Build your own PC

[rob_frost]

I am thinking of getting a new PC. It has to be a games designed PC, for Flight sims, FPS etc.

Looked through a PC mag, to add up all the components

AMD XP 2000 + @ £220
2 x 512 Mb DDR 266Mhz RAM @ £200
Some motherboard???? @ £100
128Mb GF4 Ti4600 @ £290
60Gb IBM Vancouver GXP120 7200rpm @ £100
Full Tower ATX 300W PSU @ £35
Fan @ £10
16x48 Liteon DVD+PowerDVD @ £50
Generic 32x10x40 CDR/W @ £65
56k Modem @ £20
Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 Sorround @ £80
Creative Audigy Platinum 5.1 @ £125
17 inch CRT @ £100
Win Xp Proffesional @ £120


That comes to £1515. So why build your own? I though it was cheaper. i can get this



3.5" 1.44 Floppy drive Floppy Disk
1024MB PC2100 DDR RAM Memory
Midi ATX Case 300W Case
Microsoft Internet PS/2 Keyboard
Videologic ZXR-500 5.1 Surround Speakers
SOYO SY-K7VEM-PRO AMD Socket A Micro ATX Motherboard
Creative Audigy Player 1394 OEM PCI Sound Card
Sparkle SP7200T6 Features - Nvidia GeFORCE4 Ti4600 128Mb DDR Graphics Card
LG Logix 17.0 inch 0.27dp CRT Monitor
AMD Athlon MP 2000 + (M20) Retail Box Processor
Maxtor D740X - 60GB UDMA 133, 7200 rpm Hard Drive


Sparkle Conexant Internal PCI 56k V90 Modem retail Modem
LG 16xIDE DVD drive DVD
Microsoft Windows XP Home OEM Operating System
D-Link USB 2 slot PCI card Extra Connection Ports
LG IDE CD-RW 32x10x40 CD-ReWriteable

for about £1480 built etc.

so is it worth building? (assuming I don't enjoy/dislike building it )

Or am I chosing the slightly expensive parts, which add up overall?

What components would you recommend/discard?

Thanks for any help.

[pilotwolf]

try ebuyer.co.uk...

cheap and a lot of choice in compent spec...

built my own PC, Penyium 4 equivilent, CDROM R/W, 40mg hard drive, 56K modem, 3D video card etc, etc... under £500.

[ORAC]

The only 2 reasons to build your own are:
Because you like doing it.
To get the exact spec you want.

Large companies buy components by the thousands and get discounts of around 30%. They then, because of the competition, add about a 10% profit margin.

You buy components one by one and get no discount.

How do you expect to undercut their price?

[rob_frost]

don't know. just looking into the option.

[The Nr Fairy]

Rob :

Depensing how far you are from Swindon there's a company there who are pretty cheap - Gigabyte.

I bought all but the hard disk from them for about £500. AMD Athlon 700MHz, 128Mb, SCSI card, SCSI CDROM, and some other gubbins.

[All Systems Go]

The best place I've found is Novatech. Their web site is www.novatech.co.uk . I was going to do the same as you - build me a PC, but I added it all up and Novatech saved me £150 ready built with OS. They don't have to come with monitors too. They are based in Portsmouth. Check them out. I highly recommend them.

[ORAC]

Try the following as well:

Aria (http://www.aria.co.uk/)

[Hersham Boy]

I built my last PC - did it to see if I could (it's not really that difficult once you've done you're research to ensure all the components are compatible)... reckon it cost me about the same as if I had gone to PC World.

Based on that, next time I'll let someone else do the hard work ;)

Hersh

[All Systems Go]

PC World? Good lord. I'd not touch PC world with yours let alone mine!!! Go to the smaller places such a Novatech and Aria cos they invariably offer better (cheaper and more powerful, along with better components) deals and the staff at these places actually know what they are talking about and don't have a face from the menu at Dominos Pizza.

[rob_frost]

I was in Dixons the other day, and they were selling this poor lady, who clearly knew nothing about computers, a basic computer. They confirmed it was just for word processing, then producted the "999 package" which was £999. For such a basic computer? Robbery.
Also, their software prices are about double what they are on certain web sites.

I think I'll get a smallish company to build a PC, but specify exactly what bits I want.

[Fly-By-Wireless]

Another thing to watch out for is the motherboard on mass-produced machines. These are usually of relatively poor quality with sound/graphics and even modem built-in. This can appeal to some, but if you are serious about PCs then you will want to customize your PC with the latest graphics card, etc if you are a gamer. Imagine your dismay when you open up your PC to find that you have an integrated AGP card, which means that (a) you can't take the old one out, and (b) because the AGP is integrated, you'd have to get a refund for your new AGP card and get an old PCI one instead. Similar scenario if the graphics/sound develops a fault and you want to repair it.

You can usually get a good deal at computer fairs, but be careful at these events. They have, in the past, had quite a bad reputation for being a forum to sell-on faulty equipment. Nowadays, many of the stall holders own small businesses or shops who will be happy to provide you with a contact number should the device be faulty when you come to plug it in. Try to go with someone who knows the PC market well, if you don't.

The deals are out there, but they're just a little harder to find than before.