ozzieeagle

Yes definitely, they are heavily media based though, which in my mind is a good thing. I cannot find it at present but there is a EBAY seller that sells the returns at 400 dollars cheaper than the ALDI price.

arkon

Not all include the cost of the OS, Many a time I've been reading an advert and thinking...How the F do they sell it that cheap when I cant even buy the bits from the distributors for that? Then I find out either it doesn't include an OS (which means how can they test it properly) OR They include a counterfit version.

cresta57

That's true, when I built this one the front usb ports wouldn't work. After trying everything I contacted the supplier who informed me that they were aware of that problem and couldn't resolve it. A couple of days later a shiny new usb card arrived free of charge. It didn't solve the problem entirely as I then had to choose what else to sacrifice to install it. It's been fine now for nearly 4 yrs apart from the XP pro disc it came with must have been a counterfeit as I now have the nice blue star [ Windows Genuine Advantage Notification]
Most of the systems I've seen have the dreaded Norton suite installed, I dislike it a lot and would, given the choice, opt out of having it.

Swerv-o

Yes, I made the mistake of installing Norton on my thinkpad. The only advantage is the Antivirus definition updates. Unfortunately, the rest of it is a complete pain, especially when it suddenly decides that now is the time to perform a complete system check, and just starts it without asking. I'm sure there must be a prompt somewhere, but I don't have the patience for it.

What's the Blue Star business? I've never experienced that before, even on machines that I know have hacked MS software on.

S

cresta57

It's an auto update from the nice guys at Microsoft it installs on your pc and tells you you have a counterfeit OS. Mine should be genuine It certainly looks like a genuine one hologram etc. Could be just that it was registered in the U.K and now it's popped up online in Australia. Either way it's to much hassle to attempt to delete it from the registry when I'm looking to update to a new system.

tucs

Only just looked at this thread and read only a bit of it, but just wanted to let you know that i worked for a very big semi conductor manufacturer and they gave us all a class in building your own PC.
went on for a full day, very good and at the end of the class they gave us all a free computer chip of our choice. Any chip we wanted, and then gave us all the info we required to go off and build our own bells and whistles PC.
As we were about to leave the class we were then informed that it was way cheaper to buy a PC to required spec than it was to build your own PC (even with the chip we were given)

arkon

The reasons it is cheaper to buy a complete system here is basically all components should be marked up anywhere from 10% to 30%, usuually you can't get all the parts from the same supplier so here postage becomes a big cost. So if I as a system builder were to just add up all the cost of the bits that make up a PC and then add on the markup per component plus recoup my postage costs the price of the PC would be somewhere between 30 and 40% HIGHER than what other companies especially DELL are selling them for. As you can appreciate noone here will buy based on quality so they buy on price and you just can't compete if you carry over the true markup. So instead we have to just build a system for our cost price and add an arbitary figure on for building it. Usually a pittance and frankly not really worth doing. The upshot is to build yourself here is much more expensive than back home.

Why the differenece between countries? It's because in the UK I had a one stop shop supplier for all the bits so not only did you incure a much smaller freight charge but postage full stop is a lot cheaper as a ratio of the cost of the bits back home. PLUS the UK really had got to grips with ecommerce for things like PC bits and the cost of them was much cheaper.

Swerv-o

I've always built my own PC's, and in the UK, it usually worked out cheaper, particularly if you haunt around the Sunday computer fairs. Some real bargains to be picked up there. You can also specify your components, so that you know what you are getting, instead of relying on some of the rubbish that the dodgier unbranded clone manufacturers chuck into thier boxes (Not aimed at you Arkon).

If nothing else, it really helps you to learn how a computer works, and also how to trouleshoot if anything goes wrong. At the prices that the big chains charge to "Install" a new memory module or a graphics card.

But choosing your own chip! I'll have a 6502 please, just for the memories...

S

tucs

I am in the process of emigrating to Perth and when i left ireland i forgot to bring all the info on building your own PC with me. But there is a singing and dancing computer chip here in my hand (high end gamers chip) that i do not want. I have just emailed my old work pal and he will send me the info, i will get the chip details.
Any takers?

arkon

When you say chip do you mean litterally a chip or a circuit board? Eitherway what has it got written on it?

tucs

The chip itself is mounted on a small board ready for pleuggin into the mother board. Number on it is only a serial number.

ozzieeagle

Is it possible to supply a URL for your UK supplier, Reason I ask is I know some Taiwanese importers through freinds at the following URL www.ausuccess.com.au who work in the import business.... these guys know one another and seem to supply most of the trade down here in Melbourne. They sell the following products a hell of a lot cheaper at the swap meets.

arkon

Do you mean who did I buy bulk whosale PC bits from (Distributor) or the supplier I used to fill in bits I couldn't get easily elsewhere?

Back2Oz

Just an opinion, but the core reason to build your own is not the upfront cost, but the reduction of upgrade costs. I've built PC's for myself, neighbours and friends, and the core focus is to build with a mind to stepup the machine every 18 months.

Over the last 2 years AMD were best in market for hobbyists, with the 939 64 bit chips, however recently Intel launched their duo series (conroes) and the whole viiv platform architecture, quite simple they're beyond compare. so much so I would suggest that your wasting your money unless you use the latest Intel Conroe chips with the ViiV platform. I would also suggest you consider building a Total media solution, take the Pc from the alcove to the centre of the Sitting Room!!!

A supplier I've used in Oz is techwarehouse.com.au

have a look at the forum http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/
or
http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

Back2Oz

Oh yeah, my personnel tip, buy a relatiely small Hard drive to start as cheap as possible, and add more as needed. The size/cost ratio of hard drives is the fastest falling cost of all the parts.