Need some suggestions

Started by yossam, September 02, 2014, 06:26:29 PM

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yossam

I am going to be in the hunt for a custom built PC in the next 3 months...........I need some suggestions from the more informed of you in the forum. Companies that you have had dealings with, configurations, etc. Please give reasons for your choices. Thanks in advance.................


I found out today that I will be receiving a lump sum payment (pension) from a company I worked at 15 years ago. Did not see this coming................ :o

masonspappy

congratulations :)   BY any chance did you work for a certain very large computer company?

yossam

No............unfortunately. I was a plant manager at a frozen dough bakery for a little over 10 years before we were "absorbed" by a large grocery store chain. Within a year they had replaced the whole management team with their own people. A year later they had padlocked the doors..............couldn't make it profitable was the rumors going around. Any way the grocery store chain ended up with the pension plan............they have to pay.  :)

zaxxon

Hey Yossam. I had Fry's Electronics build me an Intel 6 core machine, earlier this year; with 32 gigs Patriot ram, a Corsair 100 liquid cooler, and a 3 gig Geforce card, 1000W PS, and case. About $1700 out the door including labor. The CPU is the intel 4930@3.4ghz, which was about $529 on sale. I had them build it as the last time I assembled a box it was nothing but grief. Ended up that Fry's had to pull 3 Asus Rampage boards off their shelves with each one being defective and we switched out to an equivalent MSI board, same issue with the RAM. So, even if you have the skills ,seems prudent to let a well stocked tech service do the job.  I'm more then pleased with the performance for the cost, I still remember buying an Amiga 2000 for $2,500...

yossam

#4
I didn't know Fry's did custom builds...........were they pretty knowledgeable? I don't want anything like "Best Buy" near a computer. There are a couple of Fry's in town.........might have to pay them a visit. Thanks for the info............I would like to support a local business if possible.  :)


I have built several PCs in my lifetime...........I think that it is someone else's turn. Don't need the headaches.

Oshyan

Fry's might not be bad, or any reputable local system builder (check Yelp maybe?). I'd avoid Cyberpower and similar budget online builders, my roommate had nothing but grief from his (although that's mostly down to an ATI graphics card, I sadly can't recommend those either at this point, but still their support has been bad in dealing with it). If you've got the dough, Puget Custom Computers is pretty great, but they're damn pricy. I've got a Puget system I've been quite happy with overall, but it didn't come cheap and next time I think I'll build my own as I've got the experience for that sort of thing. But indeed I think Zaxxon's thoughts on the risks are an important consideration, especially if you don't have deep existing hardware and system building experience.

- Oshyan

yossam

I did the online configuration at Puget, Falcon Northwest, and Xiada. Puget was the highest, followed by Falcon and Xiada. Xiada has lifetime warranty on parts, don't know how much that is worth considering upgrades about every 3 years.  :)

Oshyan

Lifetime warranty on parts is interesting if they're good for it. I had a couple of things that needed replacing eventually on my Puget, first the USB 3 card (no longer needed now that USB 3 is onboard everywhere), and then the closed loop off-the-shelf water cooler (which I wouldn't necessarily recommend, though it's not bad). Neither was Puget's fault, the cooler wasn't covered by warranty anymore (1 year standard, I didn't opt for more), but the USB was. A lifetime warranty on parts seems rather overly generous, though if legit I think it's a great option. Not useful for upgrading hardware of course, but something almost always goes wrong eventually... (which is why I think it may be too good to be true, hehe)

Anyway, I've never heard of Xiada. I'd look them up on http://resellerratings.com/ and see how they fare. Here's Puget's just for reference, and Falcon. :D
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Puget_Custom_Computers (9.95 out of 10, 1500 reviews)
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Falcon_Northwest (8.17/10, 33 reviews)

- Oshyan

yossam

The correct spelling for the company is Xidax Computers (my goof). They got a 9.05/10 with 227 reviews. They say if the hard drive goes bad two years from now they will replace it.................almost sounds to good to be true.  :)

Oshyan

That *does* sound too good to be true. Do any of the reviews mention taking them up on longer-term warranty stuff? How long have they been around?

- Oshyan

yossam

I looked at some of the reviews and didn't see anything pertaining to warranty work. I did find how long they have been in business. The "parent" company has been in the computer business for over 20 years...........It just doesn't say who the parent company is.  ???