8gbram modules when picking your pc

[@TheBossssssssssss]

@@SMhMrMurhpysLaw LOL, you know that is in the post.

[@mattiOTX]

Tbh watching your pre builds helped me pick things to put in my custom build. I wanted a fractal case but microcenter was out of the one I wanted but I found one I really liked. I just wanted to let y'all know how much y'all helped me pick out my parts and how grateful I am.

[@pking6021]

When I'm forced to fight Gore the conqueror in the Thunderdome my armor will be made of Dell cases.

[@Geoxor]

please make more content like this, this shit is amazing LMFAO

[@DailyCorvid]

Yeah isnt it! I just posted a similiar comment, damn Steve this stuff should b boring and dry as hell. But for some reason I got to 4:25 just fine then bawled out into hysterical fits of laughing. Lol. That's the best bit 4:25 - 32:00 so good.

[@123sleepygamer]

Hey it's the song guy with amazing pixel art backgrounds!! I love your stuff!

[@Nuds1223]

I consider Gamers Nexus the consumer reports of Pc gaming. We need this or the industry will not improve!

[@Jacen436987]

normally i just put GN videos on to listen to while i cook or something because yea they're long and dull but informative. this one though i think is where steve's at his best.

[@squa_81]

So you are here too... Btw, yout music is what made me love electronic music, and i'll never thank you enough

[@djknucklez1]

"Look at how lonely these memory modules are, they have no friends." LOL @9:42

[@facksmasheen]

I worked in a 3d printer factory, and one of the steps the QC guy took for every printer was to literally pick it up and shake/rotate it around and make sure there were no loose screws... lol.

[@ScoobyShotU]

Why not just look laziness?

[@facksmasheen]

@@ScoobyShotU there would often be screws in places you wouldn't see, behind panels etc.

[@Eggychonk]

And when there are no lose crews in It you just put some in

[@nutchunder]

@@ScoobyShotU how is it more lazy to pick something up and shake the shit out of it compared to just looking at it...

[@sovietrussia3632]

No wonder the Z axis gets bent from the factory.

[@k7y]

First thing I do to a brand new laptop is to fresh install Windows to get rid of all the blotware.

[@Barldon]

Just want to add with the RAM stuff, 32 gigs does have quite a strong performance uplift if you're planning to play games heavily modded, as mods generally won't communicate with eachother to save on memory.

[@empath69]

Also, if you're a regular beta tester - 'in development' software is usually very poorly optimized as it's constantly being changed and updated, so it ends up requiring more memory to function than the finished product.

[@battlecommando]

So true. KSP with a decent set of QoL mods (no GFX mods even) eats 10GB on start (and don't get me started on Unity-based games and the 1.5GB+/hr RAM leaks). Add a browser window for anything and 16GB RAM is gone pretty much right away.

[@GoldenSun5631]

Also - want to run some VMs? 16 gig is just too little - 32 is the minimum. Found out the hard way when my online computer course required from us to run 5 VMs at the same time - one server and 4 clients

[@solouno2280]

@@battlecommando stop using chrome, firefox eats less ram. And watches you less

[@fromach]

Another thing I observed is how Intel built in graphics likes to work. Currently have 32gb usable in my laptop out of 64gb because half of the system memory is being reserved for the graphics side of the Intel APU.

[@TestECull]

This sorta thing is why I love these prebuilt reviews. They're almost invariably a train wreck in some way and it's amusing to watch you tear them a new asshole.

[@Collin_J]

I may have rewatched the entire playlist yesterday, but I’m always down for more Steve

[@-opus]

11:00 "unless you have a really bad tabs habit" say my name, say my name

[@cat-.-]

After using tree style tabs I will always need 32GB of ram

[@EAGLEFNV]

"Then we've also had straight up shocking results" Shows Gigabyte explosition. In the end it will always come back to the explosive gigabyte PSU.

[@NicolasChapadosGirard]

It's GN même of the year

[@dudder2008]

@@NicolasChapadosGirard meme of the decade imo

[@solouno2280]

Gigabyte is good for motherboards and graphic cards. But in terms of PSU, I prefer other brands

[@solouno2280]

Gigabyte is good for motherboards and graphic cards. But in terms of PSU, I prefer other brands

[@josejimenez896]

@@solouno2280 idk man, you're probably right, but it's difficult to trust a company if act *waves hand* Like this

[@JediMastr80]

3:23 - "There is an upside though. Proprietary Parts will benefit us in our not to distant dystopian future when humanity desperately harvests metal from landfills left behind by our ancestors. Dell and HP, for example, are actually helping the planet. They're guaranteeing that somebody is throwing away an OEM computer with every passing second. So these companies ensure that their shit is perpetually at the top of the landfill, thereby making it easier for our successors to find steel out of which they can forge their spears." Fucking GOLD at how to describe Dell and HP "gaming" computers. Totally savage AF, but completely justified.

[@david.bowerman]

"... or have a really bad Tabs habit." *Looks at gaming machine with 32gb of memory Don't call me out like that, GN. It hurts.

[@Hypershell]

I have literally crashed Brave from too many tabs...

[@dominic6542]

I have 32gb, and two sticks failed so I had to send them in for RMA, and the computer felt so slow until they shipped me new ones... I usually have around 50-60 tabs open

[@QuantumConundrum]

I was about to comment this on older videos but I thought I may be exceptional so I didn't express it. We are in this together my brothers, united, the 32GB 'too many tabs' gang stands proud.

[@thatslegit]

@@dominic6542 dude how the hell did you kill ram sticks

[@igameidoresearchtoo6511]

@@thatslegit Maybe he got corsair ones. extremely known to die quickly

[@duckboythe4th296]

These videos make me feel warm and fuzzy, I always build my pc's, And they're always better than a DELL no matter what.

[@dantebzs]

Old: "Back to you, Steve!" New: "Screw you, Steve!" A tale of Steve.

[@Chaosbreak1]

You forgot the "Tks Steve" :D

[@cubicuboctahedron]

I am liking the colorful glitch transitions. I watch your videos while doing something else usually and the glitch transition helps grab my eye to signify some change in the video versus the dissolve which can be pretty subtle in peripheral vision.

[@michaelcraig7766]

Watching this makes me happy that I built my 1st computer instead of just buying one. Sure, it was expensive... but it works, doesn't thermal throttle and I know EXACTLY what spec it is. No nasty surprises 👍

[@SamMurphyHSV]

"These companies insure that their shit is perpetually at the top of the landfill." I am absolutely dying of laughter right now and only 3:47 into the video. Oh this is gonna be good.

[@pocketlint82]

"Or you can just watch this for entertainment." Yep! That one! Let's go with that one lol

[@coorbin]

"Killer" Ethernet networking on a $4799 MSI gaming laptop a few years ago. Yeah it was killer alright: it randomly killed my speeds down to 5 Mbps. A $20 USB 3.0 Ethernet dongle performed better and more reliably. Killer should just shut down as a company; they are the Ethernet equivalent of a pizza shop that hands you a pizza out of the oven with all the cheese slid over to one side, olives instead of bacon, and the crust is undercooked, doughy, and has rat turds in it.

[@bigbubba0439]

"Who cares inches long" - Steve, Gamers Nexus 2021

[@gavinbenn980]

Just here for the lols Large companies like HP, Lenovo, IBM & Dell have been creating single use e-waste for over 15 years that I’ve been in IT and communications.

[@NightMotorcyclist]

Acer/eMacines is the longest lasting ewaste manufacturer today, while Packard Bell still takes the cake for the absolute worst even after being defunct (of original iteration as modern ones are made by.............Acer)

[@grego8486]

Thanks Steve! Some people may be interested in buying prebuilts strictly for their parts, so this is a good way to compare actual cost per component (that you will actually utilize in your final build). For example - RAM. If you are getting the pre-built figure the RAM is probably not high performing, so just get the cheapest RAM package and then purchase better RAM.

[@EperkeDashh]

Fun fact: Dell customer support thinks 8x2 gigs of ram = 16x1 gigs Edit: They also think a pc is overheating ONLY if it crashes.

[@mikeymaiku]

they are not wrong in that aspect. because the cpu runs at XXX speeds, and with how throttling works, that statement is legitmate unless theres a error in installing. but hey im not a leading company in the prebuilt space.

[@igameidoresearchtoo6511]

@@mikeymaiku Not wrong but certainly not good

[@tifforo1]

@@mikeymaiku Uh... what? Do you know what dual channel memory is, and that on Ryzen it can create a 10%+ increase in CPU performance?

[@mars5train601]

@@tifforo1 I think he is talking about the overheating part of the comment

[@EperkeDashh]

@@mikeymaiku canadian youtuber dawid does tech stuff called them up for a dell xps prebuilt with a 3070 mind u, that he asked for dual channel ram and got single channel, he also got that cpu cooler for an i7-10700, and got sent on a rolercoaster with the departments.

[@WaWaWuselmonster]

My old i5 was perfectly cooled with a 120mm AIO, it was at 25-30° on Idle and never went above 60°. Don't know if it was due to the cooler being good or the CPU being very cool.

[@Preske]

not really a mistake, a shitty thing to do. "removing this sticker voids the warranty". I know it's illegal in the US, i'm unsure about Europe.

[@FeisarX]

Proprietary parts is another one.... They've done it for a reason. I don't agree with it - but it is not a mistake and not even necessarily bad for the audience who are buying these things. If you buy a pre build for the shitty graphics card inside it that's on you. This channel is in danger of getting a bit "uppity" and cute. They're beginning to justify the "elite" branding I've seen on motherboards in the past.

[@totojejedinecnynick]

what sticker sir? I have never seen any sticker in there, you forgot to apply it! *hides bottle of 99% rubbing alcohol and razor*

[@BSOE3058]

99.99% IPA is every computer maniacs best friend

[@Preske]

@@00O3O1B Interesting, I didn't know that. Not that it mattered because I opened it anyway :D

[@Smertyuk]

My first computer was a prebuilt. It was built by the shop that sold it rather than by a big company, and the best way i can describe it is "good learning material". As in it had 256mb of RAM which wasn't enough for win98 gaming, said RAM was not set at its rated frequency (so yeah, BIOS manual was super handy), the requested HDD fan was installed but not connected to anything, the CPU fan was 60mm at 6000RPM and the non-descript PSU died after 4 years. Was also fun upgrading the thing. Installing the drivers for Creative SB Live 5.1 required waiting for about an hour of system being completely unresponsive, Sapphire Radeon 9600XT had overheating VRAM needing some custom radiators glued to it and on Radeons X800 with PCIe-AGP bridge said tiny bridge wanted to overheat.

[@Zhinarkos]

Well, none of these prebuilts come with a cat bed for your CEO so they all have a lot to improve.

[@phoenixfire8978]

No treat dispenser either

[@KeriSqueak]

Everything is a cat bed :3

[@GamerErman2001]

I thought the cat beds were the cardboard boxes.

[@MaddDogg316]

I thought the cat was the CFO...Chief Feline Officer? 🤔

[@briana4511]

The thing I did wrong was to buy a Cyberpower PC! Mine came with a defective PCIe socket on the video card and they expect me to pay shipping to get it back to them! I mean come on, the thing doesn’t even post! How did they not find this before shipping it out to the customer? Update A few days later, they did send a prepaid shipping label…and sent a replacement video card a week after that.

[@rhobson]

"This shouldn't be so hard" certainly is something that echoes differently on the engineering and planning/budgeting teams of OEMs.... :|

[@_BangDroid_]

I procured several Dell SFF machines for my old work directly from dell. ALL of them starting randomly bluescreen crashing (Dell equivalent diagnostic screen) with an error code, something about missing HDD (despite only having ssd's). Their error code diagnostic search was basically useless and always lead to contacting them. Our sales rep wanted to do a return but we couldn't suffer the down time, they were new staff PC's. My enthusiast gut was telling me to reseat the M.2 ssd's and after a meeting and getting approval from management I did so. None of the PC's ever crashed again.

[@Znatnhos]

I dare say it's easier to source parts and assemble yourself than to get a decent product from a pre-built. Either their ordering systems are terrible and confusing, they're scamming you with unwanted soft or misleading hardware descriptions, or jacking up prices because "the economy". There are so many good build tutorials. I STRONGLY encourage anyone looking for a new computer to take the plunge and build it yourself. You'll save money, maintain sanity, and get a sense of accomplishment for a job well done all while ending up with a reliable and serviceable machine.

[@vash_dakari]

My pre-built horror story came courtesy of Alienware (pre Dell days). It was the mid 2000's, and I'd gotten my first real job after University. I'd built my own computers before, but after AGP GPU's had gone the way of the dinosaur, I needed to upgrade my system and decided to splurge on an Alienware Aurora 7500 (you know the one, with the R4 case). After parting it out price wise to figure exactly how much they were gouging me for, and reflecting on how long it had taken me to build, install, and troubleshoot my previous PC, I pulled the trigger on some sweet mid-00's shiny black plastic behemoth of prebuilt PC power. The day it arrived, I was ecstatic. The Box was huge, and I required help from a friend to get it in the apartment. I opened everything up, set it up, pressed the power for that sweet goodness, and waited for the thing to post..... and waited.... and waited. Finally giving up on it, I figured something may have come loose during shipment. I opened it up, and began checking RAM, power cables, the usual suspects for what can happend when PC's get handled 'gently' during shipping, but everything looked ok. I called tech support, and spent the better part of an hour with this patient support rep, and finally after everything else had been tested, rebooted and secured, he asked me to pull off the heatsink. There was the problem, the CPU wasn't there, just some Artic Silver oozing into the AM2 Socket. My heart fell through the floor. Apparently, someone had swiped the Athlon FX-62 between testing and shipping I sent it back to Alienware so they could post mortem the husk of shiny plastic and metal. An internal investigation ensued, as Alienware either chased down who the CPU bandit was, or probably debated if I was pulling a fast one on them. (It took less time to get the original PC than it did to finally get the replacement.) Phone calls between me and my "Case handler" went on for weeks before I was about to demand my refund and be done with the whole affair, but eventually they sent the replacement that worked without fault. In the end, I enjoyed that PC everyday it served, until I ran it too hot and some MB capacitors popped their tops. (It gave off two long sad beeps before never posting again) But man, the first month of "ownership" was all I ever needed to steer clear of pre-built systems going forward. (The case still serves as a conversation piece, and I actively ignore thoughts of getting it working again) TLDR: Alienware employee swiped my CPU before it ever left the factory, and sent me a dead system.

[@C1Denny]

The 'glitch' transitions between categories are giving me flashbacks... Oh, the digital horror!

[@kylianthehylian]

that was freaking me out, I thought it was my 3080, I had to check it on my laptop AND cell phone to be sure :P I've had a graphics card fail on me before and it looked just like that.

[@arator1979]

@@kylianthehylian Same here. It's at the moment not the time for replacing a GPU.

[@Aeturnalis]

My computer came with Windows, Nvidia control panel, and the folder showing the results of their benchmarks. Bloatware at an acceptable level.

[@Rpground]

I know it costs a lot of money, but this is my favorite content on your channel. It's hilarious just how bad these pre-builts can be.

[@stupidmonkey151]

I bought a Cyberpower PC back in 2019 and it suffered from thermal throttling as well. The case fans were all exhaust, no intake fans and there was a cheap CPU cooler. No issues with assembly or component selection though.

[@StefanEtienneTheVerrgeRep]

Most of the time I notice that the RAM isn't even screwed on correctly.

[@sadams12345678]

You don't screw on RAM.

[@a1103]

@@sadams12345678 The joke kind of eluded you now, didn't it? :D (Hint: Check his name)

[@Drek492]

Cmon I think the guy deserves a rest. Go watch his video with Linus if you want to get a bit more background on that infamous Verge video.

[@dancingtriangle2814]

Something I think is funny is how my PC started out as a prebuilt, and it took me a good 2 years to discover that the intake fans were backwards. This made it so that all of the fans on my computer were blowing air out, resulting in absolutely atrocious airflow.

[@tempestsquall5882]

After watching your videos, I feel like I got gifted by god himself the perfect prebuilt PC from ABS on sale last year. The whole thing cost less than the card it came with in 2021. It works perfectly , wiring is great, and 16 G’s of RAM was installed correctly on the board. All I had to correct is add more cooling to the case/ build, all in all I got a way better deal than anyone now (2021) can do with a custom PC, and I still have more room for upgrades.

[@hanro50]

I work for a computer shop. One of the services said shop provides is running Windows updates before giving you the PC you bought. It's sometimes easier to reinstall windows then trying to run those updates. Since 99% of the time a fresh install won't fail an update (OEM version is closer to 50%) and I can use a newer windows image then what the OEM ships.

[@georgelincolnrockwell14]

I watched every prebuild review multiple times, and the highlight episode was still entertaining. well done

[@umbrareloadedgaming6646]

Amazing work! It is insane those prebuilts and how they manage to put that out for the consumer. I wonder if it is the same with the "boutique" PC stores. It would be great if you could compare those next that it seems that they are the next one to be judged.

[@EugeneManugas]

scriptwriter: how brutal do you want this to be? steve: YES!!!!!

[@UsmanKhan-uk4yl]

At this point it's just funny, I watch your prebuilt videos only for entertainment XD

[@DAN007thefoxx1]

When I started modding my pre built Skytech Nebula, and I wanted to actually swap out some of the internals for more powerful ones, myyyyyy Gooooooodddd the sheer number of zipties I had to very CAREFULLY cut so as to not break any of the wires was astounding. Phanteks and NZXT cases I would argue actually did cable management better since those come with velcro bands instead of zipties so you don't have to CUT them off AND you can re use em. Even just replacing the CPU cooler I couldn't do it without cutting off yet another ziptie holding a very thin wire bundle in.

[@robertbradley8331]

What I find most annoying about proprietary power supplies is not that they can't be reused in another computer, it is that you can't replace one gone bad with a readily available standard and/or salvaged ATX power supply on the fly. Nor can you easily upgrade them if at all. In either case you must pay a high price through the OEM for the same crap.

[@Sandesh98147]

There will be nothing more funny to me than watching steve slowly realise the dells prebuilt has a load bearing cpu fan

[@GrenPara]

Hey GN, You are missing one thing for people not in USA. When you buy a prebuilt and it comes with 10 home oem many companies will instantly void your warranty if they find out you upgraded OS to 10pro or other OS. USA has protections that they cant void warranty but other countries like Canada change os or open side panel to clean fan means no warranty.

[@Hotrob_J]

Hard agree on the ram. I upgraded to 32gb because I play a Kerbal Space program with a ton of mods, and that'll use 16-18 gigs on its own. That's the one application that actually makes my system use more than 16gb

[@prydzen]

so ONE application made your computer use 50% of your RAM by itself but somehow this means 32GB is overkill? Hello? Read your own comment and think again?

[@hj-mr5gg]

@@prydzen no ypu

[@Hotrob_J]

@@prydzen any other thing I do, including streaming, doesnt use close to 16 gigs of system memory. So yeah, for most people it's overkill, and a waste of money that could go towards a power supply that wouldn't explode or a cooler that has more than 8 cents of aluminum.

[@Hotrob_J]

And again, I can't stress enough how many mods I run. It takes me about 6 minutes to load the game off of a WD SN850 (running at Gen 4, with a 5950x). It's a niche use case.

[@shahin3644]

4:37 that case left this universe with no trace

[@thetravelbubble]

"What is malware..." It should be a picture of itself. This is comedic gold!

[@Deathscythe91]

if they just added more rgb then the temps , airflow , burn risk , everything would be just fine

[@Ryzard]

I couldn't figure out how to attach and wire up my aio cooler for several hours my first time building a PC, and some of these make me feel smart.

[@huri9946]

If I was a supervisor or chief in a prebuild company, I'd use this video as training material for the employees.

[@iPhoneAppReviewer]

The employees are probably not paid enough to give a shit.

[@Mandren]

My first PC came from iBuyPower and it served me well since 2016. Thought about getting another pre-built this year when it came time to replace the old rig, but now looking at what I was able to do on my own... Just the cable management level of care versus a 'professional' was worth all the trouble. My original PC looked like a rats nest.

[@OriginalRaveParty]

Dell and HP are now firmly on the "Never Buy" list.

[@control_the_pet_population]

To be fair, never buy a pre-built gaming PC... from any manufacturer or integrator. They are almost universally a bad value, either due to lower quality components, inflated price or both... and that's not even mentioning build quality. Even the few that GN didn't outright hate, they could only recommend because BYOPC is insanely difficult due to supply shortages. That said, Dell or HP for general home / standard business work? Those are typically solid choices. Remember they lease their business line PCs by the shit load... For all the complaints about "proprietary parts" in this video, I guarantee five years from now it will be far easier to source a 2nd hand replacement Dell Optiplex motherboard then it will to source a given Asus or Gigabyte board.

[@mjc0961]

For me? Always have been.

[@mathiascarlsson5746]

You should add Alienware (which is just a Dell in different clothes) and Lenovo to that list.

[@danhoogfl]

In one instance, a long, long time ago, a custom high-end (for the time) system had an area on the back of the motherboard taped (electrical tape, I presume) to protect it from touching the case. Unfortunately, it caused repeatable infrequent memory errors (and blue screens). I taped the chassis instead, and the system worked fine for many years. The vendor didn't believe or acknowledge the likely capacitance change as an issue. In a recent system build, an otherwise acceptable system had dangling cables over the CPU/memory area that induced issues that disappeared completely when the cables were managed (on that system now).

[@Blur4strike]

Seeing all the prebuilt systems not even clear their own low-bars was impressive, also gives me cause to stay on the "build your own" route for PC's.

[@kimnice]

I learned to love bloatware 25 years ago when dad bought me a prebuilt PC. It came with Windows 95 pre-installed, but it didn't have an installation cd. How ever it had a software that could prepare installation floppy disks. Obviously bloatware would have to be included so this operation took 37 1.44MB floppy disks. Standard Windows 95 installation would have fitted to 15 1.44MB disks.

[@coolnessfactor1]

Steve, did you forget that more RAM and a higher wattage PSU give you more FPS? It's like red cars have at least 10-15hp more xD

[@Dennis-vh8tz]

There is a legitimate reason for OEM's and SI's to use 120mm water coolers: they put less stress on the motherboard than a large air cooler when the box is subjected to rough handling during by shippers, while cooling better than small air coolers.

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

I've been seeing advertisements for a Pre-built Company called CLX Gaming. I was wondering if you would be willing to do a review on one of the their systems to see how they stack up. Would really love to see that.

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

I've been using the same Skytech Shadow prebuilt for 7 years and it never had bloatware or any issues other than the airflow is ass once you start upgrading parts to hotter ones. Even a Hyper 212 EVO with 2 140mm fans cannot cool my fx-9590 in this case, so I keep the side panel off with a small metal desk fan blowing in to keep it cool.

[@ClovissenpaiDotR]

I'm still getting over the fact that its not a literal standard for cases to have all thumb screws

[@amicloud_yt]

As a Cities: Skylines player... it really hurts that you're shitting on 32 gb ram so much. I swear just a handful of mods send you over 20gb!

[@LRM12o8]

That's an edge use case though. And it still won't give you a good experience when the timings & latency are terrible and the 32GB RAM is paired with a bargain bin i5 CPU.

[@prydzen]

@@LRM12o8 it really isnt. i have two apps open and my system uses 50% of 32GB. if i try to open a game or a nother browser window with too many tabs and i get memory issues. 32GB isnt even enough for me. 32GB is not overkill anymore. Windows and windows apps are memory hungry. deal with it. 64MB is not enough anymore, move onm from the past. I have been running 32GB for well over 5 years now!

[@jearldburns5942]

@@prydzen No. For the vast majority of gamers (and even more normal users), 16GB is more than enough.

[@LRM12o8]

@@prydzen What apps are those? If you don't specify, then that's pointless information and not an argument. I've been using 16GB RAM for five years now and never felt the need to upgrade. I've never reached 100% RAM utilization, running brave browser with 20+ tabs and modern games like SW Jedi Fallen Order plus sometimes even a VM that reserves 4GB on top. If running Windows and its bloated apps alone ever required close to 16GB, then I'll gladly move on... *to Linux!* The Operating System is supposed to be as efficient as possible, so I can use my resources for the actual applications. Saying "deal with it" to a resource hogging OS is ridiculous! But anyway, you completely missed the point that Steve made and I defend: *A better CPU would generally provide a much bigger performance benefit than this big amount of really poor quality, really slow RAM!* Especially since these weak CPU's can't perform most typical memory-intensive tasks well enough to make use of that 32GB RAM anyway! Like Linus once said, unused RAM is wasted RAM. Most new games are still playable just fine with 8GB RAM and when it comes to productive tasks, performance is hampered by the low-end CPU and GPU, so even then the 32GB RAM won't be of much use. It's wasted cost at these specific configurations!

[@Killer007TV]

@@prydzen The fact the RAM is used does not mean it is necessary. Just look even in the basic Task Manager, you can see how much of "used" RAM is just cache. I am normally using 14-15 GB of RAM even prior to launching a game, yet to others I still recommend 2*8 GB for average-budget builds.

[@jeremymatthies726]

🤣🤣 Steve love your sarcasm with this, priceless. THIS is why when people ask me about getting a new computer (non laptop) that I ask what they want it to do and then source the parts and if they ask about big name prebuilds I just ask if they want a headache and an "I told you so" comment.

[@slipstream363]

I'm from Trinidad and Tobago and I bought an NZXT creator pc to do a job. It came with a dead RTX3090. When I contacted the company they told me how there was nothing they can do because I'm not from the US and I don't have any warranty. When I enquired more about it their customer support stopped replying to emails etc.

[@davidmcmanus7179]

Funny, informative and valuable work Steve and the staff at Gamers Nexus. The heroes we deserve!!

[@すどにむ]

The reason why big manufacturers like Dell and HP use proprietary parts is because theft is a real issue for them. There aren't enough incentives at lower level for the whole pallets of parts to go missing by "mistake" and proprietary parts kind of prevents that.

[@ericspda]

Steve, as a manufacturing engineer, I have a hard time understanding your frustration with the font panel IO being on the main board. That’s VASTLY superior from a signal integrity, assembly, and quality perspective. The only down side is it means your cant have a standard form factor board, but that’s pretty uncommon in prebuilts, and the number of people that pull boards out of prebuilts is likely extremely low. I would wager, removing unneeded components like back plates saves considerable resources overall, even when taking into account the difficulty in reuse. Things like cables and connectors have costs higher than a slightly longer PCB, and I would estimate a considerable relative drop in resources and carbon by avoiding them. So for the likely well below 1% of machines that would end up being repaired, or having parts harvested, I still think the net impact is vastly positive overall. But a few good points otherwise, the proprietary PSU thing really grinds my gears.

[@0LoneTech]

One custom machine that stuck in my memory was from Packard Bell. It was a tower with a backplane, which isn't all that unusual, but what is unusual is what they did with the main board. It was stuck in the bottom of the case, and wider than the tower itself, so the case had a sort of foot shaped around it. Inside that cramped foot was where all the connectors were, which was quite the dexterity challenge to access, and of course it was an incredible dust and lint trap. One could hardly imagine a design more prone to fail while still enclosed.

[@KaiynFallanx]

Looking forward to this year's disappointment shirt. It should be damn good! :D

[@duckrutt]

Pretty sure it's going to be a onesie this year

[@Velourium]

I do continue to recommend prebuilts to beginners because I have seen more horror stories with novices trying to build their own than with prebuilts, but man videos like this really depress me.

[@stevenarvizu3602]

Funny how when I first got into PC’s, I used to think, “Idk…. Building my own PC is kinda risky, I don’t want to break anything” And nowadays I feel like, “Let someone else build my PC? Yeah fucking right, I want a PC that works”

[@kengasser4607]

I used to do just that with every pre built system. Wipe the drive, do a clean install. The crap they load on pre built's should be criminal.

[@BackwardsCombatable]

The hilarious thing about this is that this series is awesome and to keep it going these companies need to keep making shit prebuilts lol

[@CoolTI-Daniel]

As an I.T. professional for 20 years and a gaming pc enthusiast, I watch for entertainment. Also to see who I can recommend to family when they want a pre-built.

[@MrJohnnnZ]

I would love to see you build a spear out of ewaste. Also yes, i'm here for the rather depressing comedy. ...and then theres the comments, which are always interesting to read

[@stephensmith4208]

I bought a pc from cyberpower in the UK and it was all good but the one thing that I did find was that a fan wire was put in the power supply shroud hole so when the shroud was put in place it was ripping the wire to bits leaving the fan broken

[@tiistar4769]

At this point, how can consumers reliably buy a prebuilt, ANY prebuilt pc? We have no choice but to learn all the details of a pc build and somehow acquire all the CORRECT and reliable parts, and build the pc ourselves.

[@lilgohan]

0:45 boy is it funny. diy is a pain but so worth it in the end.

[@Imjeezus]

Thank you for the recap, I almost forgot how terrible Dell is.

[@alexanderlee5180]

Man I love a good roast hosted by Stephen Burke 🤣 He's definitely the king of roasting tech companies in a hilarious yet accurate manner

[@aaronthomas6155]

I still remember the first time I had to work on a Dell desktop.... A friend got a brand new Dell for Christmas. Her dad set it up. Hit the power button and got a harddrive error. Not sure how it passed QC without a PATA cable plugged into the harddrive....

[@legacysage]

Last prebuilt I got wouldn't ramp up the fan speed of any of the fans in accordance with the temp so the fans would be spinning at 800rpm as the components thermally throttled at 100+c. Apparently the company claimed that the "auto" function of their fabs just meant that they turned on automatically and not that they changed speed. I bought it because it seemed like a decent deal and I didn't really want to have to fuss with researching a build, assembling, ect. Ended up spending far more time correcting that little mistake. Do it right the first time, I guess.

[@fcfdroid]

His incredibly precise mutilation of OEM's is why I'm subbed 😌

[@tanhongyi7180]

In Singapore, we had our 'Microcenter'-type IT mall(called Sim Lim Square) that sells computer parts. While it's where we find our glorious PC parts from 3rd party brands, that place is also a landfill full of discarded OEM desktops and laptops, some taken up and refurbished for reuse while most others were piling up in the electronic graveyard. E-waste is one of the low key types of pollution that is rarely brought up in face of these tech companies. They need to be stopped. IIRC two years ago Samsung and Apple were also fined by some European governments for pumping bloatware into their phone updates, prompting users to change to newer line of products in less than 2 years. They are driven by greed, does little to no improvement to tech advancement and creating more waste. World governments needs to step in and put these tech giants in check, or we might really end up in a dystopian world filled with steel junk with these intentional self-propietary designs.

[@therealshadow99]

I know I'm a bit late to this... But I figured I'd add this strange note to a prebuilt I ordered earlier this year, because I couldn't get a GPU for even a vaguely sane price. It includes a small 240mm AIO liquid cooling setup, with a single 140mm fan on it. While probably fine, it's really strange that the original pair of fans were replaced with a single RGB 140mm fan. Performance seems fine (or at least average for the components) and heat doesn't seem to be abnormal. It's just really strange.

[@ecromancer]

I haven't bought a pre built PC in years but owned a few laptops. This is what I do. I register windows and make sure it activates properly. I format the drive and install a fresh bare bones version of windows. I download the drivers and some of the software I will be using for that machine. The boot times on the laptop are about cut in half by doing this and feels a lot more responsive. The amount of bloatware on a laptop/prebuilt is very uncalled for. The manufactures are making more money off the PC because the bloatware companies pay manufactures to put it on their machines.

[@osoquik4447]

After watching your review of the Skytech Chronos, I purchased the & highly recommend it. Chose a SI vs OEM due to the price value and lack of bloat ware. Not to mentioned, it’s nearly impossible to build one with the lack of supply.

[@izabellecovey3868]

How has it served you so far? I’ve been checking out their rigs but still a little unsure

[@osoquik4447]

@@izabellecovey3868 Use it everyday, I WFH then game evenings with no issues. 120+ FPS with the 3070, highly recommend buying it.

[@izabellecovey3868]

@@osoquik4447 i’ll take another look at their models then! Got it mostly narrowed down to Lyte and Skytech now, thanks for the recommendation!