Low/mid gaming desktop

[Jimmytwohand]

Thanks to all the people who helped put together this build on this thread: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?48389-So-frustrated-I-just-need-help-New-buyer

I was getting very frustrated with expensive yet low performing off the shelf machine offerings and didn't know where to start building my own. I stumbled onto this website by chance and found the best of both worlds.

I have never ordered a custom pc before and had a little trepidation about the process. So far it has all been very easy though. I phoned before placing my order to check lead times. My call was answered in under a minute and I was told about 9 days. So I decided on the 5 day fast track. I went for the below spec and ordered on Friday 25th March.

As it was Easter bank holiday the first working day of my order would have been Tuesday 29th and I calculated Monday 4th as a completion date with 5th or 6th for delivery.

I upgraded a few components over the bank holiday weekend which was an easy process. I was a little worried that just one day later my order number for the upgrade compared to original number showed there had been over 300 other transactions in just a day! I was basically settling down for a long wait.

My PC went into pre-production on the 29th.
It was built and tested and apparently QCed overnight on the 30th.
It was packed and dispatched at 6:45am on the 31st.

This is very impressive as it means it was all done within basically 48hours. It seems PC specialist honoured the bank holidays as working days and completed the 5 day fast track still with a day to spare.

I like the email notifications of progress along the way, the text to say it had been dispatched, the clear progress chart and ability to follow your order through the build and seeing the names of those working on your PC.

All very impressive pcspecialist. Now it us up to DPD to deliver and I can check out the actual hardware. If it is as good as the order process I will be very happy I'm sure. I'll update when it is in my sticky little fingers.

Case
COOLER MASTER SILENCIO 452 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8gb AMD RADEON™ R9 390 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 12 - VR Ready Premium
1st Hard Disk
120GB SAMSUNG 750 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Including peripherals, warranty, fast track and pre 12 delivery: £961.

 

[gunsch]

Great to hear everything went pretty flawless so far i'm gonna buy a system from them myself within the next weeks.

Also your rig looks bang on, balanced and everything. Apart from another cpu cooler (matter of taste) theres nothing i would change on that budget, nicely done!

 

[Jimmytwohand]

Well so far they come highly recommended. I have received e-mail and text confirmation of delivery today and can track the parcel online. Unfortunately I'll be working but have someone to collect it for me. Hopefully I'll have a nice surprise on my return.

Thanks for the nice feedback on the build. I can't take any credit. It was Wozza365 who designed it and helped me tweak the components to what I hope is a nice sweet spot.

 

[Rakk]

Well so far they come highly recommended. I have received e-mail and text confirmation of delivery today and can track the parcel online. Unfortunately I'll be working but have someone to collect it for me. Hopefully I'll have a nice surprise on my return.

Unfortunately today will feel like the longest day ever - PC delivery day always lasts forever
But you shall be able to play with it soon

 

[Jimmytwohand]

Well, I have had my new pc for 10 days and have waited a while to add a review being a pessimistic soul.
Everything has been outstanding however.
I would definitely recommend fast track. I paid for 5 day during the Easter bank holiday and It was completed and sent in 3. Delivery outstanding. Packaging superb and delivery was within 3 minutes of estimate with live tracking all the way.
Website is easy to use and I even made adjustments after purchase which was very simple and did not affect order time.
Forum is brilliant for advice and prospective builds and communication from order point is excellent with regular e-mail updates on status changes and progress and text messages as the PC approached dispatch.
The PC is gorgeous and looks really well built and solid.
Everything was ready out of the box with windows and av already installed. I was downloading my steam catalogue within 10 minutes of opening the box and performance has been beyond expectations. Some heavy gaming has thrown up no problems whatsoever.
I entrusted a company I had never heard of before with £1000 and they delivered in every way. Would recommend to anyone. I run out of superlatives.

 

[CrowZer0]

I was just checking out your original thread, quite a jump up from £500 but well worth it. That system will give you years of pleasure, glad it all worked out for you!

 

[Jimmytwohand]

Thanks Crow. The budget did indeed get almost doubled, but it seems well worth it. I hope it will give good service for some time.

 

[Jimmytwohand]

Quick update after 6 years. Might seem strange but this company deserve it. I am still using this as my daily driver and it is now about to be passed on to my father who is still using a 2008 dell!

The only problem i had was the R9390 GPU died after 3.5 years. I contacted pcspecialist not realising that so much time had passed. They offered to contact the manufacturer on my behalf however which i declined given i had now realised it was very much out of warranty. Very good customer service. I replaced that with a 1060 6gb and it is still going strong. Apart from that I added an extra 8gb RAM which cost about £30.

It is still lightning fast for everyday tasks, hd video etc and even is respectable for mid 1080p gaming such as rdr2, hoi4 etc.

The only reason i am not buying another updated rig from pcspecialist is that due to COVID i am changing career direction into the IT field and this is an opportunity to build my own 12400f/3060ti rig.

For anyone who just wants something that is built well, tested well, done so quickly and will last for 5+ years i cannot rate pc specialist enough. For that matter, this forum too. I came here originally as someone with zero knowledge and i was guided to an outstanding long-lasting build.

Ps: I have TWICE dropped this PC from 3 foot + heights (this was after i replaced the gpu) and it didn't even shrug. My wood floor very much got the worst of it.

PPS: six years ago i thought 500gb of storage would be "massive for my needs"! Just.....get more.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Quick update after 6 years. Might seem strange but this company deserve it. I am still using this as my daily driver and it is now about to be passed on to my father who is still using a 2008 dell!

The only problem i had was the R9390 GPU died after 3.5 years. I contacted pcspecialist not realising that so much time had passed. They offered to contact the manufacturer on my behalf however which i declined given i had now realised it was very much out of warranty. Very good customer service. I replaced that with a 1060 6gb and it is still going strong. Apart from that I added an extra 8gb RAM which cost about £30.

It is still lightning fast for everyday tasks, hd video etc and even is respectable for mid 1080p gaming such as rdr2, hoi4 etc.

The only reason i am not buying another updated rig from pcspecialist is that due to COVID i am changing career direction into the IT field and this is an opportunity to build my own 12400f/3060ti rig.

For anyone who just wants something that is built well, tested well, done so quickly and will last for 5+ years i cannot rate pc specialist enough. For that matter, this forum too. I came here originally as someone with zero knowledge and i was guided to an outstanding long-lasting build.

Ps: I have TWICE dropped this PC from 3 foot + heights (this was after i replaced the gpu) and it didn't even shrug. My wood floor very much got the worst of it.

PPS: six years ago i thought 500gb of storage would be "massive for my needs"! Just.....get more.

I'm like you, still daily driving my old 2014 Vortex, never had an issue with it.

Once you build your own though, there's no going back, pimp it out to the max