Cheapest but best place to buy custom computers?

ehlo

For the cheapest place, build it yourself. There really aren't that many things that have to be done and there are guides available if you're willing to learn. If you'd rather not do it yourself then definitely use someone local. Often it will cost a little more than some of the places on the internet but it gives you the added bonus of in-person technical support if something goes wrong (and if they use lots of similar components it will probably be less hassle to get something fixed if there is a known issue with a component)

Definitely ask around though as some local shops seem clueless! A relative recently wanted a new computer with a floppy drive. Rather than either add a floppy drive to a new PC (cheap) or educate my relative about USB flash drives which made floppys obsolete they chose to find an old (but still 'new' and charged the original RRP) PC with a floppy drive!

weegie.geek

A lot of new motherboards don't even have floppy drive headers, but the shop should have sourced a floppy drive with a USB interface. I agree that a lot of small computer shops are useless, but there's usually one half-decent one in among the crud.

vyle

ehlo wrote: »

For the cheapest place, build it yourself. There really aren't that many things that have to be done and there are guides available if you're willing to learn. If you'd rather not do it yourself then definitely use someone local. Often it will cost a little more than some of the places on the internet but it gives you the added bonus of in-person technical support if something goes wrong (and if they use lots of similar components it will probably be less hassle to get something fixed if there is a known issue with a component)

Definitely ask around though as some local shops seem clueless! A relative recently wanted a new computer with a floppy drive. Rather than either add a floppy drive to a new PC (cheap) or educate my relative about USB flash drives which made floppys obsolete they chose to find an old (but still 'new' and charged the original RRP) PC with a floppy drive!

I've built a few PCs myself in the past (and loads for college), but when I'm spending upwards of £1000 on components, I'd rather have the security of somebody else doing it. I seem to be a vandergraph generator when it comes to static electricity and somewhat clumsy, too. Last thing I want is to fry my graphics card.

As for what I'd do with 12gb RAM. Other than I want to play lots of games, I like my computers to be as futureproof as possible. When I got my current PC, 2gb RAM was a LOT and my processor was fast. Now, it struggles to animate certain flash web pages and the processor gets hot real fast, causing my case fan to go into overdrive whenever I do anything as taxing as encoding a video.

I expect 12gb rAM will keep my computer relevant for a few years yet.

fozmcfc

I'm not a fan of building your own pc's TBH.

Years ago maybe, as you could save hundereds, but nowadays it is nowhere near that. One advantage is you can at least get the spec you 100% want by building your own.

I've often fancied building my own and possibly will do one day just as a project and to see if I can do it. I'm pretty computer savvy and think I would get a buzz out of seeing it running. I would probably look at spending less than £300 though.

As for 12gb of ram well, firstly you'll need an operating system that will use it. So if it's windows, basically a 64bit version, otherwise 3gb is the maximum windows will use. 12gb is really only needed for a high end gaming system or one to use for design and technology purposes, I'm a gamer and manage just fine with 6gb.

One thing to remember, there is no point in getting a top end processor and loads of ram, if other components are going to drag it down. 12 gig of ram is overkill unless paired with a I7 Core processor and a top end graphics card IMO.

googler

I'm thinking of buying from Novatech, one of their 'bare bones' systems, if the OP wants to look there....

vyle

fozmcfc wrote: »

I'm not a fan of building your own pc's TBH.

Years ago maybe, as you could save hundereds, but nowadays it is nowhere near that. One advantage is you can at least get the spec you 100% want by building your own.

I've often fancied building my own and possibly will do one day just as a project and to see if I can do it. I'm pretty computer savvy and think I would get a buzz out of seeing it running. I would probably look at spending less than £300 though.

As for 12gb of ram well, firstly you'll need an operating system that will use it. So if it's windows, basically a 64bit version, otherwise 3gb is the maximum windows will use. 12gb is really only needed for a high end gaming system or one to use for design and technology purposes, I'm a gamer and manage just fine with 6gb.

One thing to remember, there is no point in getting a top end processor and loads of ram, if other components are going to drag it down. 12 gig of ram is overkill unless paired with a I7 Core processor and a top end graphics card IMO.

That's what im going for. i7, high end graphics card (but I do need to do some more research into them, because theyre a bit of a minefield to me).

I'm going for win 7 64bit... I have it already but need to look into seeing if I can transfer the license to a new pc or not. Win 7 64 home premium supports up to 16gb I think.

I was contemplating 6gb RAM, but in a year or two, high end games will likely require a minimum of 6 to run smoothly.

Though thinking about it, I could go with 6 and then upgrade to 12 if I need to later, but then 6gb isnt much cheaper now than 12. the real cost is in the processors and graphics cards.

banger9365

vyle wrote: »

That's what im going for. i7, high end graphics card (but I do need to do some more research into them, because theyre a bit of a minefield to me).
gigabyte motherboards are very solid and most will oc to 4ghz plus
I'm going for win 7 64bit... I have it already but need to look into seeing if I can transfer the license to a new pc or not. Win 7 64 home premium supports up to 16gb I think.
retail copy you can oem you cannot
I was contemplating 6gb RAM, but in a year or two, high end games will likely require a minimum of 6 to run smoothly.
rubbish 6GB is more than enough for a gaming pc and games that are out now do not us 6GB never mind 4GB
Though thinking about it, I could go with 6 and then upgrade to 12 if I need to later, but then 6gb isnt much cheaper now than 12. the real cost is in the processors and graphics cards.
12GB of ram is a very big waste off money,video editing and stuff like that might us 12GB but games will not,
most are console games ,edited to play on pc's,there are very few pc games are made for the computer

..........

vyle

banger9365 wrote: »

..........

While at work today, I spotted a Dell desktop with 6gb RAM, 1GB ATI graphics card (not sure which one), core i7, 1tb hard drive, win7 64 home premium and loads of USBs. It's down to £799, so I've reserved that.

Figured that with staff discount, it'll be a good value machine (about £700).

So I'll see how I get on with 6gb and the bundled graphics card. If I want more, it's a nice big case and I can always upgrade later on. Even with a really high end graphics card, I'll still be significantly below my original budget of £1300.

Sure I won't get the USB 3 ports, but I dont have anything (and probably won't for some time) that will support USB3 anyway.

I love working where I work XD.

weegie.geek

If you find you need USB3 then a PCI-E usb3 card isn't expensive.

vyle

weegie.geek wrote: »

If you find you need USB3 then a PCI-E usb3 card isn't expensive.

Good idea. I got the Dell Studio XPS tower from work. 6gb RAM, 1tb hdd, 8 or 9 USB ports, i7 processor and an ATI 5450 1gb card. I may upgrade the card in a bit, but at the moment it's a novelty getting games running at a decent frame rate. Going to give it a real test with crysis though....when it downloads.