Advice on where to buy a PC similar to this...

Silverback420

Im looking at getting a new computer and want something along the lines of this spec

http://www.cube247.co.uk/?customise=3

However after getting really poor phone communication and reading bad things about them im looking for somewhere else to make my purchase.

Any recommendations of online places that are good both in terms of price and customer support?

Thank you

JasX

From the looks of it its a 'not that great a machine' in a cheap plastic case with a zillion expensive peripherals.

If I were you I'd get a high end machine in a kickass, non cheap and plastic' case then add the peripherals (sound card+nice speaker system, 2nd and then 3rd monitor, Blu ray drive etc etc) over time

I'd also go for 24" for the main screen, 22" is a bit pokey these days

EDIT lol they don't even specify what graphics card you're getting.....

Silverback420

they dont specify alot, even when i spoke to them on the phone

Any recommendations for good online places?

JasX

If you're getting a vaguely high end machine you're far far better off ordering components from somewhere like ebuyer.com, amazon.com etc etc and self building, its not hard.

I put together a Core i7 950 and Nvidia GTX 295 based machine without any special offers for under £1400 6 months ago... if I wanted that from a specialist build place it'd have been over £800-£1000 more for similar spec...

Thats the kind of saving you get at the higher end

Silverback420

Would of assumed that places ordering the same parts several times would have been able to provide it cheaper.

Did you order all your bits from the same place? Would be interesting to see what spec you ended up getting for the money

JasX

Silverback420 wrote: »

Would of assumed that places ordering the same parts several times would have been able to provide it cheaper.

Did you order all your bits from the same place? Would be interesting to see what spec you ended up getting for the money

they can possible get the parts a bit cheaper but once you step off dell-type standardised production lines custom building a PC is a manual, semi tedious labour intensive job that takes time, its the 'opening all the boxes' screwing everything together , loading the software you pay the premium for, oh and theirs their profit on top of that.

I've done it both ways with parts but found if i ordered from too many different places the extra postage fees started to offset getting stuff slightly cheaper and I tried to get as much as I could from 1/2 places

EDIT: I;ve typed out the following on here before as general advice:

would allow further savings if you have an old 'half decent' spec machine you're scrapping and can re-use some components (eg CD-drive, Hard Drive if its SATA2, case if its a good one, floppy drive etc etc)

self spec is fairly straightforward
1-choose the type of processor you want -look at performance benchmark sites and see how far up the table you can go on your budget.
2-choose the graphics card you want -same idea
3-choose a motherboard thats compatible with 2 components chosen above, also check available card slots and type (PCI/PCIe) for additional cards you know you'll want (eg soundcard, wifi, any unusual ones you might have) also check number and type of HDD connections if you have/plan multiple hard drives in future.
4-buy some RAM compatible with the motherboard chosen in 3 -> can make some saving now here and upgrade later if you plan it well (ie don't buy lots of small sized RAM chips that fill all your slots)
5-Buy a PSU with enough power to supply all the above (5-600W would be typical these days unless planning multiple graphics cards or something else unusual -if taking a very cheap one check it has enough connectors for all hard/CD drives and motherboard connections you need)
6- get a case big enough to fit everything in without being too cramped
7-maybe invest an extra £2 or so in a few extra case fans

again some things you can put off buying to save cash now so long as you leave space for in future (eg sound card if motherboard has basic onboard sound)

Silverback420

This is what ive got so far

Intel Core i7 860 2.8GHz Socket LGA 1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £221.06

ASUS P7P55D PRO iP55 Socket LGA 1156 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - £135.86

Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz/PC3-16000 Dominator GT i7 Memory Kit with Airflow Fan CL8(8-8-8-24) 1.65V Unbuffered Non-ECC - £280

LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blu-Ray Reader & DVD±RW with LightScribe SATA Black - Full Retail Box With Software - £86.14

XFX RADEON HD 5870 1GB DDR5 DUAL DVI HDMI DISPLAY PORT PCI-E Graphics Card - £341.20

Acer H243HXBbmidcz 24" Full HD Widescreen 16:9 TFT 2ms 80,000:1 (Dynamoc) DVI / HDMI / VGA Speakers, Webcam + USB Hub - Glossy Black - £200

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - £63.87

Not sure what case/PSU to go for but is just a rough idea so far. Currently without the case/PSU and whatever i may have forgotten it currently comes to £1340

Seem ok?

d42mat

Christ if you're gonna spend that much dosh then get it from a place that uses decent components like this and has a good reputation..

overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-030-OE

you can get a high end machine for that money. Just what I'm hoping to afford.

Just change the specs to suit your pocket.

Matt

bengalknights

I must say i agree with d42mat having used overclockers to build my machine, since then all i have done is upgraded as required and there service has been second to none

spakkker

Only things that seem reasonable at overclockers are graphics cards. Their m/b bundles aren't cheap.

Silverback420

d42mat wrote: »

Christ if you're gonna spend that much dosh then get it from a place that uses decent components like this and has a good reputation..

overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-030-OE

you can get a high end machine for that money. Just what I'm hoping to afford.

Just change the specs to suit your pocket.

Matt

Cheers for the link, comes to £1300 with a couple of changes. Would need to get a monitor, keyboard and mouse but they seem good, sadly not as good as the first link but least im getting somewhere