[skinnyman9000]

If some of you have read my other thread you will notice that i am currently planning a £1000 gaming build. Anyway, i decided to do some research to see how much this system would cost if i got someone else to build it.

Now some companies, such as www.pcspecialist.co.uk, can build a system that is ALMOST identical, for just £50 more than if i buy everything myself, but then i come across another company (that i will not name) that is charging over £1200 for the system, WITHOUT the £225 monitor. It makes me wonder how these places stay in business. I found both of these companies within the same page on google, so one quick search can save you up to £400.

It just makes me think that if this company can exist by charging these prices then i may start my own local company charging similar prices. With the profit margins that company must have i would only need to build one computer a month to make it worh my while!

[Dave Hybrid]

There are plenty of people whom are far less savvy than you mate.

Plenty of easy targets out there...

[alex]

Don't forget though that buying power comes into it. If you're a company building 20 of these systems a week as opposed to one building 3 you're going to be able to purchase components cheaper, and then pass that saving on the retail cost of the whole system.

The warranty provided may come into it as well. Any warranty given on a pre-built pc cost's the builder money. One site may be able to reduce the cost of the pc by offering a slightly inferior warranty.

There's also the use of generic components as opposed to 'named' components. Such as ram or the monitor.

A good indicator of a decent site to purchase from is of course feedback from customers but also the components stated. Do they just say 'ram' or do the say 'Corsair XMS2' (using ram as an example).

[skinnyman9000]

True, i have noticed that same sights use the word 'RAM', it then offers an 'upgrade' to kingston, so makes you wonder what they were using in the first place!

I have just visited a reputable sight that makes gaming computers. They have one on there for £2200. I managed to spec the same build with a BETTER motherboard, hard drive, ram, monitor and heatsink, for £400 less!! And thats with me using retailer prices from aria, so who knows how much cheaper they get the components.

It just winds me up slightly when you visit the website, and they boast about building great gaming PC's, and they win awards etc in magazines, when essentially they are putting some bits together that are widely available, and are charging you £400 for it. This price included a basic 'return to base' warranty too.