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

Shankublud · 1 Jun 2013 at 18:30

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?

Shankublud · 1 Jun 2013 at 18:42

Jay Blizzay said:
AFAIK it's only up to £100 for the build/overclock

I'd be more than happy to pay a premium of £100 for the Overclockers guys to build it, but every system I've specced (with no overclocking selected) is over £400 higher than the price of the individual items from their own store.

Shankublud · 1 Jun 2013 at 19:19

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.

Shankublud · 1 Jun 2013 at 19:36

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.

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?

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.