Well, as promised, here are my first impressions of my new machine.
The specs are below and also a link to the Overclock3d 'official' review. That review is very comprehensive and includes enough benchmarks that all I will talk about are real world observations.
Firstly is the PCS customer service. They appear to be snowed under with orders now and lead times are longer than usual. My order took 14 working days to be dispatched. I regretted not ordering the fast track service but on reflection, what is an extra couple of weeks wait over the £30 which could be spent on Steam?
I used the online chat service to enquire about the status a few times and was told there were no stock issues, just a backlog of orders. I notice here of the forum there is a new 'X working days in pre-production' thread created fairly frequently. The stage updates PCS provide are a great idea but could be improved with another box that just says 'There are/ are not stock issues regarding your order please call us/chill out.
Once delivered, I mistook the box it came in for the delivery of my new car. The box was enormous but had cut-outs on the side as handles which you could see the PC. There was very secure foam padding around the machine to stop knocks but it was a little concerning to see my machine just covered in a plastic bag without even opening the box.
Once booted up for the first time I had a niggle where the OS installation had corrupted but SpyderTracks came to my rescue here on the forums to tell me how to sort it. After that it was plain sailing straight into the dog’s dinner that is Windows 8.1. That isn’t PCS fault though so they get a pass on this, I cannot wait for W10 at the end of July however!
The machine itself arrived without a scratch or mark on it. I initially intended to have it on my desk to see the internals in all their black and red goodness but this was not to be as the thing is huge. It fits under the desk just fine so its size isn’t a problem if you have plenty of room but if you need it to fit somewhere snug, definitely measure first.
*Edit* I wasn't too fussed about about the case initially, I thought it looked a little cheap in the pics. When it arrived though it looks much better in person, very slick and not as plasticky as the pics suggest. Also, the fans come with a red backlight rather than the blue in the pictures, makes it look very snazzy. *Edit*
The machine boots up in no time thanks to the SSD and is whisper quiet. I had a play on Unigine Valley (again, benchmarks in OC3D review) and also played Bioshock Infinite and even in this weather it stayed nearly silent. I have come from an air cooled AMD CPU/GPU gaming machine though so I don’t know if this is just what you Intel guys have been keeping from us all this time!
All in all, I have not one complaint about the service or product so it is a definite thumbs up from me. Add in this awesome community and I think we have a new customer for life. Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my jolly best to answer them.
Dan
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/systems/pc_specialist_minerva_system_review/1
Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4690k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ upto 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS VII RANGER: PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, USB3.0
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT with select GTX 9 Series GPUs! -Subject to T&Cs
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 360MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£79)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) 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 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DPK (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1
Price: £999.00 including VAT and delivery.
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/systems/pc_specialist_minerva_system_review/1
The specs are below and also a link to the Overclock3d 'official' review. That review is very comprehensive and includes enough benchmarks that all I will talk about are real world observations.
Firstly is the PCS customer service. They appear to be snowed under with orders now and lead times are longer than usual. My order took 14 working days to be dispatched. I regretted not ordering the fast track service but on reflection, what is an extra couple of weeks wait over the £30 which could be spent on Steam?
I used the online chat service to enquire about the status a few times and was told there were no stock issues, just a backlog of orders. I notice here of the forum there is a new 'X working days in pre-production' thread created fairly frequently. The stage updates PCS provide are a great idea but could be improved with another box that just says 'There are/ are not stock issues regarding your order please call us/chill out.
Once delivered, I mistook the box it came in for the delivery of my new car. The box was enormous but had cut-outs on the side as handles which you could see the PC. There was very secure foam padding around the machine to stop knocks but it was a little concerning to see my machine just covered in a plastic bag without even opening the box.
Once booted up for the first time I had a niggle where the OS installation had corrupted but SpyderTracks came to my rescue here on the forums to tell me how to sort it. After that it was plain sailing straight into the dog’s dinner that is Windows 8.1. That isn’t PCS fault though so they get a pass on this, I cannot wait for W10 at the end of July however!
The machine itself arrived without a scratch or mark on it. I initially intended to have it on my desk to see the internals in all their black and red goodness but this was not to be as the thing is huge. It fits under the desk just fine so its size isn’t a problem if you have plenty of room but if you need it to fit somewhere snug, definitely measure first.
*Edit* I wasn't too fussed about about the case initially, I thought it looked a little cheap in the pics. When it arrived though it looks much better in person, very slick and not as plasticky as the pics suggest. Also, the fans come with a red backlight rather than the blue in the pictures, makes it look very snazzy. *Edit*
The machine boots up in no time thanks to the SSD and is whisper quiet. I had a play on Unigine Valley (again, benchmarks in OC3D review) and also played Bioshock Infinite and even in this weather it stayed nearly silent. I have come from an air cooled AMD CPU/GPU gaming machine though so I don’t know if this is just what you Intel guys have been keeping from us all this time!
All in all, I have not one complaint about the service or product so it is a definite thumbs up from me. Add in this awesome community and I think we have a new customer for life. Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my jolly best to answer them.
Dan
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/systems/pc_specialist_minerva_system_review/1
Case
CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4690k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ upto 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS VII RANGER: PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, USB3.0
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
Free Item
FREE BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT with select GTX 9 Series GPUs! -Subject to T&Cs
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 360MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£79)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) 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 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence DPK (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1
Price: £999.00 including VAT and delivery.
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/systems/pc_specialist_minerva_system_review/1
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