PC's

[david31337]

I have been asking this question to many people since i stared to build my own pc's and wanted your opinion!
My pc specs are quite good for a home pc. 3.2 processor, 15gb ram, 180gb hdd, 17" tft etc.......the same pc in pc-world cost £1500-2000, how can the componies(sp?) justify us paying this when anyone can build the same pc for £500-700?? Most people just say that you are paying for the build, I don't think thats the case, whats the answere??

[Daleaholic]

:eek: EEK Do you mean 15gb or 1.5gb of Memory? anyways, Places like PC world sell em at those kind of prices because people who know absolutely nothing about PC's will come in and buy it, PC world know that ;)

[brumster]

It's called "business" :) if everyone knew how to do it, then no-one would pay it! But I know what you mean - it's just that we're all in the know on this forum, so we're not fooled by those ads. Stomping down prices my @r$e - stomping down quality, more like.

[david31337]

ops, 1.5 not 15gb!! Windows Xp tops out at 3gb!!
guess people pay for ease. but paying almost £1000 quid more for some dull PC sux!! When peeps catch on mabey PC prices will drop %100 :)

[BUFF]

It also depends exactly what components in the final build - you can buy a 17" TFT for £150 but you can also pay twice that .
You can have integrated gfx in a mobo that costs £30 but you could also spend £500 for a mobo & gfx card.

PCWorld,Tiny etc. retail definitely aim for the less tech. savvy punter who doesn't know about PCs/
On the other hand I know that e.g. taking Dell or Mesh systems & trying to build a system of exactly (or as close as possible) spec. often results in little or no savings simply because of the economies of scale that they have (e.g. I pay £60 for XP Home oem but Dell probably only pays £15).

[david31337]

Good point! I think you could build a PC with the same components as dell for alot cheaper?!
LOL and software, when was the last time you paid for it(if you c what im getting at)? :P

[Fireblade]

... and software, when was the last time you paid for it(if you c what im getting at)? :P
I do indeed... and it was just the other day as a matter of fact (another copy of XP Pro in case you're wondering)! There are honest citizens out there/among us ye know :rolleyes:

Let's not go down that route on a public forum, eh David!

[BUFF]

and software, when was the last time you paid for it(if you c what im getting at)? :P
All my OS, AV, games etc. are legal.

& try building an equivalent to 1 of Dell's recommended systems - it's very hard to do for the price & then they will chuck in an OS, Works, warranty & (outsourced to India) support.
Not to say that it isn't worth building your own to get exactly what you want rather than what they offer though.

[vantim]

Sure you pay for the build but, that's only a 7~15% increase. All these companies mark up their hardware but buy it for pennies. What you will pay for is the name.

EXAMPLE: When building a system
I Can't touch Dells cheap systems with software.
I can easily beat Dells high end systems even with software (better parts with the same or better price)

The big OEM's are catering to the general population. Nobody wants to spend an arm and leg for a computer just to send e-mail and those people make up 80% of the market. So on the cheap systems(which=good proc, 512mb ram, built in everything else and crap peripherals) they give those away just for the sales and market hits.
Then they mark up the high end systems to be competitive with the likes of Alienware and such, just to stay involved but take some sales away. Pro's and gamers (such as ourselves) know better than to fall for this. But common computer folk just give it up thinking. Hey, I got a Dell. No.1 computer maker in the world. No offense to Dell owners meant.
Most of us wouldn't buy a Dell just because it's a Dell. On the other hand, most of us wouldn't buy a voodoo of a falcon cause they cost too damned much.

These guys are just market watchers. Look; Dell never was in the gaming market until it got big when the PIII/Athlon wars started back in 1999. Now they try to play up to everybody. Not just Dell though All of 'em:HP, GATEWAY,COMPAQ.

All the OEM's are aware you can build a better rig than they can. But if they tried to compete they would lose because that's not where the big market is.... There just isn't enough gamers and pro's to make up the cash. So they sell cheap pc's with impressive numbers to pull the wool over everybodys eyes.

Just my 2 cents

[six5tring]

firstly.. yup i buy all my software. i am a subscriber to MSDN and the action pack. i can't build a dead cheap pc for less than dell.. and certainly not as quietly whilst buying all the legit software.. win XP, MS works ect ect. think all thats already been said but ah well! Only advantages of building your own is.. 1) it's fun 2) u can put what u like in it 3) u don't get locked mobo's ect so overclocking is easier (if u want too that is!) - six

[vantim]

amen brother

[brumster]

Sure you pay for the build but, that's only a 7~15% increase. All these companies mark up their hardware but buy it for pennies.

Absolutely. When you're buying 1000 Pentium 4 processors, you can go direct to Intel and get them for a bargain price (I would imagine; I'm not going to phone them up and try and get a quote!). The further down the chain you get, the worse the prices get.

A well-known UK distributor (ah, to hell with it, it's C2K) still wants to charge me more on a per-unit basis for *five* CPUs than I can buy them for *individually* at retail prices from the likes of Novatech/Aria/Scan/eBuyer/etc. Go figure, but someone does business out of it!

[david31337]

So i guess theres no real answere to "why buy a pc, just build your own"? But if you want a certain spec then build your own.

[The Pimp]

ops, 1.5 not 15gb!! Windows Xp tops out at 3gb!!

If it does then how come I am running 4GB in this rig no problems on XP????

[vantim]

Straight from Microsoft:
Windows 2000 Memory Support. With Windows 2000 Professional and Server, the maximum amount of memory that can be supported is 4096 MB (identical to Windows NT 4.0, as described later in this section). However, Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports 8192 MB of physical RAM and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server supports 32,768 MB of physical RAM using the PAE feature of the IA-32 processor family, beginning with Intel Pentium Pro and later.

Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 Memory Support. The maximum amount of memory that can be supported on Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 is also 4 GB. However, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition supports 32 GB of physical RAM and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition supports 64 GB of physical RAM using the PAE feature.

For more reading: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

[lancelot]

The one exception to all this is getting the likes Kustom and Scan to build a bespoke system for you. I've never built my own system but I knew when I came to buying my PC last year I didn't want to go to PC world to get some over-priced piece of crap. So I looked around and found that there are some quality firms out there (such as Kustom) who build to order. They don't charge the earth to build it (£50 or something) and you can still get warranty.

There are obviously some crap bespoke PC firms too... Microlandtechnology springs to mind (had major hasles with them...i.e.ordered PC, heard nothing for two months, asked where PC was... they said "not built" ...I asked when it would be...the said "dunno"!?!?!?!?!?...cancelled order...waited a further 3 months to get my money back :mad: ... worked out they'd made £50 from me from the interest they earnt on my dosh)

Must admit that in future I'd be temted to build it all myself for the challenge. That way I might actually get round to buying rounded EIDE cables, cathodes and braiding etc.