A Good Place For Pc Parts?

[ayabrea38]

Can anyone recommend a good on-line shop for parts for building a pc tower ?(well two actually)

I have been given the task (cheers Hubby!) of finding a good shop,one that won't mind me asking daft questions,like will this processor go with that motherboard,which RAM etc.Do you think £300 is a realistic budget for a desktop pc for a uni student (studying Illustration)including monitor,and £250 for another for the home,without monitor?

Lastly,to solid state hard drive or not?I'm going to do some research,and here seems the best place to start,so your views would be most welcome!

Thanks for any answers,I need all the help I can get!!

[TWR]

Ebay, but just be aware Aya, if you buy used parts there is no come back ( Bought as seen) also the time wasted on removal fitting / removal / postage, google your requirement within your area, but doing that waiting for the parts to come.

[Old_Geezer]

Personally I look for the cheapest (trusted) supplier of each part I need but doing web searches. As for what goes with what, there are sites advising on good builds out there. I'd have recommended the one I've used in the past but bit-tech seems to have stopped doing it :-(

[TWR]

By doing that you are saving time waiting for the parts to come.

[Old_Geezer]

Any use on the build suggestions ?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pc+build+recommendations+2015&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=ZQyIVeeMCYnxUqf5gJgB#q=pc+build+recommendations+2015+UK

[cazzz1975]

I would look around at prices first, depending on where you live there are computer fairs where you can buy parts to build your own
http://www.gadgetfairs.com/
http://excaliburfairs.co.uk/index.php/excalibur-fairs-events-shows/computer-and-technology-fairs
or ebay

I wouldn't go for the solid state HD, maybe the hybrid as its cheaper, I would stick to a normal hard drive, is £300 your budget for just the base unit? its a little tight but it depends on your computer use, you can save money by buying a standard graphics or getting a graphics card on board.

personally if it was just for coursework then I would buy a laptop that will be easily in budget.

[ayabrea38]

Thanks,Old_Geezer,that link will come in handy.
As for eBay.....I'm not too keen,for the reasons you say TWR,the guy who last fixed my laptop said there was a good shop in Manchester,but Hubby has forgotten the name so I'm going through my history trying to find it,I think he said it began with an A....sooo helpful!
I would like to buy new,but if there is a fair difference in price,I don't mind used/refurbished,but would prefer a shop than an individual.
This is a bit of a nightmare for me now,there are so many factors to what will work best with what,I'm thinking maybe buying a tower already built,is that very naughty? :)

[ayabrea38]

And yeah,cazzz1975,a laptop is more my sort of thing,but the budding young student wants a desk top.He recons he will be more inspired to work,sitting at his desk in his room.It's a nice thought,but I'll eat my hat if it comes true!

[Old_Geezer]

Having given a little thought to this; if you are going to spend, say, £60, on a monitor, that only leaves you £240 for the PC, less that the home one of £250. It's going to be tight. You'll sure be going tor economy rather than performance. You might be better off looking for a couple of refurbished ones until you can afford better. Maybe try a company refurb auction site.

[cazzz1975]

Lol! my daughter has her desktop in her room, I just have to nag her to get off youtube and do some work ;)

[ayabrea38]

Youtube and Facebook,if he could do a degree in either of them he'd get a first with honours no problem!

I do wish we could spend more,but paying his deposit and first months rent in uni,then we have bedroom tax to fight because he will need somewhere to stay in the hols and his sister already said he can sleep in the shed,nowhere near her bed!Charming.

Just to go off topic,I never realised how heartless the bedroom tax is.As far as they are concerned,my son will never come back,if we cannot pay,we have to move to smaller house.So many families are getting torn apart by this.What was my son meant to do?not try and better himself?He's the first of our family to go to uni,he even got his place last year.We are so proud,but so scared at the same time :(

[SlackAlice]

These are some of the places I've sourced parts from or looked for inspiration.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/

http://www.shop.bt.com/category/storage/11003

http://www.scan.co.uk/

http://www.novatech.co.uk/

http://www.zoostorm.com/

Sometimes these places also have their own forums and you can join them and ask questions/suggestions. Many offer configurable systems online to get an idea of what works with what.

A successful build takes more research and patience in compiling the bits. The actual build is just a process of slotting bits into the right place. I have always decided and chosen the motherboard first, after that only compatible bits reduces your wishlist to a more manageable size.

At the moment your price range would put SSD a bit out of reach although a hybrid might be acceptable. I'd stick with a reputable HDD maker imo.

Your next sticker is the graphics card, please be aware that some intel chips are graphics capable nowadays. Do some research on this it could save you money.

Make sure your Ram memory is slightly more than adequate. Nothing worse than insufficient memory slowing everything down.

[Graham-W]

Don't forget to factor in the price of an operating system. Windows 8 is £40-£50 depending where you go. You could always go for Linux which is free but has a limited amount of software available.

[HansUrbancka]

Your words aya........"the guy who last fixed my laptop said there was a good shop in Manchester,".

If you needed a guy to fix your laptop, I hardly think that you are qualified enough to go building a PC.

Hans.

[VHG]

Does it have to be a self build?

You really don't save yourself any money by doing a self build (particularly for a basic PC) as people like Dell can buy their components in bulk, paying far less than you can. And they get Windows cheaper.

You may have to hunt round to get a PC at those prices, they sound on the low side to me, particularly if you add in the cost of Windows (assuming you want Windows).

You can get some deals on the Dell Outlet. This is where they sell discontinued Dell products or returned items or items with a small amount of damage (dent in the case for example). Just search for Dell Outlet.

Note not all PCs come with monitor so make sure it is included when you buy something (assuming you want one).

EBuyer (different from ebay) seem to have a fair number of deals on desktop PCs at the moment

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC

I would really consider pre-built.

[choodalls]

I build computers a lot, but at that price range to be honest, and especially from a reliability/warranty point of view I would not recommend going down the desktop route as you will get better value from a laptop such as the HP range with Ubuntu operating system available from eBuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/ubuntu
If something goes wrong you are then covered for repair/replacement something which is not the case when you self build.
If you are determined to go desktop then I would go to Scan in Bolton (not too far from you) and configure one of their V1a systems: http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/ready-to-ship-budget-value-amd-home-office-pc-v1a which will be pre-selected to work together and then give your son room for upgrading components as he goes along to increase the performance over time.
Hope this helps!!

[ayabrea38]

Just to update all you wonderful people who bothered themselves to give advice,first thank you!
We ended up going over budget and out our pc on hold.BTW I don't need snide remarks,Hans.There is a huge difference between putting parts together,the desktop,or trying to get into small computer parts and diagnose what is wrong.My confidence is insulted.This desktop has been a good learning curve for me and Hubby,we got a tower,motherboard and and reader from nearby shop that was closing and sold them off for about £175.We never needed a monitor cos he will use his TV,the processor was a steal,an i5 intel (sorry the numbers escape me)that is 2.7Ghz from online CEX for an amazing £75.Ram from Amazon,8GB for £31!!!then there where little things,like a fan,card reader etc.I think the whole lot came to about £300.But then hubby went mad and bought a graphics card for £65.
We alreadyhad a copy of Windows 7 upgrade from Vista,that was the hardest part,getting windows 7 on the PC with the 64 bit thing not the 32.Oh yeah,a odd Hard drive,I think it was 450Gb and that was also a bargain at £43.
So again,thank you for your time and effort in the replies,you all (apart from Hans)had good advice,I think I got very lucky with a few bargains.
Thank you from us all!!!!