Cost involved in getting someone to build a PC for you?

Hey all,

My PC is great, but it keeps on giving me a problem where it shuts down or freezes up for no apparent reason (IRQL_not_less_or_equal). When it's working, it works fine, but when it's acting up, it's hugely frustrating (took it to a Computer store, where they said it was a hard drive issue and they swapped it out, but it made no difference, really).


PC is a desktop, HP, bought in Harvey Norman's, straight off the shelf type job.

So I'm halfheartedly looking at upgrading to a new desktop (I have a laptop, but I do a fair amount of image editing, so it's not the best for that), but I don't want to spend over the odds on a PC that'll end up with similar problems.


So I was wondering, seen as building your own PC isn't that difficult (apparently) and seen as there's a whole forum on here for it, how much do you reckon someone would charge to put together a desktop for me, from scratch?

Are there shops or places you can go for this kinda thing (alternatively and preferably, are there boardsies that do this for people?).


Does anyone know if it generally works out cheaper, about the same, or more expensive than buying off the shelf in a store?


Really not the best with computers, so just thought i'd throw a thread in here and see if anyone would be informed enough to be able to help me out.

gooch2k9

Theres a thread in one of them stickys where people offer to build the PC for you, plenty of people around the country offering. Have a look. Most will build for free from what I've seen.

deconduo

If you're in Dublin I'll happily do it for you for free. Just need a budget and to know what its main use would be (gaming, photoshop etc.) If you're outside of Dublin theres a few people around who are happy to do the same.

Oh I didn't know there was a thread on it, sorry.


Main use for me would be something that can run photoshop and let me do stuff with layers and such without giving me any issues (a few 5mb jepgs being edited about the same time) and edit multiple RAW files in Adobe Camera RAW.

Out from that, just basic stuff like being able to listen to music/watch tv shows, etc. (TV shows in a 42" tv, so it'd need to be able to support an extra monitor and preferably have a HDMI socket) and if it had Windows 7 that'd be a nice extra, too.


I don't know anything about pricing this kinda stuff though, so I'm not sure what kind of budget would be appropriate?!

gooch2k9

Just throw up the most you're willing to part with. Someone will put together a suitable build from that, hopefully under the budget:D

deconduo

Here's a quick basic build that would get the job done.

Total build cost: €480.53 + €30 shipping
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9 €32.63
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €16.55
Wintech int.Card Reader 8,9cm (3,5") USB 2.0 inkl. drei Blenden in schwarz, beige, silber €8.32
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €40.92
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz €32.63
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit (SB-Version) €74.51
Sapphire HD5450 512M DDR3 PCI-E HDMI / DVI-I / VGA €24.98
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €151.82
MSI H61M-E33 (B3), Intel H61, mATX, DDR3 €53.03

I threw in the card reader because my girlfriend is a photographer as well so I know its usually a must have. I assume you have a mouse, keyboard and monitor already from your old computer.

af_thefragile

you could also try this website:
www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk

You can select what sorta PC you want and then chose your components and they'll build it for you (and also overclock it if you chose to) and you'll also get like a year guarantee.

They are a bit on the pricey side but its still reasonable if you wanna spend that bit extra for them to build it and give you their warranty.

Serephucus

You may not have to build a new one... maybe look into fixing the problem first?

The error you're getting sounds like an IRQ conflict. If you open up device manager, have a look at what IRQ channel all of your devices are set to. If any of them are the same, change them, so that they're all different.

deconduo

deconduo wrote: »

Here's a quick basic build that would get the job done.

Total build cost: €480.53 + €30 shipping

The only real downside to that list, is that I don't know what any of it actually means I'm not the most knowledgeable with computer purchasing, so my decisions are usually based on what version of windows the machine has, how much ram and processor speed.

I wouldn't mind paying someone on here to make a PC for me, but they'd have to deal completely with sorting everything out for me (and deal with any initial problems if there are any because of parts not working together or such) as I wouldn't have a clue.

Serephucus wrote: »

You may not have to build a new one... maybe look into fixing the problem first?

The error you're getting sounds like an IRQ conflict. If you open up device manager, have a look at what IRQ channel all of your devices are set to. If any of them are the same, change them, so that they're all different.

I opened the device manager but I'm not too sure what any of it means, and everytime I google around, I read of people having this problem and they never seem to be able to fix it.

I turned my PC on today at about 1pm, and it's restarted four times since then. However, it's now going fine. It just gets a black screen and restarts itself for no real reason, or it'll get a blue screen with the IRQL error (which is more common than the black screen) the fan in the desktop will go a bit overboard and i'll have to hold the power button down to turn it off, and then turn it on again and hope for the best.

Over the last six months I've asked and looked online and I haven't got the head for figuring it out at all. It seems like one of those it could be absolutely anything type problems.

What annoys me, is that the desktop is only about two and a half years old, and this problem only started about 8 months ago. And although it comes and goes and doesn't always have a big affect on the computer, there's no reason for it. I don't really change settings or anything. I just get on with my own photo editing or web browsing. I haven't made any changes that could really affect the desktop, that I know of.

Sorry for the drawn out reply.

What do ye guys make of this, can I ask?

http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/high-performance-desktop/822294

seraphimvc

Deleted User wrote: »

What do ye guys make of this, can I ask?

http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/high-performance-desktop/822294

give him 600 but including a monitor+keyboard/mouse otherwise it doesnt worth the money. you can get a brand new rig with good specs with the same 600.