For the first time in quite a while, a prebuilt PC can save you money over creating your own rig. This is painful to write as someone who's been building their own gaming PCs for decades. Still, corporations' seemingly unquenchable thirst to build AI data centers has made PC component prices shoot through the roof. That means we're in an era where it's prohibitively expensive to build a gaming rig. Though prebuilt PCs aren't exactly cheap either, they are probably a better value prospect right now.

From a pure value standpoint, prebuilt PCs are currently more enticing than they have been for years. Finding an affordable GPU during the great memory shortage of 2026 is a seriously daunting prospect. Sky-high RAM and storage costs also mean assembling your own PC comes at an enormous hit to your bank balance. I picked up my RTX 5090 for a "mere" $2,700 shortly after launch; as I'm writing this, that same card is listed on Amazon for a ludicrous $11,565. For another comparison: the most expensive RTX 5080 on Amazon is around $2,150, but you can find a complete RTX 5080 build with an i9-13900K CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD for $2,899.

This primarily boils down to time and effort. If you want complete control over every component, building your own rig can be immensely satisfying. But prebuilt PCs offer convenience: buy from a reliable outlet like Costco or Sam's Club, and it will work out of the box. Your rig and all components are covered under one warranty, and Windows is ready to go. Market experts don't think the RAM shortage will end anytime soon, so prebuilt remains the smarter financial choice.