Can I build better for less?

[wedge22]

This pc
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...hs1&l=en&s=dhs

Is what my mate my buy, could I do better for less for him?

[blockers]

if you build it yourself then you can do much better - or is prebuilt what you want for him?

[Kebab]

its less than 590 squids with a 17" flat panel, considering the cpu (and the mobo to go with it) is it possible to do cheaper?

[wedge22]

I want to build him one myself from components but I am not sure you can do better for less money or even the same considering the TFT and windows need to be purchased too.

[wedge22]

Well when you try and buy the pc on their website it suddenly jumps up in price, am I supposed to enter a special code somewhere?

[Zak33]

Windows XP Home OEM is cheap enough mate. And tbh most give away 17" TFT's arepretty poor

[wedge22]

But can I build a better pc for the same money, that is as long as the dell one is £589

[shiato storm]

Well when you try and buy the pc on their website it suddenly jumps up in price, am I supposed to enter a special code somewhere?

i never understood how dell get away with that...there may be a code to enter but tbh i've never found that out. I guess thats why most of us on here build our own. you could try Mesh, they are better. and AMD too or evesham maybe, they have shops in various towns about the place, worth checking out. these two also list computers that have been in magazine reviews which is very handy. I almost got a mesh: this one but in the end decided to re-use parts I have so spent less building up my own. But this one is the best I've seen so far at the same region you're looking. it may be £100 more but I think its well spent, decent gfx card.
Please correct me if I'm way off...

[Spunkey]

When you click customise and buy the price becomes £705 - they have added £116 for a '3 year Next Business Day Warranty plus 30 Day online training trial pack' wooooo thats a real £120 value there. </sarcasm>

remove that and put on the 1 year European Collect and Return Service and it again become £589.

I think you'd be better building your own. Dell deserve to burn in hell. Dont give them your money.
Yes they give support, but its complete crap and not worth the toilet paper its written on.

[Kebab]

i had a look on Komplett, if u went for AMD64 3000+ with Epoxnf3 mobo (£65), beantech igloo 4 case, nec dvd +/- RW, Diamond Max 10 200GB SATA, POwercolour 9600 Pro, and either 512DDR2 PC3200 or 1gb DDR PC3200 it comes at just less than £600 (inc VAT but not delivery) but that is whithout XP, monitor, keyboard+mouse.

I know its not the best of the best MOBO but nf3 chipset is very solid, and you get a better graphic card and more RAM if you want to, so all in all it is a better system.

It s just to give you an idea.

[Spunkey]

OcUK could do you a A64 3000+, DFI LanParty UT nF3, 512 Ballistix PC4000, DVD-RW, 120Gb Maxtor, 9800Pro, Keyboard, Mouse and 420w Tagan for £560. You'd need to add a case and Monitor on to that.

If you really want a 17" TFT you'll have to go down to something like a Sempron 2400 Bundle to stay under £600.
If you have a 17" CRT instead, you can just knock the 9800Pro down to a 9600 and you should be somewhere around the right numbers.

[shiato storm]

don't go OcUK...hearing lots of not too great news about them at the moment. go komplett or scan. better customer service 'cause they care more.

[Spunkey]

i was trying to look at Scan, but when i click on they're systems page it doesnt load

Maybe someone else can have a butchers

[Kebab]

From Scan

LN8974 AMD Athlon 64 3000 32/64Bit CPU S939 Winchester 90nm Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty £84.30 £99.05

LN9363 NEC ND-3520A Black x 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-Writer, OEM UK £35.54 £41.76

LN7934 256MB Abit ATI Radeon 9600XT DDR Retail £87.15 £102.40

LN9708 120Gb Samsung SpinPoint™ P80 ATA-150 (7200rpm,8mb) - SATA £48.87 £57.42

LN8041 Scan 3 in 1 Desk Manager Black - Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers £6.49 £7.63

LN5680 1Gb (2 x 512 Mb) Corsair Value Select Kit, DDR, PC3200, non ECC, Lifetime Warranty £85.31 £100.24

LN7844 Abit AV8, VIA K8T800PRO, ATX, DDDR400, Gbit Lan, USB 2.0, 1394, 6Ch Audio, SATA, Raid £62.84 £73.84

LN8300 420W Tagan Whisper aPFC UltraQuiet 21db 12v EPS/SATA/XEON 3 Years Warranty ATX/BTX

548 inc VAT and delivery

Case wise I think a chenbro Xspider 2 £40 from scan isnt too bad or go for the Beantech Igloo4 from Komplett at £49 which a hella sweeet case

this puts the whole lot at £600 without XP and monitor

[wedge22]

Ok nice suggestions guys but it needs to have windows and a tft with it

[Taz]

I'm not sure you'll be able to build it yourself much cheaper as you have to factor in a fair amount of time to order the bits and then the time taken to put the system together, test it, install XP on it and load all the service packs and patches.

However, i'll be switching on my new PC tonight and it's taken around two full months of planning with, on average, a couple of hours per day spent on research. However, I wouldn't buy a pre-built system as I now have a system that is expanadable and will last for a few years - something that you may not get with a pre-built system. You also get the satisfaction of seeing your own creation burst into life...or just, erm...burst (i'll find out later this evening!).