Elara Online...

Hansanter

Hi All,

I'm planning on building a PC soon and I've been checking out components and prices etc. on www.elara.ie . Does anybody have any experience with this retailer, are they recommended ? I noticed some component prices have crept up over the last week or two, do they normally drop again after Christmas ?
I know that Hardwareversand in Germany may be a bit cheaper but I will save on postage by buying here and I've had bad experiences of trying to get knackered components replaced by overseas retailers - not really a problem but the waiting is a pain. I feel more comfortable buying local as I can collect and get a bad motherboard (for example) changed relatively quickly.

Thanks.

H./

Solitaire

Believe me, if you're building an entire PC the amount you'd spend in Elara would beat the extra shipping from HWVS several times over! :eek::o:o And service from HWVS is generally very good, just slow. Its usually the UK sites that are an utter pain in that regard, despite having much faster shipping times

Aside from that - what components have you selected? Whatr do you need? (system, monitor, OS, peripherals etc...) And what do you want to do with the PC?

deceit

Solitaire is right about the price but sometimes they can be cheaper for parts like the px58d-e motherboard is cheaper there than hardwareversand. I have never had a problem with them and would recommend them, for when buying one items can be the cheapest alot of the time but alot of the time with a full pc they are too expensive.

Champ

Elara is a bit on the expensive side, that said I haven't had any problems with them during multiple dealings and they have their own forum on boards.ie which is reassuring. Stuff comes well packaged and their courier NPX is very good (no worries about getting burnt like you might with say GLS and sometimes AnPost).

Solitaire

Depends on how good the post is where you live but I actually prefer An Post to most things, let alone the horrors of Got Lost Somewhere :pac:

Hansanter

Here's a rough list of what I have my eye on....

CPU Core i7-950 3.06 Ghz €299
MBd ASUS P6X58D €191 was 181 last week !
Case Antec DF35 €104
P/S Antec Truepower 750W €125 was 132 last week
DVD LG DVD R-W X2 €40
GPU ASUS GTX460 1Gb €184

I did notice as 'deceit' said that motherboard is cheaper than HWVD. I intend to use this PC for 3D/2D software development and FSX. I live in west Dublin so picking up from elara will not be a prob. It's over two years since I built a PC and I'm surprised at how cheaper the graphic cards have become. The above card is quite powerful for my needs and at €184 seems OK. In my experience the graphic card was always the dearest item by far, typically say.. circa €300 ! My current PC has served me well but it's getting a bit slow for my needs. I'll be reusing my current two Samsung HDDs (1 tb each), keyboard, trackball, and two LCD Dell 19" monitors plus other stuff (tablet etc.).

H./

dnme

Elara can be a tad pricy on some items but can offer great value on others. They are one of the most reliable etailers on the web and they are in Ireland.

They are great for support and stuff like RMA's etc. They have a forum here - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1106

Elara - Highly recommended!

game4it70

Just to add my 2 cents...

Its not a good time to buy a i7 950 in my opinion as the new intel sandybridge cpu's are coming out on Jan 9th.Its worth waiting to see a few benches of them,but from what i have read clock for clock the seem to be preforming better than i7.

As for the items you picked they do look good if you choose to ignore my advice above :rolleyes:
Just out of curiousity i priced them up on dabs.ie and it was about the same price in total less del.

Hansanter

I would assume those new Sandybridge Intel chips will be very expensive when they come out, so that's them ruled out. But will the i7 chips come down in price as a result ? If I'm gonna wait until the sandybridge is out then that will be why. BTW is the sandybridge a 1366 pin CPU ?

I'm not too bothered about waiting for benchtests etc. as a friend has a similiar PC to the one I wanna build and it performs very well, especially in the applications and stuff I wanna use. It'll be future proof for another 2.5 years or so anyway.

That's good to hear on Elara, I'll be buying from them so. I can't find any mem card readers on their site, assuming they have them can anybody send me a link. Thanks.

H./

dnme

OP

An i7 920 D0 or similar is a great chip. Can be overclocked to 4Ghz. I bought one for 120 quid on adverts and run flight sims and racing sims at full settings beautifully without overclocking at all.

If you spend 100-200 on a chip now, you can always sell it in a few months if you decide to upgrade.

The motherboard you are choosing is a beaut, I have the P6x58d-e and it can do everything including make the tea. It's fairly future proof also.

game4it70

Hansanter wrote: »

I would assume those new Sandybridge Intel chips will be very expensive when they come out, so that's them ruled out.
No,same price range as current i5.

But will the i7 chips come down in price as a result ?
Doubtfull from what i've read.

If I'm gonna wait until the sandybridge is out then that will be why. BTW is the sandybridge a 1366 pin CPU ?
Sandybridge is socket 1155 and aimed at mainstream market.
Sandybridge-e is soket 2011 and ained at highend/enthusiast market.

I just think at this stage its worth the wait since release date is so close.

Hansanter

Well, if the sandybridge is gonna be the same price range as an i5 then that implies the i7 will be better, correct ? Will the sandybridge-e be better than an i7 ?

I'm not that bothered about overclocking, I never was, I just don't see the point ! Why not just get the next fastest CPU !! Maybe that's a simplistic point of view, I just don't know too much about this overclocking business.

H./

game4it70

Hansanter wrote: »

Well, if the sandybridge is gonna be the same price range as an i5 then that implies the i7 will be better, correct ? Will the sandybridge-e be better than an i7 ?

I'm not that bothered about overclocking, I never was, I just don't see the point ! Why not just get the next fastest CPU !! Maybe that's a simplistic point of view, I just don't know too much about this overclocking business.

H./

There is alot of speculation about how good sandybridge will be also on pricing.In regards to a comparsion to i7 it looks like its going to be slightly better clock for clock.


In you case if your not into overclocking you will see higher speeds at stock settings with SB than i7.
i7 950 with HT and turbo 3.33 GHz
SB 2600 with HT and turbo 3.8GHz

Even if the SB cpu's are a small bit above the 950 for instance you are getting a faster cpu to warrent the extra cost.
They have lower DTP,95W compared to i7's 130W so they will run cooler and use less power.

Sandybridge-e has very info out as yet but it is the replacement for socket 1366 and will pricey to say the least.It seems that it will have quadcores and a chance of hexcore and maybe even eight core cpu's (again more speculation).
And yes i would be very shocked if the quads weren't a decent step up form i7 1366 socket cpu's.


Again its your choice obviously what to get and what i have said is what i've been reading for a while on various different sites so i cant be 100% sure its all true
Bottom line wait till the sites have stock and see what the prices are like for SB and if they do drop i7 prices (as i did say that looks doubtfull).

challengemaster

Worth mentioning that it seems the normal sandybridge is crap for overclocking, only the K series with an unlocked multi are any good.

There's apparently talk of 4.9GHz on AIR though...

game4it70

challengemaster wrote: »

Worth mentioning that it seems the normal sandybridge is crap for overclocking, only the K series with an unlocked multi are any good.

There's apparently talk of 4.9GHz on AIR though...

Yeah thats what they say,the non k version with have the multi limited but they dont say to what.
Overclocking them is going to be very easy though as all you have to do is change the multi and the volts as the base clock dosent need to be changed (it only alows for a very small amount on k's) so your not worried about having to OC your ram at the same time.

Mr Benevolent

Hansanter wrote: »

Why not just get the next fastest CPU !! Maybe that's a simplistic point of view, I just don't know too much about this overclocking business.

Spend €300 to change your processor to get 30% more performance or spend €30 (on a proper cooler) to get 25% more performance? Your choice. Unless I was loaded a processor upgrade is the last thing I'd do. My E6600 running at 2.4GHz is waiting for a cooler at the moment, once it goes in I'll see 3GHz. €30 well spent.

challengemaster

Confab wrote: »

Spend €300 to change your processor to get 30% more performance or spend €30 (on a proper cooler) to get 25% more performance. Your choice. Unless I was loaded a processor upgrade is the last thing I'd do. My E6600 running at 2.4GHz is waiting for a cooler at the moment, once it goes in I'll see 3GHz. €30 well spent.

3GHz on the e6600 isn't even pushing it. Can get over 3.6 on air, and 3.2 is stable at stock voltages...

Mr Benevolent

challengemaster wrote: »

3GHz on the e6600 isn't even pushing it. Can get over 3.6 on air, and 3.2 is stable at stock voltages...

Just googled that, you're right on the money there. Hadn't a clue it was capable of that. Just as well I got an OC-friendly mobo.