seriously frustrated

[vmagic]

I ordered this PC at the end of Jan:

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£69)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & DUAL-BAND WIRELESS 802.11N 450Mbps PCI-E CARD (£36)
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)
Keyboard
Razer® Black Widow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (£109)
Mouse
Razer® Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Infrared Gaming Mouse (£49)
Speakers
LOGITECH Z323 2.1 SPEAKERS - 30W RMS with 360 Degree Sound (£44)
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£59)


Initially the PC arrived with a faulty graphics card (artifacting) and a CPU Cooler that was not correctly fitted (wobbling/bent bracket). The PC was RMAd and arrived back in around a week... the graphics card was fixed but the CPU cooler was still wobbling/not conected to the CPU

I went out and bought some thermal paste and an additional case fan, bent the CPU cooler bracket back into shape and fitted the cooler... no more throttling, CPU still hitting 70degrees on prime 95 but better than the 100degrees (then throttling down) it was hitting and it saved me having to send the PC back again

tonight the PC has now turned itself off, no power lights coming on when attempting a power on... lights visible on the mobo when the PSU is turned on but nothing occuring when trying to actually turn the PC on, looks like the PSU has died or there's another fault that I can't see, I've checked cables etc.

I'm seriously, seriously disappointed... when spending over £2000 I expected the PC to arrive in top-class condition and it's been a comedy of errors since purchase - I'm currently typing this on a laptop that I bought from another company over a year ago and have had no issues with and in the 3 or so months I've had this PC it's just been a joke

when it arrived:
a.) the case fans weren't connected to the power supply
b.) the GPU was artifacting
c.) the CPU cooler was not correctly fitted, causing CPU overheating/throttling

when it was sent back and arrived back
a.) the case was in a rough condition/the side pannels were forced on and bent at the back rather than slid on correctly
b.) the cooler still wasn't sorted, I had to do it myself
c.) have had nothing but issues with the 7970 graphics card stuttering on a wide variety of games, fixed in some instances by using an external frame rate limiter (vsync does not fix the problem)

now
a.) PC is dead

I'm fairly PC literate, and I'm not exactly doing anything hardcore with the thing... I play WoW, occasionally BF3, make sure I check temps every so often (now I'm paranoid about the cooling). All I wanted was a PC that worked and now I feel I've been let down, this latest fault is likely just bad luck but the rest of it has just left me totally upset. Going to have to arrange an RMA in the morning but I'm totally paranoid that it's just going to turn up in a bad state again... if I could, i'd just send it back and be done with it :-(

 

[paul1224]

Sorry to hear of the problems you have had, it is frustrating when there is one thing after the other as you start to lose faith in the company.

With regards to the PC being 'dead' I had a similar issue and mine was a faulty motherboard (2 faulty motherboards in the space of 3 months!) so I guess yours could be the same or the PSU could be faulty as you have said.

At least you can RMA it back and maybe consider making a formal complaint to PCS regarding the above as it would indicate poor workmanship rather than a delivery issue which alot of things seem to be blamed on.

 

[Maestro]

Hi vmagic, yes sorry to hear of your frustration and issues. Giuve us a bell and we will sort it.

With regard to the cooler, this most definately occured in transit. We do see it more reguallry than we would like, even though we spend a small fortune on the best packaging. Any sudden jolt and the cpu heatsink / fan is a weak link and will , break, detatch, bend etc. It would appear you have just been very unlucky for this to happen twice.

The graphics card, while we would like to see none ever fail, they do, they all have a failure rate, and hopefully that issue is sorted with the new one. We would never force side panels on in order to get them to fit, and this adds to the theory that it has been subject to damage in transit. If this was the case when it was returned to you we should have been informed about it.

Cant help you with issue realting to the gpu drivers and issues in certain games. AMD are always a bit slow to get to grips with driver support especially with new releases.

None of the above are excuses just explanations. When these things happen, even the smallest of things like the gpu drivers for which we have no control add to the frustration.

Get in touch with tech support and we will sort it as we always do.

 

[vmagic]

Maestro,

Thanks for the response, I realise posting this in "website/forum suggestions" prob wan't exactly the best place... frustrated "raaaaaah" mode kicked in last night. After running through some diagnostics with tech support an RMA has been arranged for monday, and while your forum response hasn't fixed the PC it does go a long way to reassuring me that you guys do respond and care. Additionally, as I've had 2 occurances of the CPU cooler coming back bent (DPD, I know) I've also requested a change of CPU cooler to something smaller and around the same price, liquid if possible (don't mind paying a small excess) simply because the one I've currently got seems to cause issues in transit (with it being so large and heavy)... do you think this is a possibility?

thanks for your time

 

[Buzz]

Fully agree with Maestro.

I also am seeing more and more issues with people having issues due to bad handling by courier. So annoying. PCs Tech support is first class, but IMO DPD are not the best at all. In fact my own comp was damaged also, so I am coming from experience. Most damage was fine and I could sort myself, but only yesterday I noticed the side door has a tiny dent in it. I noticed as I was going to remove the mesh and put a window in.

This has NOTHING to do with PCs bar they are trusting DPD with the goods, and like Maestro said, they pay a small fortune to these companies to deliver on time and in the condition it left PCs in. Not always the case Im afraid. I am getting more and ore frustrated with them, as a few deliveries I have received lately from different companies have been a bit more battered and bruised then I would have liked, In saying that every delivery company is the same. Some times they are good, sometimes bad. If PCs used someone else we could be here saying the exact same thing. Guess that's the difference between a great company and a good one and bad. The great ones take pride in the work they do, and enjoy it, and enjoy the end product. Others just couldn't care less, and just do it for a penny.

I am sorry you are having so many issues with you're comp, it really is bad luck as I can not imagine PCs sending out goods like you explained above. It just wouldn't be good for business. I would certainly ring PCs and I'd be fully confident something will be sorted as soon as possible. I personally had great experience with their tech support.

Best of luck with getting it resolved.

 

[keynes]

Same here, as Buzz mentioned customer service was excellent. I had a few RMAs and the initial frustration was quickly diluted by the prompt response by the technical support department and great customer care. Regarding DPD, so far I have not experienced any damage done by them with any deliveries or Yodel, I can only assume the level of quality in their service varies between regions.

 

[tom_gr7]

on the subject of delivery, DPD are ten times better than yodel were!

 

[lady0sheep]

I got something delivered my DPD today (not from PCS though, was my keyboard from overclockers) but the delivery woman was basically chucking it around... does PCS put FRAGILE all over their stuff? (Mine hasn't arrived yet so I don't know!)

 

[keynes]

I got something delivered my DPD today (not from PCS though, was my keyboard from overclockers) but the delivery woman was basically chucking it around... does PCS put FRAGILE all over their stuff? (Mine hasn't arrived yet so I don't know!)

Yes they do, thick tape with Fragile written on it.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

I believe PCS also stock rolls of "Threat of Physical Violence" tape which they put on in addition to the "Fragile" tape. This may or may not be true.

 

[tom_gr7]

hahah Dead, ya never fail to amuse.

 

[keynes]

I believe PCS also stock rolls of "Threat of Physical Violence" tape which they put on in addition to the "Fragile" tape. This may or may not be true.

I may have missed that one but wouldn't work in my case. The driver was 2 times bigger than me.

 

[vanthus]

Yeah, Like rubensolo said the package is well marked.
There's already been great debate about which delivery company to use,PCS even held a vote on it,but no matter which one it is there's always going to be some incidents of damage.
Once the package is collected by the delivery company,it's out of PCS's hands,literally.

 

[vmagic]

PC was RMAd monday and received back thursday (very quick turnaround)... apparently the PSU had blown and taken the GPU with it, kamikaze style xD

the cooler was changed, as requested to a slightly smaller titain 22db copper heatpipe/fan cooler and looked pretty impressive

...unfortunately, although it WAS securely bolted to the cpu (no movement at all) the cpu was hitting severe temps in prime95 (98 then throttling down) and approx 85degrees in games (keep in mind the cpu is not overclocked)

...so after an hour of work this morning adding an extra case fan and repasting the cpu heatsink with a decent thermal paste all is sorted, max 78 in prime95 and games are around 45-50degrees

pc fixed, thank you, good night -.-

 

[marwoo578]

I work for the Post Office supply depot and we have ALL the couriers in delivering.
Sad to say I have watched them all throw boxes around in the back of the vans while looking for our deliveries so they are all as bad as one another.
Only company which seem to have a decent service is Parcelforce - well to us at any rate

Glad your issues are sorted

 

[Everon]

In my personal experience i have found UPS to be the best by a long margin.

You get what you pay for.