# UberPC - An investigation into PC Component Prices



## Lenny (Apr 19, 2008)

A Tech forum, a tech forum, my colander for a tech forum!

Yes, anyway... quite a snappy title, don'tcha think?

Basically, this is as the title suggests - an investigation into how the prices of computer components fall over time. My hypothesis is that after six months, the price of a [new] component more or less halves. And to test it, I've put together a PC... well, two PCs. One is the UberPC in the title (a computer that is stupidly expensive and up-to-date), and a RealisticUberPC, which I hope to build in September with all my lovely monies from my Summer job.

Right, specs (with screenshots of the shopping basket to show the prices - the difference in prices are always from the original price)!

*UberPC*

*Mobo:* Asus Striker II Extreme NF790i
*CPU:* Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9770 3.2ghz (Yorkfield, 45nm) 
*RAM:* 8gb Corsair TwinX XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600mhz)
*Graphics Card:* 2x 1gb Asus 9800GX2
*HDD:* 4x Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB
*PSU:* 1500W Xigmatex

*Monitor: *HyundaiIT W241D 24" Widescreen
*Drives:* 2x LG Blu-ray Combo

*Case:* Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution 'nVidia' Special Edition

*OS:* Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

UberPC - 02/04/08 = £5,023.82
UberPC - 11/04/08 = £5,033.17 _+£9.35_
UberPC - 19/04/08 = £4,928.69 _-£95.13_

*RealisticUberPC*

It's much the same, except more... realistic.

*Mobo:* Asus Striker II Extreme NF790i
*CPU: *Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9770 3.2ghz (Yorkfield, 45nm) 
*RAM:* 8gb Corsair TwinX XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600mhz)
*Graphics Card:* 1gb Asus 9800GX2
*HDD:* Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB, 3x Seagate Barracuda 160gb
*PSU:* 1500W Xigmatex

*Monitor:* HyundaiIT W241D 24" Widescreen
*Drives:* 2x Asus DVD thing

*Case:* Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution 'nVidia' Special Edition

*OS:* Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

RealisticUberPC - 11/04/08 = £3,602.55
RealisticUberPC - 19/04/08 = £3,546.78 _-£55.77_

---

The investigation started on the 2nd April for the UberPC, and the 11th for the RealisticUberPC, and from today will be a weekly thing.

Before it gets truly underway, and I get quite a way in, anyone got any suggestions/comments on the build, and what could be better?


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## Happy Joe (Apr 20, 2008)

A couple of questions;

What would be the PCs intended purpose? Gaming, benchies, overclocking, extreme over clocking, induction of drool on keyboards etc.

What cooling? Air, water, tec, LN2, phase change...

In terms of price decline I believe that your 6 months seems about right for an aproximate 30% price decrease (ignoring VAT) (more would be possible if all parts were brand new releases).

Enjoy!


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## The Ace (Apr 20, 2008)

Why 8Gb of memory when windows can only find 3 ?  

Why 2 Graphics cards ?


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## Overread (Apr 20, 2008)

64bit can do more than 32 Ace - though all the way to 8GB I don't know.....
As for 2 graphics cards -- well when one is simply not enough 
and I hate you lenny - I really hate you now! I WANT THAT COMPUTER!


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## Lenny (Apr 20, 2008)

Happy Joe said:


> A couple of questions;
> 
> What would be the PCs intended purpose? Gaming, benchies, overclocking, extreme over clocking, induction of drool on keyboards etc.


 
Well, partly for the bragging rights (come on, why else does one buy really expensive technology?  ), partly for a machine that doesn't look at me with a bemused expression when I open my eightieth video whilst the other 79 still play in the background, and mostly because I'm really into graphics and 3D Modelling, which need a lot of power. I've already worked out the limit of this thing (2.6ghz Dual Core, 3gb RAM, 880GTS 640mb GPU), and I want to be able to do a lot more.

OK, maybe a gross overexaggeration with the videos, but you get the point.I'l be able to chug along quite happily for years with 8gb of RAM and a 3.2ghz Quad core. Which is another reason for everything - after that build, I won't be building a new one until I'm out of Uni and have a job, which could end up being four, five, six years from now. I'll need something that will last at least three years.



> What cooling? Air, water, tec, LN2, phase change...


 
Still thinking. I'd like to give Water Cooling a try, but I think I'll stick with fans - the case, for example, quite literally has a wall of fans on one side. Something like 4 slots for 120mm fans, and 3 for 80mm fans.

---



> Why 8Gb of memory when windows can only find 3 ?
> 
> Why 2 Graphics cards ?


 
As OR says, 64-bit Windows (XP and Vista at least) can take a lot more. I think the limit of 64-bit Vista Ultimate is 128gb (yes, _128 gigabytes_ of RAM). The motherboard only takes 8gb (I'd kill for a board that takes 32gb ), but it _is_ DDR3 1666mhz RAM, which makes up for it.

Two graphics cards = more power for graphics, meaning the RAM and processor need to do less in that department and instead concentrate on their mathsy things.

And you know what I've just realised? I can actually wave goodbye to two cards in SLi, because the mobo can actually take _three_ in SLi!! Oh gods, if the price of things drops enough...

---

Get yourself a Summer job or something, OR, and I'll race you in building it!


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## Overread (Apr 20, 2008)

hehe it would be a usless race this year - my money is heading for lenses this time around - I only upgraded last year (for considerably less than that machine) and my computer does enough for me now - the only thing that will make me upgrade is if starcraft 2 suddenly needs crisis like specs


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## Erin99 (Apr 21, 2008)

Lenses! 

Lenny, if you build it (I will come? No, Manchester's too far) I will be in awe. I could never hope to afford anything like that. 

And... and... 8GB RAM?  *faints*

Blimey.

That's all I have to say. Blimey.


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## Commonmind (Apr 21, 2008)

I think the kitty says it all...


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## Erin99 (Apr 21, 2008)

Hello, CM. Long time no see. 

I hope your story's going well.


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## Commonmind (Apr 21, 2008)

It is, thanks for asking. I hit a little speed bump while giving up smoking, but eventually I reprogrammed myself not to associate reading and writing with lighting up. My lungs have thanked me 

(and yours?)


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## Happy Joe (Apr 21, 2008)

Instead of committing to the current grafics (sli or tri sli) for a fall build, I would recommend waiting to see how the up comming GT-200 shakes out;

Translated version of http://www.golem.de/0804/58955.html 

Enjoy!


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## Erin99 (Apr 22, 2008)

> It is, thanks for asking. I hit a little speed bump while giving up smoking, but eventually I reprogrammed myself not to associate reading and writing with lighting up. My lungs have thanked me
> 
> (and yours?)



My lungs are fine, thanks for asking. 

As for my novel D), it's slowed a lot since posting here.... so I've decided I need a break. I'm now posting less, however much I hate it, so I can finally get some good editing done. I hired someone to assess my manuscript and he said some really good things about it. So I know I'm doing something right! 

And I'm glad to hear you've stopped smoking. Your mind will no doubt be clearer, too.


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## Lenny (Apr 27, 2008)

Right, a week later, and how have the prices changed? Quite a lot, actually.

*UberPC*

Original Price - £5,023.82
26/04 - £4,660.20 _-£363.62_







From last week:

*Motherboard* - down £15.87
*CPU* - down £31.72
*RAM* - down £23.50 (2 x £11.75)
*HDD* - down £115.15 (4 x £28.79)
*BR Drives* - down £82.25 (2 x £41.13)

*Total for the week = down £268.49*

*RealisticUberPC
*
Original Price - £3,602.55
26/04 - £3,446.91 [size=1[I]]-£155.64[/I][/size]






From last week:

*Motherboard* - down £15.87
*CPU* - down £31.72
*RAM* - down £23.50 (2 x £11.75)
*HDD* - down £28.79

*Total for the week = down £99.88*


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## Lenny (May 3, 2008)

Another week has passed, and the prices have dropped once more, but nowhere near as spectacularly:

*UberPC*

Original Price - £5,023.82
03/05 - £4,574.83 _-£448.99_






From last week:

*RAM* - down £61.40 (2 x £30.70)
*1TB HDD* - down £5.17 (4 x £1.29)
*BR Drives* - down £18.80 (2 x £9.40)

*Total for the week = down £85.37*

*RealisticUberPC*

Original Price - £3,602.55
26/04 - £3,384.21 _-£218.34_






From last week:

*RAM* - down £61.40 (2 x £30.70)
*1TB HDD* - down £1.29

*Total for the week = down £62.70*

-----

So, a month has passed for the UberPC, and it's gone down *£448.99* in total.

In six months, I expect the price to drop by a half, which will be around *£2511.91*, which per month is *£418.65* _(£2511.91 / 6)_. A drop of £448.99 is greater than my predicted monthly drop, but not by enough to make my need to change my hypothesis. Which leads me to say that, one month in, my hypothesis of a halving in price of [new] components every six months is *TRUE*.

The month point for RealisticUberPC is coming up next week, so I'll do the same for that thee.


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## Armadillo-002 (May 9, 2008)

It has always been like that lenny, ICT is *THE* fastest thing, keeping up with it just gave my a headache after a while, though the spec for some these machines are something else, then again another bunch of spec will probably out do these in the next couple of months. For eg the DVD Drive was released way back in 1997, expensive piece of equipment at the time, fastfoward to 2004 it became cheaper, established it self in 2005 and now is almost obsolete because of blu-ray technology (see where am going with this). The single CPU speed last time I saw it stopped at 3.8GHz, now it has gone on to the duel/triple/quad processor and is about 2.1GHz so it kind of taken a step back, but at the same time has gone foward, as for RAM/Memory that will still climb upwards. Graphics will always demand more speed and memory.


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## Lenny (May 11, 2008)

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

---

*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*

---

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

---

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.


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## Lenny (May 17, 2008)

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.

---

*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*

---

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.


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## Lenny (May 24, 2008)

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.

---

*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)_

---

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.


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## Overread (May 24, 2008)

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


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## Lenny (May 25, 2008)

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...


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## Erin99 (May 25, 2008)

_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....


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## Overread (May 25, 2008)

... 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!


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## Erin99 (May 25, 2008)

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.


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## Lenny (May 25, 2008)

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.


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## Erin99 (May 25, 2008)

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 )


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## Lenny (May 31, 2008)

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.

---

*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*

---

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...


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## Lenny (Jun 7, 2008)

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.

---

*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*

---

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.


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## Grimward (Jun 7, 2008)

Rising petrol prices work their way into everything, Lens.

Great column here, though; much kudos to you!

*Leaves emu snacks in appreciation!*


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## Lenny (Jun 14, 2008)

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.

-----

*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*_

---

*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*

-----

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).


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## Lenny (Jun 21, 2008)

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.

---

*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*_

---

*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*

---

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


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## Lenny (Jun 28, 2008)

Slow week, this week. The carriage went up by a few pence, and the Blu-ray drives dropped by a few quid. My hunting knives are starting to rust, and my crack squad of assassins are baying for my blood... either that or their wages.

---

*UberPC

*Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
28/06 - £4,444.40 -_£579.42_

UberPC - 28/05/08

From last week:

*1TB HDD *- down £0.03 (4x 0.75p)
*Blu-ray *- down £7.05
*Carriage -* up £0.13 (£17.81)

_*Total for the week = down £6.95*_

---

*RealisticUberPC*

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
28/06 - £3,240.63 _-£361.92_

RealisticUberPC - 28/05/08

From last week:

*Carriage -* up £0.12 (£17.48)

*Total for the week = up 12p*

---

You can't have drops of a hundred pounds every week, sadly. Still, both computers have dropped by over a tenth, which is nice.


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## Lenny (Jul 6, 2008)

Week 14, which, I do believe, means that it's the third month milestone for the UberPC!

I've had to change the graphics card once again as the 'standard' XFX seems to have been discontinued. As before, I've chosen the card nearest to the price and specs of the previous card.

---

*UberPC*

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
05/07 - £4,414.75 -_£609.07_

UberPC - 05/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £3.55
*Graphics Cards *- down £7.07 (2x £3.54)
*PSU *- down £17.33
*Carriage -* down £1.45 (£16.36)

_*Total for the week = down £29.40*_

---

*RealisticUberPC*

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
05/07 - £3,214.54 _-£388.01_

RealisticUberPC - 05/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £3.55
*Graphics Cards *- down £3.54
*PSU *- down £17.33
*Carriage -* down £1.42 (£16.06)

*Total for the week = down £25.84*

---

Another month, and another failure.  The UberPC dropped a total of *£188.65* this time (a massive up on an increase of £28, but not enough), bringing the total drop to *£609.07* - just under an eighth of the total price. Really, it should have dropped over twice that (around *£1255*) for my hypothesis to be correct but, alas, it's not to be.


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## Lenny (Jul 13, 2008)

One more week has gone by, and one more graphics card has disappeared, forcing me to change it... *again*. I'm pleased to say, however, that prices are still dropping.

Yes, I know I'm a day late, but I've been rather busy.

---

*UberPC*

Original Price 02/04 - £5,023.82
12/07 - £4,382.55 -_£641.27_

UberPC - 12/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £21.90
*Graphics Cards *- down £10.30 (2x £5.15)
*Carriage -* no change (£16.36)

_*Total for the week = down £32.20*_

---

*RealisticUberPC*

Original Price 11/04 - £3,602.55
12/07 - £3,214.54 _-£415.06_

RealisticUberPC - 12/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £21.90
*Graphics Cards *- down £5.15
*Carriage -* no change (£16.06)

*Total for the week = down £27.05*

---

Yesterday marked the third month milestone for the RealisticUberPC, and you know what? It's around £70 off (*£170.81*) the 'required' drop for the components to halve over six months. Not bad, really - a definite improvement on the 70p increase of the last month.

As long as it drops below the £3000 price mark then I'll be happy (even happier if the UberPC drops below three grand, too!), but my hypothesis won't be proven unless it drops below £1800.

I think that at the end of everything, I'll have at look at the components separately.

_EDIT: No update next Saturday, but I've roped a friend into checking the prices for me, so I should be able to post on the Wednesday I'm back._


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## Lenny (Jul 23, 2008)

Lenny said:


> _No update next Saturday, but I've roped a friend into checking the prices for me, so I should be able to post on the Wednesday I'm back._


 
Well it's Wednesday, I'm back, and in my inbox was an e-mail from said friend with all the prices! 

And a little thing that I found amusing - on a bus in Malta on Saturday, we passed a shop with a familiar sign outside: SCAN! Rather coincididental, I thought.

Anyway, damned typical - one component falls by £30, so another decides to be smart and go up by £40.

---

*UberPC*

Original Price 02/04 -- £5,023.82
19/07 -- £4,392.91 -_£630.91_

UberPC - 19/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £29.37
*Case *- up £39.73
*Carriage -* no change (£16.36)

_*Total for the week = up £10.36*_

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*RealisticUberPC*

Original Price 11/04 -- £3,602.55
19/07 -- £3,197.86 _-£404.69_

RealisticUberPC - 19/07/08

From last week:

*Motherboard *- down £29.37
*Case *- up £39.73
*Carriage -* no change (£16.06)

_*Total for the week = up £10.36*_


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jul 23, 2008)

Is this the beast that you actually use or some fantasy. Also what about that Vista? Is it any good on the old UBER?


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## Lenny (Jul 23, 2008)

It's the beast I want to build in September... well, unless the UberPC drops by a grand, I'll be building the RealisticUberPC, or something very similar to it (I'm thinking of cutting back on the PSU, and changing the graphics card - the GTX280 was recently released. I think the article HappyJoe posted earlier in the thread was about the new core that they run on), which I hope will drop below the £3000 mark by September, October at the absolute latest. The good thing is that the RUPC is simply a lower spec version of the UberPC, which means that I can always upgrade when I have the money - so yeah, the UberPC will be the beast I use at some point in the future, if not an UberPC with upgrades of its own (I'd love two monitors, f'rinstance). 

As for Vista, I'm a fan of it regardless of the machine it's running on. Saying that, though, 64-bit Vista could do with more support, particularly from anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-malware companies and companies who build firewalls.


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jul 23, 2008)

Myself I get along with a £200 HP Pavilion admittedly with a x 16 graphics card and 1GB ram (oooo x 16 gosh) still it does for me. At work I suffer the indignity of a £280 similar machine with wait for it XP professional MMMM. Then again I only potter about with C compilers and PCB layout packages and with those I find the actual time spent crunching is far outweighed by the thinking time between events.

The really annoying thing is waiting for the printer to wind itself up into actually picking the paper up and then ticking it along at 10 dots per second.

What I would really like is an A3 colour laser but it's now having to take second place to a new scope. My last one just died after 30 years. Pah they don't make scopes like they used to in the fifties.


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## chrispenycate (Jul 23, 2008)

No, they don't make scopes like they made them in the fifties. But in every way I can think of they make them better. Lighter, cheaper, more flexible, wider bandwidth; and I'm not even talking about digital memory scopes. Remember how often you had to recalibrate a valve scope, as it warmed up and stabilised? Sure, I was sad when my telequipment finally gave up, but it wasn't convenient for field tests; it weighed half as much as I did.

I suppose the great advantage  of thosebig old monsters was that you could actually repair them, unlike the newer ones.
Assuming you had the test gear to do so, of course.


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jul 24, 2008)

Chris: Yes but they lasted. You felt you were getting your monies worth. It's sad really it was a fine old Tectonics 465 + DVM bought on my first day with a new company after leaving ICL (those were the days my..... But they did end)

 Ok so it "fell" on the floor a couple of years ago but it wasn't;t the first time. Sadly as you say I can get almost the same functionality for about 250 quid now so repairing it would be unjustifiable. (the new one is also a digital storage scope)

Ah well


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## Lenny (Jul 27, 2008)

DISASTER!!!!

The QX9770 has disappeared from Scan. No biggy, I thought, believing I'd be able to find it on Aria, but, DISASTER!!!!, the QX9770 does not exist on Aria!

At that point I gave up. Which means that there'll be no UberPC update this week. That isn't to say that I've packed up for good, however - I've noted down the prices of the other components, stuck them into my sppreadsheet, and will continue to do so, even if the CPU doesn't rematerialise. If it does grace us with its presence again, then I'll sort of 'reverse extrapolate' the price to fill in the missing blanks, and post one big update for the weeks I missed.

In the meantime, I'm going to take the chance and nail down the build for September.


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## Overread (Jul 27, 2008)

strange - has the CPU been updated with a new model?
If it has it should be going for much cheaper in sales now that a newer (more shiny!) model is out!


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## Lenny (Jul 27, 2008)

I don't think it has, no. The QX9775 (the 771 socket version of the QX9770) is still around, but there doesn't seem to be a replacement 3.2hz model. The closest to it is the QX9650, which is 3.0ghz and £300 cheaper.


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