Build your own or buy a ready-made computer?
Ready-made desktop PCs come in three varieties. The first is monoblocks in the monitor case, as well as nettops mounted on the rear wall of the monitor. The second is factory PC builds directly from world famous brands: HP, Dell, Lenovo and others. Both of these types are completely or at least partially built from specific proprietary components, so they are almost impossible to upgrade. Yes, and are significantly more expensive - surcharge for compactness. Therefore, calling them an alternative to hand-made PC assembly can only be a stretch.
But the third type is ready-made assemblies from domestic retailers or distributors, that is, retailers and wholesalers of electronics, respectively. They use the most common components that are mutually compatible with each other, and which can be bought separately without any problems. In addition, buying a locally assembled ready-made PC is a good way to support domestic businesses that create jobs, pay taxes and, thereby, invest in the development of the country's economy.
Often, a finished PC is even cheaper, which is achieved by direct cooperation between assembly companies and component manufacturers. It is much more profitable for a conditional company ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI to sell a highly liquid graphics card for PC assembly, albeit cheaper, but complete with a slightly less liquid motherboard and a completely illiquid case and power supply of their own production. Also, PC assemblers have preferential prices for the Windows operating system and other software.
| Arguments for building a PC yourself | Arguments for buying a ready-made PC |
|---|---|
| – like to make things with your own hands, – want to learn how to understand a PC, – save every penny, – a fan of specific brands, – a gradual upgrade of an old PC. | – save time on the selection of components, – save your nerves from problematic assembly, – everything is already set up and tested, – an optional extended warranty, – you want to support domestic business. |
It turns out a three-pronged benefit. The manufacturer sells several components at once, and the assembler sells the whole PC. The buyer, on the other hand, receives a computer at a lower price, already assembled, configured and tested by professionals, as well as optionally with an extended warranty. Moreover, unlike nettops and monoblocks, the case is not sealed, which allows you to clean or upgrade yourself. Especially if you enjoy this "LEGO set for adults".
But of course, there are also disadvantages. Assembling companies usually indicate only the main characteristics of the PC, for example, the chipset of the motherboard. While the specific model of the motherboard may vary depending on the availability of goods in stock. It can be either a solid motherboard with a multi-phase power subsystem, or a very simple motherboard with only two already occupied memory slots. But conscientious collectors still do not fall below a certain level.
In addition, by default, OEM cases are made to order from the assembler company and adorned with its logo. Their advantage is low price, and the disadvantages are often boring design and not the best ventilation. However, at the request of the client, the PC can be rebuilt into a case from true experts in their field: Zalman, Chieftec, SilverStone, including compact recumbent or cubic cases. Yes, and among the OEM cases, sometimes there are very worthy specimens.
2E Integer is a moderately priced yet powerful workstation with a 6-core and 12-thread Intel Core i5-12500 processor. It compares favorably with the younger 12400 with a more performant integrated UHD 770 graphics card (32 microcore clusters versus 24 for the UHD 730).
The iGPU is useful for viewing, recording and editing video thanks to Intel's proprietary Quick Sync technology, as well as for photo processing and 3D modeling using the open OpenCL standard. The computer is equipped with dual-channel 2x8 GB RAM, which speeds up the processor cores by 10% and the iGPU by 50%. There are two more free DDR4 RAM slots for upgrades up to 128 GB.
The SSD, running at ultra-speed PCIe 4.0, didn't disappoint either. A fast SSD is useful primarily when working with giant databases. To unleash its potential, the motherboard is already used on the middle B660 instead of the younger H610. All components are packaged in a slim chassis that can be placed behind or under the monitor. Licensed Windows 11 Pro included.
2E Complex Gaming is the optimal gaming or, if you prefer, esports computer with an Intel Core i3-12100F processor (in games faster than the more multi-core i5-10400F and Ryzen 5 4500) and a discrete GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. In addition to its own 8 GB of video memory (in addition to 16 GB of system-wide RAM), supports proprietary technology for increasing FPS through NVIDIA DLSS smart upscaling with virtually no loss in image quality.
Simply put, the Core i3-12100F and RTX 3050 pairing will handle even the most demanding games at high graphics settings at Full HD resolution at a stable 60 FPS for at least another three years. And esports disciplines - Dota 2 and CSGO - will work on ultras at 120+ FPS. There are also the coveted realistic reflections of Ray Tracing.
So that you don’t have to delete and then re-download games often, in addition to the ultra-fast 512 GB M.2 PCIe 4.0, it also comes with just a fast SATA SSD per terabyte. All of this is powered by a 650W unit and packaged in a well-ventilated case with a mesh front panel and RGB lighting.
2E Hyper Complex is a progressive gaming and part-time professional working PC. Efficiency in work tasks is achieved primarily thanks to the Intel Core i7-12700F processor with 8 powerful cores, each of which is divided into two Hyper-Threading threads, as well as 4 additional power-saving cores. Cooled by a tower cooler.
The idea is that while powerful cores do things like video editing, weaker cores are used for web surfing. The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti discrete graphics card also helps in the installation (in terms of performance, it is much closer to the 3070 than to the 3060). NVENC hardware video encoder is considered faster than Intel Quick Sync and AMD RME.
In addition, many colour correction plugins for Adobe Premier and Photoshop are accelerated only by NVIDIA's proprietary CUDA technology, and are not compatible with OpenCL. The RAM is doubled to 32 GB, and the drives are already a traditional bundle of M.2 PCIe 4.0 512 GB and a 2 TB SATA SSD for storing projects of photos, videos, 3D models and drawings. Well, with the RTX 3060 Ti, you can already comfortably play on a Quad HD monitor.
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