Hi everyone!
10 days passed since I received my rig and I decided to share my experience with you. Let me divide this into couple of sections.
Choosing parts and placing the order
That was a fun part. I had absolutely no idea what should I pick, so I selected some high-end components and posted them on this forum. Kudos to keynes, Grimezy, vanthus - you've been very helpful with your responses. Thanks to you I managed to order the following build:
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd 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 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
Headsets
Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Wireless (£75)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1
Total cost: £1,583.00
I paid for that with my debit card, no problems whatsoever.
Assembly process and waiting
The whole process took 11 working days until it was dispatched. If you're not a patient person - upgrade the build time to fast track. I must admit, that was the longest 11 working days in my life. I kept on checking the website every hour to check the progress. I really appreciated all of the updates I was receiving on my e-mail from PCS, especially the ones saying that it was dispatched on 8th May.
Delivery by DPD
I got a lot of updates from DPD, I knew the one-hour time slot of the delivery and made sure someone was in that day (I was at work). Apparently DPD driver was very friendly and polite, but needed some help with getting the package to the top floor - cannot blame him, because it was very heavy.
Packaging
Everything was packed safely, nothing was damaged in transit. There was a LOT of cardboard in my flat after unpacking everything. I'm keeping original packaging for future, if I need to return my PC for some reason.
Getting started
I assembled everything with my brother's help, which made things a lot easier. Don't worry - it looks difficult when you unpack everything and you're swimming in cardboard, foil and other packaging materials, but once you place all of the components on your desk, it just takes few cables to connect and you're ready to go!
Windows and all of the drivers were already installed, so that saved me all this hassle. Also, cable management inside the case was very impressive!
Performance
I've already tested this rig on following games: Skyrim (with graphic mods), Batman Arkham City, The Witcher 2, Alan Wake, Metro Last Light.
I'm very happy with the performance. Everything runs smooth and looks great on my 24" screen. Sometimes if the game is not as fluid as I want it to be, I just decrees Anti Aliasing, and it fixes the problem. In future I'm planning to get another GTX 670, so this should fix my problem. The maximum temperature I get is around 70 C, so not bad
Conclusions
I cannot say a bad word about the service I received from PCS. I'm not going to rage about the fact that I waited 2 weeks to get my PC, because I knew that from the start. I do not have any problems with the system so far, the only small problems I have are with peripherals:
- WiFi Antenna from Asus is not getting the best signal. I've ordered a new one from Amazon and we'll see if this is antenna's problem, or just my flat with brick walls.
- Headphones are a bit too tight around my head and are hurting my ears from time to time. On the other hand, I work in customer service, so I wear a headset all the time on my head - maybe I just need to get used to it.
To sum up: Thank you PC Specialist!
(I'll try to post some pictures later, I'm having some problems with that right now)
10 days passed since I received my rig and I decided to share my experience with you. Let me divide this into couple of sections.
Choosing parts and placing the order
That was a fun part. I had absolutely no idea what should I pick, so I selected some high-end components and posted them on this forum. Kudos to keynes, Grimezy, vanthus - you've been very helpful with your responses. Thanks to you I managed to order the following build:
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd 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 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
Headsets
Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Wireless (£75)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE METRO: LAST LIGHT GAME with GTX 660 & UPWARDS GPUs!
Quantity
1
Total cost: £1,583.00
I paid for that with my debit card, no problems whatsoever.
Assembly process and waiting
The whole process took 11 working days until it was dispatched. If you're not a patient person - upgrade the build time to fast track. I must admit, that was the longest 11 working days in my life. I kept on checking the website every hour to check the progress. I really appreciated all of the updates I was receiving on my e-mail from PCS, especially the ones saying that it was dispatched on 8th May.
Delivery by DPD
I got a lot of updates from DPD, I knew the one-hour time slot of the delivery and made sure someone was in that day (I was at work). Apparently DPD driver was very friendly and polite, but needed some help with getting the package to the top floor - cannot blame him, because it was very heavy.
Packaging
Everything was packed safely, nothing was damaged in transit. There was a LOT of cardboard in my flat after unpacking everything. I'm keeping original packaging for future, if I need to return my PC for some reason.
Getting started
I assembled everything with my brother's help, which made things a lot easier. Don't worry - it looks difficult when you unpack everything and you're swimming in cardboard, foil and other packaging materials, but once you place all of the components on your desk, it just takes few cables to connect and you're ready to go!
Windows and all of the drivers were already installed, so that saved me all this hassle. Also, cable management inside the case was very impressive!
Performance
I've already tested this rig on following games: Skyrim (with graphic mods), Batman Arkham City, The Witcher 2, Alan Wake, Metro Last Light.
I'm very happy with the performance. Everything runs smooth and looks great on my 24" screen. Sometimes if the game is not as fluid as I want it to be, I just decrees Anti Aliasing, and it fixes the problem. In future I'm planning to get another GTX 670, so this should fix my problem. The maximum temperature I get is around 70 C, so not bad
Conclusions
I cannot say a bad word about the service I received from PCS. I'm not going to rage about the fact that I waited 2 weeks to get my PC, because I knew that from the start. I do not have any problems with the system so far, the only small problems I have are with peripherals:
- WiFi Antenna from Asus is not getting the best signal. I've ordered a new one from Amazon and we'll see if this is antenna's problem, or just my flat with brick walls.
- Headphones are a bit too tight around my head and are hurting my ears from time to time. On the other hand, I work in customer service, so I wear a headset all the time on my head - maybe I just need to get used to it.
To sum up: Thank you PC Specialist!
(I'll try to post some pictures later, I'm having some problems with that right now)
