What are the best online stores that build custom gaming computers?

July 22, 2015 12:49 PM

I'm looking for any online stores with good ratings that will build custom computers. As in you pick out all the specific parts you want (case, motherboard, cooling, storage, etc..) and they build it for you. I thought about doing it myself but i just don't know enough about it all to do that yet. I know that NCIX does what i'm wanting but i've heard a mixture of bad and good reviews so i'm not sure if i should go with them or not.
posted by earthquakeglue to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

NCIX does this with the least markup. $50 is a monster deal for this.

Every other prebuilt from off the shelf parts company(that isn't using super custom cases and stuff like some OEMS along the lines of ASUS and Alienware do) charges a ridiculous markup. They also warrantee their work, which i imagine would make the worst part of the deal being having to ship the assembled system back if there was an issue.

In ye olden days when metafilter was born, there were local strip mall shops with names like "computer stop" in my area that offer this service including for parts ordered online and not purchased from them for a reasonable fee. They'd assemble and test the thing right in front of you, walk over to the register, and you'd pay and leave with a working system.

I have no idea if shops like this still exist. Almost all of them seem to have closed, including the one i remember providing that service out of their repair dept.

The other options i've seen are stuff like neweggs ibuypower configurator. And screw ibuypower and the crappy parts they use, and that markup is ridiculous.
posted by emptythought at 1:39 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also it's worth mentioning doing it yourself is probably way easier than you think. Once you've got the parts picked out its basically Legos. Here's a good guide.
posted by Itaxpica at 2:05 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've gone through Digital Storm before, and thought it was pretty darn good. Had a couple parts go and they helped me replace them pretty quickly. Been using that computer for ages now. Too bad computers (in general) get outdated so fast! :(

Oh yeah AND they will review your config to make sure all the parts play well together. And they have a forum if you have questions.
posted by christiehawk at 4:43 PM on July 22, 2015

Response by poster: Digital Storm looks pretty good! I know! I'm hoping i can at least get 4-5 years out of it before i need a new one again. So do you just add all the parts to your cart or do you pick from the already made desktops and then change anything you don't want?

Oh that's good, i'm glad. With some of the other websites i looked at they didn't say if they checked it or anything for part compatibility.
posted by earthquakeglue at 6:51 PM on July 22, 2015

For part compatability, if you're worried, you can check PCPartPicker. It lets you input a full build part by part, and warns you if there are any incompatibilities in the parts you've chosen.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:07 PM on July 22, 2015

There are a LOT of places that will do this... Cyberpower, IbuyPower, Falcon Northwest, OriginPC, DigitalStorm, MainGear, and so on. Alienware used to and you can still customize, but probably not down to the mainboard level.

OTOH, you should seriously consider putting it together yourself. Putting together a PC, is not very difficult if you follow some basic guidelines.
posted by kschang at 2:10 AM on July 23, 2015

I think you can also email them and ask advice too. They were very helpful with me I recall.

Their forum was always pretty active I remember. I too thought about putting it together myself and just decided that I wasn't up for that project. Could be a fun learning experience but I think you have to take your time and do some research.
posted by christiehawk at 3:53 PM on July 23, 2015