Buying PC Parts on finance, yay or nay

ellyroo
ellyroo Posts: 50
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edited 6 May 2018 at 3:54PM in Gaming MoneySaving
So here is my thing

i'm a student, who might be moving into a dorm next year, and with it i want to build a computer do to my college work on, and having something to relax on and game

and ideally the system i wanna build would do that job great, but im curious, should or could i buy parts for it on like a finance deal like say

i wanna get a 8700K and maybe a GTX 1080 or GTX 1170 when it comes out, i plan to maybe do a thing where i get it on finance and pay like 50 quid a month over like the next year or so for each part or that

i've heard mixed things about finance, and i should only get it if i truly have the money for it , so i have came here to ask what youg uys may think

the finance in question is something like SCAN finance or paypal finance

i got the income monthly to cover it, i just wont have enough time between now and next term to save up all the money for the system

if you look up the 8700k overclocked bundle from scan you'll see what im planning on

(40 quid a month)

this is similar to what i was thinking
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  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,816
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    I'm not sure what your question about finance is, yes you'll get the items you want now but you're going to end paying for that privilege. The 16% starting point Scan show is hefty particularly as that's the headline rate and you may find the rate you get (if at all) is significantly higher. I always find it something of a contradiction that people can always afford loan repayments despite being higher than saving up yet don't have any money saved up.

    I am familiar with the parts and have a decent high end desktop PC/production system myself but I think it's crazy to be buying high end premium products on finance, you're paying a lot more money for very small performance increases and increasing the debt. It's fine if you have the money to burn on an i7 with a 1080 but clearly you don't.

    It's not a good time to buy a PC either, the graphics card market is finally recovering from another crypto currency boom and bust but DDR4 prices are still painfully high and meant to be getting better this year.

    I'd also question the choice of a desktop PC as a student living in a dorm as while I prefer a desktop PC for high performance these days, when I was a student and when I was on the move more I preferred a laptop.

    John
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    Get a summer job - you'll have enough to buy it outright before your course starts ;)
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • ellyroo
    ellyroo Posts: 50
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    Heya guys, thank you for your responses! ^u^

    I just figured the finance thing would be nice and maybe able to help me get something that will be powerful enough for me to cherish and take care of, rather than some faulty system like i got on the used *_*, and im kind of doing it possibly as a sort of investment/incentive as in, stick into college sort of thing, which is my source of income , along with another source of income

    (and dont worry, i'm volunteering in a garden when the next term of college comes out, so im not some lazy !!! rich girl huhu)

    i could possibly afford an i7 and 1080/1170 when it comes out) if i saved up for ages (like about 8 months), but i kind of want to have the system in by august, for when i move into a dorm, and something that has warranties and all that stuff on it.

    on a side note, what advice do you guys have for living in a dorm? the place im gonna be in is a twin bedroom, with a roommate, and hopefully i'll be cooking dinner for my group when the time comes >:)

    laptop wise, i have one :), it's nice and awesome, but if i threw stuff like streaming and rendering at it it'd be unfair to it's poor little heart :'( , but it's an awesome portable companion , thus more of the reason to have a powerful desktop for heavy loads, and laptop for out and about :)
  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,816
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    edited 7 May 2018 at 1:52AM
    Before anything else, have you actually looked into whether you can get finance? Unless you've got some credit history and a job then you're unlikely to get a loan and certainly not at headline rates.

    I really don't understand your attraction to finance either, you're already wanting to pay a hefty premium to get high end parts so to a good chunk more on finance just to get the system slightly sooner. You're being vague about details so it's difficult to give more specific advice but like the user above has said, I would be earning over the summer to get the system before August as you've plenty time on your hand.

    I wasn't recommending buying a used system, you could easily get a much cheaper system with most of the performance - components like the i7 and 1080 are a large price increase over the next one down in the range for a small percentage increase in performance. When I *needed* a PC for university, I worked all summer and bought one of suitable spec. Having worked all summer to get the pc I certainly cherished it and spent a lot of time choosing it as well.

    I get that you want a shiny new itembnow, plenty people do but given there's a lot of financial pressure for students starting yourself saddled with a massive amount of debt for a premium gaming PC seems crazy to me.
  • ellyroo
    ellyroo Posts: 50
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    edited 7 May 2018 at 3:40AM
    I looked into ti and looks like i can get it :D, though i dont have any credit history, but i do have a sort of bursary and disability income that looks like might be able to

    Well, what im meaning is, im moving into a dorm next term, and i'd like to have something up and running by august, rather than having to wait most of next term saving up only to get the system by like mid 2019 or that :'). i dont mind paying a bit ontop if it means i can get it a bit earlier, just so i got everything together on time for moving in , sorry if im making a bit of a fluff

    Also yeah i probably didn't do a good job with the parts pick, i forgot to mention is im waiting out for the new nvidia cards to come out, then im likely picking up a 1170 i meant to say sorry :'), also i'd be using this for pretty hefty loads like 3D modeling and that and streaming and video editing, rather than gaming (if it was purely gaming i'd just go with an 8600K and a 1070).

    financials wise, i've set myself a limit of 135 a month for this, as this combined with my other expenses would give me headroom and allow me to send more money towards home or have some money spare around for a damp day or someones birthday or that


    sorry if im screwing up, im like... a young naive adult

    the paper math i did was

    250 (disability, allof them)
    300
    250
    500 (bursary)

    - 150 (rent)
    - 200 (rent, bills etc)
    - 150 (bills)
    - 400 (dorm rent, food, etc)

    it'd leave me about 400 , now i got one or two things that'd equate to about 50-60 off of that, and add on some maybe extra food expenses, and say i got 300 spare around, i'd try aim for a 135 a month thing at very maximum for the PC, hopefully get it down to 100. so that leaves me with 200 for other things or extra bills that may need to get paid someday

    in the summer the thing i've been wanting to do is upcycling PC's but trying to find a recycling centre that isnt "anal" about it is a little difficult in this small part of scotland :'), but i hope more stuff will appear in glasgow, but to maybe obsess a little

    i wanna make my own cases, and use parts in them from PC's people throw out which are perfectly fine but may have a niggly issue to fix like a failed hard drive or cooler gone bad , etc, then just give them into a CEX Or cash converters :D i thought i wanted to tell you guys that

    or like

    go to recycling centre or place where pc is abandoned > find a computer that's perfectly fine, might just need a part replacement -> take parts out -> rebuild PC, and add any extra parts if needs be like budget graphics card or new power supply -> make new case or modify existing one -> finish up system, make sure its all good, -> take system to cash converters or cex or somewhere and sell it, make profit c:
  • tonyh66
    tonyh66 Posts: 1,736
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    computers from recycle centres generally go to charities for reuse, your never going to find a source of free computers to do up, and finally you will get very little for CEX or cashconvertors for your 2nd hand desktops, probably not worth doing it unless you want to be paid £1-5 per hour for your labours.
  • ellyroo
    ellyroo Posts: 50
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    edited 7 May 2018 at 11:34AM
    hmm, i know a guy who does something similar and he actually makes a pretty penny from it

    i was alternatively thinking

    i could try trade a few things into a local CEX, and get myself a 5960X for about 200, (CPU's rarely fail?, and cex do do a warranty on them) maybe a graphics card from them too, and just do finance on extra tidbits like case and ram (or basically be paying off 500-700 quid worth of things rather than a whole 2K-3K system)?

    and a decent X99 board could be found for 100-150 quid

    sorry if im going in circles with this :')
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    ellyroo wrote: »
    hmm, i know a guy who does something similar and he actually makes a pretty penny from it

    i was alternatively thinking

    i could try trade a few things into a local CEX, and get myself a 5960X for about 200, (CPU's rarely fail?, and cex do do a warranty on them) maybe a graphics card from them too, and just do finance on extra tidbits like case and ram (or basically be paying off 500-700 quid worth of things rather than a whole 2K-3K system)?

    and a decent X99 board could be found for 100-150 quid

    sorry if im going in circles with this :')

    I know a few guys who used to do it (although it wasnt for profit - they'd put together towers from old parts for people who didnt have a computer) but they don't anymore because basic desktops are so cheap now.

    Plus if you're making something and selling it for a profit with any sort of regularity at all, youd have to abide by consumer rights legislation and declare that income to the HMRC and pay tax on it.

    Have you checked your budget to see if there are any savings you can make? This is a money saving site after all and I know when I was in my student years I was atrocious with budgeting.

    Whats the cost of the loan? In other words, how much interest will you pay in total over the loan period? Now how many monthly payments does that equate to?


    As for dorm/student living...really depends on the student. A tip I'd give is to batch cook. I do it even now as it saves time (and usually works out cheaper as you're maybe using 1kg of chicken instead of 5 x 200g). Although if i'm doing something like curry or spaghetti bolognese, I only batch cook the sauce - the rice/spaghetti I just cook on the night as it only takes 10 mins. If I'm freezing them, I'll split them into portion sizes (in freezer bags or tubs) then freeze.

    As for your budget, have you accounted for all expenditure and not just monthly spends? ie birthdays & christmas? Nights out? Clothes? Anything you might need to replace if it breaks? I do that with my household - take the value of appliances etc, what sort of life span i might get out of them and then work out the weekly or monthly cost.

    Im just thinking of how I was at your age, of course you may be far more sensible than I was so feel free to disregard.
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • ellyroo
    ellyroo Posts: 50
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    I know a few guys who used to do it (although it wasnt for profit - they'd put together towers from old parts for people who didnt have a computer) but they don't anymore because basic desktops are so cheap now.

    Plus if you're making something and selling it for a profit with any sort of regularity at all, youd have to abide by consumer rights legislation and declare that income to the HMRC and pay tax on it.

    Have you checked your budget to see if there are any savings you can make? This is a money saving site after all and I know when I was in my student years I was atrocious with budgeting.

    Whats the cost of the loan? In other words, how much interest will you pay in total over the loan period? Now how many monthly payments does that equate to?


    As for dorm/student living...really depends on the student. A tip I'd give is to batch cook. I do it even now as it saves time (and usually works out cheaper as you're maybe using 1kg of chicken instead of 5 x 200g). Although if i'm doing something like curry or spaghetti bolognese, I only batch cook the sauce - the rice/spaghetti I just cook on the night as it only takes 10 mins. If I'm freezing them, I'll split them into portion sizes (in freezer bags or tubs) then freeze.

    As for your budget, have you accounted for all expenditure and not just monthly spends? ie birthdays & christmas? Nights out? Clothes? Anything you might need to replace if it breaks? I do that with my household - take the value of appliances etc, what sort of life span i might get out of them and then work out the weekly or monthly cost.

    Im just thinking of how I was at your age, of course you may be far more sensible than I was so feel free to disregard.

    I'd maybe still love to do it ^v^ , i mean even as a charitable thing specially as my local area could really do with it sometimes , or least something for me to contribute to rather than being a liability

    and oh i didn't know that D: , though how regular are we talking? i'd be thinking i'd probably get 1-3 sales a week at the very most (hopefully making 50 quid profit on each)

    and i have not checked my budget for savings to be made :') , but i figured you guys would be pretty nifty with financial advice (plus maths is fun :P )

    and oh yeah i mean, with the paper maths i did, i figured i'd have 150-200 a month spare for clothes or birthdays or anything other if i do the computer and other expenses i need to do

    but i decided ultimately against going with scan finance or paypal finance, and if needs be i could just get a loan from TSB (my bank) if that might be a better option? and then pay it off over 2 years :) , cause with my income it'll be perfectly easy to do so

    and i decided i'll do what i did in the past, get some parts used that rarely fail like the CPU and that

    and trust me, you think you would be bad with money? i'd freaking turn a multi billion dollar corporation into a corner newsagents with 400 million in debt in 5 years
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    ellyroo wrote: »
    I'd maybe still love to do it ^v^ , i mean even as a charitable thing specially as my local area could really do with it sometimes , or least something for me to contribute to rather than being a liability

    and oh i didn't know that D: , though how regular are we talking? i'd be thinking i'd probably get 1-3 sales a week at the very most (hopefully making 50 quid profit on each)

    and i have not checked my budget for savings to be made :') , but i figured you guys would be pretty nifty with financial advice (plus maths is fun :P )

    and oh yeah i mean, with the paper maths i did, i figured i'd have 150-200 a month spare for clothes or birthdays or anything other if i do the computer and other expenses i need to do

    but i decided ultimately against going with scan finance or paypal finance, and if needs be i could just get a loan from TSB (my bank) if that might be a better option? and then pay it off over 2 years :) , cause with my income it'll be perfectly easy to do so

    and i decided i'll do what i did in the past, get some parts used that rarely fail like the CPU and that

    and trust me, you think you would be bad with money? i'd freaking turn a multi billion dollar corporation into a corner newsagents with 400 million in debt in 5 years

    It really is with any regularity - ie its okay to sell your old personal computer when you get a new one once in a blue moon, but actually obtaining something for the purpose of selling it places you as a business, even if you're only doing it once a month.

    :rotfl::rotfl: I wasnt that bad with debt - more just bad at budgeting/value for money. Earned loads but felt like I never had much to show for it. Now, I earn much less than I used to (cut my working hours significantly) but I have far more money (as strange as that sounds) and can easily buy anything I want upfront. The savings all mount up. Even £20 a week is £1000 a year - a holiday, or perhaps a new computer :)
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
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