I don't really care what others have to say for G2A or Kinguin - I've only lost out buying on those sites once. Just as much risk as trading to be frank; I just make sure not to spend too much on any one key and I'll only bother with Steam keys.

As for pre-fab computers. I have all my rigs assembled.
It's been suggested to me that prefab specials can sometimes be cheaper and to take 'em home, wipe the OS and place my own in it. Still I find it less hassel for my trusted local tech to slap together cheap pieces I've collected and have him assemble the PC seeing as he's insured if something goes wrong during the build.

The reason for the OP is that I went to Alienware's site to get a free Descent key only to find the site was swamped for half of the day until all 9000 keys had been grabbed up and listed on G2A. I'm not sure how Alienware makes money by closing their site down for half a day, once a week, it would discourage people going there to shop for a laptop.

Uh, Dell bought Alienware several years ago. Dude, you're getting a Dell! :)
While I appreciate one who enjoys having their own computers put together, I take more joy and satisfaction in putting together my own --from my own choice of pieces and parts.

Sometimes it costs more than a prefab you can wipe and replace software on --but if you get that one piece of crappy hardware (like memory that isn't the right speed) or the motherboard that's cruft, you can really ruin your experience.

Not disrespecting your decision, just saying, I get more satisfaction building my own rig.

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I wouldn't mind learning how to do so but recent years have left me living paycheck to paycheck
so I leave my builds in the hands of techs covered by insurance.

I'd have gotten the raw components and built the computer from scratch... takes a few hours of time when it arrives but the amount you save/spend on better hardware is well worth it...

Reminds me of those stupid commercials that i hated... Uggg....

I can understand wanting to be insured, but a lot of places warrant their parts (unless you physically damage them or delivery does), but you might consider socking away a few parts that withstand the test of time, like larger physical drives, cases, larger power supplies.

Usually what you have to buy close together is the Motherboard, CPU and Memory; there are places that bundle those based on your choice of CPU.

Keep in mind that today, GPUs are usually the bottleneck when it comes to games, so you can usually get a pretty good graphics card, and a really good "bang for the buck" CPU like AMD.

I have an AMD 8-core I got earlier last year, a GeForce 970 which I had to get *after* The Witcher 3 came out, and Fallout 4 runs on it just dandy at Ultra settings. You don't have to go for the most expensive of the bunch.
LOL, yeah, he ended up getting tossed in jail for marijuana possession or something and for over a week, all I read on the news was "Dude, you're getting a Cell!"

Something to note. I never wear anti-static equipment that's recommended, and i've never EVER fried a card, board, or chip. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, buy the parts, or ask a knowledgeable friend.

Alternatively you can get a refurbished machine that's on heavy discount. (Got a $100 computer for the neighbors a while ago,quite cheap for the parts and ready to go)

Somehow that seems like it should have been obvious...

Maybe, but I used to think that people on commercials were actors....

Protip: Dell owns the Alienware brand.

They probably are actors, but no matter how they act they can't hide all of themselves away.; Like Pauly Shore; Although those that do succeed are either brilliant, or have no emotional output.

Wow, every time I think of Pauly Shore, I keep thinking of MTV, "The Weasel" and Biodome where they played "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats to try and drive them out.

Next time you should consider a brand like OriginPC. They have a nice team, lifetime support, and have programs depending on your needs (like if you want to upgrade to a new graphics card coming out next year they will let you do that). It's expensive but if you want everything fully ready, high quality, and never have to worry about if your warranty runs out then they're the best choice.

Alienware, iBuyPower, and CyberPowerPC are behind the times and rely on their names being famous to pull them through. Their quality is subpar though and they'll try to sell you crappy configurations when you don't know any better just to get rid of their useless stock. I've seen them selling i7 processors with r7 240 graphics card and calling it a "gaming desktop". That's nice if all you play is Minecraft and Farmville.

The fact that you're buying games means you're already overpaying for them. You could get them for free legitimately if you wanted to.

And you're either legit and get everything legit, or you're illegit and just pirate the games. Being half legit and buying illegitimately obtained codes is silly. Pirating is free which is cheaper than cheap. At least you don't give crooks any money that way. But the supporters of these sites tend to have very selfish logic. "I don't care how they obtain anything as long as it's cheap for me and works. Fuck the developers, fuck my international rights, fuck the game industry. I just want mine" - usually like that. But hey, who needs a conscience or principles when you can overpay for stolen games? :D

Starting off with bad logic, saying you don't care, and then asserting that you're trying is pretty contradictory. But it's not like we expected consistency from a selfish kid anyway so don't sweat it. (-‿^)

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Sure ting - wutever you say, Jesus.