How a build works
You tell us three things: what you play, what screen you are running it on, and roughly what you want to spend.
Those three decide almost everything. A machine for competitive shooters at high frame rates is a different build to one for big single-player games at high detail, and both are different again to a machine that also has to edit video on the weekend. The screen matters more than people expect — there is no point paying for frames a monitor cannot show.
We come back with a build and a firm price within 24 hours. Nothing is ordered and nothing is assembled until you have agreed it. Most jobs are finished in two to three days.
The finished machine carries 90 days warranty on the hardware and on the parts we have fitted.
Why build rather than buy something ready-made
You control where the money goes
Prebuilt machines are put together to hit a price. That usually means a strong headline part and something quietly weak behind it — a good graphics card on a power supply that should not be trusted, or plenty of storage and not enough memory. When we build it, you can see what every dollar bought.
It can be upgraded
A build uses standard parts in a standard case. In two years you change the graphics card and keep the rest. A lot of ready-made machines are built around proprietary boards and power supplies that make the next upgrade awkward or impossible.
It suits the room it lives in
This matters more in Perth than it does in the suburbs. About four in five homes here are flats or apartments, and a gaming machine in a flat is a different proposition to one in a spare room — how loud it is, how hot it gets and how big it is are real questions, not afterthoughts. We can build small and quiet if that is what the space needs.
Where a refurbished base fits
Not every build starts from all-new parts.
There is a lot of ex-corporate desktop hardware in this city — the office towers along St Georges Terrace cycle through fleets of machines every few years — and some of it makes a perfectly good foundation for a games machine. The case, the storage and the memory from a business desktop can be worth keeping. The graphics card and often the power supply are what you spend on.
That route gets you playing for less. It also has limits, and we will be straight about them: an office machine's power supply and case airflow were never designed for a hungry graphics card, so there is a ceiling on how far it goes. Above that ceiling, building fresh is cheaper than fighting it. More on refurbished gaming PCs
What we ask before quoting
Not to make it complicated — to stop you paying for the wrong thing.
- What you play. Competitive titles and big-budget single-player games pull on different parts.
- What resolution and refresh rate your monitor runs. This sets the sensible ceiling on the graphics card.
- Whether the machine does anything besides games. Streaming, video editing and 3D work change the memory and storage answer.
- Where it will sit. A living room in a flat and a desk in a spare room are different problems for noise and heat.
- What you want to spend. Give us the real number. We would rather build a good machine at your budget than a compromised one at a number you did not want to hit.
Ring us and we will walk through it with you. You do not need to know any of the answers in technical terms.
The honest version
A custom build is not always the right call.
If you mostly play older or less demanding games, a refurbished desktop with a modest graphics card will do the job and cost far less. We will tell you that rather than build you something you do not need.
If you want the machine tomorrow, a build takes a couple of days and parts sometimes have to come in. Refurbished stock that is already on the bench is faster.
And if the budget is very tight, it is worth knowing that a cheap build with weak parts ages badly. Sometimes the better advice is to wait a month, or to start from a refurbished base and upgrade the graphics card later. We would rather give you that advice than take the sale today.
Already have a machine?
If you have a gaming PC that has got slow rather than broken, a build may not be what you need. An SSD and more memory often transform a machine that feels tired, and it costs a fraction of replacing it. SSD and memory upgrades
And if there is an old machine being replaced, it can come in as a trade-in against the new one. Device trade-in
Quotes, timing and warranty
- Firm quote within 24 hours, and nothing starts until you agree it.
- Most jobs done in two to three days.
- 90 days warranty on the hardware and on the parts we fit.
- Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
Talk to us about a build
Tell us what you play and what you want to spend. We will come back with a build and a price, and you can think about it for as long as you like.
Want something already built and tested instead? See refurbished computers or the refurbished laptops page.