Is there really such a premium on buying a pre built system?

Shankublud

Shankublud

Shankublud

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Joined
12 May 2009
Posts
8
I purchased my current system from Overclockers 4 years ago, and now it's time for an upgrade. I have no intention of building it myself.

However, after picking out the parts with the custom builder, the cost of the machines I was looking at tended to go from £1.2k-£1.5k, but if I check the prices of the parts on the Overclockers store, it always adds up to around £400-500 cheaper.

Surely Overclockers aren't charging half a grand just to build your system now?
 
Just specced one pre built on here; £991. Building the same cost £931. Seems fair enough to me?

What system are you looking at?
 
Shankublud said:
I purchased my current system from Overclockers 4 years ago, and now it's time for an upgrade. I have no intention of building it myself.

However, after picking out the parts with the custom builder, the cost of the machines I was looking at tended to go from £1.2k-£1.5k, but if I check the prices of the parts on the Overclockers store, it always adds up to around £400-500 cheaper.

Surely Overclockers aren't charging half a grand just to build your system now?
Click to expand...

It varies. roughly a 10%, 15% uptake.
 
When you include the 2yr warranty, plus their unrivalled customer service, plus their great returns policy, I think it is worth it and can totally understand why a new builder would go for one. Not for me personally as I love building them as much as I love gaming on them (and I need them for work). Peace of mind is priceless really.
 
Take this one for instance:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-282-OK

Now, I selected some upgrades from that (Max CPU, 16GB Ram, Additional Solid State, HD 7950, better case)

The price comes in at £1400

The individual components come in at £973

That's well over £400.

If I remove overclocking and 'cable management', that's a £60 saving, but still puts the 'build price' (with no cable management) in at £380.

Sorry, but 'returns policy' shouldn't factor into the price. You're entitled to the same returns policy when buying individual components.

You get a 1 year warranty by law, so no, £380 for shoving your components in and giving you an extra year warranty is not a fair price.
 
If you don't like the price don't buy it or if you want to get the same spec ring them and ask for a better deal.

Same thing happens in the car market, a Ford KA (base spec) will cost around 30% of the sale price to build if that.
 
Shankublud said:
Take this one for instance:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/syscon_int.php?prodid=FS-282-OK

Now, I selected some upgrades from that (Max CPU, 16GB Ram, Additional Solid State, HD 7950, better case)

The price comes in at £1400

The individual components come in at £973

That's well over £400.

If I remove overclocking and 'cable management', that's a £60 saving, but still puts the 'build price' (with no cable management) in at £380.

Sorry, but 'returns policy' shouldn't factor into the price. You're entitled to the same returns policy when buying individual components.

You get a 1 year warranty by law, so no, £380 for shoving your components in and giving you an extra year warranty is not a fair price.
Click to expand...

It is obviously a fair price for the business, if it isn't fair for you, build it yourself or buy from elsewhere?
 
mgsdetail said:
If you don't like the price don't buy it or if you want to get the same spec ring them and ask for a better deal.

Same thing happens in the car market, a Ford KA (base spec) will cost around 30% of the sale price to build if that.
Click to expand...

edgedemon said:
It is obviously a fair price for the business, if it isn't fair for you, build it yourself or buy from elsewhere?
Click to expand...

These two responses are pretty similar, so I've bundled them together.

The initial posts on this thread were of surprise and suggestion I'd done something wrong with the pricing. I too was under that impression when I initially priced things up.

Responses of 'if you don't like it, don't buy it' are just ridiculous really. It's a fair point I'm making - 50% extra on the price of your system for plugging the components in is terrible.
 
I just built a system using the link you posted and then upgraded the case, CPU, memory and PSU, changed the main HD to a Samsung 840 SSD and added a 2TB HD for storage and finally an HIS 7950 to finish up.

The system builder totalled £1349.84 inc VAT
The sum of all the parts totalled £1195 inc VAT
Therefore OcUK charges £155 for building, setting up and testing the system

Personally I think that's a very reasonable charge
 
Shankublud said:
These two responses are pretty similar, so I've bundled them together.

The initial posts on this thread were of surprise and suggestion I'd done something wrong with the pricing. I too was under that impression when I initially priced things up.

Responses of 'if you don't like it, don't buy it' are just ridiculous really. It's a fair point I'm making - 50% extra on the price of your system for plugging the components in is terrible.
Click to expand...

But it isn't 50%, unless you're doing something wrong?

Specced a system pre built again and it's £1219, same parts to buy are £1072. £147 or about 13%.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £279.95
1 x MSI HD 7950 OC BE 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7950-3GD5/OC BE G) £217.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £101.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 410 Enthusiast Midi Tower Case - White £84.95
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
1 x Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020064-UK) £79.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £77.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £68.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £59.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,072.81 (includes shipping : FREE).



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10% - 15% uplift on getting someone else to build/oc/stresstest is a pretty reasonable price - plus on the whole, they build hundreds, so know what they are doing - obviously nothing is perfect every time, but for any issues then they do have good customer care.

From my own past experience, i'd say ring them and explain what you want, I'm sure if they can offer some flexibility then they will
 
I'm fed up of building my own for the past 20 odd years. I want a stable system with warranty now as i have settled down and have a family so dont have time to faff around with my PC.

One question, if something does break do i have to return the whole PC unit? Sounds a bit pointless for something like a RAM failure.
 
llamadal said:
10% - 15% uplift on getting someone else to build/oc/stresstest is a pretty reasonable price - plus on the whole, they build hundreds, so know what they are doing - obviously nothing is perfect every time, but for any issues then they do have good customer care.

From my own past experience, i'd say ring them and explain what you want, I'm sure if they can offer some flexibility then they will
Click to expand...

I love this bit and I quote........,,

"they build hundreds, so know what they are doing - obviously nothing is perfect every time"

Build price is fine with me but are we doubting build quality here or what? It's a good thing customer care is good in that case eh!!!
 
It's common sense but sometimes people have elevated/unrealistic expectations.

They do a great job, but sometimes problems occur, and always will do at some point regardless of who/when/how built - not quite sure what your problem is, no-one is doubting build quality.

Point being that if there is an issue, they have built it, know the components inside and out, they provide great customer care - it's good piece of mind.
 
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