Last Updated on March 23, 2023
Let’s review the No Compromise Gaming website and find out if it’s worth your time to rent a gaming PC and whether or not they’re a legit service. No Compromise Gaming is all about being able to set up a monthly payment structure to get a gaming PC build shipped to you without the expensive upfront cost.
When I first came across No Compromise Gaming I saw that there were plenty of good customer reviews and the website was easy enough to use, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea – especially for those that are low on credit.
My biggest concern is how much power you’re getting per dollar spent which will be the main point we go over.
In 2021 and beyond it is very important to understand the performance-power ratio in terms of how much you’re spending on the actual hardware inside of a PC.
PC gaming hardware is at the highest levels of performance that it has ever been at in history so it’s important to not miss out on deals and the actual performance value that is out on the market today.
With that, let’s get to the review.
No Compromise Gaming’s Mission
The overall premise of No Compromise Gaming is that no matter what your credit score is, you can get a rent-to-own gaming rig. Sure, if your credit is absolutely horrible then just like any other rent-to-own business out there you shouldn’t expect to get approved. They use credit reporting information during the application process and accept most applications.
This is actually a pretty cool idea for those that don’t have the upfront money for a nice build and would rather do monthly installments to pay for it and have it right away.
You can either pay a rental fee for a 9-month period and then own the PC 100% or you can buy it out early on to save a little bit. You can return the PC whenever you want only after the initial 5-month term is complete. If you want to read up more about how they do things you can visit their FAQ page for more details.
The builds might be built with quality in mind and having the option of paying monthly is nice for those looking to do that but how many others have tried to use the service?
What kind of power can you expect per dollar spent? I feel like those are the more important aspects to consider before jumping into a contract here so let’s take a look at what the builds look like performance-wise as well as their reputation with real customers.
No Compromise Gaming PC Builds
It doesn’t make sense to overpay a crazy amount when getting a PC but that’s to be expected when you bind yourself to a contract for monthly payments. The company obviously needs to make money in order to keep providing the service.
Right away they give you the option of going with an Intel processor or an AMD processor for the build. From there you’re able to customize the rest of the build piece by piece.
You can also browse their desktops depending on your planned usage. This is by game, for VR specifically or some of their featured builds for example.
For the sake of simply looking at what kind of builds they have to offer, we’ll go through and look at some of the desktop choices for an AMD-based computer.
The base AMD desktop, the Radon gaming desktop, includes an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, an NVIDIA GTX 1660, a 500GB SSD, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, a B550 motherboard, a 600W PSU, and Windows 11 pre-installed.
The cash price comes to around ~$1,800. The monthly payment is around ~$200 for around 9 months where you’d be paying around the ~$1,800 mark.
For these types of specs inside of the PC, you’re going to be paying more than triple, almost quadruple the price if you went ahead and built it yourself…
You can see for yourself if you’d like, check out this $500 build – take a look at the specs. They are actually much better specs compared to this PC that you’d get for even over $1,000…
If you did a $1,000 PC build on your own then you’d have a much higher level of performance overall. At $2,000 for a build of your own, you’d have an insurmountable amount of gaming performance in comparison to this PC.
With this Radon desktop, you could expect to game at a tweaked medium setting at 1080p with most titles today.
I understand that the whole premise of No Compromise Gaming is that you don’t have to pay the upfront costs of an expensive gaming PC but this price point is outrageous…
A custom PC that you’d put together yourself that costs $500 has a higher level of performance compared to this $2,000 PC once the payments are all set and done.
You should also take a look at a bunch of the pre-built PCs on the market which are also marked up in price compared to what it’d be with a custom build but it’s not nearly as high of a markup compared to this. Pre-built PCs on the market today are usually priced ~$300-$400 more than what it’d cost to build it yourself.
Maybe the higher-level desktops make more sense so let’s go ahead and take a look at the Argon Gaming Desktop within the AMD customization.
The Argon desktop uses an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, an NVIDIA RTX 3060, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 500GB SSD, a 600W PSU, a B550 motherboard, and it has Windows 11 pre-installed.
Taking a look at the price… the cash price for the base configuration is around $~2,300… or you’d be paying around ~$258 for 9 months where you’ll be paying over $2,000 total.
This configuration is no different than the Radon Gaming Desktop in terms of how high the markup is for what you get.
Sure, an AMD Ryzen 5800X is a top-of-the-line processor right now but you’re spending around $2k on an AMD system then you could have an even better CPU or use that money for an even better GPU…
But taking a look at everything else, there’s still only 16GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an RTX 3060…
If you were to put together a $2,000 PC build today you’d be able to have double the amount of RAM, an RTX 3080 (whenever it becomes available again, or equivalent), and at least 1TB SSD.
A PC with a GTX 3060 is ideal for high-quality 1080p gaming whereas something like an RTX 3080 could handle all levels of virtual reality gaming as well as higher resolution gaming at 4K.
When you compare these builds to how much the actual hardware costs to put it together you’re paying an extremely high premium to get it done.
Again, most pre-built PCs on the market markup the desktops a few hundred dollars up to compensate for the time put in to put the build together, marketing costs, etc.
After your monthly payments are finished you’re putting in a lot more money than what the PC is worth which is the whole purpose of rent-to-own but does it make sense to spend that much?
There are plenty of people who have pulled the trigger and gone ahead with their services and for the most part, there are good things said about the service behind No Compromise Gaming.
No Compromise Gaming Customer Reviews
Before making any purchase, a customer wants to know about others’ experiences with a service and that’s where these real customer reviews come in.
As far as quality and ease of service, No Compromise Gaming seems to keep their customers happy. You can take a look at the reviews yourself right here if you’d like.
I went through and read a bunch of the reviews. I went through the most recent, the 5-star reviews, the 3-star reviews, and the few 1-star reviews to get an idea of what types of experiences have been going on.
Almost all of the reviews are rated 5 stars. Most people seem to get their PC faster than they expected, customer service was on point with any issues that would pop up and the PCs themselves work flawlessly.
Most of the lower ratings come from those with concerns about the price and a couple mentioned that the PC didn’t get shipped out when it was supposed to.
Overall, almost everyone that went through the process of renting a PC through No Compromise Gaming had an awesome experience with delivery, quality of the build, and being helped over the phone with any issues that would come up.
Should You Rent-To-Own A PC?
I love the idea behind No Compromise Gaming. There are plenty of people who don’t have the money upfront for a high-quality gaming rig so the idea of being able to pay monthly to own a build down the road can be appealing.
But I just can’t recommend going through NCG for this type of process. The customer service is very well done and the PCs aren’t bad quality, they’re put together nicely!
But having to pay over $4,000 after your payment contract is up for a PC that should only cost a bit over $1,000 for the hardware… that’s a hard pill to swallow.
If you don’t mind paying that high of a price in the end and you want to rent-to-own a PC then No Compromise Gaming seems like a very viable option. I’m not sure of other companies that do something similar, there might be a company that does it for a lower cost…
If you do go with NCG just be sure that leasing a PC through them is allowed in your state, some states don’t allow this process.
I highly encourage you to look into building a PC of your own if optimizing your power per dollar spent is important to you. Sure, you’d have to pay a higher upfront cost but you’d be getting a lot more power for what you’re spending overall.
So, are you going to lease a computer through No Compromise Gaming?
Or are you going to be looking into putting a build of your own together?
If so, I’m more than happy to help you out here on the site!
Let me know in the comments below! 😀
Hey there! 👋 I’m Colton, founder of PC Builds On A Budget.
Whether you need help putting your PC together, finding a great pre-built rig, or want some help finding awesome peripherals – I’ve got you covered!
I share my experiences of anything and everything related to gaming PCs with you here. 👍
Do yourself a favor and DO NOT use this company…run away. Unless you just like throwing your money away. If I could give this company 0 stars, I would. I recently had to send the computer in for repairs, which was totally my fault. I was worried and not trusting the company to keep the computer because; honestly, I was behind on my payments. But, I was promised by several people from the company that they had a 60 day hold. I had tracking information to show when they received it and I called when it was delivered. At first, they hesitated about lying that it was not received; until, I stated I had tracking info. Then, they had it 2 days and still had not even looked at it. I am still worried they are going to screw me over and felt I was getting runaround. So, I told them I would get a lawyer if they did not tell me something by end of day. So, they email stating that they had to take longer to look at and figure out. So, they chose to let me know me something after the fact. They literally got upset with me because I threatened a lawyer. The email stated they no longer wanted to do business with mem my account was being closed and no further communication would be preferred. In the meantime, they still have my almost $600 and the computer. They won’t even talk to me to as why I can\t get the computer back or my money. At least, give me some of my money back. This company has a serious lack of customer service and communication. They legally broke a contract between me and their company, which is fraud.
Well, clearly I’d never buy anything from them seeing as to how I have the common sense and knowledge to build my own high-quality PC. But my question is would it even be worth working for them as a repair tech? I have plenty of experience in PC hardware and troubleshooting and I liked the fact they offer remote work and while they’re only offering $18/hr I’m currently in school and it seems like it beats working in a restaurant. Opinions/ advice?
Hey LJ,
I’m not familiar with the work environment or anything of that nature, this just showcases the difference between rent to own with them and building your own and the value of it.
If it sounds like a good opportunity for you and it’s something you wouldn’t mind doing with in school, then I’d say why not give it a try? You might learn something along the way and if you don’t have anything to lose by trying it out, might as well give them a go and see if it suits you!
Again, didn’t dive deep into the work environment or what working for them is like at all so I haven’t got any opinion in that regard. Best of luck to you though! 👍
I do not recommend purchasing from this company. I called AND emailed BEFORE I purchased to ensure the motherboard included a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port. Over the phone I was advised that I had to email them. I emailed and Will responded saying that the motherboard does include a Thunderbolt 4 port. When I received the PC, there is no Thunderbolt 4 port. I called in to Sales and Tech Support only to be told to “go buy an adapter bro” and email management again. This company doesn’t even build PCs, they outsource through a 3rd Party in Illinois. They don’t know about any of the components in their own PC’s. DO business with them at your own risk.
Yikes… Not great when it’s confirmed that’s included just to receive it and feel lied to. And sure… you can “just get an adapter bro”…
But come on. If they’re going to tell you “Yes, that port is included with the PC” then that’s exactly what you should expect. Not to go out of your own way to figure out some other solution.
In retrospect, I’m regretful. I’m pleased with my pc. But I’m paying almost 4 times as much as I would have if I would have bought it outright. But it was still during the pandemic when graphics cards were being scalped every which way. It was a good way for me to get a pc with minimal up front costs. I don’t think they’re just scamming people. The products on the building process on the site are pretty vague and almost seem generic, but everything was in immaculate condition. The financing situation is honestly no different than going to a rent a center ot buy here pay here establishment. You sign an 18 month lease and I think I have about 7 payments to go (I make payments every 2 weeks) they allowed me to line it up with my paychecks. Super nice company and so easy to work with. The only issue I had with my build itself was that the wifi card they installed was just absolute garbage.
Yup, all of the social reviews say the same thing about them. Good support, they provide exactly what they say they provide, and it’s an option…
With that said, yeah… I think of a way of making “payments” toward a PC could potentially be the different parts as you’re able to afford them, assuming that going through the process one would be interested in doing a build of their own… Sure, payments would be more scattered but it’d be a lot less cost at the end of the day.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this, I know others will appreciate it as well! ?
So Colton. I paid the fee and got a email confirmation for my item. They said they will send a email to sign. What should I be looking forward to? Will I have to verify my income or talk on the phone? Or just simply sign it so it can be shipped?
I’m unsure about what you’ll for sure need to verify, but I bet that email is for a digital signature for the payment plan that you decided to move forward with so after agreeing to the terms, you should be getting the PC shipped after that’s verified.
Seems like Colton has a hard on for Amazon. We get it even Amazon has a payment plan that is better. Sounds like you work for Amazon to me… smfh
Sup Bob,
I mention it because it’s a smarter idea in general. Some folks probably aren’t aware that they offer a program like that. Some people don’t see that they’re paying quadruple and sometimes more by going through some other program. Borrowing from a bank could also be a good idea for someone going this route but No Compromise Gaming is there for those that aren’t able to go to the banks. As far as I know, Amazon doesn’t have too many if any limits at all on their payments plans and you actually get what you pay for (except of course for the fact that the industry as a whole is experiencing a huge supply/demand problem right now).
If you have a problem with me helping others out finding another program then so be it. If you have other suggestions to help others out I’d love to hear them. Maybe I’ll get a “hard on” for another company that is able to provide real value through a fair and just payment plan. Let me know if you can help. Thanks.
The second payment they try to collet 10K plus, they says was a mistake, really? Why not 1$? Umm
There are some janky experiences with them for sure… Makes you wonder…
You keep saying Amazon has a program, but you don’t link it; why?
I sort of assumed people would be able to see if they are eligible for it in Amazon’s cart process. It’s under payment options though I’m certain some parts may not be eligible for their program – https://amzn.to/2GW6Enh
yeah they’re a complete waist of money.
using pcpartpicker I spent less than 10 minutes to make as close of a set up as I could to their Sekiro computer.
recommended Sekiro package – https://www.nocompromisegaming.com/catalog/product/landing/id/3482/
the cash value they list for this set up is $1485 ($2970 if you rent for 18 months) the price you would pay to make it yourself would be about $850 (plus or minus a bit depending on sells)
the point is save your money and build it yourself, or build it yourself and get and absolute beast for about the same price, such as this build
Right, and to top it all off you’re spending an extra lot just for renting it out and agreeing to one of their payment plans. Heck even Amazon has something similar but there is a lot less interest involved if any at all with their payment plans.
Lol if you pay the regular price for the computer within 90 days you don’t pay anything extra
And the final cash price is usually $300+ more than if you bought a pre-built PC from a retailer, which many times allow monthly payment plans without interest. That’s my main point reviewing the company overall – as long as you’re okay with paying a much higher premium for lower performance ratios per dollar spent – then yes, they will provide the solution of monthly payment plans for gaming rigs.
I tried to get a gaming laptop with them. My plan was to pay for several months then buy it outright. However, when they called to go over the agreement I asked them to send it to my address at college. This address differs from my billing address. This completely confused the guy on the phone. He checked with his supervisor and told me the billing and shipping addresses must match. I then asked if I could change my billing address and send them my Discover card statement. He responded, “That’s not going to work and there’s nothing we can do for you.” Well it turned out to be a good thing. I was able to get six month interest free financing through PayPal and ended up with a better computer that I now own outright. I’ve never had any issue before with having something sent to a different address. I was just shocked how inflexible they were about it. Oh well, their loss my gain.
Good on you for finding different financing options. PayPal definitely works and I’ve had friends do a financing plan through Amazon before when they were buying all of the parts for a build they were doing.
Very odd that they were so shocked that they couldn’t follow through because of the shipping and billing not being matched… Oh well. Maybe it had something to do with the way they’ve structured their plans and it’s maybe a state thing? Hard to tell. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Been going through them for 2 years not, about to pay off my laptop. Called then a while ago and was told that I had 3 payments left to make. Then a month later, after making 2 more payments, I called and was told I still had 3 payments left, plus they upped the payments an extra 4 bucks every 2 weeks
Unbelievable… You’re definitely not the first one with these sorts of issues as well… Seems like they don’t have an organized structure to their payment plans.
I was between a rock and a hard place. My son needed a PC and I did not have the time or the money up front to get the parts to build him one. So we compromised and went with this worthless company to get him into a system. This company needs to change their name and delete the word “NO” from their name and then it would fit them more accurately!
Compromise 1: It took nearly two months before we got the computer.
Compromise 2: Going in and doing a discovery to see what it was we paid for it became immediately clear almost every single component was a compromise. Short of the motherboard we ordered and the case, every other component (ram, power supply, video card, hard drive and CD drive) were clearly as budget of a part as you could get. Even the CPU fan looked like it had been rummaged from a garage sale, even the factory fans are better than the one we got.
Compromise 3: We had it for 3 months when the shit Seagate hard drive crashed (no surprise there) and after a half dozen emails to them it became clear I was on my own to get a hard drive. I was basically talking to myself because I only got one email from them telling me I had to talk to support. I did not quite know what to do there since the email I contacted them through was support@nocompromisegaming.com and it’s the only email I was given for support.
Compromise 4: At the four month mark we started experiencing shutdowns and blue screens, after some basic benchmarking and testing we discovered the CPU was overheating. I took to pulling the CPU fan and discovered only about half of the CPU had thermal paste on it. It was clearly applied by someone that did not have a clue what they was doing and because of their ignorance the CPU was beginning to overheat. Applying some quality thermal paste the system became stable and no more shutdowns.
Compromise 5: Within 6 months the video card went out and I had the exact same experience with their so called support for that and ended up just buying one from Frys. Really was no surprise here either since the video card they put into it was as budget as they could get for a Nvidia 1050.
Compromise 6: Against my better judgement we kept the computer for the duration of the agreement only to have the excitement of one problem right after another within days of making the final payment. Literally on the third day after the last payment was done and the computer was ours, the system started to crash with blue screen errors. Being a 40 year veteran of PC building its not like I don’t know how to troubleshoot a computer. So we went to work trying to figure out what was going on. The only thing we can conclude is the motherboard RAM slot 1 is out but nothing definitive is rearing its head to tell us what is wrong? At this stage my knowledge is telling me to just junk the piece of crap and do what I should have done in the first place, buy the parts and build it myself.
So as you can see from the above compromises made, No Compromise Gaming is in fact, in and of itself a compromise should you choose to go this route. If you need a computer your better bet is to get a basic system which are very cheap on any of the PC websites and then save your case and piece together a system and build it yourself vs wasting your money on some team of uneducated, unknowledgeable losers like No Compromise Gaming. Trust me when I tell you that while you may get lucky, odds are you are going to have a similar experience to the one I had and I can say for a matter of fact if something does go south you are on your own because they DO NOT have support and that is likely because this is a team of average people with little to NO experience building computers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I was thinking about using their service until they sent a contract that has a clause stating they install a remote lockdown feature on your computer, and if you for any reason miss a payment, they have the right to remotely lock down your unit and disable your ability to use it until you get caught up.
There is also a clause stating that you agree not to remove the unit from your own home without permission. There is also a clause saying they will put electronic tracking on the device.
Those are insane things to agree to.
Are you serious? I never knew about that… That’s crazy!
Not only are you paying a lot more for what they offer but you’re also agreeing to not really even “own” the PC in the first place… It’s still theirs even when it’s in your home.
Sometimes the base price of some of these units are over 3-4 thousand dollars!! Why is it unreasonable to protect the asset until it is paid in full? I mean they are taking a chance on someone giving them a 300 dollar down payment (first month payment) and never paying another dime!! So why does that seem unreasonable that they would add a software to disable the unit if that happens? I think it is completely reasonable just like many car sales places that do it on sales that are for low credit or risky customers.
That’s just it, these units cost an insane amount of money. We’re talking thousands of dollars profit on their computers. Anyone is better off saving up for a pre-built that’s less than half the cost for the same level of performance or building their own rig to optimize performance per dollar spent.
As I wrote about above, it seems that their services are indeed legitimate and if you or others are happy with paying a crazy premium like that then by all means go for it, though I’m sure there are other services that can provide the same or a similar service for cheaper.
I’m thinking about trying to see if I can get approved–because my monthly income is not enough to get a good computer. The last one I bought I broke the screen, and hp wants to charge me more to fix it than I paid for the computer.
The only downfall with No Compromise Gaming is that you’re going to be paying triple or even quadruple the price once you’re done paying for the PC. There is a huge markup with their plans hence why I recommend either building your own where you can buy each piece when you’re able to afford them or to try and save up until you’re able to afford a pre-built all together.
If you’re interested in doing a build yourself you can check out some of the build guides here!
So when it comes to building a pc. I need a laptop, I’m always changing location and streaming games and making videos all the time and well honestly any laptop would be better then my current at this point ive built pc’s in the past but never a laptop, thats why I was just going to use them and pay the first 2-3 months then pay the rest in one shot
That’s the thing though, once you get to the point of paying the rest in one shot you’re going to be paying a hefty premium. You’d get a lot more value for the money you’re spending by saving the amount you need for the PC upfront rather than paying a bunch of interest on top.
I’m thinking about making my own computer gaming system, at least eventually. I’ve never seen this before and it’s pretty cool. I guess wouldn’t have to if I can just rent one. Didn’t know you could do these things until now. But how many things could you rent at a time??
They offer being able to rent a few computers at a time but it’s based on a “case-by-case” basis. If you want to build your own PC then I suggest following the guides that are here, you’ll be paying over double the price of what it costs to build one by renting-to-own one through here.
After reading through your post, I’m more than ready to build my own PC. It sounds like the No Compromise Gaming system does have a few compromises.
If I were going to spend that kind of scratch for a computer, I’d definitely go with your $2000 build and take the time to pull together the right hardware and build it myself.
Even the $1000 build that you outline sound like a better machine for the money.
While the No Compromise Gaming product will make it easier to pay off the machine, I’m thinking that a short-term financing through a bank or credit union would be more cost-effective in the long run.
Exactly and I’ve seen others have a payment plan through Amazon even just for hardware before so it’s not like there aren’t other options for doing a monthly payment structure to get a decent build.
The power per dollar simply doesn’t make any sense when you rent these PCs!