Interest in PC Building Service?

TwistedBiscuit

Hi Folks,

I am just trying to gauge interest in a gaming PC building service in Ireland.

I know some gamers are perfectly capable of building their own system, but for the less technical among us, would there be interest in using an Irish service to build a custom PC?

With overpriced stock systems from the likes of Alienware, I thought that there might be an opportunity to bring PC gaming to people who want a decent rig, but cannot afford, or refuse to pay for, the current offerings from the likes of Dell or ASUS.

Obviously, there would be a service fee to build the machine, but the overall cost of a gaming system would be reduced without the manufacturer mark up, yet the computer would be capable of playing the very same games on the same quality settings. After service would also be an important part of the equation and warranties could be extended for a cost. It would be an official VAT registered business too, no tax-evading, brown envelope schemes!

Just looking for some feedback on this, especially from anybody who might be interested in using this service so I can get an idea of what they would expect. Any input is welcomed and encouraged.

Thanks,
Richard.

tuxy

Check out hardwareversand.de . Their prices undercut all the other PC parts sites. They carry all the top spec parts, perfect for high,medium and low end gaming pc.

They will put all the parts together into a pc for €20
Your idea is only interesting if you could undercut their prices.

ScumLord

Judging by the PC building and upgrading forum there is a demand there but it's small. High end PC gaming is seen as an expensive investment, you can promote the PC as being a replacement for TV, games and music but then it become a lifestyle changer that people will be apprehensive to make.

I don't think there would be enough people actively looking for the service. You'd have to go out there and promote the concept which is going to end up costing you money.

dazftw

PC building on its own.. I don't think so. PC building/repair and you would do more business.

Kiith

The biggest problem that i see is that most people who want a custom built gaming pc, know how to do it themselves.

If you could get the pitch out to enough people, and dispel some of the idea's that they are really expensive and hard to use, then you might have a shot. And considering how powerful and cheap pc hardware is at the moment, it might work.

aN.Droid

For most people to be interested in this you would have to be charging only about 20 euro for the service and back it up with a guarantee.

You also have to realize that any item you sell has an expected lifespan that supersedes any seller warranties. And PC parts have a long expected life span bar maybe mechanical hard drives. You would have to repair / replace in most instances of failure and especially if you provided the PC building service.

Most shops like hardwareversand are cheaper because they have a lower vat rate then we do also so that is another thing to take into account.

norrie rugger

tuxy wrote: »

Check out hardwareversand.de . Their prices undercut all the other PC parts sites. They carry all the top spec parts, perfect for high,medium and low end gaming pc.

They will put all the parts together into a pc for €20
Your idea is only interesting if you could undercut their prices.

Not necessarily. HVS is only good for the initial build. If you can come close to their price, while being local for repairs/upgrades etc then it would be worth going local.

Being able to bring your entire rig in, to get a new MB put in would be a bonus for people that would not know how to. Also I know people in my own IT dept (software admittedly) that would be terrified of putting a CPU down.

You would definitely have to cater for more than just games, while also providing a repair/upgrade service

RedXIV

Banshee Computers in Limerick do this, they are on Linkedin and the owner is really sound. Message him and see if he can give you any advice.


EDIT: just looking and I think they went bust

TwistedBiscuit

I had never come across hardwareversand.de before. Pretty difficult to compete with that!

Price is normally the bottom line for most people, and that's to be expected. I'm still interested to see if a local service would hold any value for potential customers. A repair service would be a natural follow-on, but I'm just examining the PC building side of things first.

kippy

TwistedBiscuit wrote: »

I had never come across hardwareversand.de before. Pretty difficult to compete with that!

Price is normally the bottom line for most people, and that's to be expected. I'm still interested to see if a local service would hold any value for potential customers. A repair service would be a natural follow-on, but I'm just examining the PC building side of things first.

Honestly, I don't think there's a viable market for it for any number of reasons.
Including all that has been mentioned above.

Also, the fact that you've never heard of HVS before now kinda points towards the fact that you aren't that familiar with:
1. The competition.
2. PC Building in general.

Laviski

kippy wrote: »

Also, the fact that you've never heard of HVS before now kinda points towards the fact that you aren't that familiar with:
1. The competition.
2. PC Building in general.

thats pretty harsh. I've built my pc but was only aware of the irish and uk sites to go to for parts, and site looks pretty damm good price wise.

Bottom line the hard core gamers do know what a cpu is looks like and they are the ones know or will figure it out how to put it 2gether. The market you will lookin for are those willing to spend 1000e on a rig all incuded. As they probably buy from dell pc-world thinking the're awesome.

TwistedBiscuit

kippy wrote: »

Honestly, I don't think there's a viable market for it for any number of reasons.
Including all that has been mentioned above.

Also, the fact that you've never heard of HVS before now kinda points towards the fact that you aren't that familiar with:
1. The competition.
2. PC Building in general.

You're right that I'm not familiar with the competition, hence this thread.

You're wrong on point number two. I'm an experienced systems builder but I have yet to dip my toe in the gaming market. As it stands with my current employer, we get parts directly from manufacturers (mainly Intel, AMD and Nvidia) - we have no need for a middle man (as far as those particular manufacturers are concerned) therefore it stands to reason that I have never come across HVS. When I referred to bottom line, I was impressed at the price HVS charge for building a system, not parts.

Could you possibly expound on what you meant by "I don't think there's a viable market for it for any number of reasons" - it was a bit vague. I'm trying to get as much information as possible. Thank you.

kippy

TwistedBiscuit wrote: »

You're right that I'm not familiar with the competition, hence this thread.

You're wrong on point number two. I'm an experienced systems builder but I have yet to dip my toe in the gaming market. As it stands with my current employer, we get parts directly from manufacturers (mainly Intel, AMD and Nvidia) - we have no need for a middle man (as far as those particular manufacturers are concerned) therefore it stands to reason that I have never come across HVS. When I referred to bottom line, I was impressed at the price HVS charge for building a system, not parts.

Could you possibly expound on what you meant by "I don't think there's a viable market for it for any number of reasons" - it was a bit vague. I'm trying to get as much information as possible. Thank you.

Sorry,
Perhaps I was a bit harsh on you.

What I mean is, the majority of people out there know that they can buy a PC in a large amount of large and indeed small retailers. One that will come with some level of support and one which isn't going to go out of business any time soon (like the guy mentioned above).
They also know exactly where they can buy them (advertising/marketing etc) and often want that "feel" before they buy.
A portion of the rest buy fully built PC's online to save that bit of money but they also have some comeback on the PC's.
The ones that are left generally build the PC themselves.

You basicilly need to compete with companies such as HVS on the overall price and support/RMA etc, then get through to your target market that you are the way to go (probably the most expensive part of it)

(I am making the assumption here that you would be running this business with the aim of netting minimum 20K per annum)

ScumLord

Limericks wrote: »

For most people to be interested in this you would have to be charging only about 20 euro for the service and back it up with a guarantee.

He could charge more and still compete with HVS, one thing people keep overlooking is the cost of shipping. I think that's around another €40.

Having someone that's close to home is also another big bonus. I'm just after going through getting a replacement for a faulty motherboard with HVS and it was a horrible experience that took months. That was months of me using an old PC that wasn't up for the task slowing down my work and driving me crazy. HVS were pretty unhelpful, I asked if I could buy the replacement before sending it back and just get them to refund me once they decide to send a replacement but they were having none of it.

I don't think you could totally discount the custom builders either. If you can afford a really high end PC you may well have a demanding job. If someone can do the work of sourcing, building and providing support for a reasonable amount of money they may well be willing to pay the premium to avoid the hassles. They may be willing to pay for complete networked home entertainment systems too that go beyond just building a PC.

I think you'd need to be out doing exhibitions to find the clients, these are big investments with no guarantees. You had a chance during the boom but I just don't see a market anymore.

aN.Droid

ScumLord wrote: »

He could charge more and still compete with HVS, one thing people keep overlooking is the cost of shipping. I think that's around another €40.

Postage is 19 euro to Ireland.

ScumLord

Limericks wrote: »

Postage is 19 euro to Ireland.

He can charge €38 and still be competitive so. Although I don't think you can do the work for that kind of money. HVS money comes from selling the hardware, so they don't need to charge much for the building. Maybe if you were selling a particular spec so you could order in the parts in bulk to get discounts and make up the difference there. If your PCs were unique enough to make them stand out you may have a business but your competing with the big boys who can undercut.

Quality service isn't high on the agenda to Irish people either, we go for cheap these days even though it may end up costing us in the long run.

Bloodwing

I can't see there being a big enough demand for it to be honest. Most people who spec their own systems would prefer to self build because it makes things a lot easier when it comes to upgrading. The lads here will do it for free and HWVS only charge €20. You'd need to be shipping in parts for a lot cheaper than HWVS and offering a quicker turn around if you wanted your business to be sustainable.

Tea_Bag

and you'll have a hard time staying ahead of the lifespan game. you'll obviously be buying stock in bulk because no one ordering from you is going to be prepared to wait a week for you to receive the parts and then build. imagine buying 10's of 2500K's right before the 3570K landed? or the massive price drops in SSD's. or the price drops AMD has been doing.

Wossack

fwiw, I wouldnt limit myself to gaming machines

look into HTPC's, 10ft interfaces, media servers, tuners combined with freesat dishes etc


I had considered doing something similar, but the aftersales support needed would be pretty tough timewise


/edit, oh and also, imo, I dont believe HVS service is really up to much. The toughest part of custom building is not doing the lego at the end (which is actually pretty fun (am weird though, love doing Ikea jigsaws too)), its all in choosing the parts

Grumpypants

There is a market for it, PC gaming is getting more popular now as we wait in the new consoles, and plenty of people like me need help building and upgrading PC's. I could figure it out myself but if you had a fast and cheap service id be happy to pay to have a new cooling system installed or power unit etc.

That German site built mine for 20 euro and shipped it for 19 which was good but everything costs 19 to ship to Ireland so it adds a lot if you only want 1 part to upgrade. Also they are pretty hard to deal with over email. If I had someone locally I could have gone to, talked about what I want and need the pc for then helped pick the parts and built it for me that is a service I would pay for.

Bloodwing

Grumpypants wrote: »

There is a market for it, PC gaming is getting more popular now as we wait in the new consoles, and plenty of people like me need help building and upgrading PC's. I could figure it out myself but if you had a fast and cheap service id be happy to pay to have a new cooling system installed or power unit etc.

That German site built mine for 20 euro and shipped it for 19 which was good but everything costs 19 to ship to Ireland so it adds a lot if you only want 1 part to upgrade. Also they are pretty hard to deal with over email. If I had someone locally I could have gone to, talked about what I want and need the pc for then helped pick the parts and built it for me that is a service I would pay for.

The question is how much extra would you have been willing to pay and how much longer would you be willing to wait?

The only way someone could be competitive against the international online companies is if they bulk order components and have them in stock when someone places an order, but then you end up with old stock left on your shelves. That's why companies like Pete's, currys and maplins have such a limited selection of components.

Jonny7

We in the building and upgrading forum have probably sent hundreds of thousands of euros hardwareversand's way in the past years. Bit annoying it's not going to somewhere in Ireland.

A surprising amount of gamers pick up crap ebay systems or Dell PC's and slowly learn the hard way that a certain level of quality is needed for a decent gaming system (I'm not talking huge prices either, a gaming PC can be built for 400 euros)

The Irish market is always going to be small, but its definitely there. Unfortunately anyone _not_ in the know is going to order a "gaming" PC from ebay or dell or anyone in the know is usually going to get it from Hardwareversand.

Komplett, Elara, Dabs, etc all fill the gap in between, not offering a good building service but offering parts at semi-decent prices.

Is there any niche? perhaps, maybe one selling solid pre-built systems (e.g. good budget gaming 500 euro, 750 euro and 1K euro PC's) - so far the only outlet who seem to be covering that locally are CustomPC.ie, but, no offence to them, they have ridiculous prices, their upgrades make no sense and seem to be a bit of a typical Irish outfit.

Another random idea - perhaps approach the likes of Komplett for some sort of building service, with several hand-picked (or expert picked) types of PC which offer good value, sound parts, and no rip-offs. I have known many people who would rather pay 700 euros for a good Irish pre-built system from an Irish retailer than 600 euros for the same system from Germany.

Grumpypants

Bloodwing wrote: »

The question is how much extra would you have been willing to pay and how much longer would you be willing to wait?

The only way someone could be competitive against the international online companies is if they bulk order components and have them in stock when someone places an order, but then you end up with old stock left on your shelves. That's why companies like Pete's, currys and maplins have such a limited selection of components.

The parts would be bottom of the list for me, even if he ordered them from that german site I would still have to wait for delivery that doesn't change if it is built here or over there.

I would be more paying for the advice and service, when I went to build mine I posted in the PC building forum got a machine spec'd then the next person would give a different spec before I knew it there was a big chat about graphics cards processors and memory that I just did not have a clue about. Everyone recomended an AMD card then I went to work and they warned me off AMD for gaming rigs. I had purchased a 550watt power supply and then was warned this might blow and take the PC with it as it was quite low.

I was lost I would have loved to have had one guy locally who I could sit down with, with my price structure and what I wanted from the PC and go through all the pros and cons. The actual price of parts, delivery and time would be factors but not the main ones.

The market he would be going for would be people like me people that are big gamers but not tech savvy or up to date with the latest PC hardware. Lets be honest if you know what parts you need or can build your own machine you would do it yourself. This would be for those who just want someone to look after all that side of things an deliver a good solid PC cheaper than a base model from PC world.

Taylor365

Grumpypants wrote: »

The market he would be going for would be people like me people that are big PC gamers but not tech savvy or up to date with the latest PC hardware.

A very niche market indeed.

Grumpypants

Taylor365 wrote: »

A very niche market indeed.

Not really the PC market is having a massive come back at the moment and without any new consoles for another year many people with cash to spend are looking at the PC market now when before they were happy on console for the last 7 years. These would be out of the loop in terms of what they need to buy hardware wise.

The PC market is back on a par with either of the consoles and with larger hard drives, better cheaper processors and graphics cards and the switch to digital publishers are now looking back at the PC market as their main market as they have greater freedom and can release games, patches, updates and DLC for free rather than paying the fee's Sony and Microsoft charge.

Taylor365

Grumpypants wrote: »

Not really

You forgot the rest.

Grumpypants wrote:

but not tech savvy or up to date with the latest PC hardware

Most people into PC gaming would know the ins and outs of their machine either by necessity or through perfectionism.

jumbobreakfast

Most people who cant build their own would inundate you with their PC problems and blame you for stuff that's outside of your control resulting in wasted unpaid time.

If you can solve that problem then you'd have an edge. perhaps preventing them from installing games on the C: drive and having a recovery image on the system drive or something so you can get them to roll-back to a previous state. It sounds messy because it is messy. PCs are a pain in the arse compared to consoles for most people.

Grumpypants

Taylor365 wrote: »

You forgot the rest.


Most people into PC gaming would know the ins and outs of their machine either by necessity or through perfectionism.

Yea but he won't be building pc's for people that have built their own! It will be for the huge % of users that don't know how to build one and those new to PC gaming.

TwistedBiscuit

Many thanks for the replies, all. I'm certainly a lot more tentative about this endeavor than I was before - we are in a niche market when it comes to Irish PC gaming. I'm going to give it some real consideration and perhaps toy with the idea of putting together an affordable dual purpose Steam/Media Server box and seeing if there would be interest in something like that as a finished product. Any thoughts on that idea?

Again, the feedback is invaluable and this is obviously just a concept, so feel free to critique.

Agricola

Grumpypants wrote: »

Yea but he won't be building pc's for people that have built their own! It will be for the huge % of users that don't know how to build one and those new to PC gaming.

The problem there though is the majority of people who fit into that category would rather buy something pre-built from a known company imo. They would require the peace of mind of having a brand name on the case and the no hassle warranty that big retailers would give you. Now I agree there are people out there who know the value of high quality custom parts, want to spec up their own system, but are too afraid to get the screw drivers out, but are there really enough of them to make his business viable? I doubt it.

OP, one thing Im thinking of is that you'd need some kind of original angle as a system builder. Actually builder / modder more like. Instead of just buying parts and slapping them into a generic case, if you were to go down the road of building very unique systems tailored to the buyers requirements. For example Im thinking of doing a mirrored / chrome mod of my own case some time soon. Whats stopping me is I know the amount of time it will take to do right! If I could pick a nice case and get someone to do the mod for me, Id be very interested indeed.

kippy

Agricola wrote: »

The problem there though is the majority of people who fit into that category would rather buy something pre-built from a known company imo. They would require the peace of mind of having a brand name on the case and the no hassle warranty that big retailers would give you. Now I agree there are people out there who know the value of high quality custom parts, want to spec up their own system, but are too afraid to get the screw drivers out, but are there really enough of them to make his business viable? I doubt it.

OP, one thing Im thinking of is that you'd need some kind of original angle as a system builder. Actually builder / modder more like. Instead of just buying parts and slapping them into a generic case, if you were to go down the road of building very unique systems tailored to the buyers requirements. For example Im thinking of doing a mirrored / chrome mod of my own case some time soon. Whats stopping me is I know the amount of time it will take to do right! If I could pick a nice case and get someone to do the mod for me, Id be very interested indeed.

The main issue for trying to attract however many people there are in that category is getting them to know you exist.