US vs UK...

[pij]

Hi guys,

I am just about to purchase and build my first pc - an AMD or i7 gaming machine and cannot for the life of me decide. Now I want to avoid the old AMD Vs Intel argument but wanted to know if anyone from the UK has purchased goods from the US and then shipped them here (UK)?

What makes me ask this question is... my i7 build comes to 1300 (GBP) and the AMD 1000 (GBP) ... HOWEVER if I got my parts from new egg then I would be able to afford the i7 build.

Has anyone from the UK tried it this way? I know I would need a US shipping address as they don't send stuff to the UK, but are the onward costs to the UK high?

Or does anyone in the states know a retailer with low prices like new egg that would ship to the UK?..

Another thing I have to consider is things like RMA's should a part be faulty..

Thoughts anyone .. especially from my fellow brits!!

PJ

 

[A-Bentley]

http://www.conrad-international.com/

I use that company as I live in cyprus and they ship to cyprus with low costs, they are a german company but will ship to england up to 30KG for 11euros. which is really cheap. I just build a i7 920 setup on they site for 1200euros including a monitor 22". You can check my post out to see my setup

Click Here{/url}

Hope that helps.

 

[pij]

Thanks for that.

Just done a quick check and ..

Conrad
i7 920 + Asus p6t Deluxe = 509 eu (435 gbp)

Overclockers (uk based) = (423 gbp)

Thanks anyway mate.

 

[Helloworld_98]

how does the i7 build come to £300 more than the AMD one?

at OCUK, if you use comparable parts (i7 920 with a P6T mobo and patriot ram vs AMD 955, M4A79T and OCZ AM3 Gold ram) the biggest difference should be £50.

 

[A-Bentley]

Conrad isn't GBP its euros mate

 

[pij]

Bentley?? huh??? I added up euros and then converted into gbp??..

With regards to price difference (i7 vs amd build)... heres what I got..

i7 - 217
P6t Deluxe v2 - 203
DDR3 mem - 80
HSV - 45

= 545

Phenom 940 - 145
Mobo 85
DDR3 mem - 47
No hsf as stock is good for oc up to 3.4ghz
= 277

Difference 268

Now as I said earlier I don't want to start a big debate about amd vs intel.. I know that the i7 machine would be much better but it's above my budget.

Back to the original question!!!... anyone have any suggestions ?

Thank you

 

[Helloworld_98]

the stock i7 heatsink is good upto 3.2ghz on some cpu's so that's 500, take 10 because patriot 1600mhz is only 70 and is the best for the money, swap the deluxe v2 for the vanilla as you probably don't need tri-sli, that takes 30 off.

that brings it down by 165 to 380 so price difference is 103 and you get a fair bit better PC.

 

[pij]

Patriot viper is 75 inc del so -5
heatsink (which I WOULD BUY if I got the i7 but still lets take it off) -45
and my choice of board would be the Deluxe (but hey lets change that to your part eh!) - 30

= 80

Where did you get 165 from???

The difference is still a difference of nearly 200 quid.

As I said it's not an argument of whos is best but what I can afford. Believe me I am travelling at the mo and been stuck in Indonesia in the same place for 2 weeks waiting for a flight - in a hotel with free wifi and spent HOURS AND HOURS reading forums and benchmarks about i7 vs amd 940 and for GAMING it's a close shave.

Plus I shall be throwing in 4870x2 gpu, and overclocking the Phenom 940 so the difference that the i7 shows will be marginal... and for 200 quid extra!

Anyway.... any other suggestions about parts!!! l

 

[Helloworld_98]

^ whoops, was adding all the numbers after the 500, so yeah £80 taken off.

the 4870 X2 is a waste of money, for £50 more you can get two 4890's which will perform better or you can go the far better route of getting a single 4890 and waiting for the DX11 cards.

 

[pij]

the 4870x2 runs off one pci slot (I think) and gets the full 16 bandwith if I was to stick in 2 gpu's each would get 8 - so the increase in performance would be minimal compared to the 4870x2 in one slot.

Thanks for the shout tho.

 

[Griffolion]

ATI in general is a waste of money, their weak stream processors and unstable drivers basically cancels out gddr5 and staggeringly high clock speeds. Want something like the X2, get the GTX 295, you won't go wrong. Im not trolling, just trying to throw in some more ideas.

 

[pij]

Wow, I'd LOVE one of those cards... but it's an extra 115 (gbp)!!!