**A Surprisingly Great Value: Best Buy's Gaming PCs**

I recently had the opportunity to test out Best Buy's gaming PC offerings, specifically their top five laptops for students. As a long-time gamer and tech enthusiast, I was excited to see if these systems could deliver on promises of powerful performance at an affordable price. While my experience was not without its challenges, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the PCs I ended up with.

**The Challenge: Building Your Own PC**

When I first decided to try building a gaming PC myself, I underestimated just how difficult it would be. With Best Buy's Rock Bottom $50 PC assembly fee and my own off-the-shelf components, I thought for sure that I could build a great system for under $500. But as I soon discovered, the reality of building a powerful gaming PC is far more complicated than I had anticipated. The lack of technical support from the various component manufacturers made it difficult to troubleshoot even the most basic issues, and the constant availability of online resources did little to alleviate my frustration.

**A Cost Comparison: Windows vs. Linux**

One of the biggest surprises was just how expensive Best Buy's Windows-based gaming PC ended up being. When I factor in the cost of the operating system itself, it's clear that buying a pre-built PC with Windows is not always the most economical option. In contrast, building a Linux-based system with equivalent components can save you hundreds of dollars. This made me realize just how much Microsoft has to gain from subsidizing the development and sales of its operating system.

**A DIY Build: Can You Save Money Without Compromising Performance?**

In an effort to save money on the PC I was building, I opted for a DIY approach, purchasing components such as an AMD FX6300 processor, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, an MSI 970a motherboard, and a graphics card - the R9 380. While this allowed me to save $50 compared to Best Buy's pre-built system, it also meant that I had to sacrifice some features in order to stay within budget. For example, I gave up on a proper PCI-e based Wi-Fi solution in favor of a USB-based alternative.

**The Verdict: A Surprisingly Great Value**

In the end, my DIY build ended up being an astonishingly great value for around $1,000. While it's clear that Best Buy's pre-built system has its advantages - such as convenient assembly and testing by the store staff - the gaming PC I built myself was more than capable of delivering on promises of performance.

**Conclusion: Buying a Gaming Rig at Best Buy is Not So Bad**

While I was initially skeptical about buying a gaming PC from Best Buy, my experience has shown me that these systems can be a great option for those who value convenience and ease of use. By understanding the trade-offs involved in choosing between pre-built and DIY options, gamers can make informed decisions about which path to choose.

**A Final Recommendation: Adding Some Extras**

To round out your gaming PC experience, I recommend adding some extras such as an SSD (solid-state drive) for faster storage and loading times. If you're looking for a great gaming headset with high-quality audio and RGB lighting, be sure to check out the Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum. This headset features 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound, 40mm pro-og G audio drivers, and is compatible with PCs, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

**The Next Step: Checking Out Our Latest CPU Build Video**

Finally, if you're interested in learning more about building a powerful gaming PC yourself, be sure to check out our latest video on building a system around the Intel Core i7-4790 processor. While there were two CPUs involved in this build, the end result was an astonishingly powerful rig that can run seven instances of games at once - and it's available now for those who want to try their hand at DIY PC building.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso we all know what the PC Master a subreddit would have to say about getting set up with a new gaming rig build it yourself man do it up custom or failing that at least buy from a reputable system builder online what pretty much no one would recommend is to go to the Local Best Buy ask for a gaming PC and buy whatever it is that they bring you but that's what we did let's see how that worked out for us shall we the ASRock G10 gaming router features gaming Boost technology M2M technology Nas functionality and their h2r 2in1 DNA travel router dongle head over to the link in the video description to find out what the heck I was just talking about so let's start with the shopping experience I actually sent my wife in myste in an effort to see just how frustrating it would be for a more normal person to find a gaming PC at the local Big Box store so at the first store the initial salesperson explained that the difference between the $900 gaming PC and the $1,500 one was Aesthetics and that gaming computers just cost more the actual difference was that the gaming one had a video card fortunately my wife realized that and found someone else to talk to the second rep was much better but didn't have anything in stock to sell though in her defense the store is moving in like 4 days so fine on to store number two or are we in spite of having one of the Reps from the first store call ahead to reserve a unit of the PC my wife was trying to buy the second store sold it while she was on Route and called her when she'd already been driving for 10 minutes to come and get it time to head somewhere else then third times a charm right after waiting around to talk to a stocking girl and then getting bounced to The Geek Squad line and then back again she was finally offered the Asus M32 CD desktop PC for 900 Canadian or about 625 us with the current exchange rate so let's have a look at how she made out then shall we the M32 CD in the recommended gaming configuration features an Intel Core i5 6400 Skylake quad core 8 gigs of ddr4 RAM running in single Channel actually preferred in this case to allow for cheaper upgrades a 1 tab hard drive a system specific h110 motherboard with a single full-size PCI e6x expansion slot a mini PCI e slot with an AC wireless card two dim slots and USB 3.1 10 gbit on the back and finally an R9 372 gig video card notably one that features an Asus direct cuu style cooler and a very robust security bar to keep it in place during shipping the case is nothing special with a rearm mounted 90mm fan a spot for another one in the front though I can't tell where that one would get fresh air from and a perforated side panel for air flow and the power supply actually is a huge stepup from what I expected a 500 watt continuous unit from Delta with a 120 mm fan and extra plugs for everything from additional drives the motherboard can support up to four to even a more powerful graphics card as long as you account for keeping it cool actually overall this package is a lot better than I expected but still I mean I figured come on this can't be so hard I'll head over to good old nc.com and beat the stuffing out of it with off-the-shelf components and it's gone no and it turns out that was not as easy as I thought even with NC's Rock Bottom $50 PC assembly fee and even ignoring the obvious subsidies that Microsoft gives to PC makers for including their operating system assuming that I wanted you know a somewhat equivalent AC Wireless solution a DVD writer Etc I still ended up getting pretty much the same thing for my money without windows so when you factor windows into it it was a full $125 more expensive to have it built there I mean sure I get some more PCI Express slots but then I'm actually giving up a proper PCI ebased Wi-Fi solution for a USB one and settling for a lesser power supply the one bundled with the CM Elite 350 okay then time for a new tactic because we're pcmr right we can build the computer ourselves saving $50 right there and we don't necessarily need need the cheap mouse that came with this thing so I gave myself some more flexibility on the second config opting for an AMD fx6300 processor 8 gigs of DDR3 an MSI 970a Motherboard no included Mouse DVD driver or Wi-Fi then I spent what I gained on a better graphics card an R9 380 which the college educated among you may have already realized isn't an outright better computer just a different one one that might be better for gaming in some games but certainly isn't better for all tasks or even all games which I guess leads us to the conclusion one that I did not see coming I mean honestly I was sure that after publishing this video we'd never be working with Best Buy on a top five laptops for students thing like we did back in the fall again I was certain they were going to get wrecked as the kids say but that's not how it went down today at all many of the traditional problems that have existed since the last time I bought a desktop computer at Future Shop like 15 years ago the inability to find someone to help you the high pressure sales pitch for extended warranty once you finally do find someone to help you the Limited stock and selection the hit or miss knowledge of the instore staff are all alive and well but the computer we ended up with is actually a really great value gaming box our equivalent build offered better pcie expansion but but its power supply was not as good and it didn't have USB 3 10 gbit not to mention the huge price disparity and our DIY build where I built it myself and gave up some features still only saved me 15 bucks sure it can deliver better gaming performance in GPU bound scenarios but without crippling CPU performance even further by stepping down to an APU or something like that the difference was not nearly what I had expected so there you have it Color Me surprised whether we have Best Buy to thank for acknowledging the demand for decent gaming PCs that contain decent graphics cards or Asus and the other system Builders to thank for dumping these boxes on Best Buy's shelf buying a gaming rig at Best Buy is not as bad an option as you might think and a Savvy used Hardware Shopper could probably manage to flip that included graphics card plop in something better and end up with an astonishingly good rig for around $1,000 though while you're at it I o recommend throwing in an SSD speaking of throwing something in if you were thinking to yourself gee I could sure use a USB gaming headset with a nice highquality mic good sound and RGB lighting maybe check out the Logitech g633 Artemis Spectrum it features 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound 40mm proog G audio drivers and it's compatible with the PC as well as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as I mentioned before it features adjustable RGB lighting and custom tags with a cardioid boom mic and it's available now on Amazon all you got to do is pick them up at the link in the video description so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon by buying a cool shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click up that little button in the top right corner to check out the seven Gamers 1 CPU video where I build well technically there were two CPUs but I basically build one rig that runs seven gaming instances at onceso we all know what the PC Master a subreddit would have to say about getting set up with a new gaming rig build it yourself man do it up custom or failing that at least buy from a reputable system builder online what pretty much no one would recommend is to go to the Local Best Buy ask for a gaming PC and buy whatever it is that they bring you but that's what we did let's see how that worked out for us shall we the ASRock G10 gaming router features gaming Boost technology M2M technology Nas functionality and their h2r 2in1 DNA travel router dongle head over to the link in the video description to find out what the heck I was just talking about so let's start with the shopping experience I actually sent my wife in myste in an effort to see just how frustrating it would be for a more normal person to find a gaming PC at the local Big Box store so at the first store the initial salesperson explained that the difference between the $900 gaming PC and the $1,500 one was Aesthetics and that gaming computers just cost more the actual difference was that the gaming one had a video card fortunately my wife realized that and found someone else to talk to the second rep was much better but didn't have anything in stock to sell though in her defense the store is moving in like 4 days so fine on to store number two or are we in spite of having one of the Reps from the first store call ahead to reserve a unit of the PC my wife was trying to buy the second store sold it while she was on Route and called her when she'd already been driving for 10 minutes to come and get it time to head somewhere else then third times a charm right after waiting around to talk to a stocking girl and then getting bounced to The Geek Squad line and then back again she was finally offered the Asus M32 CD desktop PC for 900 Canadian or about 625 us with the current exchange rate so let's have a look at how she made out then shall we the M32 CD in the recommended gaming configuration features an Intel Core i5 6400 Skylake quad core 8 gigs of ddr4 RAM running in single Channel actually preferred in this case to allow for cheaper upgrades a 1 tab hard drive a system specific h110 motherboard with a single full-size PCI e6x expansion slot a mini PCI e slot with an AC wireless card two dim slots and USB 3.1 10 gbit on the back and finally an R9 372 gig video card notably one that features an Asus direct cuu style cooler and a very robust security bar to keep it in place during shipping the case is nothing special with a rearm mounted 90mm fan a spot for another one in the front though I can't tell where that one would get fresh air from and a perforated side panel for air flow and the power supply actually is a huge stepup from what I expected a 500 watt continuous unit from Delta with a 120 mm fan and extra plugs for everything from additional drives the motherboard can support up to four to even a more powerful graphics card as long as you account for keeping it cool actually overall this package is a lot better than I expected but still I mean I figured come on this can't be so hard I'll head over to good old nc.com and beat the stuffing out of it with off-the-shelf components and it's gone no and it turns out that was not as easy as I thought even with NC's Rock Bottom $50 PC assembly fee and even ignoring the obvious subsidies that Microsoft gives to PC makers for including their operating system assuming that I wanted you know a somewhat equivalent AC Wireless solution a DVD writer Etc I still ended up getting pretty much the same thing for my money without windows so when you factor windows into it it was a full $125 more expensive to have it built there I mean sure I get some more PCI Express slots but then I'm actually giving up a proper PCI ebased Wi-Fi solution for a USB one and settling for a lesser power supply the one bundled with the CM Elite 350 okay then time for a new tactic because we're pcmr right we can build the computer ourselves saving $50 right there and we don't necessarily need need the cheap mouse that came with this thing so I gave myself some more flexibility on the second config opting for an AMD fx6300 processor 8 gigs of DDR3 an MSI 970a Motherboard no included Mouse DVD driver or Wi-Fi then I spent what I gained on a better graphics card an R9 380 which the college educated among you may have already realized isn't an outright better computer just a different one one that might be better for gaming in some games but certainly isn't better for all tasks or even all games which I guess leads us to the conclusion one that I did not see coming I mean honestly I was sure that after publishing this video we'd never be working with Best Buy on a top five laptops for students thing like we did back in the fall again I was certain they were going to get wrecked as the kids say but that's not how it went down today at all many of the traditional problems that have existed since the last time I bought a desktop computer at Future Shop like 15 years ago the inability to find someone to help you the high pressure sales pitch for extended warranty once you finally do find someone to help you the Limited stock and selection the hit or miss knowledge of the instore staff are all alive and well but the computer we ended up with is actually a really great value gaming box our equivalent build offered better pcie expansion but but its power supply was not as good and it didn't have USB 3 10 gbit not to mention the huge price disparity and our DIY build where I built it myself and gave up some features still only saved me 15 bucks sure it can deliver better gaming performance in GPU bound scenarios but without crippling CPU performance even further by stepping down to an APU or something like that the difference was not nearly what I had expected so there you have it Color Me surprised whether we have Best Buy to thank for acknowledging the demand for decent gaming PCs that contain decent graphics cards or Asus and the other system Builders to thank for dumping these boxes on Best Buy's shelf buying a gaming rig at Best Buy is not as bad an option as you might think and a Savvy used Hardware Shopper could probably manage to flip that included graphics card plop in something better and end up with an astonishingly good rig for around $1,000 though while you're at it I o recommend throwing in an SSD speaking of throwing something in if you were thinking to yourself gee I could sure use a USB gaming headset with a nice highquality mic good sound and RGB lighting maybe check out the Logitech g633 Artemis Spectrum it features 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound 40mm proog G audio drivers and it's compatible with the PC as well as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as I mentioned before it features adjustable RGB lighting and custom tags with a cardioid boom mic and it's available now on Amazon all you got to do is pick them up at the link in the video description so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon by buying a cool shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click up that little button in the top right corner to check out the seven Gamers 1 CPU video where I build well technically there were two CPUs but I basically build one rig that runs seven gaming instances at once\n"