Insurance/ Warranties on custom builds

[swest1000]

Hi all, to be honest i am pretty hardware illiterate when it comes to computers, (wrong generation for it), but i gave my son a £500 budget for his 16th to build his own computer. Now ofc as the parent my main concern is the cost! From what i can tell individual parts come with their own warranty, but what happens when they are used in the custom build?
-say the computer breaks/fails how does it work in comparison to made computers you can just buy that come with an overall 1 yr (or w/e) warranty from pc world or whoever;
-can you buy a warranty / insurance for the overall custom build, like you can with modified cars?
-and if so what sort of cost am i goin to expect?

also - What companies usually do good prices on components: i am thinking 'e buyer' & 'amazon', any little gem websites you guys know of?


Thanks
SWest

 

[strollin]

I've never heard of such a warranty, maybe somebody else has.

When you build your own computer, you pretty much assume responsibility for its maintenance and upkeep. The individual components may each have their own warranty and you have to diagnose which component is the problem and deal with that component's mfr and their warranty policy. You'll most likely need to contact them to get an RMA number, then package the part up to mail it, wait during the turnaround time, then install/configure it. If you misdiagnosed the issue, you may be back to square one and need to repeat the process over again with a different component.

There is something to be said for buying a ready-built in that they do offer a warranty on the whole system and some vendors offer in-home warranty service where they will send a tech to your home to diagnose/fix the problem. Others will help diagnose the problem over the phone and send you the part to replace. We've all read (or experienced) horror stories about how such-and-such company's customer service sucked or whatever but this is generally how it works.

I've been happy with my dealings with Newegg, Amazon is OK but often you are dealing with a 3rd party when you buy thru Amazon.

 

[swest1000]

ok, thanks very much. i know of newegg, however i dont think they deliver to the uk, plus if the part has a problem it would be hell sorting it out transatlantic-ly. my sons seems like he cud handle building his own computer. i suppose i will have to make it clear that if he plans on going through with the custom build that its his responsibility to sort it out if it goes wrong. At there is at least some fall-back, so long as you can find out what the problem component is if it goes wrong.

one last thing- do you know of any good guides to just make sure you have done all the steps when building a computer? (just so he doesnt go gung-ho)

 

[strollin]

As far as a guide, start here, then look at this.

 

[Celegorm]

We used to have some guides on here but I'm not sure where they went.

What you could do is have your son post on here with the price range, what he wants to do with the computer, and any parts he has picked out, the country you reside in (to use when finding parts and prices) and we can help with the rest.

 

[swest1000]

Ok thanks strollin. And celegorm, my son is taking it from here.

Hi guys, thanks for the help: i have a budget of £500 and i live in england, GB. Already have windows os disk. But £500 has to do the 'tower' and monitor. Im thinking about £100 for the monitor.
From here I have found this 'i3' bundle on amazon.... here

----{bundle}---
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2-B3
CPU: Intel i3 2100 CPU 3.1GHz
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
HDD: 1TB SATA Hard Drive
----{bundle}---
GPU: Sapphire HD 5450 1GB -only about £30- wouldnt want to spend anymore than £50 on GPU-
Fan: i think the 'bundle' comes with CPU fan- maybe just a small system fan? (Mobo can take 2 fans inc CPU fan.)
Disk Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner
And PSU: - I have no idea what power i need!!! :S perhaps here (CIT 450W Gold 12Cm Silent Atx Power Supply)

In terms of what i want to do- general home use (which i think that could handle) and basic gaming.

I hope that CPU, Ram, GPU, Mobo combination won't bottleneck too. what do you guys think?

 

[Indigo]

Don't go with an unknown $20 power supply. You will regret it later. Antec is a good quality lower priced brand, but expect to pay upwards of 50-80 for a unit that will meet your needs.

There's no reason to buy an aftermarket heatsink/fan for a processor these days. Most of the retail boxed CPUs come with heatsinks rated for the CPU.

the Asus DVD drive is fine.

For the RAM, If you can, drop the Corsair and go with some G.Skill. They tend to be cheaper, and way more reliable than even Corsair can muster.

The motherboard & CPU are fine for the price range you're looking at.

Since you didn't want to do anything more than basic gaming, the video card you picked would be OK for that. Anything recent will require a more demanding card.

As far as the original post question on warranties and such, most parts from vendors come with either 1, 3 or 5 year warranties. I've found that as long as you buy a model with a lot of good end-user reviews (check Newegg just as a baseline, and yes I know you're in the UK) and you can do some comparative shopping on Newegg to see how a particular item may stack up in the long haul.

Hopefully that will get you started.

 

[swest1000]

Ok thanks V. much for your help, I've found a PSU.
made by 'ATX', anyone know if they are any good?

-Plus minor upgrade on the GPU here
Will that GPU be able to handle the likes on SCII or the newer end of the Total War series?

Thanks again

 

[Indigo]

ATX is a formfactor, NOT a brand name. Check it again.

The 5570 is an OK card. It won't run everything on high detail, but it'll be "OK".

 

[swest1000]

Ahh yeah, I checked that ATX Form factor out. I understand now, thanks. I've found a good one here. Good price, rave reviews on Ebuyer.
And theres a computer shop near me that is selling an Asus HD 6670 for the same price as the HD 5570, because they are closing down. So im going to get that.

Thanks V much for all the help.