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Sep 22, 2008, 07:01 AM
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#1
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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UK online shops
Going to buy one (PC) soon. I am between yoyotech, cyperwpower PC and PCspecialist. Cyber has the upper hand so far.
Any reason to avoid any of the 3?
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Sep 22, 2008, 04:09 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 29
Rep Power: 0
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There's no reason why you shouldn't just build your own, there's a guide located on this forum with a step by step with pictures on how to build your own computer. If you insist otherwise though, I haven't used PCspecialist before, but between cyberpowerpc and yoyotech I would go with yoyotech. I haven't had a bad experience with yoyotech before but have seen them deliver a low quality product (damage, bad wiring, etc.) and have had a friend who has had nothing but trouble with their customer service. This wasn't recently so I can't say what they're like now but from things i've heard it isn't much better. My friend who ordered from cyberpower couldn't say anything good about them except for the price. In some cases I guess you get what you pay for.
If you do order from cyberpower though, let me know how it turns out. Cheers.
Last edited by NathanMarks; Sep 22, 2008 at 06:42 PM.
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Sep 22, 2008, 04:23 PM
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#3
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,969
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whats wrong with building your own? unless you dont have the time, i wouldnt want to deal with the possibility of subpar service....
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Sep 22, 2008, 04:44 PM
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#4
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Da choppa
Posts: 3,549
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kris23
whats wrong with building your own? unless you dont have the time, i wouldnt want to deal with the possibility of subpar service....
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Agreed.
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Sep 22, 2008, 07:27 PM
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#5
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I'm dangerous but cute...
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Under the waves...
Posts: 3,283
Rep Power: 24

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Callandor
Agreed.
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Me too. Although for value, you can't beat a pre-built pc with vista, office, printer, webcam etc bundled goodies.
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Sep 22, 2008, 08:46 PM
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#6
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Da choppa
Posts: 3,549
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IIRC, Blue is not too much of a deep gamer these days, he said he plays mostly old school/not very demanding games these days, don't know if his stance has changed but if that still is the case; then like Coz says, pre-built ftw.
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Sep 22, 2008, 09:42 PM
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#7
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DH's Youngest Mod
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3,969
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Sep 23, 2008, 06:59 AM
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#8
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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Are you forgetting that I will have to pay p&p for cheaper products bought from seperate shops to get the best price per part, then spend x number of days to have all the components, then spend a couple of hours at least to build it, and hope that nothing is broken and test everything, and etc etc etc.
To save what? 5% of the final price? IF that?
I have the knowledge to build a pc on my own, I just lack the reasons to do so.
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Sep 23, 2008, 07:11 AM
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#9
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DriverHeaven Lover
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 140
Rep Power: 2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cozumel
Me too. Although for value, you can't beat a pre-built pc with vista, office, printer, webcam etc bundled goodies.
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The more expensive you get, the less true that becomes.
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Sep 23, 2008, 04:29 PM
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#10
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I'm dangerous but cute...
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Under the waves...
Posts: 3,283
Rep Power: 24

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Quote:
Originally Posted by blibbax
The more expensive you get, the less true that becomes.
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Until it becomes the total opposite and the pre-built ends up a rip-off
But for the average sub £1,000 rig you do get good value as long as you make sure you are getting the right bundled peripherals and software...
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Sep 23, 2008, 04:51 PM
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#11
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DriverHeaven Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 24
Rep Power: 0
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Novatech just won PC Pro awards for best Desktop PC, and highly recommended for online retailer... definitely worth checking out 
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Sep 23, 2008, 05:34 PM
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#12
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I'm dangerous but cute...
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Under the waves...
Posts: 3,283
Rep Power: 24

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Quote:
Originally Posted by unknownjd
Novatech just won PC Pro awards for best Desktop PC, and highly recommended for online retailer... definitely worth checking out 
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Their Energiser Pro looks nice (£915 inc)
Motherboard MSI P7N Diamond 780i
CPU Intel Quad 9450
4GB PC2-6400
2 x 9800GT SLI
Antec 900 Gamer Case
1TB (2 x 500GB) Serial ATA II Hard drive with 16MB Buffer
Creative X-Fi PCI-Express 8-channel audio
Microsoft Wireless Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Does not include monitor, OS or any software though
With added extras of Vista Home Premium, MS Office Home & Student and Novatech 2 Year PC Care Pack it adds up to £1118 (incl)
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Sep 25, 2008, 09:04 AM
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#13
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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Going with an ATI solution, probably 4870x2, 4gb ram, 500-1tb hdd, onboard sound, no monitor.
I don't want to get another nvidia for a while.
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Sep 25, 2008, 11:28 AM
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#14
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I'm dangerous but cute...
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Under the waves...
Posts: 3,283
Rep Power: 24

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ATI FTW, to be honest
What is your budget btw?
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Sep 26, 2008, 07:20 AM
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#15
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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About 1000 GBPs. I could go a bit more up to 1200max.
The problem is I don't have or want to use a solo/switch/credit card so my options for retailers are much smaller. Bank transfer (or cirrus) would be great, but so far only pcspecialist.co.uk has it as option and their site SUCK ASS by not telling you the price for hardware while you are building it.
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Sep 26, 2008, 10:43 AM
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#16
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DriverHeaven Lover
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 140
Rep Power: 2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueMak
About 1000 GBPs. I could go a bit more up to 1200max.
The problem is I don't have or want to use a solo/switch/credit card so my options for retailers are much smaller. Bank transfer (or cirrus) would be great, but so far only pcspecialist.co.uk has it as option and their site SUCK ASS by not telling you the price for hardware while you are building it.
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Paypal couls be a useful halfway house. I can understand a reluctance to use credit cards, is your aversion to debit cards security related or for other easons?
You are going to have real issue shopping online without at least paypal.
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Sep 26, 2008, 01:01 PM
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#17
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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Other reasons.
I have noticed.
So far pcspecialist seems to be the only one accepting bank transfer for payment. So I might do that today or something.
What do you think of this?
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 (4 X 2.83GHz) 1333MHz FSB/12MB Cache
Free Item
FREE RaceDriver: Grid DVD Game (RRP: £34.99) with any Intel® Core™ 2 Quad CPU!
Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5Q DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II,2 x VGA, 2 x PCI, 2 PCI-E x1
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit Edition + SP1, CD (£59)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
3rd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
2048MB RADEON HD 4870X2 PCI Express (PRE-ORDER ONLY)
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
NONE
Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black) (£6)
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Printer
NONE
Surge Protection
Belkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector with £25,000 Protection! (£7)
Webcam & VoIP
NONE
Media Center Remote
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
NONE
External Hard Drive
NONE
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 13 working days
Quantity
1
1126 GBP, including expenses.
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Sep 26, 2008, 01:44 PM
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#18
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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Order placed, same system as above with some changes
mainboard the p5q ws
8gb of 800 ram (corsair)
wireless network card
logitech g15 keyboard
1 dvi cable ( I will need to buy something to make it work to the hdmi only tv)
final price including expenses, 1237 gbp.
I think it is good.
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Sep 27, 2008, 12:45 AM
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#19
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DriverHeaven Extreme Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Da choppa
Posts: 3,549
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Just seeing this now, was going to suggest yhe Logitech G15 keyboard and G5 mouse, not a bad buy, I know the feeling when you need a new rig and are tired of using a crappy one. Grats man, hope the new system will bring you oodles of joy.
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Sep 28, 2008, 02:22 PM
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#20
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Caledonian & Proud
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Darkest Ayrshire
Posts: 1,001
Rep Power: 42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kris23
whats wrong with building your own? unless you dont have the time, i wouldnt want to deal with the possibility of subpar service....
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i only bought 1 pc from a company and it was a absolute nightmare ... ever since i built my own and never had any problems... my current set up is a couple of years old .... but still does a job .... i will probably ditch this pc and by a acer laptop around christmas time ... i already have a dell laptop which is ok but is not as powerfull graphic and cpu as the latest acer laptops 
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Sep 29, 2008, 08:58 AM
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#21
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DH's Asteroids' Dominator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: UK and Hellas, mostly
Posts: 5,390
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Well, I transfered the money today, so I should have the PC in a couple of weeks at the most.
Will see how things go, but one thing I did not like was how I had to order a seperate DVI cable, I would imagine one was included with the retail graphics card or something and since after reading the review of the pcspecialist system here and how everything is included (cables, manuals, cds etc), I was surprised.
Hopefuly everything will be fine.
Oh, regarding the keyboard, yes the G15 looks very nice and with backlighting even better. As for mouse, I left the sidewinder back in Greece, I hated that mouse, and bought a Logitech G9. Superb handling so far, but haven't tested yet in gaming.
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