New Review PC - PC Specialist we're relying on you!

Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
The past weeks have really shown that our current machines are aging a bit - and publishers are generally not too pleased when you make a review in low-mid settings for their games. So after a lot of research - with a very large dose of help from the posts on this forum, we've decided to place our trust in PC Specialist.

To give you some context, this is going to replace one desktop entirely, and take over the majority of the work from a laptop as well. (In particular video editing and more demanding games)

The Old Desktop
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4Ghz
2GB DDR3-PC3 1066Mhz
512M ATI X1950XTX
2x 250GB WD Caviar
2x 500GB WD Caviar
Windows XP Pro x32

The Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 @ 2.53Ghz
4GB DDR3-PC3 1066Mhz
512M NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
120GB OCZ Vertex SSD
Windows Vista x64

The Replacement from PC Specialist
Intel Quad Core i7-950 @ 3.06Ghz
12GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz
2x 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 (SLI)
120GB OCZ Vertex SSD
1TB WD SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
Windows 7 x64

For those interested, we've selected a HAF 932 case from Coolermaster, with the Asus P6X58D-E Mobo, Corsair 850W PSU and Titan Fenrir Evo cooler. When this arrives, we have a spare Creative X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty to put in this, coupled with Logitech Z-5450 speakers. (Though it is usually used with an absolutely fantastic Sennheiser headset to not disturb others!)

We're confident that this will be reasonable step up. Since the site is in its infancy we're on a bit of a budget (hence no crazy killer graphics cards!) - but we hope this will more than serve its purpose! If we're pleased with the results we'll undoubtedly order another in 6 months or so, to replace yet another aging machine!

The period between now and arrival will seem like an eternity...
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Great spec PC you've put together there, the SSD should certainly help boot your performance. I trust you'll write a review once you've received your order? :D
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
PCS said:
Great spec PC you've put together there, the SSD should certainly help boot your performance. I trust you'll write a review once you've received your order? :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, we're using the same SSD in the laptop atm - ALMOST considered getting a 240GB SSD as second drive but the costs were just too steep, our budget doesn't stretch far enough atm.

Review wise, we'll sort something out. We'll probably post something on the actual site as well :)
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Sleinous said:
Nice setup! Think id have gone for 1 GTX 470, but thats just me! :p Ooption to add the second later on too then :p
Click to expand...

It was a consideration but it would make the initial performance a little weaker. Once we get to the point where 2x GTX 460 is no longer sufficient, I don't think 2x GTX 470 would have made a ton of difference and it's really about time to start upgrading even further anyway. We also considered 1x GTX 480 - but 2x GTX 460 performs a little better, and I'm not comfortable sticking 2x GTX 480 in that rig in terms of price, the motherboard and the potential heat/noise output. (Price being the major factor, we just don't can't justify spending our budget on that right this moment)
The GTX 460 seems the sweet spot for us right at this moment :) We can't spent a ton of money on it - even though there are things we would have loved to improve in the spec. (If it was up to me I would have loved a 240GB SSD as second drive to run more games from - screw storage space, we have a NAS for that)

On the positive side (for PC Specialist!) - if all goes well and we are pleased with how this machine and the support/interaction with PC Specialist turn out, two of our team members will each independently purchase an almost identical rig before the end of the year, followed by another rig by my other half in roughly 6 months. I've personally had a few disappointments (Dell, Mesh, Kobalt) since purchasing PC's in the UK (I'm originally from The Netherlands), so I am hoping PC Specialist will improve upon that experience.
 
Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
Ye the 460s should hammer through anything for a while. Basically as soon as I state on the forums that my 470 cant max a particular game, give it 3 months and itll be time to upgrade for you too :D
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Don't really want to make a separate topic for this, but we've made a Technical Support request on the 14th just before afternoon. The request was marked 'read' yesterday in our inbox, and a note was left on our order for one of the Tech guys, so someone has definitely taken notice. However, we haven't had any form of reply to our questions. How long does it usually take to get a reply by e-mail, as I would definitely expect a reply within 48 hours? At least to acknowledge the questions are being looked into...
 
Maestro

Maestro

Guest
This will get answered on Monday. At the latest it is 72 hours, not including weekends. Currently we are so busy, that there are more emails coming in than ever, and answering emails especiallly about specs etc can take a long time so please bear with us. This is one reason why the forums are so good, if you are after advice etc.
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Could someone from PCS please chase the support team and ensure the original support enquiry as mailed on the 14th receives a response?

I've followed up yesterday and today but the original enquiry still hasn't received a reply. We've been pretty patient, but 6 days is more than adequate to provide a response to an enquiry even in the busiest of circumstances. We might have decided to change the spec based on your answers (sales opportunity) - but at this rate the machine will have been build before any answers are forthcoming.

I agree with the previously made statement that the forums are great for advice, but there comes a point where one makes a decision - and wants to check it directly with the people who are going to build it. It's both for re-assurance and to gain confidence in the knowledge of the 'specialist' you are purchasing a product for.

This is not a complaint, but rather a little poke to get things on the right track and prevent any issues or negative feelings arising from the lack of response so far. :)
 
Maestro

Maestro

Guest
I will check this out in the morning. I cant understand why it hasnt been answered as there are no website emails waiting to be answered. The only reason I can think of is that for some reason this particular email has been archived on our system. I will retrieve the email in the morning if this is the case and ensure an answer.
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Thank you Maestro, the message has indeed changed to 'read' pretty much a day after it was mailed - but the person who has done so didn't actually reply to it. It's not impossible that the issue has resulted from that, and that it was archived after so nobody else had the opportunity to follow it up.

No need to flog anyone in the office, simple human error can happen from time to time. Much more interested in the actions taken once it is discovered, so the quick follow-up is very much appreciated!

It could always be worse:
6a01157036a7d4970b012875b33871970c-800wi
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Still pre-production, looks like we're going to be on the long side of the estimated timescale.

The good part: Gone to a conference the coming 2 days anyway.
The unfortunate part: Would have loved to see this arrive on Friday!

Ah well, fingers crossed for next week. :)
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
We just received a status update that the machine is now build and going into testing. It might arrive by the end of next week. :)
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
Sleinous said:
Hoorah and a lifetime subscription to your mag, kkthx :p mwhaha im so greedy
Click to expand...

Flattered with your vision, but the 'lifetime subscription' can be found here:
http://www.manapool.co.uk/feed/

We're an (independent) online PC Game Review site - we don't make any money outside the adverts from publishers/developers/suppliers ;) It's something we do because we want to do it, because we love to do it, it's not going to make any of us rich! (Unfortunately!)

In fact it will probably cost money first of all - as the site is due to move to a server of it's own before the end of this year. The hosting it is on right now isn't going to cope for very long with the traffic it receives!
 
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