When you’re shopping around for a new gaming PC, OriginPC might have been one of the sites you’ve checked. But, before you buy your desktop from them, you might want to consider some of the following points.

Overpriced Builds

Out of all of the custom PC builders, OriginPC is definitely one of the more expensive options you could choose. For their basic Neuron RTS that comes with an AMD R5 2600 on stock air cooling, an RTX 2060, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a non-modular 500w PSU, and a 1TB HDD + 250GB SSD,  you’re looking at $1486 USD minimum.

To build an arguably better desktop yourself, you’re looking at roughly $1000-$1100 USD + a few hours of your time. Granted, you wouldn’t get the lifetime 24/7 tech support or 1-year part replacement warranty that OriginPC offers, but you would still get manufacturer-issued warranties.

Now, it’s not like they’re trying to rip you off. Definitely not. Or, at least, I hope not. I think it boils down to the fact that building a desktop takes time, and time costs money. They also ship your desktop in a big wooden crate and I can’t imagine that’s too cheap either. Still, you have to admit, $300-$400 is a pretty big difference.

That extra $300-$400 could almost upgrade the RTX 2060 to a much more powerful RTX 2080. Or, it could buy a 1080p monitor, a good keyboard, and a good mouse. $300-$400 could also get you 5-6 $60 AAA games.

Point being, you could save 35%-48% of the total cost just by building your own desktop and that’s a fairly substantial amount.

If you’re not a fan of building your own desktop, you can easily find prebuilt options with similar, or even better specs, for cheaper. But, we’ll get into that near the end of this post.

Overpriced Accessories

Not only do they overcharge for the build, but they overcharge on their accessories as well – sometimes by a huge margin. As an example, you could opt to have an Asus 24″ VS248H-P 1080p monitor thrown in for an additional $199. Or, you could pick one up for about $130-$140 pretty much anywhere online. That’s a pretty big price difference for an aging 1080p monitor.

Or, maybe you wanted to go all out and grab yourself a 34″ ultra-wide curved monitor with G-Sync. Well, OriginPC will sell you just that in the form of the Asus PG348Q for $1499. Alternatively, you could buy the exact same monitor basically anywhere else online for around $950 or less.

Another example would be the Logitech Z906 5.1 sound system. To add one to your order at OriginPC, you’re paying an additional $399. Anywhere else online, the Z906 has been sitting around $299 for almost a year, sometimes closer to $270. It’s a great sound system for sure, it’s actually what I use, but I wouldn’t pay $100-$130 more than I have to for one.

One thing is for sure, don’t order your peripherals from OriginPC unless you’re prepared to overpay by potentially hundreds of dollars.

It’s not all bad

It’s not all bad. Beyond vastly overpriced accessories and add-ons, OriginPC actually builds really solid desktops. I hate to make this comparison, but they’re quite similar to Alienware.

If you don’t mind paying an increased premium because you trust OriginPC more than the other brands, that’s fair enough. They wouldn’t have made it this long if they sold bad builds and I’m definitely not trying to imply anything different here.

However, similar to Alienware, you can usually get the exact same performance, or even better performance, for significantly cheaper elsewhere. Whether that’s building it yourself – the least expensive route. Or simply buying from an OriginPC competitor that offers better prices.

Other Options

Something that’s impossible to ignore is the fact that you can easily find prebuilt desktops from other builders with the same specs, for less. Or even with better specs for less.

A good example would be the iBUYPOWER Trace 063i. It comes with an i7 8700, an RTX 2060, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD + a 480GB SSD and is selling for $1299 at the time of writing this. I know it’s only 12% cheaper, but you’re getting a better CPU (for gaming) and basically double the SSD storage. You also get a 1-year parts & labor warranty + free lifetime tech support similar to what OriginPC offers.

Or, for about $13 more than the $1486 OriginPC build, you could get a desktop running an i7 8700K with liquid cooling, an RTX 2070, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD + 240GB SSD. Now that’s definitely a desktop I’d suggest checking out if you’re working with a budget around $1500.

With alternative options like those, it’s hard to see the reasoning behind OriginPC’s comparably high prices.

Conclusion

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to knock OriginPC’s build quality or anything like that. But, their prices, especially for their add-ons, can easily be beaten by shopping around – and that’s exactly what you should do instead of buying from OriginPC, shop around.

It might turn out that OriginPC desktops are the ones you like the most and you don’t mind paying more for them, and there’s really nothing wrong with that.

But, why pay $1499 for a monitor you could buy for $950 somewhere else? At the same time, why pay $1486 for a desktop that can be blown out of the water by one that costs just $13 more?

Maybe I’m just cheap, but when it comes to buying a gaming desktop you really want price vs performance to be your main consideration. Not considering price vs performance can easily lead to overspending, sometimes by a lot.