[lagerstarfish]

Due to cost being a major issue I'm thinking about building a PC instead of buying one.
Where do I look to find out what parts will compliment each other?
Where do I look for the cheapest prices?

It'll be used for video editing for me and Photoshop jiggery for my wife (it takes a lot of processing power to make photos of me look half decent) and no doubt the older daughter will use it for animating kitten gifs.

i7 860 processor is looking like a favourite due to reasonable price and ability to hyper-thread (hopefully cut down render times for HD video using Vegas) - I am aware that this means more expensive RAM (DDR3) - am I wasting my money; would I almost as well off with a cheaper quad core?

Thinking about something like this, which I would hope to build for less.

Baffled and boggled from Heeley

Lagers

edit - would like it to use 2 screens; do graphics cards have 2 outlets or do I need 2 graphics cards? Do motherboards have places for 2 graphics cards?
only 1 screen will need to be outputting HD video, so can the other be run off some kind of cheaper graphics card?

[Johnny Brown]

I can't really recommend anything other than the principle. My computer is well fast and cost officially fuck all. Props to Keith and Jim for that.

[BB]

When I used to build PCs, I found the following websites very good:

http://www.ebuyer.co.uk/
http://www.scan.co.uk/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

The main challenge is to match your case, motherboard and CPU. Most other parts are generic. I would look for barebones systems or motherboard/CPU bundles to make things simpler and in many cases cheaper.

Do not skimp on your graphics card. Buy the very best you can afford.

[Jim]

i7 860 = £250
this is not building a pc on a budget, I could build 2 budget pc's for that much 
no experience of using the new generation of cpus but are in real terms only just a little bit faster than the core 2 quads so I've read
the i7 860 is socket LGA1156 which means the motherboard you buy needs to be socket LGA1156

I use www.aria.co.uk for most of my stuff because its cheap and just down the road from my house

[Jaspersharpe]

Didn't Bubba / slackers / Jim come to the conclusion recently that (for that sort of performance machine) there was little or no cost saving in building your own?

I think slackers said that Bubba's new PC was better spec than his (that he built) and cheaper.

 

[slackline]

Collection of PC stores that people recommmend

I built my system buying bits from Ebuyer and Scan (although the motherboard was from Amazon)



As Jasper notes, I could probably have got similar, if not higher, spec for less purchasing a pre-built one, but I wanted to make my own.

[Bubba]

Didn't Bubba / slackers / Jim come to the conclusion recently that (for that sort of performance machine) there was little or no cost saving in building your own?

It's cheaper to buy one ready-built from ebay imo.

I recommend this seller as it's who I just used.

[Tris]

It's cheaper to buy one ready-built from ebay imo.

I agree with Bubba (although maybe not the from Ebay part  )

Building your own pc is usually only cheaper if you already have some of the expensive parts already (hdd/cpu/motherboard) therefore reducing the cost. Also it's a fuck of a lot less hassle buying ready built as you don't have to piss around trying to figure out what goes where and what screws to use (yes it doesn't take long for experienced people but if it's your first time it could take a few hours). And there's also the risk of component DOA's (a pain in the ass if you buy parts online and not from a local supplier).

Personally I think that if you don't have existing parts, building a pc is only valuable/applicable for people who have special requirements (graphics/raid setup/special case/cooling etc etc). For a generic bog standard pc it's cheaper and easier to get one off the shelf.

[Jaspersharpe]

Fuck me that's two computer related threads I've posted on and been right. Best quit while I'm ahead.

[GCW]

I often build my own system.

The reason I did recently was because I was creating a high end system with multiple hard drives, a very fast (overclockable) CPU and a lot of RAM.  It eneabled me to future proof the thing by getting OTT case cooling/ PSU etc. 
And the whole thing cost about a grand (this is a few years ago) when a similar spec pre-build would be 1600 at the cheapest.

After that I've built the PC I'm now typing on.  This was 18 months back but it still cost less than buying a pre-made system, but when you're building something that costs 300 you only save 50 or less on buying something from the shop.  And you don't have warranties etc.


All that waffle means this-  I reckon if you're building a Kray like I did, it's very worthwhile*.  If you've not done it before and you're getting a basic system it may not be worthwhile, unless (like me) you enjoy the actual Lego^TM aspect of the whole thing.




*although if you haven't done it before you may be a tad nervous putting together quite costly components.

[Drew]

...if you haven't done it before you may be a tad nervous putting together quite costly components.

I built a computer a few years back (don't know what's changed), but I placed the CPU on the mobo, not knowing about the Zero Insertion Force lever, and still managed to get the cooling fan on without damaging anything (actually that's not strictly true. I ripped some flesh open when the corkscrew I was using came unhooked from the fan's clip, and glanced the back of my hand). I still managed to rebuild it properly, and use it for several years afterwards! I think some components are tougher than people would imagine.

[Lund]

I might consider building my own PC if I needed one (rather than just having a laptop), but only because I'm a geek rather than because I thought it would be cheaper.  Because of the bulk buy of components by the bigger manufacturers like dell, it's hard to beat them on price.

Don't forget that not only do you have to get the hardware, you have to get software for it - and windows is heavily discounted for the major manufacturers.  (Yes, you could put linux on it.)

If I wanted something specialised - like a machine for gaming or for video editing or something that I wanted to have a particularly high spec, then it's probably not a bad idea to build your own.  Or, if you want to do it bit by bit - you can start with a system with lots of expansion capabilities, and then expand the fuck out of it over the course of a couple of years.

The other major major reason that I'd build my own is so I could make it water cooled and overclock it.  With blue LED tubes and shit.

[GCW]

I think some components are tougher than people would imagine.

Yeah, but I know people that have snapped expensive mobos trying to push RAM in.

I find the whole process (from shopping to installing the OS) quite therapeutic.

[Paul B]

I bought an Acer PC from Ebuyer two months ago for the same kind of use Lagers, its fantastic. I did note recently it had gone up in price (according to Jim et al. due to increased RAM costs).

[lagerstarfish]

Thanks everyone for your replies; sorry for the delay in response, but my mind is a little boggled at the moment.

I hear what you all say and have been comparing ready built systems with the cost of the components alone. Looks like I'll be getting something like PaulB or Bubba.

Any particular favourite sellers other than Ebuyer and Ebay (and any fave ebay sellers)?

It's cheaper to buy one ready-built from ebay imo.

I agree with Bubba (although maybe not the from Ebay part  )

Where do you think is cheaper, Tris?

[Bubba]

Nothing wrong with ebay - I used these people:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/direct-pcs__W0QQ_armrsZ1

[Tris]

Where do you think is cheaper, Tris?

I meant I would think twice about buying a pc/parts from Ebay not that Ebay wouldn't be the cheapest. I would just make sure that whoever you buy from has a decent no quibbles return policy.

Personally I would rather buy from any of the big or reputable name on-line vendors (in no particular order - I may missed a few):

Ebuyer
Dabs
Scan
Aria
Microdirect
Insight
IT247
etc etc

[Bubba]

If they're paypal verified and have thousands of positive feedback then I can't see the problem.

[Tris]

All I am saying is to check the returns policy - IT equipment can have a high failure rate and suppliers are sometimes arsy about getting stuff swapped out. This is my personal experience/views, I am not saying it is the law...

[Bubba]

I agree re returns policy - didn't want to seem confrontational, it's just a lot of people automatically mistrust ebay and it's unjustified a lot of the time.

[Paul B]

All I am saying is to check the returns policy - IT equipment can have a high failure rate and suppliers are sometimes arsy about getting stuff swapped out. This is my personal experience/views, I am not saying it is the law...

Ebuyer aren't that great for returns either. I bought a Mic from them that was listed as having a mute button, it didn't have one on it and it wasn't easy to get them to accept it.
Also to initiate an RMA notice you HAVE to accept their T&C's which in some cases are bollocks, like sending you something completely different to what is pictured but yet they have in their T&C's that they can do this. Big companies = big ballache.

[slackline]

Conversely when I had an external USB drive from Ebuyer that didn't work I had no problems returning it and getting a replacement pretty quickly if I remember, although it was a few years ago now (must be your luck interfering again PaulB).

I chose to not tell them I'd cycled home from work where I'd had it delivered with it in my saddle bag though 

[Tris]

Ebuyer fucked me off the other week (although it wasn't their fault really but their customer service was shite).
I bought an Acer nettop from them and I wanted it guaranteed next day so I paid £12.99 so that it was on a pre-12 delivery.
Anyway 12pm came and went so at half 12 I rang them up and asked where was it? The woman checked and said it had been delivered at 11:50 and was signed for by someone called 'B Yung'. Now I'm pretty certain I have no Chinese people living in my house 
The woman then asked me if I was sure? 
After convincing her that it had not been delivered to my address, I demanded what was going to happen. She said they would have to wait for the delivery driver to return and then interview him and then they would re-send it but this could take 7-10 days. So much for fucking pre-bastard-12 delivery...
I demanded to speak to the manager which took 30 minutes on hold to get through to. The manager said they would get in touch with the delivery driver and get back to me.

Anyway at 3pm the fucking delivery driver turned up with my goods. He had gone to a similar address 4 miles away. Fucking delivery drivers - if they have a sat-nav why the fuck don't they use it? The postcode was nothing like mine!! twats

[rothers]

I just built a new pc last week and i chose to go for amd cpu as the price is quite a bit cheaper than the intel's at the moment. I would recommend the amd phenom ii 550 BE http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166518 as its good for overclocking and if your lucky and have a motherboard capable of it, then you can unlock the 2 dormant cores and you have yourself a quad core for around £65. You would need to purchase some ddr3 ram but think of it as an investment. For a motherboard i got myself http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169532 which does the job very well. Take your pick of graphics cards depending on what you will want to do with the comp. So for motherboard processor 4GB DDR3 ram and a mid range graphics card (around £100) you are looking at around £300. Add in the cost of hard drives disc drives and a case and PSU and you are looking at around £400 total which is alot cheaper than buying a similar spec pre-built.
This should give you a 3.1Ghz quad core processor (Hopefully when unlocked, if not it works superbly with 2 or 3 cores which is all you really need) 4GB DDR3 ram a perfectly adequate graphics card about 600GB hard drive storage, a case for around £30(look at this one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779)

[Paul B]

...all of which I bettered or equalled with an ebuyer purchased acer for £380