Does a good prebuilt PC actually exist?

Wolfgang Megahertz

I know that's a rather vague question, but I'm keen to retire (relocate to the wife's office) my 5 year old PC - that I built here thanks to very helpful folks. Whilst I know that financially it makes more sense to build, I do like the idea of just taking a prebuilt out of the box and hitting the ground running. PC hardware is a mystery to me.

I'd be looking to use it for video editing, graphic design and gaming. I have a Series X that caters for most of my gaming needs but I'd like to have a PC capable of handling the likes of Tarkov, PUBG, Squad, Flight Sim and whatever the demands of the new Battlefield are likely to be.

Does such a prebuilt exist?

errlloyd

Not only do they exist, they are better value than ever, and possibly the only way to reliably get your hands on the latest graphics cards.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-corsair-4000d-airflow-rgb-ryzen-3600-6-core-4.2ghz-nvidia-rtx-3070-8gb-desktop-pc-for-gaming.html

This one from AWD-IT (could be a VAT nightmare though) is probably less expensive than the sum of it's parts, and you can sub in better ram and a better hard drive easily if you want.

Burning Eclipse

I built last October and actually purchased a pre-assembled Motherboard/CPU/RAM kit (also got a PSU, but obviously not connected) from AWD as the price was better than buying the individual components from elsewhere, once shipping from 3/4 sources was taken into consideration. Arrived really well packed and my PC has been flawless thus far. I think the big consideration, as errlloyd pointed ou,t is most of the top candidates for a pre-built might be hit be serious VAT.

Someone on here joked the other day that Alienware has never been closer to being 'good value'. Might be worth a look also, as there would be no VAT issues and Dell frequently have discount codes floating around. Back when I worked for Dell I bought one with a frankly ridiculous 32% discount and it's currently still playing a blinder as my son's PC.

JoyPad

Someone mentioned having talked to PCSpecialist and they are delivering to Ireland with all legal dues correctly done.
pcspecialist-dot-ie

ShadowHearth

JoyPad wrote: »

Someone mentioned having talked to PCSpecialist and they are delivering to Ireland with all legal dues correctly done.
pcspecialist-dot-ie

I did. I emailed them and tried to get info as website said nothing about brexit. Tl:Dr is that they are Irish Vat registered and should not be any issues. And if there are any custom duties, they will sort it out themselves on delivery.

I got laptop from PCSPECIALIST in 2019 and I love it. Most likely will go with them again for my desktop as I am like OP, I just want a pc prebuilt. They have 2060, 2060S and AMD cards, but "pre order" all 30 series. Gpu prices are pretty much scalper territory though. 2060s is like 500eu and 6800 xt is almost 1k eu.

Another option ( kind of thrown in by me here lately too, sorry ) is Dell. There is G5 series for 1.7k, but you get i7 10700kf , 16gb ram, 1tb m.2 and 3070. That's actually really really not bad, but what stops me is the 500w psu. Not much wiggle room, to throw in new gpu few years down the line. I did that with my xps years ago. Just added newer gpu in to it to get more life out of it after few years.
Allienware ironically is not bad option too. I speced 5800x, 32gb ram, 1tb m.2 3070, 1000w psu, water cooled ? For 2.4k eu. Its a lot, but it's Allienware. Obviously not upgradable system, but cpu and psu will last you very long time, you can always add more storage and new gpu as 1k psu gives a lot of wiggle room.

scottigael

Anyone know is awd-it all ok with ordering to Ireland? Sent them an email but no response

Bigfatmichael

Some of the Dell ones don't seem to too bad if your badly stuck.

errlloyd

scottigael wrote: »

Anyone know is awd-it all ok with ordering to Ireland? Sent them an email but no response

I instagramed them back in January, when Brexit was about 15 minutes old. They didn't really have much in the way of suggestions. But maybe things have changed.

scottigael

errlloyd wrote: »

I instagramed them back in January, when Brexit was about 15 minutes old. They didn't really have much in the way of suggestions. But maybe things have changed.

No response from them yet anyway palicomp have told me they're not shipping to Ireland temporarily as people were getting hot with duties despite them being Irish vat registered. Anyone who bought a gpu/prebuilt from any other site have any recommendations? Picked the worst possible time for my GPU to fail on me lol.

Consonata

errlloyd wrote: »

Not only do they exist, they are better value than ever, and possibly the only way to reliably get your hands on the latest graphics cards.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-corsair-4000d-airflow-rgb-ryzen-3600-6-core-4.2ghz-nvidia-rtx-3070-8gb-desktop-pc-for-gaming.html

This one from AWD-IT (could be a VAT nightmare though) is probably less expensive than the sum of it's parts, and you can sub in better ram and a better hard drive easily if you want.

My only fear with that one would be getting smacked with 100s in import taxes

Wolfgang Megahertz

Thinking of going for this.

https://www.pcspecialist.ie/view/GeForce-RTX-Ray-Tracing-PC/

In short:
Intel® Core™ i7-10700K
ASUS® TUF Z490-PLUS GAMING
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 3000MHz
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA HDD

I understand the (UK) company are registered for VAT
in Ireland, so that sorts any Brexit related charges out. I hope.

Any input would be welcome!

K.O.Kiki

Looks fine for gaming, but where's the SSD?

ShadowHearth

Does not look too bad, but I would email them first amd find out what's the story with 3070. It always shows up as pre order. Just don't get caught by placing order amd then find out its 2 months delayed, because its not in stock.

Another thing is the ssd. I personally would not even bother with hdds anymore unless you do something very specific that needs alot of storage. You could easily survive as gamer with with 1tb m.2 ssd and add more sata ssds down the line if you need more storage.

Wolfgang Megahertz

Yeah, I'll be adding an SSD for sure. I'll need a HDD as I'll be storing/editing videos.

Good shout on the availability of the card. I'll get confirmation on that.

Robert ninja

€2K for a PC with a spinning rust HDD and 16GB of RAM? Hell nah. I'm trying to configure something good & affordable but it seems impossible. I don't think I'll ever get something in the price range as my first build... the market is so fecked. awd-it is out of stock on all the AMD builds and PCS price goes way high when you select a PSU that will actually power the system. I'm surprised there's no warning when you're completely botching a config. Alienware is just not configurable enough, either. As soon as you want 32GB of RAM, into the €2K+ range you go. You can't even say you don't want to include windows; it's always in the price :mad:

And this is the best value out there? I give up.

ShadowHearth

Robert ninja wrote: »

€2K for a PC with a spinning rust HDD and 16GB of RAM? Hell nah. I'm trying to configure something good & affordable but it seems impossible. I don't think I'll ever get something in the price range as my first build... the market is so fecked. awd-it is out of stock on all the AMD builds and PCS price goes way high when you select a PSU that will actually power the system. I'm surprised there's no warning when you're completely botching a config. Alienware is just not configurable enough, either. As soon as you want 32GB of RAM, into the €2K+ range you go. You can't even say you don't want to include windows; it's always in the price :mad:

And this is the best value out there? I give up.

32gb? Wait until you add at least mid tier gpu like 3060ti :pac:

Nah, seriously, at this point, you buy/build new pc if you really really need one and have money to burn. If you looking for any kind of value, then better not bother, because you will just upset yourself.

Saying that, I did configured just now:

Corsair Silent case
5600x
B550-f Asus Strix
32gb ram 3000mhz
1tb Intel m.2
3060ti
750w semi modular gold rated psu
Intel wireless
CoolerMaster 240mm water cooling
No windows


Comes at 1780eu. Add a few more quid for delivery. That's the build I would be happy enough with and it's under 2k eu. If you add 3070 instead it will be around 2k then.

ancapailldorcha

So is it better to order a prebuild rather than building your own now? The quality of the former seems to have improved quite a bit.

Wolfgang Megahertz

Robert ninja wrote: »

€2K for a PC with a spinning rust HDD and 16GB of RAM? Hell nah. I'm trying to configure something good & affordable but it seems impossible. I don't think I'll ever get something in the price range as my first build... the market is so fecked. awd-it is out of stock on all the AMD builds and PCS price goes way high when you select a PSU that will actually power the system. I'm surprised there's no warning when you're completely botching a config. Alienware is just not configurable enough, either. As soon as you want 32GB of RAM, into the €2K+ range you go. You can't even say you don't want to include windows; it's always in the price :mad:

And this is the best value out there? I give up.

Spinning rust HDD made me lol.

So you're saying I should reconsider my purchase..?

ShadowHearth

Wolfgang Megahertz wrote: »

Spinning rust HDD made me lol.

So you're saying I should reconsider my purchase..?

I think he is upset, like all of us here with situation, just a bit more.. emotional and vocal. Pc building was never in such bad shape as now. And all of it thanks to super inflited gpu prices, that's even if you can get one.

If you need hdd, you need it. I already said my own opinion about and I never dealt with video editing, so I don't know if "Rusty" hdd is viable option. Though from what I know, that raw video files cam be massive and more storage is better then fast storage.

In the end, is up to you, if you willing spending now 400eu ish more for a build, or you can live with your current build and see how much you will save.

I showed what I built for 1800eu and I personally think its a solid build, which is about 200-300eu more expensive then what would be in normal times. Then again in pc world it looks like there is always one or another part that is in short supply or overpriced. You can never win.

Robert ninja

Wolfgang Megahertz wrote: »

Spinning rust HDD made me lol.

So you're saying I should reconsider my purchase..?

If you like the parts then don't let me stop you.

Can't say much for the other components but seeing large HDDs bundled with 'high end' gaming rigs is a red flag for me personally. You see the likes of Currys do that malarkey when trying to get rid of badly configured systems. In my opinion there's no place for HDDs in a 2021 desktop let alone one you're paying a premium for. If you really need the storage I'd look into a NAS box where HDDs are OK but a mix of youtube and cloud storage can hold all your raw and editing files for archiving.

I'm done with HDDs because they're always too tempting to just dump more and more stuff on to. SSDs help me from hoarding and make workflows snappier. But that's just me.

As for the RAM, you'd probably benefit from more than 16GB which is what I'm targeting for mythical next build. You can add more RAM later, though.

Nonoperational

Got the prebuilt PC Specialist Tornado recently. No extra charges. Delivered in 4 days.
Ryzen 7 5800x
3070
1TB SSD + 2TB HDD
16GB 3600Ram

Delighted with it. Very powerful and stable.

ShadowHearth

Nonoperational wrote: »

Got the prebuilt PC Specialist Tornado recently. No extra charges. Delivered in 4 days.
Ryzen 7 5800x
3070
1TB SSD + 2TB HDD
16GB 3600Ram

Delighted with it. Very powerful and stable.

4 days? That's quick.

Nice machine, best of luck with it.

Nonoperational

Thanks. Needed a PC quickly and if I specced it up myself there are only a few things I'd change.

ShadowHearth

Nonoperational wrote: »

Thanks. Needed a PC quickly and if I specced it up myself there are only a few things I'd change.

What do you mean? Did you got it directly from them? I don't see anywhere options of getting already speced and shelved pcs. Only ones you can spec yourself.

Nonoperational

Yeah they have a “same day dispatch” section with a few options that get updated when they have new stock. I think this is stock that was built for Curry’s originally.

https://www.pcspecialist.ie/computers-for-next-day-delivery/

ShadowHearth

Nonoperational wrote: »

Yeah they have a “same day dispatch” section with a few options that get updated when they have new stock. I think this is stock that was built for Curry’s originally.

https://www.pcspecialist.ie/computers-for-next-day-delivery/

Cheers, did not see that section at all. That's handy to know. Could be handy to snipe a system if something comes up it spec you need.

Nonoperational

Like people will always say oh a prebuilt thats crap, oh the cooler is crap etc, and in an ideal world I'd definitely build my own, but the way things are now I couldnt stomach a 3 month wait which is what some people were having.