Why there are no affordable gaming PC's in Ireland

Jonny7

Well lets look at the options

Dell.ie - you get a computer with coloured lights, with an exotic name like Alienware and they charge an absolute rip-off price for it. It isn't a supercar with soul or a vintage wine.. its just components that can be bought for much cheaper elsewhere... much much cheaper..

Or

you have custompc.ie (custom pc) - the real cowboys, they just seem to conjure the prices up out of thin air, some things are normal bricks and mortar prices, other components, or upgrades, or "custom pcs" are such a ripoff its almost unbelievable.

Both of these sites are garnered toward the clueless customer, fair enough.

But even if you do have any knowledge.. there isn't anywhere in Ireland that offers a good value quality gaming PC.

I mean I could go onto hardwareversand.de, spec up a quality machine, have it built and shipped to me for 500, sell the thing in Ireland for 600.. and its still better than anything Dell or Custompc.ie or anyone else over here has.

There was a little bit of a evolution with the Eurosite ankermann-pc.com, I mean they actually put in a good processor AND a good graphics card, they went to the second level.. but of course they are still cowboys with no ethics and terrible service.. they cop out by filling the pc with the cheapest motherboard/psu/case possible... but the fact that they aren't ripping you off still puts them light years above and beyond the likes of Dell and custompc.ie that we have here.

If Komplett sold a budget gaming PC something with a tri-core AMD chip, an ATI 5750 and a quality PSU for 550 euros.. they'd make a tidy profit AND they'd do a ton of business from all the recommendations on sites like this.

The money is there on a plate.. I mean look at the competition.

Skerries

...and breathe out!

Monotype

Komplett used to have a PC builder.

Basically, people don't see the value of a good motherboard and PSU and will go for a cheaper option if they can, so that's where the money is.

superfish

why not try ebay ? im looking to buy an all in one pc they seem cheap enough on ebay

PogMoThoin

superfish wrote: »

why not try ebay ? im looking to buy an all in one pc they seem cheap enough on ebay

Don't, You'll not get anything of value and will most likely get ripped off.


Why not build one yourself, everyone else here does,

.....................................thats why its called the PC Building and Upgrading forum, not the PC Buying forum

seraphimvc

i am just gonna say that the pc market in ireland is still in the 'ripoff from the clueless people' era. well, thats basically how most of the pc sellers in the rest of the world do anyway but here in ireland i feel like we are still in the 90s - there is a very small number the pc hardware shops in dublin city centre and their prices are still pretty ripoff.

low pc hardware shops = hard to get good value gaming pc (in brick and mortar shop).

i think the shipping is the biggest factor for everything is more expensive over here

PogMoThoin

Its hard for Irish stores to compete with German stores with Germanys 19% VAT

Jonny7

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Its hard for Irish stores to compete with German stores with Germanys 19% VAT

Its nothing to do with VAT actually.. its just a mentality

Komplett and Pixmanias component prices are on average slightly higher, but you can easily find better deals than Germany..

The component market here is fine really and not too much of an issue.. its just that the market for gaming PCs has a huge big empty hole in the middle of it

We're filling that void speccing people hardwareversand.de pcs when Komplett or Pix or some company that arent cowboys like custompc.ie could be making good bucks on quality gaming pcs

Look at the view counts on posts here, many many more people are using hardwareversand.de than are actually writing posts here just because we are spreading the word.. pity we can't do that for an Irish company

Komplett did have some gaming pcs awhile back.. but to be honest they were awful and pretty overpriced. Then they had a build a pc for 500 euro.. and I thought they'd follow it up with that model available, but alass nay.. a little gem like that would .. chosen by the nerd pc builders would sell like hotcakes

Jonny7

Oops.. just to follow up.. ive been building and buying pcs for friends and family for years now.. friends of friends etc

Half of them are nerds with comp sci degrees etc, but they don't have a clue

Now, monotype was right, they don't have a clue so they go get whatever, an ebay pc or some yoke off custompc.. however they get burnt once..

After that they look it up, or ask me..

Thats a lot of people.. plus all the people on the boards.. plus all those who just read the posts

So yes.. the majority will always be suckered into a bad pc.. but there is a laaarge minority who do a little research online.. and they are a good market niche

anyway, sunday rant over.. thats what looking at custompc.ie does for you - hope its coming up in google search now those bastards

Skerries

would it be hard for current Irish retailers to come up with a reasonably sourced and priced pc and compete with the Dells and HP's?

Monotype

I know that Intel used to give greatly discounted processors to dell. AMD must have done something similar. I think they also get windows below standard OEM prices.

ED E

Yeah, OEM copys are cheaper than the retail versions retailers would get. When the large manufacturers can buy in such bulk I can see how it would be very hard to compete.

Solitaire

Oh dear, where do I start?

You're a shill. A painfully obvious one. You would score brownie points for at least trying to contribute, except those contributions seem to be based on trying to sell stuff and make money. Boards.ie does not approve.

Evo Labs E-3393 - I love how Shopmania charges £29 for this, and CustomPC sell it for over €99. Never mind the fact that you'd have better build quality and cooling off a CM Elite 430, Xigmatek Asgard or the like.

Evo Labs "700W" - This is actually worse than the godawful "800W" unit that is supposed to come with the case above. I can't even find the spec for it online which we all know is an instant admission of guilt, so I'd guess this comes from the same happy place our lovely exploding Jersey/Xilence/DiabloTek units come from. Its like having a free bomb in your PC! :pac:

Seagate 500GB HDD - Yeah, there were a few of those. Some were good. Some... weren't.

1GB HD5750 - Sounds like you're trying to dump old stock now that the HD5770 is inconsiderately spawn-camping the poor HD5750's €100 price point...

KB/Mouse - A fiver's worth. Tops.

Win7 - the only good thing about this machine is that it comes with an OS...

AMD X3-445 - Fair enough. No skimping here, unless they fell off the back of a lorry...

Gigabyte 520LE SAM3 DDR3-1666 - Just from the product name I can tell this is going to be all sorts of fail... That isn't even a Gigabyte product code for starters! :eek: The real name is GA-M52LT-D3. No reputable company seems to stock it under the alias... CustomPC does though! Funny that... all your stuff is also on CustomPC. Family relation? :pac: Anyway, chipset is ancient - an old nForce5 model. You do know DDR3-1666 isn't a memory standard? You go from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-1866

Oh, and I don't like the look of the cheapo generic DDR3 modules either

seyeM

The Digistore PC from that deleted post is a prime example of the garbage commonly pedelled as a 'Gaming PC'.

Evo Labs E-3393
EVO LABS 700W
Internal SATA Dual Layer DVD Drive
Seagate 500GB SATA-II
1GB XFX HD 5750
Corded Keyboard
Standard Corded Mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
AMD ATHLON II X3 445
Gigabyte 520LE SAM3 DDR3-1666
4GB DDR3 1333MHZ NANYA
NO MONITOR

I'd rather take something like this for a similar price, as I imagine would all readers of this board:



How do these two PCs compare for gaming performance and component quality? :pac:

Solitaire

I do find it hilarious that one of the very scummers Jonny was having a go at would have the sheer temerity to post their crap as an advertisement on the same thread I was going to leave it up simply as an example of how not to convince people you're not out to con them :pac:

Maj Malfunction

People build their own custom PC's around here because they know they will get bad value for money from any bricks and mortar retailer and Irish online custom pc builders.

How custom is it? You don't get to choose the components you really want a have to settle from a list of overpriced tat.

At least if you build it yourself, you get what you want and get better quality components or at least a better spec'd PC rather than being ripped off and left with a sore hoop!

godskitchen

Is it just a case of not being able to compete in Ireland, it is crazy that we have to import something as simple as patotos, not because we cant grow them, it seems it is cheaper to ship them half way around the world then produce them here......

Is it the same with manafacturing PCs here, or at least building them here???

Does any company (Dell/Apple) still build systems here? Do we have an Irish PC manafacture?

Jonny7

I think theres a decent amount of HPs and Dells and office type pcs here, even some at fair enough prices

Well anyway, the gauntlet is down, any companies out there who can break the mould and sell a budget gaming pc at a component price + 20/30 euro building fee.. that actually has a non**** PSU/motherboard/case - then they'll get plenty of referrals from ourselves

connect with your customers not rip them off.. thousands of euros are going to hardwareversand every month

godskitchen

Jonny7 wrote: »

I think theres a decent amount of HPs and Dells and office type pcs here, even some at fair enough prices

Well anyway, the gauntlet is down, any companies out there who can break the mould and sell a budget gaming pc at a component price + 20/30 euro building fee.. that actually has a non**** PSU/motherboard/case - then they'll get plenty of referrals from ourselves

connect with your customers not rip them off.. thousands of euros are going to hardwareversand every month

Well if anyone wants to discuss starting something along the lines of what Johnny7 has said feel free to contact me........I think I have some good ideas that could work.

deconduo

godskitchen wrote: »

Well if anyone wants to discuss starting something along the lines of what Johnny7 has said feel free to contact me........I think I have some good ideas that could work.

I'd be up for it

Voodu Child

Jonny7 wrote: »

Well anyway, the gauntlet is down, any companies out there who can break the mould and sell a budget gaming pc at a component price + 20/30 euro building fee.. that actually has a non**** PSU/motherboard/case - then they'll get plenty of referrals from ourselves

connect with your customers not rip them off.. thousands of euros are going to hardwareversand every month

20-30 building fee?! :pac:

I don't think you've considered what is involved in running a business. Paying yourself wages, premises, phone lines, advertising your company, building the machines, testing the machines, taking back machines under the distance selling regulations, dealing with warranty issues, time spent researching new components and builds, time spent on the phone talking to eejits who have an OS problem and think its your problem, packing costs, you could go on and on. And after you've covered all your expenses, you still need to make a profit.

20-30 euro per machine wouldn't come close to covering all that, unless you want to run a charity you'll be looking at 10+ times that.

Kinetic^

Gaming machine - DIY
Office PC - Dell/HP
Design PC - Apple (it's not a PC :S)

It's not feasible to build a machine for 20-30 euro, if you're suggesting this then you have no clue of how much costs business have.

Insurance
Rent
Rates
Wages
Light/Heat
Phone

That's just the surface costs. Throw in thermal paste, cable ties, cable extenders and a few other things you might not think of.

PogMoThoin

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Gaming machine - DIY
Office PC - Dell/HP
Design PC - Apple (it's not a PC :S)

It's not feasible to build a machine for 20-30 euro, if you're suggesting this then you have no clue of how much costs business have.

Insurance
Rent
Rates
Wages
Light/Heat
Phone

That's just the surface costs. Throw in thermal paste, cable ties, cable extenders and a few other things you might not think of.

+ the "my internet explorer isn't working" phone calls 6 months down the road

Solitaire

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Gaming machine - DIY
Office PC - Dell/HP
Design PC - Decent Dell or DIY + S-IPS monitor

FYP :pac:

Seriously though, anyone propagating that retarded "PC Photoshop is FAKE AND GAY!!11!" urban myth for (Steve Jobs') fun and profit can just get out now. I will not tolerate any of that "peasants aren't allowed to do Art/Media/Design/Sound Engineering because they're poor and smelly and Our Lord Steve Jobs said so" in this forum. Ever.

Irish_Elect_Eng

There is a simple reason that there is no supplier of top notch gaming PCs for €20 Euro over component cost and that is economics. There is not enough demand to support such a business model.

Even given a profit of €50 over component cost per machine, such a business would have to build 600 per year to support a €30,000 p.a. salary for one person. That is without any overheads.

Lets add in a couple of very conservative basic costs:

€10 for courier delivery.
€5 for packaging.
€5 for assembly consumables
€10 for misc overheads, phone website, light, heat, biscuits, insurance

Now our builder needs to churn out 1500 PCs a year to pay his own wages.

Thats building and testing 6 full systems a day just to pay his own wage with no profits :-(

Any that is assuming that you actually have a real market.

Many of the people that want to buy a top-end PC for gaming, will build or upgrade their own. Or will want a different spec that you are offering, or will buy from abroad to save €10 euro.

If a company like Dell, HP or Lenovo are not serving the market, the market is not economically viable.

massy086

Solitaire wrote: »

FYP :pac:

Seriously though, anyone propagating that retarded "PC Photoshop is FAKE AND GAY!!11!" urban myth for (Steve Jobs') fun and profit can just get out now. I will not tolerate any of that "peasants aren't allowed to do Art/Media/Design/Sound Engineering because they're poor and smelly and Our Lord Steve Jobs said so" in this forum. Ever.

right i did,nt get anthing you said there sol lol but ye 20-30 would be a joke it would be ok if you were getting the parts wholesale because you would be making profit on them too but thats not gona happen easy. i have alway,s thought if somewhere was to open up as a shop slash lan cafe that was well priced bringing in quality parts at just a little over the e-tailer,s and was well stocked well (no 9800gt card,s)walk in bring home, and then had a good eyefinity display in the window and offered a couple of gamming leavel pc,s to the market it would get the non geeky people into pc gaming too and you could then convert console funboys to some real gaming it might then earn you money. you could also do repairs to pc,s phone,s and console,s and some moddding of course to help pay the bill,s

smokiebeverage

I won't mention the company name I work for, but we would build any machine to any spec. We build loads of office PCs and only add around 30e on, but you have to remember we will be spending 3 years getting paid to support these so its worth our while. Now if someone comes in and asks for a 'gaming pc' one of the lads will help them choose the parts (he's into the gaming thing) for their needs. If they buy the parts we'll build it for 25e but we won't install it and the warranty is with whoever they bought it off. If they want us to supply it and install it we need to charge 75e over the cost of the parts. Loads of small IT companies will do this for you if you ask. Why don't we advertise the service? because 'gaming machines' are a pain in the a$$ and just not worth the hassle of 'I have a virus, my game won't load etc etc' and when your local you don't want to go down the Dell line of you'll have to wipe and reinstall sir everytime there is a problem.

Monotype

massy086 wrote: »

i have alway,s thought if somewhere was to open up as a shop slash lan cafe that was well priced bringing in quality parts at just a little over the e-tailer,s and was well stocked well (no 9800gt card,s)walk in bring home,

You have to think about the pace at which prices change and new technology comes out. Graphics cards are about the fastest changing component and if you try to build up a stock, you'll have a self worth of junk in no time.

...then had a good eyefinity display in the window and offered a couple of gamming leavel pc,s to the market it would get the non geeky people into pc gaming too and you could then convert console funboys to some real gaming it might then earn you money....

I would like to see PC and game shops flaunting the technology a bit more, but there's more profit in consoles so that probably won't happen for quite a while (maybe when the consoles have their second had market eliminated).

Kinetic^

Solitaire wrote: »

FYP :pac:

Seriously though, anyone propagating that retarded "PC Photoshop is FAKE AND GAY!!11!" urban myth for (Steve Jobs') fun and profit can just get out now. I will not tolerate any of that "peasants aren't allowed to do Art/Media/Design/Sound Engineering because they're poor and smelly and Our Lord Steve Jobs said so" in this forum. Ever.

Want to hug it out?

Solitaire

:P

Wasn't having a go at you Just noticed your post seems to echo the common feeling that PCs are rubbish for design, based on nothing more than the fact that Macs come with a fancier screen :rolleyes::p The attitude has become really prevalent in third-level education where in most affected courses lecturers pretty much tell any student unable to afford a top-level MacBook Pro to basically "GTFO PEASANT SCUM!!!". AFAIK there are only two people on my sister's media course in DIT that have parents who earn less than ~€100k+ - and she of course is one of them So its an issue that's really close to my heart - its basically elitist social programming conducted by Jobs for fun and profit :eek::mad::mad:

Skerries

are there any comparison charts out there comparing a Mac and a similarly priced pc or laptop?
i know they used to do them years ago but haven't seen anything recently

a pc with the new Intel and a good gfx would blow Macs performance out of the water i'd say