Here’s something nobody puts on the box: some prebuilt gaming PCs use proprietary motherboards. That means the motherboard inside — the main circuit board everything plugs into — isn’t a standard shape or design. It was made specifically for that manufacturer’s case and setup, and it doesn’t play nicely with normal aftermarket parts.
Why does that matter? Because PCs are supposed to be upgradeable. That’s kind of the whole point. You buy a decent machine now, and a few years later when games get more demanding, you swap out the GPU or add more RAM. Except with these proprietary setups, those uniquely shaped motherboards can limit what you’re actually able to upgrade down the road.
And it goes beyond just the motherboard. Some prebuilt manufacturers use non-standard power supplies and cases that only work with their other proprietary components. So if your power supply dies — and they do die — you can’t just grab a standard replacement from Amazon. You need their part. At their price.
That’s the real trap. It’s not just about customization. It’s about being locked in. Once you’re in that ecosystem, the manufacturer knows you don’t have great options, and their replacement parts often cost way more than comparable standard parts would.
Now, it’s not all doom and gloom. According to the HandWiki source, you can generally still swap out RAM and the GPU on many of these machines — so it’s not like the whole thing is a sealed box. But the deeper structural stuff, the motherboard, the case, sometimes the power supply — that’s where you can get stuck.
If you’re thinking about buying a gaming PC and you want to be able to upgrade it over time, it’s worth researching the specific model before you buy. Look up whether it uses a standard ATX motherboard and a standard power supply form factor. There are great videos breaking down exactly these kinds of prebuilt pitfalls — proprietary parts, sneaky monthly charges, mismatched components — worth watching before you spend several hundred dollars.
Building your own PC avoids all of this, since you’re choosing every part yourself and everything is standard. But if building isn’t your thing and a prebuilt is what you want, just do a quick check on the specs first. A little research now saves a lot of frustration later.