UberPC - An investigation into PC Component Prices

[Lenny]

I meant to post the latest prices yesterday, but I forgot. Anyway, here they are.

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UberPC

Original Price - £5,023.82
10/05 - £4,517.28 -£506.54



From last week:

RAM - down £32.88 (2x £16.44)
1TB HDD - down £42.30 (4 x £10.58)
Case - up £17.63

Total for the week = down £57.55

RealisticUberPC

Original Price - £3,602.55
10/05 - £3,384.21 -£218.34



From last week:

RAM - down £32.88 (2x £16.44)
1TB HDD - down £10.58
DVD Drives - down £0.80 (2x £0.40)
Case - up £17.63

Total for the week = down £26.63

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I think the shock this week is that the case has gone up in price by nearly £20.

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I did it with the UberPC last week, and I shall do it with the RealisticUberPC this week, as it's been a month since I worked out the build.

The original price was £3,602.55. Now, seeing as there are some components which aren't new, I'm going to take those out (160gb HDD, DVD Drives), to give me a price of £3,532.44. Over six months, this price should halve (£1,766.22), with a monthly drop of £294.37.

And has it?

Nope.

It's dropped a total of £243.57 (note - this is without the 160gb HDD and the DVD drives) - £50 pounds off the predicted drop. Although close, the Realistic PC is not meeting the hypothesis that the price of new components halves every six months.

[Lenny]

A week later, and it's a disaster!! Prices have gone up, rather than down. Personally I blame Alistair Darling, the incompetent fool he is. But, alas, that's the way things go.

I'll just post links to the pictures today.

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UberPC

Original Price - £5,023.82
17/05 - £4,530.91 -£492.91

UberPC - 17/05/08

From last week:

CPU - up £11.75
1TB HDD - up £6.58 (4x £1.65)
Blu-ray Drives - down £4.70 (2x £2.35)

Total for the week = up £13.63

RealisticUberPC

Original Price - £3,602.55
17/05 - £3,370.98 -£231.57

RealisticUberPC - 17/05/08

From last week:

CPU - up £11.75
1TB HDD - up £1.65

Total for the week = up £13.40

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I wonder if it is down to Mr. Darling, our dearly beloved Chancellor? Fuel prices are still going up, which could have an adverse effect on the price of Computer components from Scan, because they've got to be driven out to the Scan warehouse? The shipping companies would charge more, and thus Scan will.

EDIT: Gah! Looking back at previous posts, I've made a number of mistakes - most of them are bouts of forgetting to update figures, and instead using the previous weeks. Ooops.

[Lenny]

Terrible, terrible, terrible. Prices have continued to go up (even the carriage... which is no surprise, really), although the overall price of both has dropped slightly. I wonder if one is able to sue the Chancellor?

In fact, I'm going to add a Carriage column to both my spreadsheet and this, to show the difference.

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UberPC

Original Price - £5,023.82
24/05 - £4,527.22 -£496.60

UberPC - 24/05/08

From last week:

Motherboard - up £5.88
Graphics Card - up £4.46 (2x £2.23)
CPU - down £7.05
1TB HDD - down £8.46 (4x £2.12)

Total for the week = down £5.17

Carriage = up £1.26 (from £17.55 to £18.81)

RealisticUberPC

Original Price - £3,602.55
17/05 - £3,370.13 -£232.42

RealisticUberPC - 24/05/08


From last week:

Motherboard - up £5.88
Graphics Card - up £2.23
CPU - down £7.05
1TB HDD - down £2.12
160gb HDD - down £0.94

Total for the week = down £1.06

Carriage = up £0.98 (from £13.73 to £14.71)

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Not looking good, is it?

I swear that something else is going on with my figures, too - they just don't seem to add up properly on my spreadsheet. Meh, I'll get it sorted for next week.

[Overread]

its the maths revision (or whatever sciency mathy subject you are doing)
its killing your mind!

[Lenny]

Ah, but I'm not the one working out the figures - it's MS Excel.

Then again, I suppose it is a Microsoft product, so...

[Leisha]

Shh! OR, don't tell him! Just nod and smile.


*nods and smiles*

Great, Len. You're not really mad for wanting to get something that costs more money than a holiday abroad.






Edit: Ooh, I quite like Excel....

[Overread]

... well Lenny's realistic PC is still more than I intend to spend on lenses and stuff this year -- though give me the cash and it would be gone!

[Leisha]

Give me the cash and it would be gone, too. I have soooo many things I'd love to buy for people...


Alas, 'tis not to be.


Len, I'd hate to think what you'd do if you won the Lotto.

[Lenny]

If I won the Lottery then that measly build would be out of the window faster than you can say "Alistair Darling is raping this country's economy".

I'd probably get me a few of those curved Alienware monitors, and the best PC £4 million can buy.

EDIT: Don't forget that by October it should be about around the £1,800 mark, OR... that is unless Darling decides to unveil a Technology Tax to pay for some more lube.

[Leisha]

Mmmmmm.... Alienware.... *daydreams*


I doubt I could afford one of those ever. And if I won the Lotto, I'd still use the wonderful little lappy that's in front of me. Just because I had money, I'd see no reason to swap him. He's brilliant (except for freezing all the time, now I've upgraded to SP1 )

[Lenny]

Things seem to be settling now (which is bad news for my Scientific experiment - prices should be dropping, damnit! Maybe I should have done this when we had Mr. Blair as PM. ), and this week only one component went up in price, and by only a couple of a quid at that. Still, I'm going to be oiling my hunting knife today - you know, just in case Darling decides the economy needs a stiletto to the armpit to help it along.

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UberPC

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
31/05 - £4,529.33 -£494.49

UberPC - 31/05/08

From last week:

Motherboard - up £2.11
Carriage - no change (£18.81)

Total for the week = up £2.11

RealisticUberPC

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
31/05 - £3,372.25 -£230.30

RealisticUberPC - 31/05/08

From last week:

Motherboard - up £2.11
Carriage - no change (£14.71)

Total for the week = up £2.11

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Things aren't loooking good for the monthly differences. If this trend continues next week then the UberPC will have dropped a whole £40ish in a month - a tenth of what it should be dropping to meet the target of a 50% drop in six months.

Gah... come on Lottery Jackpot win...

[Lenny]

My worst fears have been confirmed! Well, it's easy to think so, seeing the latest prices - the Hitachi 1Tb hard disk has gone up over £25! Darling's brought in a HDD Tax!! This calls for something more heavy duty than a hunting knife, methinks.

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UberPC

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
07/06 - £4,603.40 -£420.42

UberPC - 07/05/08

From last week:

Graphics Cards - down £27.99 (2x 13.99)
1TB HDD - up £105.76 (4x £26.44)
Carriage - down £3.14 (£15.67)

Total for the week = up £74.62

RealisticUberPC

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
07/06 - £3,381.23 -£221.32

RealisticUberPC - 07/05/08

From last week:

Graphics Card - down £13.99
1TB HDD - up £26.44
160GB HDD - down £0.58
Carriage - down £2.45 (£12.26)

Total for the week = up £9.42

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A second month gone for the UberPC. As stated when the first month came and went, the UberPC should drop by about £418.65 a month. This month, it has dropped by a grand total of £28.57, with a total drop over two months of £420.42.

I don't need to make any comments, do I? This makes Lenny a sad panda.

[Grimward]

Rising petrol prices work their way into everything, Lens.

Great column here, though; much kudos to you!

*Leaves emu snacks in appreciation!*

[Lenny]

Slight problem with what I said last week about the UberPC dropping by £28. It actually went up by £28.

Either way, I'm putting a crack squad of assassins together. Anyone want to join?

By the way, the Asus 9800GX2 doesn't seem to be around any more, so I've had to swap that out for an XFX version, which is just over a tenner cheaper - follows the trend the Asus card started last week.

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UberPC

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
14/06 - £4,579.81 -£444.01

UberPC - 14/05/08

From last week:

Graphics Cards - down £25.80 (2x £12.90)
PSU - down £11.75
Blu-ray - up £11.75
Carriage - up £1.88 (£17.55)

Total for the week = down £23.92

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RealisticUberPC

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
14/06 - £3,358.30 -£244.25

RealisticUberPC - 14/05/08

From last week:

Graphics Card - down £12.90
PSU - down £11.75
Carriage - up £1.37 (£13.73)

Total for the week = down £23.18

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I'm not in the mood for saying much. The damned thing has gone up by 71p in a month. Need I say that it's not meeting my hypothesis? Hanging by IDE cable is looking like a very nice option at this moment. Either that or winning some sort of £10,000+ jackpot in which case I'd build both computers, do up this one, and buy a laptop - the Uber PC to keep at home, the more realistic one for Uni, this one I can give to my parents, and the laptop would be ideal for taking notes in lectures).

[Lenny]

This Emu is a happy bunny! No thoughts about assassination this week, ho no! If this trend carries on through to the end of the month, I'll even make up for the abysmal performance of the components last month.

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UberPC

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
21/06 - £4,451.30 -£572.52

UberPC - 21/05/08

From last week:

Motherboard - down £1.76
RAM - down £117.50
1TB HDD - down £9.37 (4x £2.34)
Carriage - up £0.13 (£17.68)

Total for the week = down £128.50

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RealisticUberPC

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
14/06 - £3,240.49 -£362.06

RealisticUberPC - 21/05/08

From last week:

Motherboard - down £1.76
RAM - down £117.50
1TB HDD - down £2.35
160gb HDD - down £0.47
Carriage - up £3.63 (£17.36)

Total for the week = down £118.45

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Seeing drops of that amount are so nice. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.