[Closed] Custom PC builds

Chillblast get some good reviews, haven't sampled them myself as I built up my latest PC from components mainly from Aria who have been v/good with delivery and advice.

Aria
OverClockers

Dino PC was going to be the one I would have bought from.

Ended up just ordering the parts and having a go. Never built one before but followed a you tube vid and in a couple of hours had a nice PC. Still working perfectly 3 months on and it was a fun experience.

Son got his from Chillblast a few yrs ago its been faultless.

Would Devs not do that sort of thing?

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ do custom builds too, used them in the past & competitive service & prices.

I'm not that up to date now but... Overclockers probably aren't the best but they've been consistently respected for years, a good trick in PCs. Dino seem good too. Building a PC isn't hard (and you can revisit it and tweak it- so for a games build it'd be common to build it in a pretty standard setup, then improve cooling once it works, then maybe improve soundproofing, and overclocking, and that in little bitesized chunks.

But value-wise I'd have struggled to beat the online builds, last time I priced it up. You do have to be a wee bit cautious about the parts picks, there's a lot of builds with too much processor and not enough graphics- the PC equivalent of an XTR mech on a deore shifter.

Always used Overclockers. I tend to just buy a bundle, since they've done the work to make sure the bits are compatible. I Think they do complete custom builds too?

OK I turn off their overclocked profile, in favour of the mfr setting, but that's for reliability, since I don't care about getting that extra 0.001% frame rate.

Scan are pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Local to me too.

I'd agree with dave-rudabar and samuri, very pleased with my scan builds and great service too.

Not only do they perform but they stick such massive heatsinks on that they are also silent.

+1 for Scan, though the primary reason I use them is because they're within kicking distance if something goes wrong.

do it yourself. scan, dabs, etc.. all them sell mobo/ processor/ graphics packages to suit your budget

heat not so much of an issue these days with less power reqd by processors etc, so massive expensive cooling setups not so much of a requirement for a pc capable of running most modern games.

novatech? cheaper than scan and if you call them free delivery. Got 3 of their barebones here - all superb

In my experience, you can save a lot of money by building it yourself. By buying one already built, you are simply employing someone to build it for you. They only take a couple of hours to build (there's only really eight or so main components), require no specialist tools and will give you the skills required to tinker with it, if needed.

That said, i built my last one two whole years ago, so it's perhaps all changed since then!

@scotroutes - not sure, hadn't thought of as a build up PC man and maybe margins are too tight for a taks like that?

Thanks for the steers, will look out Scan as well in particular.

My last gaming PC was from Overclockers and I'm happy with it (was a couple of years ago though), Chillblast were on my shortlist to. I'd say unless you really enjoy the tinkering part of building your own PC it's better to get a pre-built one, it's usually cheaper and you have one place to deal with when it comes to warranty/support issues (my Overclockers PC was DoA but they replaced it within 3 days, I didn't need to do my own troubleshooting and figure out which component was the issue etc.).

Scan do great 'Today Only' offers there's usually a bundle on there that may need a Graphics card but they're usually on offer too.

Build up a list of parts on http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ it will list the best prices, and list reviews from other people. There are loads of similar builds on there, chances are someone else has built exactly the same list before.

Where are you based?

me - Elgin. NE Scotland.

In my experience, you can save a lot of money by building it yourself.

That certainly used to be the case, but really these days the only reason to do your own build (beyond "it's fun") is that you get to pick what goes in it down to component level. DIY is probably more expensive overall these days.

For your average Joe I'd always suggest just going for a branded box of some description. But your hardcore gamers often have very exacting ideas about what they require for their system; what brand and model of motherboard, how many pixel shaders are "essential" on the GFX card and so on. It's hard to do that with an off-the-shelf system.