NilSatis
Bright Spark
Hey guys...
After what was an agonising wait as my excitement built, my PC has arrived. 18/02 ---------16/3 delivered.
It came packaged very securely in what seemed like cardboard box heaven; different parts of my order were seperate where they needed to be and the packaging was extremely aturdy. It allso had foam protection inside the PC case to secure parts from moving during transit (brilliant) and numerous memory foam pieces inside the cardboard box to avoid damage. Superb! I connected the side fan up to the PSU using a molex connector and a spare from the PSU output lead; and that was it, I was away. As I have had Win 7 installed already the computer booted up and did its initial setup; and then I was free to geek out!
When opening the system up I realised what an excellent build Pcspecialist creates here....all cables were tidy; air flow was maximised, and the package as a whole would be great for someone who knows little about computers, or someone who knows a lot respectively.
The welcome pack was excellent, there were warnings sent by email to me before the pc got here about potential loss of data if the initial startup was skipped, all good stuff if you don't know what you are doing and even if you do is nice to see. The package including all documentation to the PC; motherboard, GPU, everything...mine even came with a copy of Nero too. Alongside this were the drivers included on DVD should you ever need them. About this: PC Specialist kindly installs all the latest drivers and associated software, so you don't have to; and therefore you have a stable system right from the get-go.
Starting the system up I realised how much faster this thing was than my old computer....and while setting it up also why I should have measured my case. For now it is living with me in my bedroom; the girlfriend might not fit now....no loss. Priorities sorted.
Big old unit springs to mind! The case seems very solid, and has been put together perfectly, instructions for this were also included!
Here are some pics of the beast itself; beast is an apt word due to the name of the case Dragon Rider, its style of a dragons armour, and the size of it:
The monitor is excellent, no dead pixels, easy to set up and a lovely clear colour contrast. Just brilliant. Iiyama have always been a worthy monitor producer and they dont disappoint here.
The Phillips 5.1 Sound system is a bargain at the price it is here, and while most gamers will use a headset, I appreciate using high volumes when im not being shouted at by my own resident ear drum basher (the girlfriend) so the setup was perfect for my room and upping the volume. A headset will become part of the addition but this setup does a fantastic job on a budget. Loud, clear, and easy to set up. Coupled with the Soundblaster, gaming sounds great. :walkman:
The machine runs great, as you would expect from a new Sandy Bridge PC; benchmarks gave good scores without tweaking anything, and so far the machine plays Mafia 2, The Witcher, ARMA 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (complete mod) and minesweeper very well on pretty much any graphic detail settings I choose. Im especially impressed about minesweeper.
In conclusion when you buy a PC; it is a lot of money to outlay at one time. Therefore a good experience; is not just the machine itself, but the level of support you receive before and after purchase, the presentation of the machine and documentation when it is sent, the set up of the software and drivers installed. I changed my order several times after research, which may have caused other companies problems; it was a breeze with PCS.
Before my PC had even arrived I knew I had picked the right company....why? Because forgetting reviews: Using the main website which is a joy...and simply joining the forum show guys who work for the company/ and even those that dont, that use their own time and dedication to getting problems sorted for people a) confused with their potential purchase... and maybe more importantly b) people who had already bought the product and had problems of any kind.
You just get a feeling these people care about their brand and that they ship you a good product. Well, they have....
Keep it up Pcspecialist....:rockon:
Final mark: 10/10 (Value, performance, packaging, support, quality)
Hope you liked the review. I would honestly have stated if there were any issues at all I was unhappy about and reasonably so. There were none.
Case
INWIN DRAGON RIDER
Processor (CPU)
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DirectX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£78)
Processor Cooling
Coolit Eco
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express (£59)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
Speakers
PHILIPS SPA2602 5.1 Surround Speaker System (Special Offer) (£45)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1
After what was an agonising wait as my excitement built, my PC has arrived. 18/02 ---------16/3 delivered.
It came packaged very securely in what seemed like cardboard box heaven; different parts of my order were seperate where they needed to be and the packaging was extremely aturdy. It allso had foam protection inside the PC case to secure parts from moving during transit (brilliant) and numerous memory foam pieces inside the cardboard box to avoid damage. Superb! I connected the side fan up to the PSU using a molex connector and a spare from the PSU output lead; and that was it, I was away. As I have had Win 7 installed already the computer booted up and did its initial setup; and then I was free to geek out!
When opening the system up I realised what an excellent build Pcspecialist creates here....all cables were tidy; air flow was maximised, and the package as a whole would be great for someone who knows little about computers, or someone who knows a lot respectively.
The welcome pack was excellent, there were warnings sent by email to me before the pc got here about potential loss of data if the initial startup was skipped, all good stuff if you don't know what you are doing and even if you do is nice to see. The package including all documentation to the PC; motherboard, GPU, everything...mine even came with a copy of Nero too. Alongside this were the drivers included on DVD should you ever need them. About this: PC Specialist kindly installs all the latest drivers and associated software, so you don't have to; and therefore you have a stable system right from the get-go.
Starting the system up I realised how much faster this thing was than my old computer....and while setting it up also why I should have measured my case. For now it is living with me in my bedroom; the girlfriend might not fit now....no loss. Priorities sorted.
Big old unit springs to mind! The case seems very solid, and has been put together perfectly, instructions for this were also included!
Here are some pics of the beast itself; beast is an apt word due to the name of the case Dragon Rider, its style of a dragons armour, and the size of it:
The monitor is excellent, no dead pixels, easy to set up and a lovely clear colour contrast. Just brilliant. Iiyama have always been a worthy monitor producer and they dont disappoint here.
The Phillips 5.1 Sound system is a bargain at the price it is here, and while most gamers will use a headset, I appreciate using high volumes when im not being shouted at by my own resident ear drum basher (the girlfriend) so the setup was perfect for my room and upping the volume. A headset will become part of the addition but this setup does a fantastic job on a budget. Loud, clear, and easy to set up. Coupled with the Soundblaster, gaming sounds great. :walkman:
The machine runs great, as you would expect from a new Sandy Bridge PC; benchmarks gave good scores without tweaking anything, and so far the machine plays Mafia 2, The Witcher, ARMA 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky (complete mod) and minesweeper very well on pretty much any graphic detail settings I choose. Im especially impressed about minesweeper.
In conclusion when you buy a PC; it is a lot of money to outlay at one time. Therefore a good experience; is not just the machine itself, but the level of support you receive before and after purchase, the presentation of the machine and documentation when it is sent, the set up of the software and drivers installed. I changed my order several times after research, which may have caused other companies problems; it was a breeze with PCS.
Before my PC had even arrived I knew I had picked the right company....why? Because forgetting reviews: Using the main website which is a joy...and simply joining the forum show guys who work for the company/ and even those that dont, that use their own time and dedication to getting problems sorted for people a) confused with their potential purchase... and maybe more importantly b) people who had already bought the product and had problems of any kind.
You just get a feeling these people care about their brand and that they ship you a good product. Well, they have....
Keep it up Pcspecialist....:rockon:
Final mark: 10/10 (Value, performance, packaging, support, quality)
Hope you liked the review. I would honestly have stated if there were any issues at all I was unhappy about and reasonably so. There were none.
Case
INWIN DRAGON RIDER
Processor (CPU)
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8P67: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6950 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DirectX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TX SERIES (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET PSU (£78)
Processor Cooling
Coolit Eco
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express (£59)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 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 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
Speakers
PHILIPS SPA2602 5.1 Surround Speaker System (Special Offer) (£45)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1
