New Build or Not New Build...That is the question?!

[gonzo39]

I have just recently decided to go for an upgrade with my computer. I have seen a great little Dell machine for sale in PC World for £350. Now it says on the advert it is top of the range graphics, monitor, wireless mouse etc. But after speaking to a friend of mine the other day im not so sure. He said he could get a custom new build machine made for me which would be just as good as well as being about £100 cheaper. Has anyone got any thoughts on this?

[Bagnaj97]

For £350 it's not going to have a top of the range anything, especially if that includes a monitor and peripherals. What's the computer mainly going to be used for and what's your budget?

[Phage]

^^ This.
Crikey - what sort of system are you going to get for £350 all in ?

[Blackmage]

Could you post the spec's or add for the PC that you had seen the other day, i'm curious that's all.

[shakerist]

Top of the range graphics card in a little dell for £350, I dont think so because
Top of the range = http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-z...-dvi-i-mini-dp OR http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-s...i-i-4x-mini-dp

Thats just a top of the range graphics card, you have left a monitor, peripherals, motherboard ,cpu ,case, psu, ram, hard drive and dvd drive which I think is a little bit more than £350

[Saracen]

Top of the range system, inc monitor, for £350?

If you believe that, I've got a top of the range plastic Rolex for only £300. Bargain.

You couldn't get a top of the range monitor for £350, let alone one attached to a system. And the same could be said for graphics card.

You can get quite respectable systems for that, but not top of the range, not by quite a large margin. Add a couple of grand to that and ... maybe.

If you want advice on component selection, and upgrade versus new build, there's plenty of people round here that can help, but I'd suggest starting with :-

- what you've got now, and
- what you use the system for.


For instance, the optimum spec for a gaming machine is likely to be different to one for Photoshop, which will be different to one used for Word, web browsing and the kid's homework.

If your budget if £350, then I'd suggest it's either going to be an artful compromise for a general purpose machine if you're buying a whole system, or quite careful selection and balancing of components if you're going to build, reusing anything that can be reused, because that budget is very tight, if it includes a monitor.

One point .... building your own is unlikely to save you money over buying a ready-made Dell, etc. You can't get the component prices Dell can. What it will do is let you fine tune what you spend the money on, and preserve the options for upgrading. If you buy a ready-built machine, be very careful if you want to preserve the ability to upgrade, because you may find proprietary cases, or very limited power supplies, or the lack of ability to add RAM, or very restrictive (and sometimes locked down) BIOSes on the motherboard.

Building is mainly about getting the best blend of bits, and about buying with a view to upgrading. And about avoiding the risk of some components being cheap tat.

[kalniel]

I looked at Dell before doing the wife's build. The top graphics choice was something like a 5770. To get anything better required a jump up to a £1500 min. Alienware build. Hence for cheaper gaming builds they were a very bad choice, and strictly speaking, about £900 more than a self build!

[watercooled]

As above, you need to look at specs to know what you're getting but I highly doubt you'll be getting a modern high-end system for this price unless either someone at PC world has made a costly mistake or they are trying to shift stock at a loss for whatever reason. Post a link if it's on their website.