As you will soon see from the dates below this review of my PCS adventure is long overdue, unfortunately due to other commitments (and over-excitedness when I received the PC - I did get it just prior to the Steam Summer Sale) I was not able to complete this earlier. In addition to that fail, I failed to take un-boxing photos which I wanted to do... Not the end of the world though, I would imagine if you are here reading this, you will be able to find many other posts with pictures of the boxes etc.
I’ll start with the build dates for my rig:
Case
COOLER MASTER COSMOS 2 ULTRA TOWER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor Extreme i7-3960X (3.3GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
480GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR(£206)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Monitor
IIYAMA G2773HS 27" PRO GAMER, 120Hz LED PANEL, 1MS RESPONSE (£299)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (£108)
Mouse
Razer® Mamba 2012 Elite Wireless Gaming Mouse (£109)
Speakers
CORSAIR GAMING AUDIO SERIES™ SP2500 2.1 PC SPEAKERS (£182)
Headsets (VOIP)
LOGITECH® GAMING HEADSET G35 - 7.1 SURROUND SOUND (£98)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£19)
Processed Date: 25-05-2012
Pre-Production Date: 29-05-2012
Build Date: 20-06-2012
Test Date: 21-06-2012
QC Date: 21-06-2012
Awaiting Dispatch Date: 22-06-2012
Dispatch Date: 22-06-2012
Built By: Cihan Yucesoy
Tested By: Zbear Ramzan
QC’d/Packed By: Anthony Cunliffe
Delivered By: DPD
So to sum that up, it took 20 working days for me to receive my pc. What that doesn’t indicate is that I placed 3 change orders after placing my initial order...
I would suspect this may be true of many first time custom pc buyers but I decided in my infinite wisdom that I knew exactly what I was doing and I knew what I wanted. I then made the bigger error of not requesting assistance from you guys! However, what’s done is done (and I don’t think I’ve done badly at all); My original order (not reflected above) was for 2x Nvidia GTX 690’s, a Fata1ity Soundcard, a Bigfoot network card and a fan controller on-top of everything you can see above.
I quickly realised my error upon purchasing a fan controller when I found the Cosmos 2’s inbuilt fan-controller can happily control up to 10 fans! My first order amendment was for the removal of the additional fan controller (also spurred on by its unavailability at the time).
A few days passed by and I came to the realisation that I wouldn’t have enough room in my flat to place the PC near to the router and (as silly as it sounds) I don’t have enough wall sockets to be able to use Homeplugs without an extension of some kind (which I had read degrades their effectiveness). I also knew that as my speakers were 2.1 and only connected with a single audio jack, plus my headphones were USB so the advantage of a dedicated soundcard would be minimal (I had also discovered the positive reviews of the onboard sound from the Rampage IV). This led to me getting rid of both the network card and sound card.
The final change came about when I basically lost patience with myself (please note: this is NOT with PCS) decided I could not wait till the GTX 690s I wanted were in stock so I changed them to a single 560Ti with the thought that I would upgrade to my desired graphics cards “at some point”. Thus my final change was made and within a couple of days from PCS receiving my final change order my PC which was in pre-production was built, tested and dispatched. It is good to note that these changes seemed only to take one working day or so to be filtered down to the builders and as I had paid through finance the money was refunded to my account within a few working days each time with no questions asked (the final change did take a little longer to refund, but it was around £1000 I was getting refunded that time)!
During this period between ordering and dispatch/delivery of my PC I was offshore with work. Unfortunately for me it made the possibility of phoning PCS to discuss any issues impossible. I made use of the ‘live-chat’ facility offered on the website on several occasions and found as long as I wasn’t trying to get through when the phone lines were busy; it was reasonably simple to get through to someone. Whenever I was chatting with a PCS representative (it was always the same guy, but unfortunately I can’t remember his name) he was always exceptionally polite, helpful and knowledgeable regarding my queries and always left me happy that he had answered my questions. Kudos to the support staff (I would like to think they are all just as helpful!).
Most of my ‘issues’ during the build were merely questions regarding the delays around the graphics cards prior to me losing patience and switching them out. However once the PC was dispatched I had emails from DPD explaining the delivery date estimate was mid-week, I had selected Saturday delivery. Back onto the live-chat my problem was immediately resolved with a choice of either a refund on the Saturday delivery charge, or they would request DPD hold my PC until the following Saturday! I chose the Saturday because (as mentioned) I would not have been available to receive the PC mid-week but someone would be able to pop in on the Saturday for me. The following Saturday I got word that the PC had been successfully delivered (within the quoted timeslot) and that everything looked fine. They were not happy with the prospect of opening everything up to check the contents or try and switch it on however so I was left to wait till I returned home to get everything set up!
Once arriving back home and checking all of the contents against my order, everything was in order (Thanks Anthony et. all); I was impressed with PCS packaging. The foam bricks inserted into the PC case are excellent and as almost everything was packaged in manufacturer’s packaging (including the PC itself) then into PCS boxes (excluding the PC itself – I’d imagine due to its size!) it seemed to me to be a very safe way of transporting! The PC itself was packed in the Cosmos II case box with the moulded foam insert inside the case to keep all of the parts secure during transit.
After removing all of the pieces out of boxes (and assembling my computer desk) plugging everything together was a breeze. There is a nice warning on the side of the case to remind you to remove the foam insert mentioned above, and everything else required was in the welcome pack from PCS or one of the other boxes (keyboard, monitor etc.). Setup was simple everything was just about plug and play to get the PC on and finalise the installation of windows, update drivers for the keyboard/mouse etc. (I made the error of not writing down my windows code which was on the back of the computer... as you will see there isn’t much room back there so I had to take a photo of it!). Everything went perfectly!
Sparing some additional superfluous details regarding having to get a crappy small desk due to space issues and the tower looking hilariously huge next to it (although, given the above and following patter I’m not sure why I’m not going to include them) it’s also the reason I currently only have one monitor. Still... it looks glorious!
Apologies for the quality of the pic (phone camera)
Now, I must admit, foolishly I did not take any additional pictures of the inside of the PC case as it came from PCS. While I was offshore I was always checking the “show off your new pc” section of the forum to see if anyone else had posted pictures of their Cosmos II builds and was keen to do so as it appears no one else has. But as mentioned right at the start, I was waaay too excited and got simply forgot whilst playing many games.
Speaking of which, the performance of the PC is outstanding. It boots exceptionally fast from cold (I’m typically playing a game on my PC by the time my laptop boots up!), with no effort at all it scores well on 3d mark (link lowest of 3 runs here:......), I can’t wait to have a small dabble in over clocking on the Rampage IV (although it’s not needed). Will post revised scores when I get them.
I guess really that’s the end of the PCS review, I am exceptionally happy with the way everything has worked out and the support provided from PCS throughout the process was exceptional, no matter what my query was I always felt as if it was answered/closed out and that I was speaking to someone who did give a damn. I will recommend this website to any and all of my friends/colleagues/co-workers/alien encounters if they are looking for a pc/laptop etc. to come and check this site out no matter where they’ve gone before.
Thank you PCS.
PS More Jibber Jabber + inside pics to come!
I’ll start with the build dates for my rig:
Case
COOLER MASTER COSMOS 2 ULTRA TOWER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor Extreme i7-3960X (3.3GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
480GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£79)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR(£206)
Processor Cooling
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011 (£79)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Monitor
IIYAMA G2773HS 27" PRO GAMER, 120Hz LED PANEL, 1MS RESPONSE (£299)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (£108)
Mouse
Razer® Mamba 2012 Elite Wireless Gaming Mouse (£109)
Speakers
CORSAIR GAMING AUDIO SERIES™ SP2500 2.1 PC SPEAKERS (£182)
Headsets (VOIP)
LOGITECH® GAMING HEADSET G35 - 7.1 SURROUND SOUND (£98)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector + Auto Power Off Function (£19)
Processed Date: 25-05-2012
Pre-Production Date: 29-05-2012
Build Date: 20-06-2012
Test Date: 21-06-2012
QC Date: 21-06-2012
Awaiting Dispatch Date: 22-06-2012
Dispatch Date: 22-06-2012
Built By: Cihan Yucesoy
Tested By: Zbear Ramzan
QC’d/Packed By: Anthony Cunliffe
Delivered By: DPD
So to sum that up, it took 20 working days for me to receive my pc. What that doesn’t indicate is that I placed 3 change orders after placing my initial order...
I would suspect this may be true of many first time custom pc buyers but I decided in my infinite wisdom that I knew exactly what I was doing and I knew what I wanted. I then made the bigger error of not requesting assistance from you guys! However, what’s done is done (and I don’t think I’ve done badly at all); My original order (not reflected above) was for 2x Nvidia GTX 690’s, a Fata1ity Soundcard, a Bigfoot network card and a fan controller on-top of everything you can see above.
I quickly realised my error upon purchasing a fan controller when I found the Cosmos 2’s inbuilt fan-controller can happily control up to 10 fans! My first order amendment was for the removal of the additional fan controller (also spurred on by its unavailability at the time).
A few days passed by and I came to the realisation that I wouldn’t have enough room in my flat to place the PC near to the router and (as silly as it sounds) I don’t have enough wall sockets to be able to use Homeplugs without an extension of some kind (which I had read degrades their effectiveness). I also knew that as my speakers were 2.1 and only connected with a single audio jack, plus my headphones were USB so the advantage of a dedicated soundcard would be minimal (I had also discovered the positive reviews of the onboard sound from the Rampage IV). This led to me getting rid of both the network card and sound card.
The final change came about when I basically lost patience with myself (please note: this is NOT with PCS) decided I could not wait till the GTX 690s I wanted were in stock so I changed them to a single 560Ti with the thought that I would upgrade to my desired graphics cards “at some point”. Thus my final change was made and within a couple of days from PCS receiving my final change order my PC which was in pre-production was built, tested and dispatched. It is good to note that these changes seemed only to take one working day or so to be filtered down to the builders and as I had paid through finance the money was refunded to my account within a few working days each time with no questions asked (the final change did take a little longer to refund, but it was around £1000 I was getting refunded that time)!
During this period between ordering and dispatch/delivery of my PC I was offshore with work. Unfortunately for me it made the possibility of phoning PCS to discuss any issues impossible. I made use of the ‘live-chat’ facility offered on the website on several occasions and found as long as I wasn’t trying to get through when the phone lines were busy; it was reasonably simple to get through to someone. Whenever I was chatting with a PCS representative (it was always the same guy, but unfortunately I can’t remember his name) he was always exceptionally polite, helpful and knowledgeable regarding my queries and always left me happy that he had answered my questions. Kudos to the support staff (I would like to think they are all just as helpful!).
Most of my ‘issues’ during the build were merely questions regarding the delays around the graphics cards prior to me losing patience and switching them out. However once the PC was dispatched I had emails from DPD explaining the delivery date estimate was mid-week, I had selected Saturday delivery. Back onto the live-chat my problem was immediately resolved with a choice of either a refund on the Saturday delivery charge, or they would request DPD hold my PC until the following Saturday! I chose the Saturday because (as mentioned) I would not have been available to receive the PC mid-week but someone would be able to pop in on the Saturday for me. The following Saturday I got word that the PC had been successfully delivered (within the quoted timeslot) and that everything looked fine. They were not happy with the prospect of opening everything up to check the contents or try and switch it on however so I was left to wait till I returned home to get everything set up!
Once arriving back home and checking all of the contents against my order, everything was in order (Thanks Anthony et. all); I was impressed with PCS packaging. The foam bricks inserted into the PC case are excellent and as almost everything was packaged in manufacturer’s packaging (including the PC itself) then into PCS boxes (excluding the PC itself – I’d imagine due to its size!) it seemed to me to be a very safe way of transporting! The PC itself was packed in the Cosmos II case box with the moulded foam insert inside the case to keep all of the parts secure during transit.
After removing all of the pieces out of boxes (and assembling my computer desk) plugging everything together was a breeze. There is a nice warning on the side of the case to remind you to remove the foam insert mentioned above, and everything else required was in the welcome pack from PCS or one of the other boxes (keyboard, monitor etc.). Setup was simple everything was just about plug and play to get the PC on and finalise the installation of windows, update drivers for the keyboard/mouse etc. (I made the error of not writing down my windows code which was on the back of the computer... as you will see there isn’t much room back there so I had to take a photo of it!). Everything went perfectly!
Sparing some additional superfluous details regarding having to get a crappy small desk due to space issues and the tower looking hilariously huge next to it (although, given the above and following patter I’m not sure why I’m not going to include them) it’s also the reason I currently only have one monitor. Still... it looks glorious!
Apologies for the quality of the pic (phone camera)
Now, I must admit, foolishly I did not take any additional pictures of the inside of the PC case as it came from PCS. While I was offshore I was always checking the “show off your new pc” section of the forum to see if anyone else had posted pictures of their Cosmos II builds and was keen to do so as it appears no one else has. But as mentioned right at the start, I was waaay too excited and got simply forgot whilst playing many games.
Speaking of which, the performance of the PC is outstanding. It boots exceptionally fast from cold (I’m typically playing a game on my PC by the time my laptop boots up!), with no effort at all it scores well on 3d mark (link lowest of 3 runs here:......), I can’t wait to have a small dabble in over clocking on the Rampage IV (although it’s not needed). Will post revised scores when I get them.
I guess really that’s the end of the PCS review, I am exceptionally happy with the way everything has worked out and the support provided from PCS throughout the process was exceptional, no matter what my query was I always felt as if it was answered/closed out and that I was speaking to someone who did give a damn. I will recommend this website to any and all of my friends/colleagues/co-workers/alien encounters if they are looking for a pc/laptop etc. to come and check this site out no matter where they’ve gone before.
Thank you PCS.
PS More Jibber Jabber + inside pics to come!
) - Not that I've been wearing them too much, I'm loving the SP2500s too much!
