Is it still possible today to custom build a PC cheaper than the likes of Dell or HP?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I came up with this system from Scan:

Your Basket
QTY Price (ea) Ex VAT Total Inc VAT Remove
160GB Samsung HD161HJ SpinPoint T166, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £25.99 £30.54
1 LN9709 160GB Samsung HD161HJ SpinPoint S300, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital, AMD 690G, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, HDCP HDMI £36.50 £42.89
1 LN20023 MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital, AMD 690G, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, HDCP HDMI
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient £37.99 £44.64
1 LN15182 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient
LN19656
Optiarc 18xDVD±R, 8xDVD±DL, DVD + RWx8/-RWx6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM, Labelflash £16.69 £19.61
LN11608
400w Silverpower SP-400P2C thermal controlled cooling fans £20.79 £24.43
LN16904
Antec NSK4000/Mini Tower case without PSU , Black/Silver £23.99 £28.19
LN11094
1Gb Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £17.53 £20.60
LN19536
19" Hannspree New York, Black, Widescreen, 5 ms, DVI/VGA, 1440x900, 700:1, Speakers £89.89 £105.62
LN17169
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £44.24 £51.98
LN9285
Microsoft Multimedia Value Pack V2 Wired Keyboard, PS2, Ball Mouse, Ivory £10.99 £12.91

If you have free postage this comes to £381.41

Has a better spec than the system that you found - better CPU,motherboard,intergrated graphics,a lightscribe dvd writer,case and PSU.
The motherboard even has HDMI!!

This system has good quality components and even the PSU has got some good reviews!!

The only advantage is that the Dell system comes with Works 8 but OpenOffice will solve that issue for free!!

[CrazyMonkey]

CustomPC (ftw) did a Dell vs Custom build for £1000 the Custom Build turned out alot better on near all fronts apart from the obvious like customer support as you yourself are the real support for the CustomBuild.

It is a sempron mind, for an extra £50 my friend build a £400 pc that even plays games - This was about early summer so i would expect prices to have dropped even further.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

With a bit more stringent money saving you get the following system for around £370 if you qualify for the free postage:

160GB Samsung HD161HJ SpinPoint T166, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £25.99 £30.54
1 LN9709 160GB Samsung HD161HJ SpinPoint S300, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
LN19656
Optiarc 18xDVD±R, 8xDVD±DL, DVD + RWx8/-RWx6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM, Labelflash £16.69 £19.61
LN11608
400w Silverpower SP-400P2C thermal controlled cooling fans £20.79 £24.43
LN16904
Antec NSK4000/Mini Tower case without PSU , Black/Silver £23.99 £28.19
LN11094
1Gb Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £17.53 £20.60
LN17169
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £44.24 £51.98
MSI K9AGM2-L, AMD 690V, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 400 533 667 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX £27.75 £32.61
1 LN18194 MSI K9AGM2-L, AMD 690V, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 400 533 667 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX
LN16583
Logitech Deluxe 250 Wired Keyboard, PS2, Black £4.69 £5.51
LN8293
Logitech 953688-1600, Wheel Optical Mouse, 800dpi, PS2, 3 Buttons, Black £4.29 £5.04
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient £37.99 £44.64
1 LN15182 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient
Scan 3.5" Ivory Internal 52 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/Microdrive/Mstick) - Fits in 3.5" Bay £2.99 £3.51
1 LN4373 Scan 3.5" Ivory Internal 52 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/Microdrive/Mstick) - Fits in 3.5" Bay
19" Cibox SC-1905D, Black, Widescreen, 5 ms, DVI/VGA, 1440x900, 700:1, Speakers £87.99 £103.39
1 LN17662 19" Cibox SC-1905D, Black, Widescreen, 5 ms, DVI/VGA, 1440x900, 700:1, Speakers

Total cost:£370.05

[iranu]

^ That's about as good as it gets. I did a similar exercise at ebuyer and couldn't come up with anything better.

The only thing about building a PC for someone else is you then become their tech support if anything goes wrong but with CAT THE FIFTH selection of bits and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware then you shouldn't have an issue.

[Rishi]

LINK

See if you can hunt down a uber cheap monitor on top of that maybe; still would put you over the Dell quote though

[staffsMike]

even other dells are cheap than that dell lol

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...dt1&l=en&s=bsd

Ex VAT but nice and cheap

[DanceswithUnix]

The nicest part of self build for me is that you get to choose the case.

You can have something small like the NSK1300 or something brash like the Aplus with bonkers top fan or something more expensive looking (partly cos it costs another 50 quid) like the Sugo.

Dell make perfectly adequate PCs, but you tend to hide them away if possible

[chis]

Whether you go Dell or not, you should consider going for Windows XP. With 1GB of RAM, Vista is SLOW. XP on the same machine should fly along.

[Thorsson]

Whether you go Dell or not, you should consider going for Windows XP. With 1GB of RAM, Vista is SLOW. XP on the same machine should fly along.

Until it's no longer supported, which sounds like it would be in the life cycle of this wee beastie...

[Betty_Swallocks]

To be honest I never build computers for family and friends anymore. There's just no point. You might be able to undercut the big boys by a quid or two, but only if you're not charging for your time which I assume you wouldn't be doing for those people.

It's hard to see the advantage of self build under these circumstances. I'd never buy an over the counter PC for myself or my son but I really don't want the hassle of having to go and source the parts, spend time putting it together and installing all the software for someone who won't appreciate the difference just so that I will like their PC better.

I'd much rather spend some time helping them to decide exactly what they want and finding an over the counter machine that will best do their job and fit their budget.

That way if it goes wrong in the future they will have the warranty to fall back on and they won't have to wait until it's convenient for me to come and give the (free) support. I can really do without being an unpaid desktop support techie.

If they came to me and asked me to build them a gaming PC and gave me a reasonable budget to work with then that'd be a different matter, but how much are you realistically going to be able to save them over an entry level Dell or the like? £10? £20? Is it worth it?.

In fact what I usually do is take them to PC World or Currys and help them to choose something. (I know, I know. But the fact that if something goes wrong they can just box it up, take it back and say "Oi Abdul, fix this" makes up for any shortcomings these places may have)

[latrosicarius]

everyone always says how not to go cheap on a PSU, but you've all forgotten that while specking up those... Dell's come with FSP PSUs.

doesn't look like you can even get close to beating the big suppliers when it comes to cheap bargin PCs

Dell has OEM contracts with its part manufacturers. Not only does it get them at wholesale price, but it probably has multi-year, bulk-purchase agreements at even further reduced costs.

You will certainly be hard pressed to beat such prices by purchasing from an online RETAILER like newegg, etc, who likely has no such agreements with manufacturers.

OEMs like Dell are definitely the kings of the cheap PC markets, but if you are interested in making a performance or gaming PC, or want a PC with unique customization, then it's typically better and cheaper to build yourself.