Price Check - darned good grunty PC still under warranty

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mattwnz

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#897741 18-Sep-2013 15:01

There is also a difference in price when buying from a retailer who has built it for you, vs building it yourself from parts (some good quality brands have a 3 year warranty) purchased from the cheapest suppliers. From a retailer you can be paying a lot more.

jamesrt

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#897745 18-Sep-2013 15:04

Elpie:
Inphinity: I would've imagined something like $1700 perhaps. You could build a comparable, new Haswell-based system for about $2200-ish.

Ugh! If that's all my system is worth, bearing in mind that its still under warranty, then I am looking at losing a heap of money. Damn, components must have got cheap this year :-(

My son bought a computer from Quay Computers in Wellington about 3 months ago; for what is more-or-less the same spec as what you've listed (3.4Ghz i7 8Mb Cache, 16Gb Ram, 120Gb SSD, 2Tb HDD, 2Gb NVidia Graphics) he paid $2500 including them building, soak testing, Windows OS + installation, (price also included keyboard, mouse, and a quite a nice 24" widescreen LCD monitor).

So, I'd have to agree with Inphinity's comment about being able to build a comparable system for about $2200 (obviously, he paid more but we didn't build ourselves, so labour costs, etc).

I really can't comment on how quickly a machine like that would lose value.

tdgeek

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#897747 18-Sep-2013 15:10

I'd check couriers, freight company etc. so many people buy so much online that must be an option. Sis bought wave boards online got here no worries. A PC isn't that fragile

SATTV

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#897918 18-Sep-2013 18:42

If you still have the box, take it as checdked luggage, it might cost you a few dollars but wont be that much. You cold also DHL / Fedex it, the Canadians may not chage you any import duties as it is personal effects.

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sidefx

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#897977 18-Sep-2013 20:22

Elpie:
Inphinity: I would've imagined something like $1700 perhaps. You could build a comparable, new Haswell-based system for about $2200-ish.

Ugh! If that's all my system is worth, bearing in mind that its still under warranty, then I am looking at losing a heap of money. Damn, components must have got cheap this year :-(

Very nice system there. But yeah, hate to say it, but my initial ballpark was actually lower than Inphinity's :-/ General rule of thumb I've come across as a starting point is 70% of equivalent components new. Then I'd say some parts on that build, such that GPU and the SSDs, will have dropped more value given recent releases. The remaining warranty on it will help though.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

Elpie

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#898126 19-Sep-2013 00:08

sidefx:
Elpie:
Inphinity: I would've imagined something like $1700 perhaps. You could build a comparable, new Haswell-based system for about $2200-ish.

Ugh! If that's all my system is worth, bearing in mind that its still under warranty, then I am looking at losing a heap of money. Damn, components must have got cheap this year :-(

Very nice system there. But yeah, hate to say it, but my initial ballpark was actually lower than Inphinity's :-/ General rule of thumb I've come across as a starting point is 70% of equivalent components new. Then I'd say some parts on that build, such that GPU and the SSDs, will have dropped more value given recent releases. The remaining warranty on it will help though.

Thanks. I'm seriously reconsidering my options on it now. I got it so it would be easily upgradeable (especially GPU) for awhile at least but losing a grand on it in a year is a bit more than I can stomach. Especially since I would have to replace it at the other end. A few hundred, I could wear. A thousand, no way. So, I will keep investigating options for getting it to Canada - hopefully, in one piece.

sidefx

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#898215 19-Sep-2013 08:26

It might be worth putting it on trademe with a decent reserve to see what people bid? Or ask here (and gpforums BST forum if you have access) for EOIs both as a full system and split up?

The other thing to look at is what you can replace it for in canada... the loss then might not be as much as you think, especially if you have to factor shipping it over there as your other option.

I just priced up equivalent systems (though slightly better - haswell + 250GB SSDs, etc) on these sites:

http://infonec.com/
http://newegg.ca

And the first came up around 2000NZD and newegg at around 1900NZD. You could also take the opportunity to upgrade for example the GPU which as someone mentioned is a bit underpowered for the rest of the system.

Surely even with the current rules another option would be to take some parts (e.g. RAM, CPU, SSDs, HDDs) as carryon?

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

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Elpie

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#898323 19-Sep-2013 10:37

I don't build anymore, preferring to pay the extra and get it built and fully stress tested with a decent warranty. This adds to cost but gives me peace of mind. I contacted a couple of PC builders before I started looking at shipping options and got quotes back for providing the exact same system (all parts are still available). Each quote came in at over CAD$3,000 plus taxes.

Buying out of the US isn't a great option there. Fedex and UPS add brokerage fees. Border seems to add duty inconsistently but always adds GST and the provincial sales taxes. The taxes for Quebec are 5% GST + 9.975% sales tax. To add to the problems of the extra costs, many of the vendors selling into the US specifically void warranties if the goods are taken into Canada. Protectionism at its finest!

OT, but of interest - not everyone wants a large SSD. I deliberately chose to have two SSD's, one for nothing other than the OS, the other for nothing other than frequently used programs and games. SSD's can, and do, fail and a choice to keep separate SSD's that are largely read from rather than written to is a valid choice for some uses. Not defending my choices with my rig - just explaining them ;)

Inphinity

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#898333 19-Sep-2013 10:49

Elpie:
I contacted a couple of PC builders before I started looking at shipping options and got quotes back for providing the exact same system (all parts are still available). Each quote came in at over CAD$3,000 plus taxes.

They're charging you like $1500 to put it together then. That's insane.

Elpie

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#898337 19-Sep-2013 10:51

Inphinity:
Elpie:
I contacted a couple of PC builders before I started looking at shipping options and got quotes back for providing the exact same system (all parts are still available). Each quote came in at over CAD$3,000 plus taxes.

They're charging you like $1500 to put it together then. That's insane.

Nope, they aren't charging anywhere near that much - just a couple of hundred actually. Components aren't cheap in Canada.

Elpie

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#898401 19-Sep-2013 12:13

Just thought I'd add FYI... you know how our government has been looking into getting sellers to collect the GST? In Canada this already happens. A seller of electronic parts or whole systems that is based in one province and who wishes to sell into another province has to be registered for PST (or QST for Quebec) in that other province. They then have to collect taxes and account for them to that other province. As a result, a lot of companies won't sell outside their home province. Imagine having to keep a separate GST registration and records for each province here! Companies would either refuse to sell into the provinces or hike their prices to cover the additional work/costs. This impacts severely on prices. In comparison, Kiwis are doing okay.

PaulBags

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#898407 19-Sep-2013 12:18

Could you disassemble it and ship it in parts, maybe selling off just the case and buying a new case when you get there? Might at least give you more control over packing and shipping.

Elpie

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#898415 19-Sep-2013 12:32

Computer Lounge are coming back to me with a price for their "amour proof packing" stuff. I had a good chat to Billy and he's pretty confident that packing out the inside of the case, plus putting it all in the box it came in, then double-boxing, should see it arrive intact.

Border services have confirmed that if it comes as a PC there is no duty on it (since I can provide the invoice and photos) however, if I break it down and bring it as parts this will be taxed.

Thanks everyone for all your help. I'm going to pack it up, surround it with loads of padding and moisture protection and take the risk with the shipping container. Courier is too expensive and airline baggage handlers are potentially more of a risk than the temperature variations en route. Hopefully, once its arrived I will be able to post back with some good news (fingers crossed).

mattwnz

20141 posts

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#898465 19-Sep-2013 13:53

Do they actually stress test a PC these days? They used to do a burn in for a day, but I don't think they do that these days. One thing when getting a company to build one, is they you are not only paying the build cost, but also their retail component price, which may be a lot more than if you buy the componets from muliple stores at the lowest price. I saved $1000 buy building a PC myself. Components were 2k, and a store was going to charge me 3k for the same specs.

Elpie

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#898640 19-Sep-2013 18:10

mattwnz: Do they actually stress test a PC these days? They used to do a burn in for a day, but I don't think they do that these days.

Pretty much all of them will if you ask them. Computer Lounge do a 48-hour 'Burn In' test on all their systems, as standard.

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