New gaming rig

swirlser

Hey all, Im looking at buying a new machine and Im curious if anyone can suggest a good (EU based) etailer? Im looking for a company which offers high end, customisable, pre-built/tested gaming rigs.

I used to buy from Alienware, but since Dell came along, they have just gone to ****.

As it stands Im looking at http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/ , ive only a small issue of the RAM type they offer, could possibly email them about that. But I wouldnt mind some more options, especially since I know nothing about this crowd and feedback about them is limited (some good, some bad - but dont they all :S)

Rough spec:

CPU: i7-9xx (Pref EE, but thats not a deal breaker)
Mobo: Top notch X-58
GPU: HD 5870 (in CF)
RAM: DDR3 (Pref Dominator GT)
HDD: Options must incl Raptors
Optical: BD RW
Additional cooling options and quality wireless devices are musts.

Any suggestions or links would be appreciated, coz aside from the usual suspects all I find are American sites

No real budget, but a 4-digit premium for laser etching is OTT ;-p

leninbenjamin

well, hardwareversand.de are the cheapest, you can spec it out entirely yourself and they'll build it for you for something like €20. don't think they test it though.

You have no interest in building it yourself? The learning curve isn't that steep and considering you seem to go for very high end builds the knowledge could save you a packet in the future.

swirlser

I had a look at hardwareversand.de ^^

Its missing several key components Despite the bad HD and GPU options I still managed to get to 3 grand. (More than happy to go higher, in fact I expect to, but it must have the above listed parts).

Id rather not self build. I appreciate its similar to lego, but the attraction of having a machine custom built is for the company warranty. (For eg, I had 1 of my gpu's burn out in my current rig and Alienware had a new one delivered to me in 48hrs... I like that).

So fully built and tested is a must and dont worry about the price tag.

Deano12345

Spending 3k+ on a gaming rig is stupid.Extreme processors are a waste of money.look at my rig,it will take anything you could throw at it cost me under a grand.samsunf f3's are faster than raptops at a fraction of the cost.If you want a load of computer power get a 775 skulltrail board with 2 q9550's and overclock them both.the cost of the skull and CPUs would be less than the price of the i7 EE.im on my iPod so I'll save you a wall of more text and post back in the morning

swirlser

An iPod is stupid! Dont you know you can get a generic MP3 player which will cost you less AND it'll take any song you throw at it?!!

Oh wait, you didnt ask nor want that info........

I dont need the 'bang4buck' talk or the 'your just paying for a brand' talk, or anything else you feel the need to 'inform' me about for that matter. (Why do I get the feeling your still going to feel the need to 'educate' me.... pfff)

Everyone knows the score, you pay a ('very' - if you like) high price for bleeding edge and company's such as the ones Ive mentioned do attach a premium. <--- Im OK with this.

Solitaire

Okay everyone, simmer down... :cool:

Off the top of my head only the established brandnames are even in a position to offer 24/7 fast-response support and that's the main advantage of a "premium" machine anyway. I'll leave this thread here for the minute and see if anyone here has a stroke of genius, but if everyone ends up scratching their heads I'll shift this to Computers as you're more likely to get more suitable suggestions there. Usually the only complete systems that end being discussed here are almost always those BFYB rigs that seem to offend your sensibilities

Leman_Russ

How about you instead build a better PC at a fraction of the cost and Donate the difference to me/charity?

swirlser

(/isnotlaughingatmeath)

Hehe Ty Solitaire, by all means move it if theres a more fitting place (Im new here XD, that was a looooong ass list of categories out there)

And by all means, spit out some brandnames, Im sure theres plenty I dont know about (Been buying from Alienware for probably a decade)

Effluo

swirlser wrote: »

An iPod is stupid! Dont you know you can get a generic MP3 player which will cost you less AND it'll take any song you throw at it?!!

Oh wait, you didnt ask nor want that info........

I dont need the 'bang4buck' talk or the 'your just paying for a brand' talk, or anything else you feel the need to 'inform' me about for that matter. (Why do I get the feeling your still going to feel the need to 'educate' me.... pfff)

Everyone knows the score, you pay a ('very' - if you like) high price for bleeding edge and company's such as the ones Ive mentioned do attach a premium. <--- Im OK with this.

You know what?
I had spent around 10 minutes writing out a response for you and after rereading your post i'm not gonna post it!
I mean ffs, what an ignorant so and so

Deano was only trying to stop you from throwing your money away and you give him that.
(excuse my french) but GTFO...

And man it's clear to everyone on this forum that you obviously haven't got a clue what you're talking about. This one occasion i actually hate to say it but, I can't wait for you to throw your money away!


P.S. the classic i-pods offer the highest storage at the cheapest prices out of ANY mp3 player

swirlser

Thanks Effluo, very welcoming.

You miss the point that it is my money to 'throw away' (as you like). Its my own preference not to sellotape a bunch of older chips together and OC them. If its something which you enjoy doing, go for it! Enjoy it.

I appreciate your concern & opinions tho

PS. Ive owned iPods since day1 and love them, thats not really the point I was trying to get across (Altho I am surprised to learn - taking u at ur word - that a classic iPod is cheapest, ive no idea...).

Jonathan

What applications do you plan on using?

swirlser

Jonathan wrote: »

What applications do you plan on using?

Atm, the only taxing thing I use my pc for is creating levels for Crysis

Jonathan

swirlser wrote: »

Atm, the only taxing thing I use my pc for is creating levels for Crysis

Sorry, I'll rephrase that question. What applications do you plan on using that require the listed spec?

unklerosco

I think you'll find a good few of the smaller high end builders have gone out of business... With the way things are there isn't many people looking to spend(or spend anywhere near) what you're willing to spend... The likes of www.vadim.co.uk would have been ur best bet but they've gone bust...

Alienwares new systems are prob ur best bet, you'll get a decent spec and at least you'll get a warranty from a company that won't go belly up a few months down the line...

swirlser

The odd time I like to video edit (Adobe), otherwise nothing power hungry worth mentioning

swirlser

unklerosco wrote: »

I think you'll find a good few of the smaller high end builders have gone out of business... With the way things are there isn't many people looking to spend(or spend anywhere near) what you're willing to spend... The likes of www.vadim.co.uk would have been ur best bet but they've gone bust...

Alienwares new systems are prob ur best bet, you'll get a decent spec and at least you'll get a warranty from a company that won't go belly up a few months down the line...

They have really gone down hill since Dell stuck their noses in Options are cut at nearly every turn... Ram is a question of how much, not what type/speed. Mouse & kb are whatever generic thing they are offering (no choice). Mobo isnt even listed, its whatever they have on the table that day o.O The only thing they have going for um is they arent that likely to go belly up tomorrow.

Solitaire

Moved to Computers.

For those who didn't get the mile-high hint I gave earlier this thread wasn't meant to be in B&U in the first place, I only left it there a short while prior to moving to see if anyone there would post something constructive, and I've been disappointed on that front (no offense to unklerosco; at least he tried!)

Deano12345

swirlser wrote: »

The odd time I like to video edit (Adobe), otherwise nothing power hungry worth mentioning

Then just get an Dual core,4-6 GB Of ram, single graphics card that has multiple outputs and your done.That i7 EE will be outdated in a matter or months by Gulftown by the way

Kinetic^

Alienware or Dell.

cherryghost

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Alienware or Dell.

are you drunk? :pac:

seriously dude. a core i7 pc with a nice bit of ram (6GB), a 4890 or even a 5850, a nice bit of hard drive space and whatever case you want! for the 1k mark no bother whatsoever.

then with the extra cash you can buy some hookers

Kinetic^

cherryghost wrote: »

are you drunk? :pac:

seriously dude. a core i7 pc with a nice bit of ram (6GB), a 4890 or even a 5850, a nice bit of hard drive space and whatever case you want! for the 1k mark no bother whatsoever.

then with the extra cash you can buy some hookers

Lol, no I'm not but for some reason the OP doesn't want to build his own machine so Dell or Alienware are his best options.

Deano12345

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Lol, no I'm not but for some reason the OP doesn't want to build his own machine so Dell or Alienware are his best options.

Dell PSU's make me

Voodu Child

swirlser wrote: »

Everyone knows the score, you pay a ('very' - if you like) high price for bleeding edge and company's such as the ones Ive mentioned do attach a premium. <--- Im OK with this.

Try Kobalt then. Very high price, very good service.

Personally if you won't build it yourself, and need next-day service and all that guff, i'd just go with Dell/AW.

swirlser

Voodu Child wrote: »

Try Kobalt then. Very high price, very good service.

Personally if you won't build it yourself, and need next-day service and all that guff, i'd just go with Dell/AW.

Ouuu, very nice. Minus the extravagant paint options and you can get a stronger machine from these guys for under £4K, compared with the shoddy £4.5K rig from Alienware and they're not quite as expensive as they seem.

BobRuth

Hi Swirlser.

I understand exactly where your coming from..a couple of weeks ago I posted a similar request for advice on buying a high end gaming PC and was met with all sorts of abuse etc about spending a decent bit of wedge on what I thought was a great spec.
The advice in the end fell into two camps . some saying heh its your money and have you though of this or that ( for which I am grateful ) and then you have people who just couldn't get it kept on saying built it yourself.. and implying that I was a fool and being rude about spending my hard earned dosh..

I have yet to settle on a system and will watch your thread with interest..

One thing that does come to mind is that if all the tech guys are saying build , why don’t they offer to do it (get paid for it ) and make a business out of it..just a thought.[/SIZE] [/FONT]


Bob

swirlser

Hey Bob, thanks for the interest and please feel free to throw in any suggestions or companies which may have caught your eye.

As a little update on where Im at now,

Alienware - Just to be real clear about these guys, they are nothing but Dells with a plastic case to the value of €1,000-€1,500 ... pass

Computerplanet - Was a company I was giving some thought to but have since been over shadowed by other companies (FYI, go on this site, spec up a machine then visit komplett and add every item to ur basket and see how much the difference is - I can save you time, there isnt any!) **

Scan - This company's 3XS machines were ticking all the right boxes (specifically the black widow), BUT have since been ruled out as they told me in the event of a part failure I would be liable for mailing costs, throwing the premium justification out the window.

Kobalt - (tfp Voodu ) Build sexeh machines and have told me everything I wanted to hear Front runners.

Im waiting for W7 launch next week and secretly hoping for a release date for ATI's latest X2's to be announced, if they're not - ill go ahead and order.

EDIT:
**
2 almost identical basic i7 860 rigs. 1 a pre-built/warranty/tested machine from computerplanet.co.uk, the other a DIY break down from our own komplett.ie





So, we're looking at about a 20 quid difference... add shipping and that gap increases, however lets call the 100 quid difference the price of the lil freebies and the extended 3 year warranty. (It doesnt matter ur options, u can kit out an i7 975 with all the expensive boxes ticked and the price difference is nothing, in fact it may even be cheaper thanks to the 15% Vat rate in the UK!)

EDIT2!:
Its not even fair calling it 100 quid, that would mean self picking up all items from komplett vs the uk pre built machine delivered to ur door ^^
Bottom line here is, the self build it and save a packet people are really saying, buy lesser parts.

EDIT3!!: I misspelled "DIY" >.<'; lol, im done now, seriously...

Overheal

BobRuth wrote: »

Hi Swirlser.

I understand exactly where your coming from..a couple of weeks ago I posted a similar request for advice on buying a high end gaming PC and was met with all sorts of abuse etc about spending a decent bit of wedge on what I thought was a great spec.
The advice in the end fell into two camps . some saying heh its your money and have you though of this or that ( for which I am grateful ) and then you have people who just couldn't get it kept on saying built it yourself.. and implying that I was a fool and being rude about spending my hard earned dosh..

I have yet to settle on a system and will watch your thread with interest..

One thing that does come to mind is that if all the tech guys are saying build , why don’t they offer to do it (get paid for it ) and make a business out of it..just a thought.[/size] [/font]


Bob

You have to rephrase the question: next time ask me to build the most expensive home rig I can think of. And ill try not to answer with a CIA supercomputer.

Actually it involves 4 SSDs in RAID 0+1, some liquid cooled RAM and all the other usual trimmings. Those would be the gaming sessions to tell your grandchildren about. or as a monetary equivalent, a new Nissan Versa.

Deano12345

Just 2 things with that build,I'd get a DVD-RW and IIRC the newer intel processors come with thermal paste already installed.I'm not 100% sure

Kinetic^

Tbh I wouldn't run a pentium 1 off the thermal paste they provide. Artic Silver is the way to go.

the_syco

BobRuth wrote: »

One thing that does come to mind is that if all the tech guys are saying build , why don’t they offer to do it (get paid for it ) and make a business out of it..just a thought.

The margin is very small, and most of those who want custom built machines now build it themselves. The (very) small niche is covered by Alienware. Over in the US, it's done better: not only are good parts used, but they would be factory overclocked, so you'd get the full effect, but with no risk.

swirlser wrote: »

2 almost identical basic i7 860 rigs. 1 a pre-built/warranty/tested machine from computerplanet.co.uk, the other a DIY break down from our own komplett.ie





So, we're looking at about a 20 quid difference... add shipping and that gap increases, however lets call the 100 quid difference the price of the lil freebies and the extended 3 year warranty. (It doesnt matter ur options, u can kit out an i7 975 with all the expensive boxes ticked and the price difference is nothing, in fact it may even be cheaper thanks to the 15% Vat rate in the UK!)

Interesting. My own rig is custom, my previous rig custom, but the motherboard died (HDD ports stopped working) after 4 years of service (it could run Crysis before it died). The above does sound nice, but I have my doubts if the "36 months collect & return" includes Ireland (at that price). The "free" bits would be binned. If I spend over a €1000 on the system, I won't skimp on the sound. I have a Sennheiser headset, and a 4.1 sound system. I'd also add a soundcard to your purchase. Nothing worse than inferior sound.

It'd also depend on what you'd do every 6 months to a year. Every year, I'll usually add a HDD to the system, and possibly more RAM, or other components such as CPU, RAM, etc. If you're happy to keep the system for a year or two, that's up to you, or would you buy an entire new system every year?

As for the wireless devices, I assume you mean k/b and mouse? As I LAN, I'll be going for the wired option.

Effluo

Did no-one notice the retail version of vista in the komplett build?

Takes another €120 off the price

fasty

swirlser wrote: »

This is more or less the computer I built last month. It's pretty awesome. I will say though, that there are no Win7 64 bit drivers for that wireless card that I could find.

As mentioned, the stock HSF comes with a preapplied piece of thermal compound. Said cooler and compound is fine if you stick with stock speeds, which I am for now regardless of what anyone says.

If you want to overclock, and if you're all about performance, this is a good idea, then you'll want whoever builds your PC to install something aftermarket, and be aware of the fact that there aren't many aftermarket coolers for the new i5/i7 boards yet. I wonder if the older ones fit?

swirlser

Hmm, I thought I couldnt be any clearer :S

The point is simple, you can get a prebuilt machine for the same money as self building. All components selected are irrelevant, whether you would rather a different optical drive or dont like that paste (or dont think it should be in there at all, take the 6 euro off if ya like!), the OS is simply because it comes with the other machine, if ur taking the price off one, u can take it off the other too. Ok, at this stage, either you are grasping the actual point or your not.

I will say however that the 3 year cover which according to them does incl mailing charges to Ireland if in the event of a part failure is all paid for, is something Im finding hard to swallow. Given the tight margins I think you would have a lil battle on ur hands. For this reason I am not really looking to order from these guys anyway. But since many of you like to tinker with your machines, then simply remove the extended warranty, lowering the price and allowing you to tinker away ^^

For me personally, Kobalt can build the exact machine Im looking for and have satisfied me about their after sales care.

Spec>


Went with a lower cpu since they do a nice job factory OC anyway plus this build leaves the option of sticking in a gulftown next year if I want to go that way. The first drive will be changed to a velociraptor (its not in their list on this model, but i will get them to do that). It will ofc come with a fresh install of W7U, since im not ordering for another week or two. I have heard that 5870X2's may show up early Nov, but I think ill just have to bite the bullet unless an actual confirmed release date shows up - no matter what you order, there always has and always will be something better around the corner...

Deano12345

swirlser wrote: »

Hmm, I thought I couldnt be any clearer :S

The point is simple, you can get a prebuilt machine for the same money as self building. All components selected are irrelevant, whether you would rather a different optical drive or dont like that paste (or dont think it should be in there at all, take the 6 euro off if ya like!), the OS is simply because it comes with the other machine, if ur taking the price off one, u can take it off the other too. Ok, at this stage, either you are grasping the actual point or your not.

I will say however that the 3 year cover which according to them does incl mailing charges to Ireland if in the event of a part failure is all paid for, is something Im finding hard to swallow. Given the tight margins I think you would have a lil battle on ur hands. For this reason I am not really looking to order from these guys anyway. But since many of you like to tinker with your machines, then simply remove the extended warranty, lowering the price and allowing you to tinker away ^^

For me personally, Kobalt can build the exact machine Im looking for and have satisfied me about their after sales care.

Spec>


Went with a lower cpu since they do a nice job factory OC anyway plus this build leaves the option of sticking in a gulftown next year if I want to go that way. The first drive will be changed to a velociraptor (its not in their list on this model, but i will get them to do that). It will ofc come with a fresh install of W7U, since im not ordering for another week or two. I have heard that 5870X2's may show up early Nov, but I think ill just have to bite the bullet unless an actual confirmed release date shows up - no matter what you order, there always has and always will be something better around the corner...

Just make sure that case would be able to fit the 5870x2 if you decide to wait

Also,look into Smasung F3's for your drives,about the same speed as the VR's but only cost 70 Quid for 1TB

swirlser

Well Im paying someone else well to worry about what fits

As for the HD, I just researched the F3 now and im blown away tbh. Been using raptors for a long time and whenever I started using them, they were the best (aside from SSD which just never appealed to me, the price/capacity compromise was too out of whack).

The F3 vs VR is pretty sweet, either neck and neck or the F3 is a nose ahead but more importantly without any space compromise :O I think ill be getting those for all my drives, must research further and talk to the guy in kobalt...

Not now tho, time to get written off.... :eek: have a good weekend.

the_syco

swirlser wrote: »

In reference to the "36 Collect & Return" bit..

Me: Does the collect & return apply to the ROI?
Computer Planet: UK only sorry.

I dind't write to disprove you, I wrote because I'd get the family machine through these guys if this was the case (esp for that price).

=-=

Anyhoo's, cheers for the links to those who do do custom built machines for a nice price. I know at least one person who has no knowledge about building a PC, and will happily buy one of PC World (***shudder***) if it means he get a prebuilt one.

swirlser

Ill just copy my Q&A to/from computerplanet;

My questions:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]" I am looking to purchase a new gaming rig in the near future. I am considering your company for this purchase, however I would like to ask a few questions first. 1> Do you fully assemble & test the product before shipping (ie, item is ready to use out-of-the-box) 2> Some feedback research has shown that your collect & return policy isn't quite as described - can you please clarify this policy? (for eg, if a component in my machine fails within the warranty time, will I incur *any* (read: shipping etc) cost for the repair/replacement of the part. 3> Several posts found regarding some components being substituted without consent! I would need expressed confirmation that any order I may place would be delivered as ordered - no substitutions. Can you give that guarantee? Thank you" [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

Computerplanet's reply:

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Yes its fully built and tested. Our collect and return is exactly as we offer if anything at all is not working and cant be sorted in your location we would pick the PC up and sort it under the warranty. If you want to send us a link to the review you have seen I can try to explain the issue. With the warranty on this quote you do not incurr any costs at all. All costs are included. Select the box when ordering which does not allow changes to the order. Then write in the comments box you have spoken with Andy in sales and do not want ANY changes to the specs parts or brands. [/FONT]"


So, reading it back I cant actually say it is clear they cover ROI, as I didnt stress that in my own question (this was however attached to a saved quote, which he did reference in his reply, which did incl shipping to ROI ). Regardless, as I said in an earlier post I think my gut instinct is correct anyway - with the margins these guys are working with I dont think they cover ROI mail costs under warranty.

With that being said, if you remove the extended warranty they do come in at (or even a tad under) komplett once shipping is tacked on. So you could just treat it as a self build thereafter, which just happens to come assembled and after that you are on your own (There is always the individual component manufacturers warranty :O).

And fyi I was more clear with Scan and Kobalt when questioning their own company warranty. Scan do not cover ROI mailing costs, Kobalt do (which I believe, with the mark up these guys attach its in their interest for the sake of repeat business).


I was going to write in a lil more, but I got sidetracked and am now falling asleep.... the further research on the F3 HDs didnt show as promising results vs the VRs, however they still a pretty nice drive and price/capacity wise are very attractive (wish I could just get over my SSD price/capacity issue...)

Deano12345

swirlser wrote: »

I was going to write in a lil more, but I got sidetracked and am now falling asleep.... the further research on the F3 HDs didnt show as promising results vs the VRs, however they still a pretty nice drive and price/capacity wise are very attractive (wish I could just get over my SSD price/capacity issue...)

You should go with a small SSD for your OS,Programs and games and then get a high capacity drive (like the F3) for your storage.And If one of the F3 isnt fast enough for you,just get a second one and put them in RAID0

swirlser

Order placed today with Kobalt

Happy with my decision and can say thus far 10/10 for the company who have bent over backwards to accommodate my various off-site component requests.

Ofc the real seal of approval is yet to come... ill try remember to post an update after I receive it and mess about with it.

swirlser

http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/

Big thumbs up to Kobalt, machine is running exactly as it should. Have shoved on plenty of games and throttled it, primed it... its been put thru the ringer and its proved to be rock solid.

I did in the end get a SSD (Vertex) for the boot drive and asked them to squeeze in a 3rd gpu, along with a few other smaller changes. They will happily get whatever parts you wish. As far as premium pre-builts go, its the best Ive ever had.

They reply usually within 5min-2hrs (altho after I paid, the time increased a little).

2.5 week delivery time vs AW's 6 week delivery time (plus now AW is just a Dell with all the classic tell tale signs of cut-corner bollox on your still very much premium pirce tagged machine)

Jonathan

How much did it cost you in the end?

swirlser

Just under 4 and a half grand ex (cheaper and significantly more powerful than a spec'd out AW - for perspective )

Jonathan

swirlser wrote: »

Just under 4 and a half grand ex (cheaper and significantly more powerful than a spec'd out AW - for perspective )

lol

Effluo

Just speced a laptop on their site for just under €7k...

Holy moly


p.s not including delivery lol

swirlser

Effluo wrote: »

Just speced a laptop on their site for just under €7k...

Holy moly


p.s not including delivery lol

That would be comparable to someone going into a boutique, sprinting a lap around it grabbing everything they can physically hold, dumping it all down at the desk and when the salesperson tells you the price (which ofc has soared into the thousands) to which you reply "gosh, this place is very expensive!".

Kobalts desktops start at around 1,500 and you can see every cent your spending. Their higher end cooling solutions are pricey and ofc their 'party piece' Daedalus is really just something for the glossies.

Effluo

swirlser wrote: »

Kobalts desktops start at around 1,500 and you can see every cent your spending. Their higher end cooling solutions are pricey and ofc their 'party piece' Daedalus is really just something for the glossies.

I wasn't saying wow they're expensive, i was saying wow 7k would be a lot to spend on a laptop...

Venom

swirlser wrote: »

Just under 4 and a half grand ex (cheaper and significantly more powerful than a spec'd out AW - for perspective )

Post your specs please