Where would people advise i go for a desktop pc?

[haggered]

Morning all,

I'm looking to get a new desktop pc. Budget is about £400-450. I've looked through the first few pages of this forum and there seems to be a lot of advice about build your own pcs, but I have no experience of this.

So where would people advise me to look for a new system? I don't need to buy straight away, I'm going to university (again) in September so need it before then. June - July was my purchase window.

Was kind of hoping for a budget gaming system. I'm really out of the loop with pc technology, last few years its been all ps3 for me. So any pointers would be welcome.

Places I've looked so far; Amazon, Play, Overclockers, Ebuyer.

Thanks for any advice,

Adam

 

[Raven]

I have always gone to Ebuyer myself, I find they have the best range and the technical information is always easy to see. The price is pretty competitive too!

£400-£500 should see you right on a pretty decent machine, certainly something that will play anything currently on the market without problems... assuming you already have a case/monitor/keyboard/mouse.

Thinking about replacing my PC fairly soon too, I will be going there.

 

[Billargh]

Seconding eBuyer, their service is top notch aswell.

 

[caLLous]

I used to swear by Scan but they really messed me about with an RMA once so I go with Overclockers for everything now - this is components, mind.. I have no experience buying a prebuilt system from them.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

These days you wouldn't really need any experience in building a PC, they're essentially electric lego. It all comes with step by step instructions, and the only remotely challenging things are putting coolant on the heat sink and making sure things are plugged into the right slots on the mobo. It'd advise doing it; you'll learn, become more comfortable, be able to upgrade easier and get a better quality of hardware for the price.

 

[haggered]

Morning,

So ebuyer looks like the place to buy, thanks for the advice.

Now to assess my competency in building electric Lego, which is possibly the best description ever.

In the past I've replaced ram and graphics card, that's it. But I am tempted to build my own. I'll do some research.

Thanks all,

Adam

 

[phlash]

If you want a similar price to buying your own bits, but someone else puts them together, checks it and replaces non-working parts (it happens!), then PC Specialist or Computer Planet have both been good for me and friends.

In fact I originally bought a set of parts from Overclockers, but it didn't work and I had no spares (all new tech), so I returned the lot and got Computer Planet to build it for me - still working nicely 3 years on.

 

[soze]

I have picked up a couple of really well speced Dell XPS machines from the outlet really cheap. I know Dell is not everyone's cup of team and some people attach a stigma to refurbs but you can save £200+ and keep the year long warranty while avoiding the hassle of a self build. You need to check the site often though as the deals go quickly.