NZXT is rolling out three new prebuilt PCs, two of which it is billing as starter systems, and the third for streamers. As we have seen with NZXT's past builds, pricing is pretty competitive for the parts.
These new configurations are part of NZXT's custom PC building service, called BLD. NZXT's somewhat unique take is that you can select what games you want to play, at what resolution, and whether you prefer AMD or Intel, and NXZT will recommend a complete setup. You're free to customize the part selection. The company then promises a 48-hour turnaround. Joanna reviewed one back in December of last year and came away impressed.
NZXT's newest entries are preconfigured and ready to ship—any 'Starter' or 'Streaming' PC purchased before 11:00 am PT Monday through Friday will ship that same day.
The least expensive of the three the $899 Starter PC. It consists of the following components:
- Case—NZXT H500
- CPU—AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- CPU Cooler—AMD Wraith Stealth Cooler
- GPU—MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming X
- PSU—Seasonic S12II 500W Bronze
- Motherboard—MSI B450 Tomahawk
- RAM—Team T-Force Delta RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3000
- Western Digital Blue M.2 500GB SSD
- OS—Windows 10 Home
The system is backed by a 2-year warranty on parts and labor. Taking labor out of the equation, here is what I priced out for the same parts:
- NZXT H500—$69.99, Best Buy
- AMD Ryzen 5 2600 w/ Wraith Cooler—$126.71, Amazon
- MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming X—$249.99, Newegg
- Seasonic S12II 520W—$50.99, Newegg
- MSI B450 Tomahawk—$114.99, Amazon
- Team T-Force Delta RGB 16GB DDR4-3000—$76.99, Newegg
- Western Digital Blue M.2 500GB SSD—$59.82, Walmart
- Windows 10 Home—$109.99, Newegg
- TOTAL—$859.47
That's a difference of less than $40 for those specific components, before any coupons or rebates you might be able to dig up.
The part selection can be scrutinized, especially since these new builds are not configurable. But from a value standpoint, NZXT is keeping things competitive. That's nice to see.
There's also a Starter Plus setup that runs $999 and bumps up to an MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Ventus XS 6G OC and Intel 660p M.2 1TB SSD. Meanwhile, the $1,499 Streaming build trades the GPU for an Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2070 and jumps to a 650W version of the PSU, and also comes with the faster Intel 660p 1TB SSD.
These new builds are available now. You can check out the Starter and Starter Plus PCs here, and the Streaming PC here. Also be sure to check out our roundup of the best gaming PCs and best gaming laptops, if you're in the market for a new system.
