by Last year I bought an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti without waiting months by buying a pre-built PC from NZXT (opens in new tab). It was a tough decision to make considering all the negative things I have heard about pre-built computers. However, after a year of waiting for the cards in the Nvidia RTX 30 series to become available at affordable prices, I chose the nuclear option and bought a pre-built rig. Seven months later, I do not regret my decision. In fact, buying a pre-built PC was one of the wisest decisions I have ever made.
In my previous piece, I was hesitant to tell others about following my place. I must admit that this concern came from being hinted at by potential setbacks from the PC community who sometimes wrinkle their noses when buying pre-built rigs. I was also a novice technical writer and did not want to appear as if I was not knowledgeable enough to design my own PC.
While I still encourage people to make decisions that are right for them, I now have the confidence to steer them to buy one of the best pre-built gaming PCs – especially those who want new graphics cards like the recent one. released RTX 3090 Ti. And given that I write for a site called Tom’s Guide, I’m committed to directing readers toward products and services that can enrich their lives. A pre-built PC definitely qualifies as such a product.
Here is my experience of using a pre-built PC in the last seven months.
What I bought
| Price | $ 3 910 |
| Liquid cooler | NZXT Kraken x63 |
| OS | Windows 10 |
| Case | NZXT H510 (white) |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG Strix Z590-E gaming wifi |
| processor | Intel Core i7-11700KF 8-core 3.6 GHz |
| RAM | 32 GB (Team T-FORCE Vulcan Z 3200MHz) |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti |
| Storage | 2 TB (Seagate FireCuda 520) |
A great experience so far
Despite all the controversy surrounding pre-built PCs, I have not yet encountered any issues with my current rig. In fact, things have become quite mundane in that I have been able to continue as I did with my previous computer.
I mostly use my PC for work. For that purpose, the powerful 3080 Ti GPU has not given me any major benefits since I mostly use Google’s services to write documents, check emails and transfer files. Each of the best laptops gives me the same functionality that I currently enjoy. But having the extra computational ceiling height ensures that I can have a lot of apps and programs running without worrying about my PC crashing.
Producing and editing my podcast is much smoother on my current rig. Due to my powerful CPU and RAM, I can broadcast to Twitch via OBS and use Discord to confer with my podcast mates without any problems. NOTE even starts and closes much faster than it did on my old computer. After I finish broadcasting, I download an MP4 of the podcast from Twitch and convert it to a WAV file with Adobe Premiere. This process goes so fast that I barely have time to blink. I then use Audacity to edit the WAV file and convert it to an MP3 before uploading it to AudioBoom. All this takes significantly less time on my new PC.
Bet on
Then there is gaming, which is the whole reason why I wanted a PC with an RTX 3080 Ti graphics card. Needless to say, it has been a glorious experience. I can comfortably play games like Guardians of the Galaxy, God of War and Forza Horizon 5 with maximum settings on my LG CX OLED 4K TV. Cyberpunk 2077 still struggles to run at a steady 60 frames per second, but that’s because the game (still) is not well optimized.
I can comfortably play games like Guardians of the Galaxy and God of War with maximum settings on my LG CX OLED 4K TV.
Ironically, I have not played many games on my PC due to the drought of AAA titles due to the long lasting effects of the global pandemic. My PS5 has gained more love thanks to exclusives like Horizon Forbidden West and multi-platform games like Elden Ring that I play with friends. But when I play on PC, it’s all I could have hoped for.
Bottom line: the best decision I’ve ever made
My pre-built rig performs fantastically, and allows me to work and play without problems. I bought it with the hope that it would last five to six years before I was forced to upgrade. Given how far the global chip shortage is far from over, it is possible that my rig will last even longer. After all, I doubt that many game developers will create titles that can only run on new hardware that people can not find (or can afford). I can have my current PC longer than expected, which is fine with me.
So, will my next gaming rig also be pre-built? I’m not sure. Buying a pre-built PC has been an overwhelmingly positive experience so far. I honestly have nothing to complain about since my computer performs so wonderfully. That said, I miss being able to find parts on my own and try to configure the optimal rig. And even though I’m not that good at building PCs, there’s something I want to get better at. It is possible I will build my own rig next time, but it is still too early to say.
But if you’re in the same situation as I was seven months ago and still looking for a new GPU, buying a pre-built PC from a site like NZXT is not the worst idea. In fact, if your experience is something like mine, it may be the best shopping decision you have ever made.
