NCIX - UK Alternitave

[Torand]

I've seen someone make a thread on NCIX Australian alternatives, but here are some in the UK. I know that NCIX now ships internationally, but these are companies i know are based in the UK.

ebuyer.co.uk - used these guys for years, never had a problem.

scan.co.uk - not used these guys yet but planning to next week for some major parts of my build in which ebuyer do not stock anymore or at all. Certainly the corsair vengeance ram is cheaper at present and they get high reviews on customer service around the same as ebuyer.

I was just wondering what other people use? As there are very mixed reviews over overclockers.co.uk and there are really not that many dedicated UK parts resellers that have the back catalogue of newegg or NCIX. Amazon is the obvious choice for this but dont like using them for parts like this.

What do you guys use?

[garyjpaterson]

Ive found some parts seem to be cheaper on Amazon.

[MuZeVII]

To name a few:

www.aria.co.uk

www.scan.co.uk

www.dabs.com

www.novatech.co.uk

www.ebuyer.co.uk

however, despite all of these, I would still buy from amazon.co.uk. They tend to undercut everybody else, and the quality of their customer service is almost unprecedented. I am curious as to why you don't like to use them? Besides amazon, I would recommend ebuyer. I would avoid dabs, novatech and overclockers.

Hope that helps :)

[cr0ss]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/ is very good.

[christoi]

Pcpartpicker has a uk site, which is handy for seeing which stores offer better prices. As for others, there's also aria, dabs, novatech and a couple of others. I don't think there should be really that many issues with any of the sites though, at least from what I've heard (personally if the produced are priced reasonably and it arrives at my doorstep, I'm happy. :P).

I often find that ordering from German sites tend to offer cheaper prices though, such as mindfactory, hardwareversand and alternate. It's not always the case given shipping prices, but it may be worth looking into there and comparing prices too.

[Craigo]

I mainly use Amazon and I have never had a problem.

I have heard of www.kustompcs.co.uk they have a huge range of components and modding gear. Although i haven't made a purchase from them yet.

[Toby]

The BT and BT Business sites are tied to Dabs as far as I know and occasionally provide slightly cheaper prices. I believe Kikatek to be trustworthy and I've ordered from Yoyotech in the past without issue, though that was some years ago. CCL Computers also seems trustworthy.

Overclockersuk are legit, but typically overpriced (if not on the initial price, then once you include delivery charge), though they do stock some things that no one else does, so they can be good for that.

On the slightly more modding side of things, Specialtech is good, alongside the aforementioned kustompcs.

[Dave :)]

To name a few: www.aria.co.uk www.scan.co.uk www.dabs.com www.novatech.co.uk www.ebuyer.co.uk however' date=' despite all of these, I would still buy from amazon.co.uk. They tend to undercut everybody else, and the quality of their customer service is almost unprecedented. I am curious as to why you don't like to use them? Besides amazon, I would recommend ebuyer. I would avoid dabs, novatech and overclockers. Hope that helps :) [/quote']

All these, i haven't had any issues at all with Overclockers, Novatech are very good aswell. Dabs - i have never used, but i haven't heard anything bad from them.

Scan is your best for customer service, they keep you up to date on pretty much everything that goes on, it really is second-to-none.

[Tim]

I'll pay a few pounds more and order from scan because they know what they're selling. You can also get their insurance policy which I'm told is a no questions asked replacement even if you break it though your own fault.

Another reason is just to help keep them going, as I prefer smaller more specified shops to one that sells everything.

[MartyniP]

I have bought almost all of my parts from Novatech, and I have even found them to be cheaper than other sites like amazon on occasion. Also being close to a store where I live is also a nice. They also have very good support from when I've dealt with them.

[nugnug93]

Also used eBuyer for a lot of orders and have never had an issue, have also had to return an item to them as well and the process was easy and pretty quick too!

Aria are also very good, I bought the components for my first build from there and haven't had any issues. However, a friend of mine did once have some issues with them in terms of delivery. It took them like an extra week to delivery his items as they were coming from different warehouses. It seemed to be monitors which are stored at a different location, he did complain and they gave him around £30-£50 worth of steam codes as an apology. Not all bad :)

Amazon are great for anything and everything and can usually be cheaper, especially when you take delivery into account. Other PC sites tend to charge you on delivery for every option, unless a particular item is stated as free delivery. Obviously, with Amazon you have their Free Super Saver Delivery option, and if you're ordering from them often the Amazon Prime easily pays for itself. I got my free month for over the Christmas period, saved me a fortune!

Scan seem decent, I've only ordered a few things from them and the transaction itself was fine. The only issue I have with Scan is their website seems cluttered and can be difficult to navigate at times. Other than that, they're good :)

I've ordered once from Overclockers, and that was only for case modifications I couldn't find anywhere else. So I haven't had much experience with them, but the experience I did have was good.

It's a shame NCIX hasn't made it's way over to the UK, although I have found that with some products it's cheaper to buy from the Canada NCIX site and get it delivered to the UK, than it is to buy them from someone in the UK! Although, I don't think that took into account taxes etc.

[T345]

Overclockers UK regularly have very good deals, good site layout, and the best support (I have used.)

[Nick Paviour]

http://www.awd-it.co.uk

http://www.cclonline.com

http://www.misco.co.uk

these are a couple i didn't see noted above. I genuinely use either http://www.dabs.com or http://www.overclockers.co.uk

its good to look around and see which is cheaper, don't forget, Invisible hand app for Firefox or Chrome will suggest sites to you in which the product is cheaper.

[Torand]

Some good suggestions in here guys, certainly helped me out a bit and hopefully other people as well. :)

[darklighthim]

I will add in one who i've used in the past and who's forum i am a regular one and that's Aria.co.uk.

Have ordered from them many times now and it's been a good experience. Yes i will confess i did get some items arrive to me dead (2 over a year apart) but their RMA and Customer Service was as hassle free as it could get.

[Larrivee013]

I have no experience with these, but here is the list from pcpartpicker.com :

• Amazon UK
  
• Aria PC
  
• CCL Computers
  
• Dabs
  
• Ebuyer
  
• Maplin Electronics
  
• Novatech
  
• Overclockers.co.uk
  
• Scan.co.uk
  
• Simply Electronics
  

*Sorry can't remove picture - forum glitch... edit button not working well.

[Torand]

Aria, from what I've heard is one of the most aggressively priced, with stock often disappearing quickly because of that.

[ProGearUk]

Yoyotech is good if you live in London. Good selection of gear but when I go in there and say something complicated they just go blank most of the time. OK customer service. Best to order online tbh. Impossible to get a job there I swear. Its 30 windmill street in London just off the Tottenham Court road. I got my r4 from there. OK price paid £90 for mine.

[Ghost]

Amazon and eBay are the best because most companies pool thier so you have direct price comparisons. Scan sells on eBay for the same price they do on their site.

[brat137]

I ordered an entire systems worth of components in one go from Scan and it all came together as expected in one big box brilliantly packed with industrial size bubble packing and foam. Next day delivery was brilliant as is their customer service. Between ordering my PC and collecting everything for it one of my components ran out of stock just due to multiple orders of that product at a similar time. The same day as ordering their customer service contacted me and talked me through my alternatives and options. As it was only the RAM that was the issue I didn't particularly mind and just ended up going with high profile instead of low on the exact same sticks. When buying from Scan ALWAYS look at their daily deals, you'll find that the prices of items on the deals page will vary from the main advertised prices on the day said product is on offer and this counts over to when you add it to basket so it is always worth looking in the daily deals. You might even find a better component for cheaper. Scan also offer a good insurance policy for when you are putting a system together. It covers all your components if you damage them when you are putting it all together. This was my first build and for £10 i think maybe £15 it seemed like a good idea just incase. I didn't have to use it in the end but I was much more relaxed when building my PC.

I have had a friend that has used Overclockers and he found that they delayed his order without giving reason also found their customer service to be a bit rude when trying to resolve the issue, but that could have been because of my friends attitude. When they resolved the issue they offered him steam vouchers. However I tend to find that Overclockers prices are generally higher the others mentioned here.

I recently ordered 4 fans from Amazon and as you would expect the service was excellent and delivery was prompt and the parts were bang on. Not really much to say on Amazon because they arn't exactly a comparable force to NCIX but you can get good prices there.

Novatech have brilliant customer service in store, online and over the phone. They have 4 stores around the south of England and Wales and again I cannot stress how helpful they are. Their prices are good competitive but sometimes higher then some online only retailers for the reason that Novatech obviously have higher costs. Their laptops I find tend to be great value for performance.

Maplin are sometimes limited in what they stock which can get frustrating but I also find they are slightly on the pricey side of things and have only ever bought a can of compressed air from their stores because I happened to be in one around the time I needed one.

Ebuyer have great prices sometimes and great sales as well. I have bought an SSD from there and the price was £15 cheaper then scan at the time and came with free delivery whereas scan I would have had to pay ~£10 delivery. With ebuyer i did have to wait standard 3-5 days but that didn't bother me at all. Arrived when expected and as expected. No problems to report at all.

[ProGearUk]

Amazon and eBay are the best because most companies pool thier so you have direct price comparisons. Scan sells on eBay for the same price they do on their site.

You are OK with places like amazon if you but from amazon.co.UK but others can sometimes be quite shady. I suggest people like yoyotech or scan. Maybe with a place like yoyotech you may be able to haggle with them but I doubt it. Worth a try though.

[Ghost]

Amazon and eBay are the best because most companies pool thier so you have direct price comparisons. Scan sells on eBay for the same price they do on their site.

You are OK with places like amazon if you but from amazon.co.UK but others can sometimes be quite shady. I suggest people like yoyotech or scan. Maybe with a place like yoyotech you may be able to haggle with them but I doubt it. Worth a try though.

I went to LITS last year (or 2 years back now its 2013) and saw both scan and yoyotech there. I would trust them. I buy from eBay / amazon anyway because its easier to keep tabs on your purchases.

[Torand]

Thanks brat137, what you said about overclockers is what i've heard from their customer service anyway, very mixed reviews around it. I think i've settled on Scan, eBuyer and amazon as a mixture from the bunch.

I received an i5 3570k and an Asus P8Z77-V for christmas from my family, through ebuyer. But as ebuyer doesn't stock the Corsair Carbide 400r, HX650 (anymore) and the Corsair Vengance Blue LP 8GB kit is £10 cheaper on Scan, i'm buying them all from there next week and i can finally start assembling my build. :D

[Torand]

I'll be going with an ASUS DCUII 660ti 2GB. Although I am starting to look at the 7950 which i believe is AMD's near equivalent and/or the 3GB edition of the 660ti (i know about its 192bit memory bus).

Basically, i plan on getting that 660ti around summer as i dont have the funds at present, just would like a working computer. :P

After that the plan was to SLI them in future or swap it out for something around a 680 as I really know how to stress a system with my work load, which is why ill probably be swapping the 3570k for a 3770k before the year is out. (currently using an iMac 12,1 21.5 i7 16gb ram and i love that cpu for 3d rendering, although im selling it soon for a MacBook and more parts for this system! :D )

[laurenceeyre]

ebuyer is the best, ofter before I buy on it I check amaxon and price is rarely cheap, sometimes the same, sometimes more, with ebuyer you get free delivery on a order over £50 as well