Big Custom Built PC Retailers - Any Experiences?
Discussion
Baldchap said:
The headline bits are:
RTX 4090
14900k
64gb
2x2.0TB M.2 HDDs
Water cooling
Zero RGB
And a Samsung Odyssey G9 49" ultra wide-screen monitor.
After my old 1080TI laptop and 32" external monitor, it's fair to say it's an amazing experience.
That'll be me for another decade now.
Good that you went for water-cooling - I built my first rig in ages in 2022 and finally went for a fully water cooled system, the unexpected benefit was that the CPU ramps up to max clock and stays there indefinitely. Obviously everything still silent.RTX 4090
14900k
64gb
2x2.0TB M.2 HDDs
Water cooling
Zero RGB
And a Samsung Odyssey G9 49" ultra wide-screen monitor.
After my old 1080TI laptop and 32" external monitor, it's fair to say it's an amazing experience.
That'll be me for another decade now.
Are people talking about open-loop cooling (the one with lots of tubing, distribution plates, reservoir and contact plates) or closed-loop cooling (an all-in-one kits of radiator, fans and pump block) when they say 'water cooling' - and yes, I know it's not actually just 'water' in there or any water at all in some cases, as some use a non-electrically-conductive liquid.
Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 12th March 15:07
Derek Smith said:
My experience also. I didn't have to phone them after delivery. Everything spot on, but they were very helpful for deciding what to include in the build.
My brother bought his first PC from the PC Specialist back in the early 00's - remember the case being modelled on a Nokia 7210 - that PC got hammered for years on end.This is my new one, being built by PCS at the moment (stock photo)...
- Case: Corsair 6500X
- Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix X670E
- GPU: AMD 7800x3D
- RAM: 64GB 6400MHz Corsair Dominator
- Storage: 4x2TB SSDs (from previous PC) + 4TB Ironwolf Pro HDD (backups & cold storage)
- GPU: RTX4090 FE
- PSU: Corsair HX1500i
- Cooling/aesthetics: Corsair H150i iLink AIO + 4 x QX120 iLink + 3 xQX140 iLink fans
Baldchap said:
The headline bits are:
RTX 4090
14900k
64gb
2x2.0TB M.2 HDDs
Water cooling
Zero RGB
And a Samsung Odyssey G9 49" ultra wide-screen monitor.
After my old 1080TI laptop and 32" external monitor, it's fair to say it's an amazing experience.
That'll be me for another decade now.
This is a similar build to what I'm looking at.RTX 4090
14900k
64gb
2x2.0TB M.2 HDDs
Water cooling
Zero RGB
And a Samsung Odyssey G9 49" ultra wide-screen monitor.
After my old 1080TI laptop and 32" external monitor, it's fair to say it's an amazing experience.
That'll be me for another decade now.
I'll prob go for 2x4tb m2 as some of these modern games are so large.
That should come out to around 3k+ That's cpu, gpu, mobo and ram.
My i7 7700 and GTX1080 just aint coping with modern games with VR now.
My god it's confusing though, So many options ! But I would like to future proof for another 8 years since my last build.
Well, here's my experience with Scan and a 3XS build.
I started speaking with them on 15 February about a build. It had to be done via invoice as I needed Saturday delivery and their's no option for a Saturday delivery on their website.
They said this was doable. Raised an invoice, for build due to start around the 15th with delivery on the 23rd March.
Well, the build start date was late and delivery was today (yes, not a Saturday). And it's turned up with the cooler (a Noctua NH-D15, so quite heavy, I suppose) bent to such an extent that I dare not turn the thing on. It certainly needs a new cooler - but what about the force that would have gone into the CPU? It's really strange as the GPU seems to be seated just fine and there's no visible damage to any of the packaging.
I guess I now get to find out what their after sales is like - I hope somewhat better than their build team.
This was not a cheap build. I was expecting much better.
We'll have to see how things pan out before I tell people to go with, or avoid, Scan. At the moment it's 50/50.
Not a happy bunny. Six weeks was too long for a build now it's both late and damaged.
I started speaking with them on 15 February about a build. It had to be done via invoice as I needed Saturday delivery and their's no option for a Saturday delivery on their website.
They said this was doable. Raised an invoice, for build due to start around the 15th with delivery on the 23rd March.
Well, the build start date was late and delivery was today (yes, not a Saturday). And it's turned up with the cooler (a Noctua NH-D15, so quite heavy, I suppose) bent to such an extent that I dare not turn the thing on. It certainly needs a new cooler - but what about the force that would have gone into the CPU? It's really strange as the GPU seems to be seated just fine and there's no visible damage to any of the packaging.
I guess I now get to find out what their after sales is like - I hope somewhat better than their build team.
This was not a cheap build. I was expecting much better.
We'll have to see how things pan out before I tell people to go with, or avoid, Scan. At the moment it's 50/50.
Not a happy bunny. Six weeks was too long for a build now it's both late and damaged.
dxg said:
Well, here's my experience with Scan and a 3XS build.
I started speaking with them on 15 February about a build. It had to be done via invoice as I needed Saturday delivery and their's no option for a Saturday delivery on their website.
They said this was doable. Raised an invoice, for build due to start around the 15th with delivery on the 23rd March.
Well, the build start date was late and delivery was today (yes, not a Saturday). And it's turned up with the cooler (a Noctua NH-D15, so quite heavy, I suppose) bent to such an extent that I dare not turn the thing on. It certainly needs a new cooler - but what about the force that would have gone into the CPU? It's really strange as the GPU seems to be seated just fine and there's no visible damage to any of the packaging.
I guess I now get to find out what their after sales is like - I hope somewhat better than their build team.
This was not a cheap build. I was expecting much better.
We'll have to see how things pan out before I tell people to go with, or avoid, Scan. At the moment it's 50/50.
Not a happy bunny. Six weeks was too long for a build now it's both late and damaged.
This is why although I’ve almost pulled the trigger on a prebuilt a few times I’ve always ended up doing it myself.I started speaking with them on 15 February about a build. It had to be done via invoice as I needed Saturday delivery and their's no option for a Saturday delivery on their website.
They said this was doable. Raised an invoice, for build due to start around the 15th with delivery on the 23rd March.
Well, the build start date was late and delivery was today (yes, not a Saturday). And it's turned up with the cooler (a Noctua NH-D15, so quite heavy, I suppose) bent to such an extent that I dare not turn the thing on. It certainly needs a new cooler - but what about the force that would have gone into the CPU? It's really strange as the GPU seems to be seated just fine and there's no visible damage to any of the packaging.
I guess I now get to find out what their after sales is like - I hope somewhat better than their build team.
This was not a cheap build. I was expecting much better.
We'll have to see how things pan out before I tell people to go with, or avoid, Scan. At the moment it's 50/50.
Not a happy bunny. Six weeks was too long for a build now it's both late and damaged.
Can you reject it and just buy the bits ?
mmm-five said:
This is my new one, being built by PCS at the moment (stock photo)...
- Case: Corsair 6500X
- Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix X670E
- GPU: AMD 7800x3D
- RAM: 64GB 6400MHz Corsair Dominator
- Storage: 4x2TB SSDs (from previous PC) + 4TB Ironwolf Pro HDD (backups & cold storage)
- GPU: RTX4090 FE
- PSU: Corsair HX1500i
- Cooling/aesthetics: Corsair H150i iLink AIO + 4 x QX120 iLink + 3 xQX140 iLink fans
Update:
Mine was delivered safely, and in one piece, about a week ago. Ordered 10th March, case I ordered from elsewhere arrived with them on 12th March, and it was delivered on 20th March.
The only complaints I had was they'd put the wrong GPU cables in (asked for a 12VHPWR cables for my 4090, but they'd connected 2 x 8-PIN to a couple of pig-tail splitters. Luckily this case is much easier to access the cables than my old one, so it was a matter of minutes to switch them over.
It took longer to find the USB-C port on the cooler to connect my LCD pump cover to, as it's hidden under one of the 90º iCUE Link plugs (you just have to reorient it to open up the space to plug the USB-C in).
This is the frustration.
I needed it quickly and I didn't want the hassle. This has gone the opposite way.
Traditionally, I would just spend one day doing the hardware and one day doing the software. I've done it many times before.
But, I've got to the point where I'm time poor and I thought this would be simpler.
I am minded to just reject the whole thing. I could install a replacement cooler, but I am worried about the damage that must surely have already happened to the CPU, I mean how much force is required to do this:
Bearing in mind that every cubic cm of the case was ram-packed with bubble wrap.
Really fed up.
I needed it quickly and I didn't want the hassle. This has gone the opposite way.
Traditionally, I would just spend one day doing the hardware and one day doing the software. I've done it many times before.
But, I've got to the point where I'm time poor and I thought this would be simpler.
I am minded to just reject the whole thing. I could install a replacement cooler, but I am worried about the damage that must surely have already happened to the CPU, I mean how much force is required to do this:
Bearing in mind that every cubic cm of the case was ram-packed with bubble wrap.
Really fed up.
Well, glad that PCS can do a decent job. Maybe I should have gone with a water cooler as physically more stable, but I wanted a machine that would last up to ten years, certainly more than the five or so that AIOs seem to last.
I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
dxg said:
Well, glad that PCS can do a decent job. Maybe I should have gone with a water cooler as physically more stable, but I wanted a machine that would last up to ten years, certainly more than the five or so that AIOs seem to last.
I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
Hopefully the senior manager won’t be saying you did the damage yourself ! They tried that on with me many years ago with an AMD 850XT I think it was. Very hard work with the faulty card coming back to me then back to them before they agreed to replace.I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
I have used them many times since with no problems but then I’ve not had another faulty item.
dxg said:
Well, glad that PCS can do a decent job. Maybe I should have gone with a water cooler as physically more stable, but I wanted a machine that would last up to ten years, certainly more than the five or so that AIOs seem to last.
I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
Did the collection go ok ?I pointed this out to Scan - that I can't trust a CPU that will have had such a physical shock placed into it irrespective of whatever short term testing they do when they get the machine back. Micro-fractures getting worse over time, for example.
They weren't esp. keen but it will be going back for a refund.
I've been told I'll get a call from a senior manager next week, so intrigued to find out what that entails.
Meanwhile, I've to repack the thing, have to collected tomorrow and wait for the £2k to reappear in my bank account at the back end of next.
All-in it will be a seven week process with Scan.
I won't have time to build a machine myself until the summer, now that the Easter window has been missed.
Ridiculous. I'll update the thread to let people know how this pans out as part of this cautionary tale.
Collection was fine, but it's been sitting at Scan since Tuesday.
I've chased and have been told that they need 3-4 working days to open the parcel and then another 1-2 working days to grade and restock the contents.
So, at this point, I don't think I can recommend Scan.
They still have my £2k and will have had it for six weeks by the time this is (hopefully) resolved.
They just don't seem to be in any kind of hurry.
Aside: the courier sent a photo of the delivery, which showed my repackaged box, sitting on its side, on a palette with four other systems. So, I guess they get a lot of such returns.
Overall, the frustration builds as the time is stacking up. I could go and order the bits right now, but I need to wait to see if they are going to play silly games when they start to disassemble the build. I need to manage my cashflow and my final position.
All I wanted to do was buy a computer...
And I never got the call from senior management. Maybe that is yet to come.
I've chased and have been told that they need 3-4 working days to open the parcel and then another 1-2 working days to grade and restock the contents.
So, at this point, I don't think I can recommend Scan.
They still have my £2k and will have had it for six weeks by the time this is (hopefully) resolved.
They just don't seem to be in any kind of hurry.
Aside: the courier sent a photo of the delivery, which showed my repackaged box, sitting on its side, on a palette with four other systems. So, I guess they get a lot of such returns.
Overall, the frustration builds as the time is stacking up. I could go and order the bits right now, but I need to wait to see if they are going to play silly games when they start to disassemble the build. I need to manage my cashflow and my final position.
All I wanted to do was buy a computer...
And I never got the call from senior management. Maybe that is yet to come.
Despite recommending Scan defo been having problems with my warranty. 3rd year XS warranty and mobo died, wanted whole system back (courier costs eye watering) so argued back n forth eventually sending mobo back.
That was 7-8 weeks ago and now with manufacturer as no old stock, but offering me rubbish one if in hurry.
My build process was seamless - but this has been 8 weeks of no PC now, which isnt quite what I expected - so hopefully you get sorted ASAP
That was 7-8 weeks ago and now with manufacturer as no old stock, but offering me rubbish one if in hurry.
My build process was seamless - but this has been 8 weeks of no PC now, which isnt quite what I expected - so hopefully you get sorted ASAP
Some cautionary tales on this thread. I've previous bought machines from Dell outlet and Trigger's broomed them until tech has moved on so far nothing is re-usable. Still on an Alienware Area 52 R4 (the traid chassis - last of the standard parts (most are re-branded MSI kit) machines before they went and started to use propriety motherboards and PSUs in their high end machines) - though GPU has been upgraded along with addtional storage).
Will be looking for a motherboard/cpu/RAM combo to upgrade to over the next year or so - probably avoid some of the companies listed (hate paying money to companies with bad service, even if I haven't ever needed the aftercare).
Will be looking for a motherboard/cpu/RAM combo to upgrade to over the next year or so - probably avoid some of the companies listed (hate paying money to companies with bad service, even if I haven't ever needed the aftercare).
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff