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Assembling a PC in parts can be cumbersome, especially if we are not used to it or do not have the necessary knowledge. For many people it is a difficult process, but for others it is not complicated at all and it is even a hobby. However, the question that matters to us is to see if it is true that we save money by assembling a PC ourselves. So let’s see if it’s really worth building a PC to parts.

Assembling a PC by pieces Does it save money?

There is no better way to check it than to configure a PC ourselves and compare it with another tower that we can buy at the moment. In the first case, we will not contract the assembly service that is usually given on web pages; in the second, we will take an equivalent PC, trying to gather the same characteristics, or improve them.

The PC that we are going to have as a reference is the PCCom Bronze , which costs € 659.19 and comes with the following configuration:

• CPU : AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz.
• Motherboard : MSI A320M-A PRO / Asus Prime A320M-K.
• Hard drives : 1 TB HDD / 240 GB SSD.
• RAM memory : 8GB DDR4 2666Mhz.
• GPU : GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5.
• Power supply : 550W / 650W.
• Box : Nfortec Lynx Cristal.

Our proposal is the following:

After this, we can see that assembling a PC to parts improves 3 things compared to an assembled PC: we get a lower price , higher quality components and superior performance . Making a summary, we can detail the aspects in which we have improved the components:

• Base plate Instead of the A320 chipset, our proposal is the B450 chipset, which is mainstream and much more versatile. The A320 chipset is low-end, so why not go mainstream with the same budget?
• RAM memories . The PCCom Bronze equips 8 GB at 2666 MHz, which is not recommended for Ryzen platforms. At a minimum, memories with a frequency of 3,000 MHz are recommended. Regarding capacity, 8GB is no longer enough if we want a good experience in recent games. In this way, we have offered 16 GB at 3,200 MHz with a CL16 latency, which is not bad at all.
• Power supply . They do not specify what energy certification that source will have, nor the brand. Surely, the certification will be Bronze, so we have proposed a 550W source with Gold certification , which is a good start.

However, we will go further because assembled PCs hide certain “tricks” in some of their components that it would be advisable to observe.

Beware of some components of mounted PCs

Starting with the motherboard , we can find difficulties when it comes to knowing exactly which motherboard the PC has, something that PCcomponentes tells us in detail, but other vendors do not do so: they only tell us the platform and the RAM memory slots that we have.

Be suspicious when this happens because it is very possible that the motherboard is low-end , being a component in which costs have been reduced. For this reason, they do not reveal all their specifications, which is usually a bad omen. Take into account the importance of this component, especially when we want to take advantage of certain processor functions or update the RAM memory, among other things.

The CPU cooler deserves a special mention. I don’t think I have seen any assembled PC that equates a different heatsink to the stock that comes with the processor. I am not criticizing the stock heatsinks, but it is a component that is not taken into account and that is essential to achieve a longer life of the chip, such as better performance.

Another component to examine are the RAM memories . Here, they usually tell us only the memory and the frequency, omitting if only one module comes , or if the latency is high. If you do not specify that two modules come, it will mean that only one comes and that we will work in Single-Channel . This is not recommended at all because we cannot take advantage of the Dual-Channel , which gives much more performance.

As for the graphics cards , they tend to play with the models. As has happened to us above, we know that we will have a GTX 1050, but not which model. There are models that give more performance than others due to the preparation offered by the assembler, so it is very possible that the GPU that we have under the PC is the stock model , which usually gives worse performance.

Regarding power supplies , the “trick” is in the energy certification of the same or if it is modular . We will see that, for example, the manufacturer announces that we will have a 600 W source, but does not say anything about the certification of this. You must know that we will never get those 600 W, but a certain% that will vary depending on the energy certification we choose.

On the other hand, the sources that we find in these teams are not usually modular or semi-modular, but rather fixed, which are cheaper.

Hard drives are not spared either, as an SSD can be better or worse. They will rarely tell us which SSD model the PC is mounted on, which raises suspicions. As you may already know, there are SSDs with better transfer speeds than others, so the word “SSD” does not encompass the best, but rather their technology. The SSDs that we usually see in this type of PC are usually much cheaper, which translates into worse performance.

Finally, the PC boxes . It is no coincidence that the PC case sector is very competitive, because it is an aspect that users value more and more. Ventilation is a very important point in a PC, something that is often overlooked in the cases of pre-assembled PCs. Typically they won’t offer many expansion options, nor will they include enough fans.

Is it worth it to assemble a PC to parts?

If you gather the necessary knowledge to do it without complications, without a doubt . Not only will we save money, we will get better components for the same price or even less . In addition, we must underline the advantage of being able to choose the components we want, without having to settle for the ones that are assembled.

Assembling a PC to parts right from the beginning will allow us , among other things, the following:

• Save money on the electricity bill , thanks to the installation of a better power supply.
• More possibilities to update components , since we are the ones who assemble the PC and we know what we want. For example, choosing an ATX board gives you much more play than the Micro-ITX boards that often come with pre-assembled PCs.
• Get better performance for less money, spending money wisely.
• Save on assembly services , which are priced between 40 and 50 euros.
• Longer service life, after choosing higher quality components.