New .... but old !

[Wembley]

Hi,

Let me introduce myself... Wembley as I am known (no relation to the stadium btw).
Been in IT as an Engineer (now IT Manger) since 1995...
Built a lot of PC's over my time and enjoyed the challenge and excitement of doing them..
However as I got older (and paid a little bit better) I decided it was someone Else's turn to build a PC for me.
My first venture was with Alienware (before Dell) and I was happy with my Cyborg Green (only colour then had at the time) before it eventually died... (4 years ? )
Then my next Custom PC was with Vadim and to date the best experience I have had, the selection process of components was fantastic.. and although they didn't have the "Status Description" this site has, I was regularly in touch with the actually builder of my PC.. (by phone and e-mail), even to the point where he called me to state he was having issues with putting the South Bridge component onto the motherboard, but then called to say he'd managed it.
That was a water cooled PC and was the best PC I have had to date... had a few issues along the way but nothing to do with Vadim (Vadim now more ... http://hexus.net/business/news/channel/14254-vadim-computers-goes-liquidation/)
I think a Vadim was shown on The Gadget Show and a PC shown was bought by the presenter ? (the bald chap)
The PC was Water cooled (CPU and GPU) with reservoir and easy to maintain..
After 3 years it was coming up to a milestone birthday and my family wanted to get me a new PC.
So I went back to Alienware (now owned by Dell) and I have to admit the case is the best yet, venting fans that open and close in relation to Temps... However
Just after the warranty ran out the PC would start up with the fan's an full capacity... and I mean at full.. I thought they were gonna blow...
Turns out the Pump on the CPU liquid cooled CPU had failed... the Price was too much to replace so added a Coolmaster heatsink and fan (size of a tower block) but...
Although temps look good... currently 38c - 58c, one of the cores is damaged... which means at certain times BSOD.. then reboot.. (gonna give to my daughter )

What happened to the Vadim PC ? before I got my Alienware (number 2) I gave it to one of my best friends, all he has changed is the Graphics card (now that is future proofing, and he's an avid gamer, using it now)
I got the clearance from the chief (misses, as she knows it keeps me away from pestering her!) I decided on PCS

I placed my order on the 3rd of Oct... but also read the forums.
I didn't pay for fast track.. due to the amount I paid for the new pc.. (specs below)
What I can see is a lot of people posting on times between stages.. Remember your not buying from a shop where items are pre built! this is a Custom Build company
"Oh but when I ordered everything was fine, now an item is out of stock", yes and there are other people ordering the same things which means stock levels deplete..
So I didn't pay for fast track... and I am now on the 12th Day working... my order has just moved into "In Testing", I am hopeful it may arrive before the weekend (kid waiting for Xmas syndrome) but I also know.. "The best things come.. to those who wait"

Now I haven't got the PC yet so what I post below may be irrelevant... but this was from my experience of other Custom build companies.

LED lights in PC's is nothing new.. however having the software to set colour schemes shouldn't be either... I like that my Alienware allows me to do all sorts with the LED lighting (flashing, each side different, fading etc)

Also there is a partition hidden that includes a build of the OS when it was built.. meaning I don't have to get any CD/DVD out.. I can restore from when I bought it using the Restore software.. less updates

I like software that tells me Temps in the PC, no need to Dl RealTemp etc.

And maybe a call after 1 month of getting the device to "see how things are going? any improvement suggestions ?"

New PC's Specs (copy and paste ahoy!)

Case CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 780T FULL TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-6850K (3.6GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard Gigabyte X99 Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG2011-3, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, RGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (4 x 4GB)

Change to: 16GB HyperX PREDATOR DDR4 3200MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 1TB SEAGATE 3.5" SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE) Whats peoples views in SSD abd SSHD?
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting 2x 60cm Blue LED Strip (£18) - To Complement The Colours of Your Case
Fan Controller NZXT Sentry 3 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Extra Case Fans 2x 120mm Apache Black Quiet Fan (fitted to extract from rear/roof)

Change to: 1x 120mm Apache Black Quiet Fan (fitted to extract from rear/roof) - Guess 2 was too much ?
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire 3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI-E Card (2 x 6 pin + 1 x 4 pin)
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus Norton Security Deluxe 3.0: 1 User, 5 Devices - 1 Year Subscription (£39)
Browser Firefox™
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 7 to 9 working days

Be kind... my first post..

 

[ubuysa]

Hello Wembley, welcome to the forums!

You're right that waiting for your new build is a nightmare and it's understandable that people count the days - some even count the hours - but as you suggest, that's the price you pay for a PC built to your exact spec. 12 days is pretty fast to be in testing, my recent build (my second from PCS) took 16 days from order to dispatch.

PCS do not install any bloatware, in fact they don't install anything you haven't explicitly asked for. There is no recovery partition, most of us take a full disk image on arrival using Acronis or (in my case) Macrium Reflect Free. That gives you a much faster way back to the factory install than a recovery partition, plus of course you can cut disk images at regular times protecting yourself against both malware and screw-ups.

Again, you'll need to install your own temperature monitoring software (although your fan control system may well display temps too). I like HWMonitor from http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html, the free version works very well though I'm using the paid for version.

I had an email from PCS after a few weeks asking how things were going, but touchy-feely customer service is an area where PCS are a bit lacking. Help is always only a phone call away though (don't email PCS, it's not a priority for them) and you'll find a lot of very knowledgeable and friendly people on here. It's a very pleasant place to be - unlike some other fora I use!

SSHD is, in my view, a redundant technology now that SSDs are so affordable. Your motherboard supports M.2 SSDs and they give you way more bangs for your buck, especially the Samsung SM961 series. Generally user data does not benefit that much from being on an SSD (and music and video benefits not at all) so the optimum config is an SSD (ideally M.2) for Windows and programs (and anything else that benefits from SSD speeds) and a large WD Black HDD for user data.

I don't know how hard you expect to drive your PC but extra case fans might be overkill? You can always add them yourself afterwards if you find you need them?

Others who are more knowledgeable than I (and there are many of those on here!) may well have other comments.

BTW. Your post didn't time-out, new member's posts are auto moderated so you have to wait for a moderator to approve it. How long that takes depends on what else we're doing! (I've deleted your duplicate post too).

 

[Scott]

Great call with the memory change and I can only concur what was said above regarding the SSD. The M2 drives are really where it's at right now with the SM961 right at the forefront.

Have you had a look at overclocking the CPU? The 6850k is an absolute monster but it really needs overclocked to properly stretch its legs. For single thread applications the 6700k will fare slightly better and with most 6700k CPUs overclocked to 4.5Ghz+ it becomes a bit of a no contest. I absolutely love the 6850k but I would have to have it overclocked to make the most out of it.

It is an option in a separate area of the configurator so a call to PCS might see overclocking being added. If PCS do it for you it's all covered by guarantee/warranty etc.

I absolutely love that case BTW, the extra fans will probably be overkill but every little helps

 

[Rakk]

Whilst I definitely agree with the fact that an SSD/HDD combination would be far better than an SSHD, the build went into 'In Testing' yesterday so there would be an extra fee to change the build now

 

[Wembley]

Hi, thanks for the replies..
I think my Fan caution is due to my current PC overheating constantly, which is really annoying, just wanted to be safe not sorry.
The NZXT Sentry does show Temps and I can control individual fan speeds so I think it will be a case of playing around and I may remove one if it's not adding any benefit.

My current PC already has a SSD so I may use that and have the SSHD or wait till xmas and see what Santa brings!

Sorry about the multiple posts, was a little tired so was probably not concentrating !