Unofficial FAQ

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
I thought I'd make an FAQ to answer some very common questions and issues people seem to be having in hopes of clearing it up. If anyone notices anything wrong/could be improved on then please let me know :)


Section 1 - Choosing your spec
  • We cannot give advice on self builds or other companies machines as it's against the forum rules.
  • It's always a good idea to post your spec on the forums before ordering, just to check it's the best value for money. Remember to include your budget, intended use and the full spec. Also mention if you need peripherals such as a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
  • For a gaming desktop without peripherals you would be looking at a minimum of around £600, but around £800 is much better and will last longer. For a gaming laptop this rises to around £700-800 for an entry level machine, so don't ask what you can get for £300 when used for something intense like editing or gaming.
  • If you live in the UK then remember to get silver warranty, it only costs £5 and means you get all collections paid for the first year, instead of first month!
  • Once you've made a build you can save it as a quote, this will be kept for 5 days and will guarantee the price it originally showed, meaning it will stop any price increases effecting you.
  • Graphics cards fluctate but are normally Zotac or Palit for NVIDIA cards and Powercolor for AMD cards. (Please note this is not a guarantee and they are subject to change without notice).


Section 2 - Waiting for your PC to be build/arrive

Some points to remember about waiting times:
  • The pre-production stage of ordering is the longest, this is the time it spends in the queue waiting to be build. After this building, testing and quality control typically only take 2-3 days.
  • The time estimated for builds are just estimates based on dispatch times in the last 5 days, this doesn't include orders that used fast track. You can view this from here once logged in: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/orders/ (you must be logged in for this to work)
  • As the T&C's state PCS have 30 working days to complete your order, so if you don't use fast track keep in mind that it could be up to 30 days, although very few orders do take that long.
    Your order will be fulfilled as soon as possible after your Order Confirmation and in any event within 30 days of the date of the Order Confirmation, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
  • PCS do not keep large stock of components, this is because component prices are always changing, most of the time making it cheaper, meaning that by only keeping small quantities of stock PCS can get the best deals on said components which makes it cheaper when you go to buy a machine.
  • Following on from the previous point, just because there was stock of a component when you ordered doesn't mean it will be in stock for your build, since stock isn't assigned to your build until it actually goes into the building stage, this is once again to lower prices.


Section 3 - Contacting PCS
  • I cannot stress enough that the PCS forum is not an official channel of support, if you need an official response the best way to get it is by calling PCS up yourself. You can also email them, but they can take over two days to respond if it's busy. If it's urgent or need a proper discussion then call them whenever possible. The full list of contact details is here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/contact-us/
  • All complaints should be processed through the proper complaint procedure if you want an official response. Going onto the forums won't get you anywhere and the forum members can't do much to help you unless it's a simple problem.
  • Whenever speaking to a member of staff remember to stay calm and be polite. You won't get very far at any company by yelling at a member of staff and just ruins their day. I know most people don't need to be told this, but there are a few people that will do this.
  • If you want to know how busy PCS are then moosEh tries to keep this thread up to date. - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?44744-PC-Specialist-Status-Updates


Section 4 - Returns and refunds
  • The silver warranty doesn't apply outside of the UK, so no need to buy it if that's the case.
  • Any returns from other countries are not covered by PCS, so if any problems arise you will have to pay for shipping, regardless of the reason or how long it's been.
  • Once your order arrives you have 14 days to return the product if you're not satisfied with it, but the goods must be in a resaleable condition, however any software cannot be refunded, such as Windows licences, Microsoft office licenses etc.
  • As soon as you notice a fault don't hesitate to contact PCS about it and submit an RMA if applicable; however, always call them first to check there really is a problem as it could be an easy fix such as installing a driver.
  • This information can be found here under section 6: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/terms/


Section 5 - Other information
  • PCS also offer an upgrade service, meaning if you want to change anything in your build later on then you can, although some laptops have very limited options as some parts are soldered in.
  • If you want to open up your machine for any reason PCS do allow this and won't effect the warranty as long as you don't break anything!
 
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GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
That's all I can think of for now but as I said, feel free to suggest more to add

If a mod or admin want to sticky this then that'd be great, but only if it's accurate enough :p
 
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Glissov

Bronze Level Poster
This should be stickied! (or whatever its called)

Very informative and helpful! +1

Some things to add when choosing spec:

Desktop machines are more powerful than laptop equivalents.
Ask yourself if you really need the portability, or would your laptop be sitting on a desk all day, every day?

Always get ram in paired modules.
8 GB is enough for gaming and 4 GB is enough for office use (word processing, spreadsheets, browsing etc)

i3 is best for low cost, office and casual indie gaming.
i5 is best value for money when gaming.
i7 wont make much difference to games unless you plan on streaming or having multiple applications open at once. (i7 aimed at performance/professional use)

(in my opinion) Adding a SSD to install your OS on is the cheapest and most effective way to make a system faster (60GB is sufficient but I'd go for a 128GB). I would recommend a Samsung (personal preference).

You cannot game at 4k without a top of the range GPU.
No PC will last 5 years even with the best parts. (It may last but the newest and latest titles wont run at max in 5 years time, possibly at 1080p but not 4k)
 
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DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
I came here to have a grumble, but thanks to George's excellent unofficial FAQ, I now feel better informed and do not feel the need to make a ranty thread.

Dammit, didn't mean to post it from this account, people might not believe I was being genuine!
 

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
This should be stickied! (or whatever its called)

Very informative and helpful! +1

Some things to add when choosing spec:

Desktop machines are more powerful than laptop equivalents.
Ask yourself if you really need the portability, or would your laptop be sitting on a desk all day, every day?

Always get ram in paired modules.
8 GB is enough for gaming and 4 GB is enough for office use (word processing, spreadsheets, browsing etc)

i3 is best for low cost, office and casual indie gaming.
i5 is best value for money when gaming.
i7 wont make much difference to games unless you plan on streaming or having multiple applications open at once. (i7 aimed at performance/professional use)

(in my opinion) Adding a SSD to install your OS on is the cheapest and most effective way to make a system faster (60GB is sufficient but I'd go for a 128GB). I would recommend a Samsung (personal preference).

You cannot game at 4k without a top of the range GPU.
No PC will last 5 years even with the best parts. (It may last but the newest and latest titles wont run at max in 5 years time, possibly at 1080p but not 4k)

I thought about adding this kind of thing but I thought I wouldn't for the time being as it's always changing, for example in a years time games might need more RAM, cores etc and just didn't want it to outdate. What do you guys think?

I came here to have a grumble, but thanks to George's excellent unofficial FAQ, I now feel better informed and do not feel the need to make a ranty thread.

Dammit, didn't mean to post it from this account, people might not believe I was being genuine!

Haha, quickly delete the post and log into one of your other 10 accounts!
 

MazLad

Active member
Heheh I almost feel like my recent rantings have caused the stock bullet point, sorry about that.

But definitely a good article to pin this one. I had a read through and it answered all of the early questions I had. It's also good to give people a nudge that orders can take a long time, so managing expectations. PCS are well within their own timeframes but I think as customers we can unfairly expect a delivery service like the local takeaway!

I'd perhaps agree to keep it as per the initial post. The extra malarky about components can be discussed in the threads in that the customer details their initial specs and then considers suggested changes. As you say upgrades tend to change things so you might need to keep tweaking a section like that.

If it was a post to be regularly updated though, perhaps a 'current pointers' section might be useful, that could for instance cover things like when the ASUS boards were having issues with RAM and was taken out of the PC builder temporarily. May not be required if there aren't many specific FAQs that come up only during a particular time.
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I thought about adding this kind of thing but I thought I wouldn't for the time being as it's always changing, for example in a years time games might need more RAM, cores etc and just didn't want it to outdate. What do you guys think?

Agree, stuff like that can be very dependent on what the machine is used for as well - some games do definitely benefit from an i7 for example (the one I play in fact)
 

Glissov

Bronze Level Poster
Agree, stuff like that can be very dependent on what the machine is used for as well - some games do definitely benefit from an i7 for example (the one I play in fact)

I think you misunderstand my message. i5 is the best VALUE FOR MONEY for gamers. Undoubtedly there are games that run better on i7 (if not all games) but the difference in visible performance is negligible in specifics to gaming. As many users who source a custom build retailer are after gaming machines rather than off the shelf prebuilt systems, I thought this along with the current sweet spot of 8GB are valid choices.

Regarding the information being valid and up to date in a years time, people can read the date it was posted and I am sure people will continue to update specifics concerning components on a regular basis. I also highly doubt that the amount of ram for casual gamers will exceed 8GB for many years to come as retailers must cater for the consumer market of which only a small % can afford any excess.
 
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GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
I think you misunderstand my message. i5 is the best VALUE FOR MONEY for gamers. Undoubtedly there are games that run better on i7 if not all games but the difference in visible performance is negligible in specifics to gaming. As many users who source a custom build retailer are after gaming machines rather than off the shelf prebuilt systems, I thought this along with the current sweet spot of 8GB are valid choices.

Yeah, they're currently best for the majority of games but I didn't want to put it in case it outdates, like what if AMD's next CPU's are way better than intels? I might make a separate thread about it but don't want to confuse people by putting it in here :p
 

Stephen M

Author Level
Not sure whether this would really be the place but is it worth adding that PCS allow us to do our own upgrades and opening up the machine does not void the warranty.
 

Glissov

Bronze Level Poster
Maybe a link to another thread for advice on choosing computer components would be best then. Could include a disclaimer message at the beginning warning that the advice is valid only at the time of writing and that advancements are forever happening, so always make sure that the information you are using is up to date.

That might be something you want to add to your original post too; that although such changes may be unlikely, it is possible that things such as terms and conditions can too change.
 

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
Not sure whether this would really be the place but is it worth adding that PCS allow us to do our own upgrades and opening up the machine does not void the warranty.

Thanks, added this :)

Maybe a link to another thread for advice on choosing computer components would be best then. Could include a disclaimer message at the beginning warning that the advice is valid only at the time of writing and that advancements are forever happening, so always make sure that the information you are using is up to date.

That might be something you want to add to your original post too; that although such changes may be unlikely, it is possible that things such as terms and conditions can too change.

Yeah, i'll do this later when I've got some time, maybe tomorrow :)
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
Ok, made it a sticky (for now at least) I'll see if I can get one of the admins to take a look make sure there's nothing in here that's controversial or subject to change.

Nice work :)
 

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
Ok, made it a sticky (for now at least) I'll see if I can get one of the admins to take a look make sure there's nothing in here that's controversial or subject to change.

Nice work :)

Thanks steaky, if they say anything needs changing then just let me know :)
 

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
Great stuff George. Only thing I'd like to see is a "common issues and resolutions" section for some of the most common problems and some standard fixes. The top of the section needs to be "HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING IT OFF AND ON AGAIN?" (in caps as well).
 

moosEh

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
I have added a bullet point in for contacting us section. :) I will leave it as a sticky.

Also added a GPU bit.
 

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
Great stuff George. Only thing I'd like to see is a "common issues and resolutions" section for some of the most common problems and some standard fixes. The top of the section needs to be "HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING IT OFF AND ON AGAIN?" (in caps as well).

Yeah, good idea Wozza, i'll add that when i get a chance :)

I have added a bullet point in for contacting us section. :) I will leave it as a sticky.

Also added a GPU bit.

Ah right, forgot about that thread :) And never ordered a desktop from you guys so wasn't sure :p
 
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