Interesting Comparison...

ph3onix

ph3onix

ph3onix

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Joined
14 Oct 2008
Posts
44
Location
Boro, UK
Just out of curiosity I thought I'd spec a custom build against a retailer to see the price difference. OK, the company I looked at provides extreme gaming rigs at extreme prices (not sure I can mention its name?). But its a well known online company, with an extra-terrestrial trademark (I can hint cant I?)

Anyway, the gaming rig came to £2999.99 (inc VAT) as follows:

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-940 Performance 2.93GHz 8MB Cache
Chassis : "Company" Chassis - Silver
Lighting: System Lighting - Blue
Cooling: High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Acoustic Dampening: None
Power Supply: 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply - UK Powercord
Graphics Processor : 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280
Memory: 3GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 3 x 1024MB
Motherboard: Intel® X-58 Chipset Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit - English
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 1.0 TB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM (2 x 500GB)
Optical Drives: Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer
Sound Hardware: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard
Monitor: (None)
Keyboard: Logitech® Classic Keyboard UK - Space Black
Mouse: Standard Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
Warranty: 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return

And then I specced a roughly equivelant system on OCUK, which came to £2192.79 (inc VAT)

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This is a saving of nearly £1000, which I find astonishing. That is providing you are willing, and able to build the system yourself. I found this good to know, as I've only ever bought pre-built PCs in the past.
 
Yah, this is why i'm saving up to buy parts from OC. Was gonna buy a £1000 PC pre-built, then realised that it'd not be totally tailor made and also not aesthetically pleasing to me, looked at OC, can make the same pc for like £250-£300, know exactly what parts i'm getting (All speeds and makes etc) and have it look like I want, then realised I could just spend £1000 on OC anyway and have a totally custom and far more powerful machine than I would have had.

And I don't think the mods will mind you putting that up when it shows OC provide awesome prices.
 
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I cba with building PCs nowadays... I did the current one and every PC I've ever owned but I think the next one will be custom built by OcUK to save me the hassle - I can't be bothered messing with memory timings, pestering people on the forums and the like :D

Saying that, a few years ago I remember OcUK sending a sheet of paper with overclocking hints and settings to use when I bought a load of kit. Not sure if they do this anymore (I didn't get anything with the last bunch of system components).
 
Solari said:
Look forward to being blamed for everything that goes wrong and being expected to fix everything they break :)
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Too bloomin right! :D

But TBH i'd probably get asked anyway so i always take it upon myself to do it for them. That way i know it's done right and can help them faster if anything does fail. :)

gt
 
I think the biggest reason for the price difference is probably down to the fact that its a Premium Gaming rig so they feel they can add more to the cost (profit).

If it was the lower end of the market the profit margins would probably be so much closer.

I suppose they also feel that they can price it higher as they have probably had to research the best gaming rig for you. A bit like us having to pop on this forum and read up for a while. :D

And don't forget all the fancy dohickeys and lights they will probably have to add. :D
 
Well,

TBH, a 33% markup is not THAT obscene if you put some thought into it. The retailer will incur the following costs:

Someone who will spend a few hours actually building the rig, and testing it. That could be a full working day (i.e 8 hours of wages)
Costs of guarantee (i.e having people there ready to deal with you, ship items back and forth etc etc to get you the replacement..that requires staff to implement which in turn are getting paid)
Advertising costs (their website costs money as well all their financial people and administrative staff that will pass your order down to the engineering monkeys)
Costs of loans to buy up stock (they buy in bulk and they take out loans to do that-i.e costs in interest rates)
and on and on and on..you get the idea..

but most of all you have to understand that buying directly from any retailer, especially a hardcore ueber-rig, you are saving yourself all the time you spent looking/reading/asking/discussing/studying to figure out how that ueber rig should be set up. Now imaging you had to take time off work to do all the research you have done to get to the level of knowleadge you are to be able to build that rig on your own..see?

After all the ueber-gaming-ready-made-rigs are not targetted to enthusiasts who build their own systems anyway, but people who don't (want to) know much about building a rig but still want to get the top stuff.

and that's business!

It is unfair to compare products that are directed to a completely different market than "us". By the same token any person who is good on DIY could tell you that carpenters and fitters are rip-offs for asking so much money to build you a custom made desk/kitchen/closet whatever. However, for you,me,the usual Joe their price might even seem a bargain.

Please don't mistake my post as a rant against anyone..it's just my insight into things.

ta
 
kgi said:
Well,

TBH, a 33% markup is not THAT obscene if you put some thought into it. The retailer will incur the following costs:

Someone who will spend a few hours actually building the rig, and testing it. That could be a full working day (i.e 8 hours of wages)
Costs of guarantee (i.e having people there ready to deal with you, ship items back and forth etc etc to get you the replacement..that requires staff to implement which in turn are getting paid)
Advertising costs (their website costs money as well all their financial people and administrative staff that will pass your order down to the engineering monkeys)
Costs of loans to buy up stock (they buy in bulk and they take out loans to do that-i.e costs in interest rates)
and on and on and on..you get the idea..

but most of all you have to understand that buying directly from any retailer, especially a hardcore ueber-rig, you are saving yourself all the time you spent looking/reading/asking/discussing/studying to figure out how that ueber rig should be set up. Now imaging you had to take time off work to do all the research you have done to get to the level of knowleadge you are to be able to build that rig on your own..see?

After all the ueber-gaming-ready-made-rigs are not targetted to enthusiasts who build their own systems anyway, but people who don't (want to) know much about building a rig but still want to get the top stuff.

and that's business!

It is unfair to compare products that are directed to a completely different market than "us". By the same token any person who is good on DIY could tell you that carpenters and fitters are rip-offs for asking so much money to build you a custom made desk/kitchen/closet whatever. However, for you,me,the usual Joe their price might even seem a bargain.

Please don't mistake my post as a rant against anyone..it's just my insight into things.

ta
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I totally agree with that actually. Yes, it is true you are buying a service aswell the actual PC, together with a 24/7 support line and warranty, plus all the gadgets and gizmos that come with it, etc. However, you say that you save yourself the hassle of all the research, studying, searching, etc...but iv just specced a fairly awesome PC there from OCUK by simply looking at the retailers spec and copying it. So, if you want a powerful rig, and know someone who can put the thing together (most people will know somebody, if they cant do it themselves), then this is a simple, easy way of doing so. All parts are compatible, etc.

And I dont necessarily mean overclocking the system, but just to purchase stock speed components - which is more than adequate for the majority anyway. You can save yourself a fortune.
 
Yeah the above 2 posts have got it right.

Its proved by the fact that even though I have offered for years to build my brothers PC he would rather go to the Purple Shirted High Street Shop to buy his PC's.

Why?

Are they better? Nope - one he bought even over heated immediately and he had to have a house fan blowing on it to keep it cool :D

Are they cheaper? Nope about the same really - except mine would contain better, more reliable components.

So why then? If it broke down he could go in the shop and rant at them till they gave him a new one. That wouldn't work with me :D

Personally I like the research and fun of building my own - some people dont I guess :D
 
I suppose you pay extra for peace of mind. Purchasing from a retailer you are pretty confident that you can get your computer fixed or replaced if anything goes wrong, providing its still within warranty (and unless they go bust - as many big companies seem to be lately...)
 
ph3onix said:
So, if you want a powerful rig, and know someone who can put the thing together (most people will know somebody, if they cant do it themselves), then this is a simple, easy way of doing so. All parts are compatible, etc.
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I guess it comes down to the psychological factor of having the "professional" do it for you, or have a mate do it for you.

If you wanted to build something expensive in your house, would you rather buy the material and get a mate build it for you, or get a professional to do it without any hassle (theoritically) and just pay him 20-30% more? I know that most people would try with their mate's but equally as many would feel a bit worried to go down that route.

Also consider that many of the people buying pc's are teenagers and the parents hold the wallet. The ultimate decision would come down on dad or mum, and they wouldn't be too happy to let "your" mate Johnny play around with a 2k worth of equipment!!

Again, I just want to stress that you have to look at the whole issue from the perspective of the retailers target group. If I had bought a spanking new expensive car and it had a problem, I wouldn't let any of my friends fix it even if they were capable enough, I'd take it to the professionals. That's how it works.

I totally agree that it's a waste of money buying ready-made systems but they serve a purpose. That is why people say that knowledge is power. You know how to build a system, you save yourself a heap of cash. Nice :)
 
kgi said:
I guess it comes down to the psychological factor of having the "professional" do it for you, or have a mate do it for you.

If you wanted to build something expensive in your house, would you rather buy the material and get a mate build it for you, or get a professional to do it without any hassle (theoritically) and just pay him 20-30% more? I know that most people would try with their mate's but equally as many would feel a bit worried to go down that route.

Also consider that many of the people buying pc's are teenagers and the parents hold the wallet. The ultimate decision would come down on dad or mum, and they wouldn't be too happy to let "your" mate Johnny play around with a 2k worth of equipment!!

Again, I just want to stress that you have to look at the whole issue from the perspective of the retailers target group. If I had bought a spanking new expensive car and it had a problem, I wouldn't let any of my friends fix it even if they were capable enough, I'd take it to the professionals. That's how it works.

I totally agree that it's a waste of money buying ready-made systems but they serve a purpose. That is why people say that knowledge is power. You know how to build a system, you save yourself a heap of cash. Nice :)
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So true. My mate's mom can get something like 15% off of Sony Vaio Desktops/Laptops. The one she's getting for him is something like £2500 with no monitor or speakers, and once you check the spec out, it can be all bought on OC, including a decent Monitor and speakers and generally be way more powerful, for a good £1000 less, but she won't lend him the money for the parts and let us build it :(
 
If i ever see someobody spend over 2k on a pc and 18 quid on both a mouse and a keyboard, i will officially give up gaming.

oh and i enjoy building pc's. although got to admit sometimes i just cant be botherd.

if youve got the money, why not eh.
 
EdGey said:
If i ever see someobody spend over 2k on a pc and 18 quid on both a mouse and a keyboard, i will officially give up gaming.

oh and i enjoy building pc's. although got to admit sometimes i just cant be botherd.

if youve got the money, why not eh.
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Lol, I can just about excuse the keyboard as the basic logitech keyboard isn't that bad (no Saitek Eclipse mind you).
But the mouse can't be excused even if it wasn't a gaming rig you still would buy a better mouse than that.
 
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