MAINGEAR MG1 - Should You Build or Buy a Gaming PC?

Thank you to Intel for sponsoring this video!

Full Specs of the MAINGEAR build Intel sent me:
MAINGEAR MG-1 Custom PC
MAINGEAR MG-1 Chassis
Additional Custom Front Panel
Intel Core i9-13900K
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
MAINGEAR EPIC RGB 360mm AiO Cooler
MAINGEAR RGB Fans
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero Motherboard
32GB Kingston FURY Beast RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2x16GB)
EVGA 850W SuperNOVA
Microsoft Windows 11 Home
1TB Solidigm P44 Pro Series M.2 NVMe SSD
1-Year Warranty

Prices fluctuate. $300 difference when I made the video now its about $400. Depends on market.

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[MatthewMoniz]

Build or Buy? Happy New Years everyone! Feel free to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video.

[joelconolly]

Everybody needs to hear this. It's okay to buy a prebuilt.

[maingear]

Thanks for the awesome review! The 13900K truly is a beast!

[lttlejordan]

Build if you can or you want to, because the satisfaction of putting together your own rig from parts you got yourself, is always great. Buy for the convenience. That is how I have always looked at it. However, my personal opinion is that there is nothing wrong with buying a pre-built, as long as you do your homework on the company beforehand. Check the parts, the reviews from solid sources and be aware of the warranty and what it covers. Some System Integrators are better than others, so it is smart to do your due diligence beforehand. Plus, they typically have the GPUs on hand, whereas shopping online (for instance) can be hit or miss. So good pre-builts are a solid way of getting all your components in one place, assembled and ready to go. As long as the company takes care to build your rig right, there shouldn't be an issue. That said, if you are fortunate enough to live next to or in the vicinity to a Microcenter, that's where I would go. Everything in one place. Parts galore. Solid prices. Helpful staff. Build tables. You can essentially walk in, pick your parts, build on the spot and walk out with a new rig you put together. If only there were more Microcenters around though.

[Stardomplay]

Although quite rare, it's still absolutely possible to get great deals on pre built gaming PCs, especially ones that hold the last generation of tech.

[nemesis]

I can personally vouch for Maingear. I got a Maingear Vybe 3060 ti Ryzen 5600x and it is fantastic! I will admit when it initially arrived the cpu would not work for some reason. After troubleshooting with a Maingear tech I had to send it back. The process took about a week and a half. But after I got it back it’s been working flawlessly. I will chalk the initial up to shipping damage as everything I’ve seen from Maingear is quality including customer service.

[PhanorColl]

you read my mind, I'm looking at them for a new PC and was looking for a review on them.. great work.

[Xanduur]

I mean reason to not warranty. If you build, you will have multiple warranty issues to deal with if something breaks. I have been through this many years ago. At this point I would just buy a quality gaming PC if I actually gained on PCs anymore. If I were spending just south of $5000 on a PC, I’m not gonna worry about a $300 savings.

[DennisMangual]

When using the configurator, how did you get a CoolerMaster AIO? There is only an option for a Maingear AIO.

[TheMrreese]

Loved building my own Pc, but didn't want to continue to do it, prebuilts were an awesome evolution, however I would recommend at least a 2 year warranty, other than that, pick what you want and you also have the option to upgrade after. If there's a significant price difference I would still build on the next go around but for now I believe my next Pc will be a prebuilt after I'm done dragging my current rig. To think about it(prebuilts) probably the main reason for the price hikes.

[forpaqk]

Excellent vid, love to learn what is the latest and greatest out there. Thank you!!!

[feraldart]

Thanks for this video. I'm the guy who doesn’t have time. I would gladly pay somebody $300 profit to build a PC and have a warranty. That is a trivial amount. Snobby builders act like they are saving so much. I get the hobby part and the total control over components and the DIY satisfaction, but I don’t get the hate. If it were $1000+ I could start to see the benefit. But my time is worth more than a few hundred dollars.

[omarcortes]

Pre built is completely ok but when you do it by yourself is easier to adjust the budget or having different options. It is a great product though.

[anthonyquichocho]

I’m waiting for my MG-1 4080 to finishing building. I play a lot of Warzone 2. That being said in this video you mentioned it wasn’t too good? Can I get over 150 FPS on 1440 p?

[sarthwahb]

*hey, i have a question - the shroud mg1 has all the high specs from 4090 to i9 13900k, but i just want more storage space, like i saw that it has 2tb written on it, can i upgrade the storage in prebuilds like it??*

[mojaeger]

Oooo- I got that very pc for 3499 today on MainGear. So far, they seem legit. But it's only been 1 hour since I ordered. I had some dumb issues with Digital Storm and didn't even get to the check out with build redux, nzxt, ibuypower, cyberpower, and origin.

[ShadowWarrior]

The main issue I hear about prebuilts is that they almost always cheap out on parts. It's usually not worth the headache so better to control your own build

[RchCortess]

I would love to buy a pc to make streams and videos, but I can't afford it, I live in Brazil, I can't find a job that buys a pc like that

[DennisMangual]

How did you get the led strip on the bottom of the MG-1? i dont see that option in the configuration online.

[mike_abramyan]

Where'd you get the apex footage from? Surely you haven't been playing WITHOUT ME 🤬