Built to order PC's

[419]

I in the process of looking around for a new PC (old one a bit slow, and hard drive almost full).
I've seen a few places (pcspecialist.co.uk for example) who will build a unit to your spec. Does anyone have any recomendations for similar companies, as I've never been down this road before, having always stuck to the high street retailers.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I get built to order by my local shop http://woc.co.uk - I really do like having somewhere to take things back if they need attention, where I get personal assistance by people who know what they're doing, rather than premium rate foreign call centres.

You get exactly your own choice of software installed, too, not whatever rubbish the main suppliers choose to load on.

Er yes, it costs a bit more that way, obviously, due to paying people in the UK to put the box together, but I reckon it's worth it.

[green granite]

Try the Evesham micros website, chose the one nearest to what you require and then look through the options available to add on or substitute.( they even do overclocking if you want it). I can vouch for their after sales service, my video card started playing up after 10 months I rang them up, spoke to the help desk who talked me trough a couple of things which didn't clear the problems. The next day an engineer arrives changes the card, it was worse so he went back to his car and brought back a better spec one which is still going strong after 4 years, all for no charge.

[Parapunter]

I build my own and have done after I bought my first one. It's far cheaper to do self build, the components still come with their warranty, you get exactly the machine you want and although it's initially daunting if you haven't done it before, trust me - they're like lego. They are far simpler to build than you think.
Personally, I've looked in on Del for example a few times & just think that in general, they are really an appalingly low spec for the money.
The easiest way is to get a 'barebones' which is a case with a motherboard already in, usually a power supply too and from there you only have to plug in a cpu & fan, hard drive, cd rom/rw drive, couple of sticks of RAM, then any optional cards you want - graphics, sound, tv card etc. Just be careful to do a little reading on the internet first - make sure the components all work together - but it's really not as complicated as you might think.

However, if it's too alien - I would endorse Evesham - they build quality machines in general - but beware - they know how to charge for them.

[Tosh McCaber]

I have my computers built locally. The great advantage being that, if anything goes wrong, I just nip round with it, and generally get it back as I wait. (99% of problems are those that you could fix yourself, if only you knew how!)

Ask around, (and make sure that your not getting a "professional amateur")- I'm sure that you'll find someone with a good reputation in your area.

[IO540]

I've been doing this since the 1980s.

IMHO it depends on whether you are doing it for a friend and will thus end up supporting the product :)

If yes, then I recommend a Dell. They work OK and performance wise as as good as anything of the same CPU spec and RAM size. Like all high street vendors they use fairly cheap mechanical components but you get a warranty and "some sort" of telephone line & service, even if staffed by apes (they all are these days).

If no i.e. you want it for yourself then I would buy the parts. A decent expensive motherboard (they are so cheap that going for a good one is OK), a decent large diameter low speed (silent) CPU cooler, a big 500W power supply with temperature controlled fans, a high end video card, and a fast SATA hard drive (not necessarily big; usually the only way to fill say 200GB is with p0rno movies). A top end Plextor DVD writer. And I fit a high quality £30 ball bearing fan into the case, replacing the £1 plastic one. The cheap CPU fans invariably seize within a couple of years but a good quality CPU cooler should be OK. And a high quality case to put it all in - these come from specialist computer parts shops; the high street cases are all absolute cr*p. This way it will cost a lot more than a Dell but you get better parts.

Once it is built, and the basic software installed and working, I put Trueimage on it and make a recovery CD and an image snapshot (which goes on a DVD). I do this for PCs I do for others too, and that way when (not if) they trash it, you can easily get them back to what they started with.

[Cremeegg]

I see plenty of other names being advertised on this thread so I will add SemiConductors Supplies in Sutton, Surrey or South London - might suit the OP judging by your address. Have bought many PC's for home and work use built to my spec - all faultless.

[G-BOY]

First off - get an external hard drive from LaCie if your computer is otherwise fine...or maybe a laptop, which would let you be more mobile.

You probably don't need a new computer if you've just used up all of your hard drive - if it's running slow, it'll probably need more RAM.
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If this was a few years ago, I would have said "Dell", but now I would say "Don't bother"

If it's a new PC you're looking for...maybe try getting a HD Jobbie from a Sony Centre...

As long as you get a PC which costs upwards of £800 you should be fine. Pay proper prices and you'll get a proper PC - pay any less than £800 to a company - PC World especially - and you're gonna get ripped off.

[spannersatcx]

mesh (http://www.meshcomputers.com/) have always seemed pretty good, and you can get a decent pc for less than £800 as well.:eek:

Best thing to do if you want a new pc, is decide what you want to do on it, and go from there. Also have a look at some magazines for reviews etc.

[419]

Thanks for all the advice,:ok:

I might look into doing a self build. I've never tried this before, but I'm fairly switched on with electrical and electronic systems, so I should be okay. (hopefully)

[Saab Dastard]

Self-building:

Just make sure that you do your research carefully -

e.g. make sure the mobo fits in the case you want;
the PSU fits the case and has the right connectors for mobo;
CPU, RAM and mobo are compatible;
check if the CPU comes with heatsink & fan or do you need to supply - if so check the one you want fits CPU, case and mobo;
Check that there are enough bays (and power) for all the drives you want - do you need to buy any mounting rails / brackets / power cable splitters / data cables (ensure you use 80-wire for IDE Ultra DMA);
Check there are enough PCI / PCI-E slots for all the cards you want to install - and that you can fit the cards in the case (length, width and height).

I could go on... and on...

SD

[Saab Dastard]

Just to add - my experience with self-building is that you should end up with a system that suits YOU and YOUR requirements.

However, it is unlikely to be cheaper than buying a branded PC, particularly if you include a monitor and OS. I never cease to be impressed by the prices that Dell etc. can go down to for a given spec.

Even better to go to their ebay / warehouse outlets for even cheaper deals!

SD

[Temet_Nosce]

Guys,

interesting thread!

I have been considering upgrading my PC but already have a 180Gb HD...any reason I cannot use the same one? Would I have to format it?

Thanks!

[Keef]

Build your own will get you the PC you want (assuming you spec it right), but it will probably cost you a fair bit more.

I used to build my own, about every three years, and reckoned on £1,200 for the spec I wanted. I think I always overspecified, and didn't use most of the features I built in.

I bought a cheapo off eBay two years ago, for £500. It was about £200 cheaper than I could have built a similar spec machine for. I've had to replace the graphics card (fan on it failed, it overheated and died) and the CPU fan (a large moth got in the case, I know not how, and jammed itself in the fan). Those two bits cost me under £100.

Apart from that (and Microsoft software glitches), it's been fine.

I don't know how these eBay sellers knock them out for the prices they do.

[Saab Dastard]

Temet_Nosce

I have been considering upgrading my PC but already have a 180Gb HD...any reason I cannot use the same one? Would I have to format it?

I assume that you mean can you use the existing disk if you replace the mobo, or put the disk in a new system, without having to completely reinstall Windows?

In either case, assuming that the 180 is the only disk in the system, the answer is - possibly.

If you have an installation CD for XP (or Win 2K) you can try the following:

Install disk in "new" PC, then boot off installation CD. Choose the "Install" option initially, then "repair existing instance". What "should" happen is that windows wil install sufficient drivers to recognise whatever mobo / chipset / cpu / vga adapters etc are present and allow you to start windows and install all the appropriate drivers.

This has worked for me in the past, although I won't guarantee it always does!

Whatever you do, ensure that all your data is backed up BEFORE starting anything - you may find the XP "file and data migration wizard" useful, although simply copying the relevant folders from documents and settings is quicker and better!

SD

[slim_slag]

Cheapest Dell PC currently going for around £250 to your door. You could get components to your door to build something similar for £200. Spend £250 on components and you can build something that would have been very high spec only a few years ago. Depends what you need the PC for, you can spend £500 on a graphics card if you want to, or 'nothing' as it is included on the board.

Also remember you can get a copy of XP from the component suppliers for around £50 and it is legitimate. Building PCs is dead easy, biggest gotcha is not pushing the bits in properly, really depends how brave you feel...

[eticket]

Hi,

I used to build my own pcs 286 - early pentium and saved hundreds of pounds but I now buy complete systems because:

a) they tend to be cheaper than I can build them for.

b) when something goes wrong the whole computer is someone else's problem and they can't say 'not my problem as that bit you got from someone else is what's wrong' and the other supplier then disagrees and you are stuck in the middle with a system full of guarantees that doesn't work.

(Incidently I can also vouch for Gertrude's suggestion of a local Cambridge supplier).

When buying Macs there is no real choice as I have to get complete ready built base units.

If you do build it yourself my top tip is to make sure that you have at least one elastoplast beside you as I always end up cutting my fingers on the edges of the cases - even modern ones.

I hope that the following isn't too commercial for PPRuNe but I have recently purchased a Dell laptop at less than half price from Dell's own e-bay shop. Here they sell 'scratched' units in e-bay auctions and after checking out the specs of the computer and the type of scratch/damage involved I entered the auction and won a £1700 laptop (based upon building a similar computer on the main Dell website) for under £800 (6 other bidders). When it arrived it appeared to be brand new and had all the software backup disks etc. There was a minute scratch that I wouldn't have known was there unless I looked for it and it also came with a three year Dell warranty. I mentioned this to someone else at work and they have just won a scratched desktop (no monitor) and are very pleased with both it and their savings. (Though the scratch appears to be a little bit bigger on their desktop).

[Parapunter]

Another option as Mr Ticket & others have pointed out is to pick up a current-ish box from the scratch & dent end of the market & then if required, drop in the upgrades of your choice. The key is the motherboard - graphics cards nowadays seem to be mostly on pci express slots, so expandability like that is important. The it's just the soundcard you like, however many HDD's you require - build a raid array! Why not! TV on your pc? just plug a card in; and so on.