This is a quick review of the Azure build from the Reviews section of the website.
Intel® Core™i7-6700k Quad Core @ 4.00GHz
ASUS® Z170-A: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 Ti
480GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD
2TB 3.5" SATA-III
Windows 10 home
PCS customer service/overall process:
The dates for each of the various stages in the process are as follows:
Processed Date 17-08-2015
Pre-Production Date 18-08-2015
Build Date 21-08-2015
Test Date 24-08-2015
QC Date 26-08-2015
Awaiting Dispatch Date 26-08-2015
Dispatch Date 26-08-2015
Delivered 27-08-2015
I initially had the normal 7-9 day dispatch but after 2 days changed to 5 day fast track as I was struggling with no PC at all (laptop had died). I talked to PCS on livechat and was upgraded. The PCS staff were helpful, although I got the feeling if I wanted an update on any situation/delay I would have to contact them and they would not contact me. I only ever used the live chat service as I was never able to get through on the phone, I didn't feel like waiting 15 minutes+ on hold. Maybe they don't have enough staff to handle demand, but the staff themselves are very good. Overall I was fairly impressed with the process and will probably get my next PC with PCS as well.
7/10
Delivery/Packaging/Build quality
The PC was packaged nicely, with additional impact cardboard boxes, foam holders for the PC as well as some kind of foam insert inside the actual PC to keep to the components nice and secure. There was also a welcome pack with all manuals, CD's etc. Also in there were loads of additional cables, probably the ones that came with the motherboard. The only thing I thought was missing was the free copy of Metal Gear Solid V with the graphics card, I thought this would be some kind of Steam code or something? I'll be contacting them about this later.
The PC itself was expertly put together, with cable ties to make anything neat and it was obvious a lot of care had been taken when assembling. It just looks great (and huge!), and I love having the clear side panel on the case. It's also very quiet, includes plenty fans and have great LED's. The buttons on the top (fan control, power) aren't as satisfying to press as I was hoping, but the lights and fans coming to life on the front make up for that.
9/10
Comments on the PC itself:
The first boot up was slightly concerning as it seemed to turn on then shut down straight away, but it came back after a few seconds, obviously just a first time turning on quirk. The normal boot up time is incredibly fast. From pressing the power button to being on the log in screen in about 5 seconds. Then from the log in to being on the fully loaded desktop is about 2-3 seconds. Note this is with not much installed on the PC at all, but still very impressive (at least to me, I've never had an SSD before).
Everything seemed to be installed and configured correctly, even down to the PC Specialist desktop background
. The only issue was the Sata drive was not coming up in the file explorer, this was simply because the drive wasn't mapped to anything, something that is easily sorted but might be confusing if you didn't know this. I played a couple of games, mainly Fallout: New Vegas as I'm without internet for a couple of days and that was all I had. Obviously it maxed everything out and maintained 60fps easily at 1080p. I'll be doing more intensive testing over the weekend and will report back.
For anyone wondering, Windows 10 is great so far, a perfect mix of 7 and 8.
The PC itself is looking like a 10/10 but I'm staying cautious as it's so new. I'll update this thread with any new info.
Pictures:
(feet for scale)
Intel® Core™i7-6700k Quad Core @ 4.00GHz
ASUS® Z170-A: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 Ti
480GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD
2TB 3.5" SATA-III
Windows 10 home
PCS customer service/overall process:
The dates for each of the various stages in the process are as follows:
Processed Date 17-08-2015
Pre-Production Date 18-08-2015
Build Date 21-08-2015
Test Date 24-08-2015
QC Date 26-08-2015
Awaiting Dispatch Date 26-08-2015
Dispatch Date 26-08-2015
Delivered 27-08-2015
I initially had the normal 7-9 day dispatch but after 2 days changed to 5 day fast track as I was struggling with no PC at all (laptop had died). I talked to PCS on livechat and was upgraded. The PCS staff were helpful, although I got the feeling if I wanted an update on any situation/delay I would have to contact them and they would not contact me. I only ever used the live chat service as I was never able to get through on the phone, I didn't feel like waiting 15 minutes+ on hold. Maybe they don't have enough staff to handle demand, but the staff themselves are very good. Overall I was fairly impressed with the process and will probably get my next PC with PCS as well.
7/10
Delivery/Packaging/Build quality
The PC was packaged nicely, with additional impact cardboard boxes, foam holders for the PC as well as some kind of foam insert inside the actual PC to keep to the components nice and secure. There was also a welcome pack with all manuals, CD's etc. Also in there were loads of additional cables, probably the ones that came with the motherboard. The only thing I thought was missing was the free copy of Metal Gear Solid V with the graphics card, I thought this would be some kind of Steam code or something? I'll be contacting them about this later.
The PC itself was expertly put together, with cable ties to make anything neat and it was obvious a lot of care had been taken when assembling. It just looks great (and huge!), and I love having the clear side panel on the case. It's also very quiet, includes plenty fans and have great LED's. The buttons on the top (fan control, power) aren't as satisfying to press as I was hoping, but the lights and fans coming to life on the front make up for that.
9/10
Comments on the PC itself:
The first boot up was slightly concerning as it seemed to turn on then shut down straight away, but it came back after a few seconds, obviously just a first time turning on quirk. The normal boot up time is incredibly fast. From pressing the power button to being on the log in screen in about 5 seconds. Then from the log in to being on the fully loaded desktop is about 2-3 seconds. Note this is with not much installed on the PC at all, but still very impressive (at least to me, I've never had an SSD before).
Everything seemed to be installed and configured correctly, even down to the PC Specialist desktop background
. The only issue was the Sata drive was not coming up in the file explorer, this was simply because the drive wasn't mapped to anything, something that is easily sorted but might be confusing if you didn't know this. I played a couple of games, mainly Fallout: New Vegas as I'm without internet for a couple of days and that was all I had. Obviously it maxed everything out and maintained 60fps easily at 1080p. I'll be doing more intensive testing over the weekend and will report back.For anyone wondering, Windows 10 is great so far, a perfect mix of 7 and 8.
The PC itself is looking like a 10/10 but I'm staying cautious as it's so new. I'll update this thread with any new info.
Pictures:
(feet for scale)
