Steam+ Deals Mega Thread (All PC Gaming Deals)

Neuro5i5

Neuro5i5

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This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.

See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.
 
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I was all set to build a PC and the consensus I seem to remember was that the days of saving a ton of money by doing it yourself were gone. Then everyone started telling stories of all the things that went wrong and made me decide to not build one.

 
Motoki said:
I hardly even play my games and I don't do multiplayer but that game got me to play it AND play with the bros too though it was a while ago :p
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Do any of us play our games anymore?

[shrug]

It's all about building backlogs on top of backlogs!

Since many digital sales of late have seem to sucked within the last year especially when compared to the old AmazonTony days and when Steam would actually discount somewhat newer stuff decently, it's like we're all relying on the Bundles site for some "decent enough bundles" to stack some more game backlogs up.

 
Reds303 said:
I was all set to build a PC and the consensus I seem to remember was that the days of saving a ton of money by doing it yourself were gone. Then everyone started telling stories of all the things that went wrong and made me decide to not build one.
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What alternate universe are you from?

 
Well, I got VPNed into Nuuvem and got my copy of Mad Max...  but I suspect they are onto me.  I got a green message saying success and then below it a red one saying more time was needed to look at my order.  I have a key and it redeemed so I think I'm good for this time I'm just not expecting much luck next time.

I knew I shouldn't have ask that Brazilian cop if he was REALLY going to drink that glass of water...  but I couldn't stop myself.  It looked really bad...

 
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Reds303 said:
I've never built one before. That was pretty much the advice I got from this thread.
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I am sorry that you were mislead.

However, I hope you are still pleased with your purchase.

The problem with buying prebuilt is that that they heavily rely on the CPU to advertise the computer. You also aren't told about the mobo at all, which is the biggest issue. You don't know what it can or can't handle and makes it a hurdle to upgrade in the future.

The three biggest warning signs of buying prebuilt -

They heavily rely on CPU name (not speed)

They mark-up heavily on the GB/TB of the SDD/HDD (256gb SDD can be a $300 mark-up compared to the actual worth of the drive. And they don't even tell you what kind of SDD it is.)

And they rely on the size of RAM (they don't tell you the speed of it.)

The biggest take away from a pre-built is that you don't know the quality of your parts. Cost =/= Quality.

 
INMATEofARKHAM said:
Well, I got VPNed into Nuuvem and got my copy of Mad Max... but I suspect they are onto me. I got a green message saying success and then below it a red one saying more time was needed to look at my order. I have a key and it redeemed so I think I'm good for this time I'm just not expecting much luck next time.

I knew I shouldn't have ask that Brazilian cop if he was REALLY going to drink that glass of water... but I couldn't stop myself. It looked really bad...
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I always get that red message but then the key is always there anyway. For like the 12 games left on their store that aren't Paypal locked, that is.

 
Reds303 said:
I was all set to build a PC and the consensus I seem to remember was that the days of saving a ton of money by doing it yourself were gone. Then everyone started telling stories of all the things that went wrong and made me decide to not build one.
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You cannot save as much money as you use to be able to... That part is very much true but there is still savings to be had and you'll have better components by choosing your own.

 
Reds303 said:
I've never built one before. That was pretty much the advice I got from this thread.
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On vid-cards, I've seen 4GB GTX 960's for around $180-200 on & 970's around $280-300 in sales regularly.

RAM isn't super-duper expensive - probably another $50-100 or so, if you play your cards right.

About HDD, I've purchased for around WD Caviar Blacks (not SSD) in sales for around $50-100; which normally depends on number of TB - I have mostly 1-2 TB drives here.

EDIT:

StryderOmega said:
They mark-up heavily on the GB/TB of the SDD/HDD (256gb SDD can be a $300 mark-up compared to the actual worth of the drive. And they don't even tell you what kind of SDD it is.)

And they rely on the size of RAM (they don't tell you the speed of it.)
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I've mostly avoided buying SSD's b/c of the lack of space per buck. As someone who's very lazy & just doesn't uninstall stuff enough (yeah, I've always had that problem) - I just do better w/ normal HDD's for the amount of space that I want and seem to waste.

 
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Motoki said:
I always get that red message but then the key is always there anyway. For like the 12 games left on their store that aren't Paypal locked, that is.
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Hey, glad your around... You being the Uplay expert on the forum. How is Nuuvem in regards to it? (I see they have Gold version of the Division for 42 or so USD.)

 
INMATEofARKHAM said:
Hey, glad your around... You being the Uplay expert on the forum. How is Nuuvem in regards to it? (I see they have Gold version of the Division for 42 or so USD.)
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I know if you buy Russian stuff for Uplay you often will end up with Russian language ONLY but I honestly have no idea about Brazil. I never bought Uplay from them.

Speaking of Uplay, Anno 2070 has cards now after being on Steam for over 5 years (and also requiring Uplay). Um okay. Not that I'm complaining.

 
This is a TERRIBLE place to ask for advice on building computers.

Go to hardOCP, guru3D, tomshardware, hell even buildapc on reddit if you're lazy...  You'll still get people arguing about stuff but the bullshit gets weeded out, unlike here where the bullshit is nurtured and encouraged to blossom because we're all special flowers with opinions that are never incorrect.

 
The only thing I'll add to the build discussion is it's possible to get decent prebuilds if you shop around and are choosy about what's in your machine. There's also places that will build for you for a fairly modest fee if you don't want to fuss with it.

That said if someone wants to get a Steam machine for fuck's sake stop having nerd conniption fits and just let them buy a god damned Steam machine.

Maybe not everyone gives a crap about VRAM epeen and being able to run Call of the Battlefield 36 at 150fps. Let them be!

 
With Reds some of us just presented the other side of the building experience, which is that it isn't always easy and doesn't always go right and it can be a PITA when it doesn't go right.  It's probably a small likelihood, but it can completely suck to spend $100s on components and be stuck trying to figure out why it won't boot, install windows, work right, etc.  And sometimes the issue can be like some random thing no one would think of and you might luck out that someone else who had the same issue got desperate and just happened to try to eat pussy BEFORE installing the RAM and not after and it got it to work and then they posted on some random forum you found on Google and that ends up fixing your issue.  

There is some benefit to having the piece of mind of buying one thing and if it doesn't work being able to get it addressed under one warranty.  Especially with online shopping, you can end up with components from different stores/websites with different return periods/policies and that's if you manage to figure out what component is causing the problem.  

So while there are savings, you have to weigh both sides of the coin.  I also think that the low quality of the parts in a pre-built can be a little overblown.  People going pre-built aren't likely to be wanting to upgrade too heavily and tech gets released so quickly they'd likely need a new MB by the time they wanted to upgrade anyway.  From the prebuilts I've had experience with the components tend to be brand name stuff (most of mine used to have WD HDDs).  And that's not getting into the companies that make gaming computers.  They tend to be more up front about all the components so it's not as much of a mystery. 

TL:DR

For some people it's worth paying a little more for the ease/piece of mind.  I enjoy creating cable krakens so it's DIY for me, but others may not be so fond of such creatures. 

 
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. And thank you, StryderOmega, for the Reddit link. I've got a lot of the games on that list on my PS3/PS4/Xbox/Xbox One, but there are a few like The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom that I haven't seen on sale on console, others that are PC exclusive, and some that I might just rebuy for the hell of it, so I'll probably get a $50 Steam card this weekend and buy a bunch because consoles rarely see sales this good.
 
Motoki said:
The only thing I'll add to the build discussion is it's possible to get decent prebuilds if you shop around and are choosy about what's in your machine. There's also places that will build for you for a fairly modest fee if you don't want to fuss with it.

That said if someone wants to get a Steam machine for fuck's sake stop having nerd conniption fits and just let them buy a god damned Steam machine.

Maybe not everyone gives a crap about VRAM epeen and being able to run Call of the Battlefield 36 at 150fps. Let them be!
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This is horrible advice. This is why we have people that think computer gaming is too expensive. We want our community to grow, and in order to do that, we need to steer them away from the mark-ups of prebuilts and give them the real life expectations.

 
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Motoki said:
Speaking of Uplay, Anno 2070 has cards now after being on Steam for over 5 years (and also requiring Uplay). Um okay. Not that I'm complaining.
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"Why are they giving us free cards now? I don't like getting free stuff that I didn't pay for, this seems shady!"

 
StryderOmega said:
This is horrible advice. This is why we have people that think computer gaming is too expensive. We want are community to grow, and in order to do that, we need to steer them away from the mark-ups of prebuilts and give them the real life expectations.
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Oh just shut up! You're not the boss of everyone. Let people do what they want. Stop being a god damned nazi.

Jesus Christ. Do you follow people in the grocery store and stop them from buying shit with corn syrup and saturated fats too?

 
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josekortez said:
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. And thank you, StryderOmega, for the Reddit link. I've got a lot of the games on that list on my PS3/PS4/Xbox/Xbox One, but there are a few like The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom that I haven't seen on sale on console, others that are PC exclusive, and some that I might just rebuy for the hell of it, so I'll probably get a $50 Steam card this weekend and buy a bunch because consoles rarely see sales this good.
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I don't know if it's on sale, but I love the Killing Floor series and it's a PC exclusive for now. Killing Floor 2 should be coming to PS4 eventually though.

 
I think my main annoyance with asking advice on CAG is the tendency for people to be like "don't do that, do this."

Like people will literally ask:

I need a laptop, any you recommend?

And you get a ton of "Don't buy a laptop, build your own desktop."

Or people will ask "What's the best gaming headset I can get for $20?"

And you get a ton of "Don't waste your money, save up $150 and buy a good one."

I'm not saying it necessarily comes from a bad place, but sometimes people just want what they want.  

 
Since we know what's best for everyone and insist we must stop them from making decisions we think are bad for them, Hey Bobby this is the calorie count for one slice of Domino's Bacon Cheeseburger Extravaganza Pizza.

JiXQ3Nf.png


I think you are making terrible food choices and should be choosing something with whole grains and fruits and vegetables instead!

 
FoxyPie said:
I think my main annoyance with asking advice on CAG is the tendency for people to be like "don't do that, do this."

Like people will literally ask:

I need a laptop, any you recommend?

And you get a ton of "Don't buy a laptop, build your own desktop."

Or people will ask "What's the best gaming headset I can get for $20?"

And you get a ton of "Don't waste your money, save up $150 and buy a good one."

I'm not saying it necessarily comes from a bad place, but sometimes people just want what they want.
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I understand where you are coming from, but if your spending $700-1000 on an alienware alpha, then you can spend that money better.

That is all we are trying to do. Especially if this is your first 'gaming' computer, we don't want that over priced hunk of junk to leave a sour taste in your mouth. It is kind of a more important experience than upselling you on headphones.

 
FoxyPie said:
There is some benefit to having the piece of mind of buying one thing and if it doesn't work being able to get it addressed under one warranty. Especially with online shopping, you can end up with components from different stores/websites with different return periods/policies and that's if you manage to figure out what component is causing the problem.

So while there are savings, you have to weigh both sides of the coin. I also think that the low quality of the parts in a pre-built can be a little overblown. People going pre-built aren't likely to be wanting to upgrade too heavily and tech gets released so quickly they'd likely need a new MB by the time they wanted to upgrade anyway.
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As someone who's always had pre-built PCs, I've never actually had a problem with one so I kind of agree that the low quality stuff is overblown. When I asked about building a PC it was mostly to save money and from looking around I found that the savings weren't as much as I'd thought they'd be, but that was probably because by picking my own parts I kept buying more expensive stuff than I needed since I wasn't knowledgable enough to know what a cheaper part would be compromising.

In other words, buying a pre-built PC isn't the worst thing in the world.

 
StryderOmega said:
I understand where you are coming from, but if your spending $700-1000 on an alienware alpha, then you can spend that money better.
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Exactly agreed 100%.

It costed me around $1200 to build my PC back in 2011, which could run W2 at its max w/out Supersampling on. It was a beautiful thing. I still using that same PC today - but have upgraded basically added RAM, swapped a video card out, and added more HDD's than I know what to do with.

AC:S + AC:U can run here at 1080p w/ Custom settings above High settings no problem at around 40-50FPS.

EDIT:

StryderOmega said:
This is horrible advice. This is why we have people that think computer gaming is too expensive. We want our community to grow, and in order to do that, we need to steer them away from the mark-ups of prebuilts and give them the real life expectations.
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People wanting to get into PC gaming even would be better off checking-out their local mom + pop PC building shop, if they don't want to go the self-PC building route. Even then, even if it's still a bit pricier than self-building a rig - you'll very likely still get a better rig + bang for you buck than you'd ever get from a prefab like Best Buy; and might even upgrade-room (which can be a great start of a learning experience that could lead to one later wanting to build a rig).

I still highly recommend those who are very serious about getting into PC gaming + are willing to DIY just go ahead and build their own PC. It's by far the best bang for your buck - especially if you're patient and buy in sales.

And if you have a friend who knows their PC stuff and has done PC-building before, consult them.



Unless I catch some insane deal, I'll most likely never go back to ever mom + pop building shops or prefab desktop PC's. I'm better off building it myself.
 
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StryderOmega said:
I understand where you are coming from, but if your spending $700-1000 on an alienware alpha, then you can spend that money better.

That is all we are trying to do. Especially if this is your first 'gaming' computer, we don't want that over priced hunk of junk to leave a sour taste in your mouth. It is kind of a more important experience than upselling you on headphones.
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I get it, but people can also get soured by a bad experience trying to build their own PC. And if they're used to consoles there is something to the familiarity of being able to just go buy a box that plays games without much hassle. They'll be overpriced and outdated in a few years, but consoles are the same way. At least with a PC they can justify the added cost because they get to type and fap and stuff on it on top of gaming. And even though your coming from a good place with it, it can also feel like you're insulting the thing they are trying to buy which could also leave them with a bad taste when it comes to PC gamers. So while I think advice can be fine, as long as we're getting more people coming to the PC gamer side, I say let them do what they want. Plus, a lot of people who start with prebuilts end up trying to build their own as they spend more time PC gaming so sometimes a prebuilt is a good intro for them.

 
FoxyPie said:
I get it, but people can also get soured by a bad experience trying to build their own PC. And if they're used to consoles there is something to the familiarity of being able to just go buy a box that plays games without much hassle. They'll be overpriced and outdated in a few years, but consoles are the same way. At least with a PC they can justify the added cost because they get to type and fap and stuff on it on top of gaming. And even though your coming from a good place with it, it can also feel like you're insulting the thing they are trying to buy which could also leave them with a bad taste when it comes to PC gamers. So while I think advice can be fine, as long as we're getting more people coming to the PC gamer side, I say let them do what they want. Plus, a lot of people who start with prebuilts end up trying to build their own as they spend more time PC gaming so sometimes a prebuilt is a good intro for them.
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I agree with this. Those machines are marketed at people coming from consoles that probably don't want a full blown desktop PC and just want something that looks akin to a console they can just buy and not have to fuss with. If it doesn't run some of the latest and greatest AAA games that well that's okay because they can just get those on consoles anyway. Those people are more interested in PC exclusives and cheap sales and the majority of games in that category should run fine on those machines.

Obviously the specs are not going to give you bragging rights on the internet but Valve helped design them so they could run the majority of games on Steam reasonably well. For people who've got a Playstation or XBox that's good enough.

 
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Reds303 said:
As someone who's always had pre-built PCs, I've never actually had a problem with one so I kind of agree that the low quality stuff is overblown. When I asked about building a PC it was mostly to save money and from looking around I found that the savings weren't as much as I'd thought they'd be, but that was probably because by picking my own parts I kept buying more expensive stuff than I needed since I wasn't knowledgable enough to know what a cheaper part would be compromising.

In other words, buying a pre-built PC isn't the worst thing in the world.
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No, your absolutely right. The pre-builts quality will not be a factor, unless you start to upgrade it in pieces. But if you upgrade it as a whole, from pre-built to pre-built (like a console), then you have nothing to worry about.

FoxyPie said:
I get it, but people can also get soured by a bad experience trying to build their own PC. And if they're used to consoles there is something to the familiarity of being able to just go buy a box that plays games without much hassle. They'll be overpriced and outdated in a few years, but consoles are the same way. At least with a PC they can justify the added cost because they get to type and fap and stuff on it on top of gaming. And even though your coming from a good place with it, it can also feel like you're insulting the thing they are trying to buy which could also leave them with a bad taste when it comes to PC gamers. So while I think advice can be fine, as long as we're getting more people coming to the PC gamer side, I say let them do what they want. Plus, a lot of people who start with prebuilts end up trying to build their own as they spend more time PC gaming so sometimes a prebuilt is a good intro for them.
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I understand. It is just heartbreaking to see those posts of people selling/trading their overpriced computers on craigslist for a console because they spent $1000 on a computer that runs games less optimally than a PS4 because it has an i7 with 16 gb of ram and 256 gb of SSD storage, but only uses the intel GPU.

 
StryderOmega said:
No, your absolutely right. The pre-builts quality will not be a factor, unless you start to upgrade it in pieces. But if you upgrade it as a whole, from pre-built to pre-built (like a console), then you have nothing to worry about.
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I think the best thing about building from scratch is I can have all the room in the world if I want + I can really future-proof the hell out of the PC. Also, you will know exactly what's in there everywhere - so it ain't going to be much of an issue, if you need to do a minor upgrade. Even major surgery of an overhaul on your PC really shouldn't really be that much of a hassle.

From pre-fab or even sometimes from a local mom + pop PC-building shop, you might have to dig a bit to figure out what's in there + how far you can go on the upgrading process.

EDIT:

I understand. It is just heartbreaking to see those posts of people selling/trading their overpriced computers on craigslist for a console because they spent $1000 on a computer that runs games less optimally than a PS4 because it has an i7 with 16 gb of ram and 256 gb of SSD storage, but only uses the intel GPU.
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If one had that kind of PC (i7, 16 GB RAM, crummy Intel GPU) - all it would take is a NVidia 4GB GTX 960 or 970 or better (or AMD equivalents), as long as you have an open PCI-E slot - boom, PC gaming bliss at 1080p (at least). That would at least be $180-300, if one can catch a NewEgg sale.

 
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BORING.

Somebody tell me where the cheapest legit-ish place I can get a Uplay key for The Crew'a expac is. God that was a bad sentence.

I played some of The Crew this morning and I loved it. Big open world, just enough to keep you busy without getting completely overrun. I likes it a lot.

Shut up its proper racing*.
 
MysterD said:
I think the best thing about building from scratch is I can have all the VRAM I want.
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Fixed that for you!

But seriously to each their own. Some people like to build a PC for the fun of building it and it is pretty fun when it all comes together but is one of the most frustrating things you will ever do when it doesnt work. If you are a person who cant troubleshoot issues when they come up then you probably should stick to a prebuilt.

 
StryderOmega said:
I understand where you are coming from, but if your spending $700-1000 on an alienware alpha, then you can spend that money better.

That is all we are trying to do. Especially if this is your first 'gaming' computer, we don't want that over priced hunk of junk to leave a sour taste in your mouth. It is kind of a more important experience than upselling you on headphones.
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The lowest end Alienware Alpha is going for less than $500, in some cases, $400 or below if open box or used. The next best one is less than $650 from what I've seen. I just want something easy to use that can run most of these cheap games. The newest Steam Machines don't include Windows and I've read that you have to purchase a license for Windows separately, so I'm looking at an Alpha because it has Steam OS and Windows on it already. People on the Alienware Alpha thread on Reddit have been saying how cool the Alpha is because it's very small and plays most releases from the past few years relatively easily with an Xbox 360 pad. Like I said, I have the most recent consoles so I'm not worried about being able to play the most recent games. Sorry to send you guys at each other's throats, but I appreciate the suggestions. I lurk here a lot, and this thread is usually calmer than the PlayStation and Xbox threads.
 
Regarding PC building...
  • If you just don't GAF, buy yourself a gaming computer from a retail establishment. Then brag about how much you spent.
  • If you care, but don't care, go buy a prebuilt with a reasonably modern processor and 8+GB of RAM and throw in a GPU (and matching PSU) and call it a day. Just make sure the parts fit in your case.
  • If you care and are part conscious, but just don't GAF about DIYing the whole thing, get some nerds to build it for you.
  • For the rest, DIY and bask in your awesomeness.
 
Flowette said:
BORING.

Somebody tell me where the cheapest legit-ish place I can get a Uplay key for The Crew'a expac is. God that was a bad sentence.
I played some of The Crew this morning and I loved it. Big open world, just enough to keep you busy without getting completely overrun. I likes it a lot.

Shut up its proper racing*.
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y u no bai crew seasonpass, wildrun xpack or wildrun edition when dirt-cheap on amazon during glitch few months back?

did you pull a mysterd too (i.e. pass on it when you shouldn't have and realize it when it's way too late)?

 
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blablablahardwarezomgushldbuildurownorillhaveaheartattackblablabla

So, anyways, let's take bets on how long this takes to get into a Poopees bundle.





Blue dude with a big ass meets orange dude with a little ass and they both have explosive diarrhea of confetti. The End.

 
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AdmiralGialHackbar said:
Fixed that for you!

But seriously to each their own. Some people like to build a PC for the fun of building it and it is pretty fun when it all comes together but is one of the most frustrating things you will ever do when it doesnt work. If you are a person who cant troubleshoot issues when they come up then you probably should stick to a prebuilt.
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Well, yes - VRAM too! :p That fits the bill, as well - but not what I was referring to.

My case is a Cooler Master 932, so that's what I referring to about wanting "all the room in the world." Literally, compared to most towers - this thing's HUGE.

Tons of room for additional expansion slots, from hard-drives to optical drives. Also, plenty of room if I ever wanted to SLI and caught some kind of crazy deal on a card.

EDIT:

Neuro5i5 said:
Regarding PC building...

[snip]

  • If you care and are part conscious, but just don't GAF about DIYing the whole thing, get some nerds to build it for you.
  • For the rest, DIY and bask in your awesomeness.
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Personally, I like these two options of yours best (out of the 4 you presented).

 
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josekortez said:
The lowest end Alienware Alpha is going for less than $500, in some cases, $400 or below if open box or used. The next best one is less than $650 from what I've seen. I just want something easy to use that can run most of these cheap games. The newest Steam Machines don't include Windows and I've read that you have to purchase a license for Windows separately, so I'm looking at an Alpha because it has Steam OS and Windows on it already. People on the Alienware Alpha thread on Reddit have been saying how cool the Alpha is because it's very small and plays most releases from the past few years relatively easily with an Xbox 360 pad. Like I said, I have the most recent consoles so I'm not worried about being able to play the most recent games. Sorry to send you guys at each other's throats, but I appreciate the suggestions. I lurk here a lot, and this thread is usually calmer than the PlayStation and Xbox threads.
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I haven't been following the prices of the Alpha, but what you are saying, they have dropped in price from when they released.

I mean, as long as you know what your getting into, then yeah - go for it. I just didn't want you to buy the most expensive Alpha for $750-850 and question why you can't play RotTR on max settings at 1080p and be soured by the experience of pc gaming.

As long as you keep your expectations of that of the Xbox360 with the $500 alpha, then you should be set.

 
Motoki said:
blablablahardwarezomgushldbuildurownorillhaveaheartattackblablabla

So, anyways, let's take bets on how long this takes to get into a Poopees bundle.

Blue dude with a big ass meets orange dude with a little ass and they both have explosive diarrhea of confetti. The End.
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photo-thumb-20063.jpg


?
 
Neuro5i5 said:
  • If you care, but don't care, go buy a prebuilt with a reasonably modern processor and 8+GB of RAM and throw in a GPU (and matching PSU) and call it a day. Just make sure the parts fit in your case.
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The only reason I would advise against this is that it's often buying in to a dead end. A lot of the boxes you'll find at big box stores are using non-standard cases and mobos as well as often using shoddy power supplies that can't always be swapped out. The CPUs are also often not the equivalent of their similarly siblings that you would buy when building a PC.

So you're very frequently going to run in to issues with most of these machines not supporting certain hardware upgrades or even the addition of a modern mid end GPU (due to case design or even not having the appropriate port). The latter problem would basically make the machine worthless for gaming because every thing is GPU bottle necked with CPUs having stagnated for over 3 years and the next gen Intel and AMD chips are probably a ways off still. And any GPU that comes in a machine from a big box store is probably going to be useless. They're almost always lower end cards that they rename to a higher end card and slap a letter on the end of it or something to trick people.

Of course that's not the case with all of them but you have to do your homework with those boxes.


Motoki said:
Okay since some people can't STFU about giving hardware advice they weren't asked for and this is all triggering MysterD's Rainmanassburgerwithasideoffriesism, this is where I point out that there's a thread titled The Ultimate 'Build-A-PC' Thread. Complete With Pricings & Recommendations where discussion about building a PC should be taken and where you can go give all the good advice you want to people who actually want it.
Click to expand...

Someone's the thread police today.

 
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FoxyPie said:
So while there are savings, you have to weigh both sides of the coin. I also think that the low quality of the parts in a pre-built can be a little overblown. People going pre-built aren't likely to be wanting to upgrade too heavily and tech gets released so quickly they'd likely need a new MB by the time they wanted to upgrade anyway.
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Biggest "cheap component" issue with prebuilts is the PSU which is typically some stock brand just strong enough to run the system. When you decide you want to upgrade the graphics card, you find out that the 450W generic PSU they put in there ain't gonna cut it.

I missed what tier of Steambox/Alpha he was looking to get so my only advice is not to get the lowest tier. You are literally better off getting a PS4/XB1 than the $400 versions of those computers. Above that they get better but are hobbled by the lack of upgradability -- the graphics are proprietary "M" style cards intended for mobile/laptop and you won't be able to just buy a new graphics card down the line. Many PC gamers get into upgrading and tinkering and that's part of the hostile reaction.

 
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