jonnytruckfest
Enthusiast
Okay, so my computer will be one year old next month and I thought I would give my feedback regarding how my computer has faired over the past year!!
Here are the specs to my computer as well as the people (Legends!) who built by computer and ensured the safe delivery of my computer:
Case
InWIN BLACK DRAGON RIDER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER SIX CORE FX-6100 (3.30GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH 990FX - TUF SERIES MILITARY GRADE MOTHERBOARD
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P(2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II A.L.C ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER (£59)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Arctosa Essential Gaming Keyboard (£45)
Mouse
Razer® Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Infrared Gaming Mouse (£49)
Speakers
CREATIVE INSPIRE A520 5.1 SURROUND SPEAKER SYSTEM (£49)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-10AM (£16)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£59)
Built By Cihan Yucesoy
Changes to Order By John Mellor
Tested By Garnet Heller
QC'd By Adnaan Marban
Packed By Anthony Cunliffe
Delivered By Unknown Dpd Delivery Bloke
First I'll start with the service I received from PCS, from day one they have been as good as gold with me whether it be me ringing them to ask about certain upgrades I'd like to make to my computer. PCS was my second choice for my computer build I shall be honest due to being declined on finance from another computer manufacturer not mentioning names! Thankfully I was granted the finance with PCS the same day I ordered the computer with everything being all done within a matter of 20 minutes, But as I purchased my computer I posted my spec to this forum, where my biggest thanks goes to, the support from this forum which I will say is top notch to keep things short and sweet. And thankfully I managed to change a few things (although I wish I had kept the original 850 Watt PSU in the build!!) which made my computer better and saved me some money in the long run.
The case, if I'm completely honest I do wish I had picked a different case as I have found this thing is a magnet for dust (Or at least mine is not sure about anybody else??) as well as some things have found to not be that versatile e.g if you do move it the feet of the case can break easily or can come loose. Not big things but somethings that can put a bit of a dampener on the build but it's something I can live with. But for keeping the computer cool this case is without a doubt one of the best cases you can buy, the hottest my computer has ever gotten after a good 4 hour session of Euro Truck Simulator 2 is about 45 Degrees 50 Max with my 3 monitor setup. So for my recommendation as to whether I would say pick this case, I'd say if you are careful and treat the case with care and don't move it around too much and want great ventilation without having to add any extra fans etc to the case I'd say this is one of the best cases you can get, but if like me you tend to move your room around every 6 months and you have heavy hands I'd say choose a different more sturdier case. But again it's all down to personal preference, the Inwin Dragon Rider isn't the best looking case in the world but it's certainly not the ugliest. A unique case which is one reason why I got this case (I say if it looks unique and 'different' then it's a winner in my book!) but if/when it comes to me buying another computer, I shall be looking for a better brand of case maybe the coolermaster range!
The computer itself is still as fast as the day I've got, it was first hooked up to a quite big Tv but I was unable to get the full 1080P resolution which I was extremely gutted about and this is where my inexperience of computers comes in here as at first I thought it was the computer! But I then found it wasn't the computer where as it was the TV itself that wasn't actually a full HD screen when I bought my first AOC 21.5 inch monitor full HD 1920x1090p monitor from overclockers where I was able to get the resolution to the max of 1920x1080 still being able to play all of my games on max settings getting a steady 60 FPS no problem!! Although a couple weeks ago I bought myself 2 more AOC 21.5 inch LED monitors both full HD also, I have noticed a slight decrease in performance quite drastically at maximum settings on my truck simulators, but knocking down the graphics to high/medium the game is back to the fps it should be around 30-40fps which I think is very adequate after all the desktop I used to play games on I was thankful it the games played at 18fps!! But to say that my computer after one year is still cracking on as well as it was the first day I switched it on is a very nice thing for me to be saying!
The desk I use is a 'Besta' desk bought from Ikea for around £55, the only thing I can advise anyone whom is looking for a desk. If you are wanting a desk where you are going to be spending about most of your time at your computer cleaning the desk then a white desk is totally for you! If you don't want to be spending most of your time playing clean up the dirt than I can suggest DO NOT get a white desk as I can assure you keeping them white is a job all in its own! Just thought I would add this incase anyone is looking to buy a new desk, the Besta desks do come in black also and I think wood stain but I would definitely not recommend buying it in white if you don't have time to be cleaning it most days....(If only I listened to my gut and got the black desk! Doh!)
So to conclude my review I will talk about some of the upgrades I'm hoping to carry out over the next year or 2. I'm hoping to change the PSU to one of the modular PSU's by Corsair and to change my GPU over to either a 7950 or 7970 and adding a second one as time goes on so I can enjoy the power of 2 GPU's! And as I've said many times over I would recommend PCS to just about anybody and well I even managed to convince my older brother to get a PC from PCS which he will be getting in a month or 2. So it literally is keeping it in the family Lol! But my overall experience with PCS has been absolutely fantastic, that fantastic I even still have my welcome pack I got from pcs with my computer last year...I am hoping to build a little collection maybe 2 or 3 Haha!
Here's some pics below that I've posted before and the last one being of my setup now!!
Cheers
Jonny
Here are the specs to my computer as well as the people (Legends!) who built by computer and ensured the safe delivery of my computer:
Case
InWIN BLACK DRAGON RIDER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER SIX CORE FX-6100 (3.30GHz/6MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH 990FX - TUF SERIES MILITARY GRADE MOTHERBOARD
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P(2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II A.L.C ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER (£59)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Arctosa Essential Gaming Keyboard (£45)
Mouse
Razer® Deathadder Re-Spawn 3500DPI Infrared Gaming Mouse (£49)
Speakers
CREATIVE INSPIRE A520 5.1 SURROUND SPEAKER SYSTEM (£49)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-10AM (£16)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (£59)
Built By Cihan Yucesoy
Changes to Order By John Mellor
Tested By Garnet Heller
QC'd By Adnaan Marban
Packed By Anthony Cunliffe
Delivered By Unknown Dpd Delivery Bloke
First I'll start with the service I received from PCS, from day one they have been as good as gold with me whether it be me ringing them to ask about certain upgrades I'd like to make to my computer. PCS was my second choice for my computer build I shall be honest due to being declined on finance from another computer manufacturer not mentioning names! Thankfully I was granted the finance with PCS the same day I ordered the computer with everything being all done within a matter of 20 minutes, But as I purchased my computer I posted my spec to this forum, where my biggest thanks goes to, the support from this forum which I will say is top notch to keep things short and sweet. And thankfully I managed to change a few things (although I wish I had kept the original 850 Watt PSU in the build!!) which made my computer better and saved me some money in the long run.
The case, if I'm completely honest I do wish I had picked a different case as I have found this thing is a magnet for dust (Or at least mine is not sure about anybody else??) as well as some things have found to not be that versatile e.g if you do move it the feet of the case can break easily or can come loose. Not big things but somethings that can put a bit of a dampener on the build but it's something I can live with. But for keeping the computer cool this case is without a doubt one of the best cases you can buy, the hottest my computer has ever gotten after a good 4 hour session of Euro Truck Simulator 2 is about 45 Degrees 50 Max with my 3 monitor setup. So for my recommendation as to whether I would say pick this case, I'd say if you are careful and treat the case with care and don't move it around too much and want great ventilation without having to add any extra fans etc to the case I'd say this is one of the best cases you can get, but if like me you tend to move your room around every 6 months and you have heavy hands I'd say choose a different more sturdier case. But again it's all down to personal preference, the Inwin Dragon Rider isn't the best looking case in the world but it's certainly not the ugliest. A unique case which is one reason why I got this case (I say if it looks unique and 'different' then it's a winner in my book!) but if/when it comes to me buying another computer, I shall be looking for a better brand of case maybe the coolermaster range!
The computer itself is still as fast as the day I've got, it was first hooked up to a quite big Tv but I was unable to get the full 1080P resolution which I was extremely gutted about and this is where my inexperience of computers comes in here as at first I thought it was the computer! But I then found it wasn't the computer where as it was the TV itself that wasn't actually a full HD screen when I bought my first AOC 21.5 inch monitor full HD 1920x1090p monitor from overclockers where I was able to get the resolution to the max of 1920x1080 still being able to play all of my games on max settings getting a steady 60 FPS no problem!! Although a couple weeks ago I bought myself 2 more AOC 21.5 inch LED monitors both full HD also, I have noticed a slight decrease in performance quite drastically at maximum settings on my truck simulators, but knocking down the graphics to high/medium the game is back to the fps it should be around 30-40fps which I think is very adequate after all the desktop I used to play games on I was thankful it the games played at 18fps!!
But to say that my computer after one year is still cracking on as well as it was the first day I switched it on is a very nice thing for me to be saying! The desk I use is a 'Besta' desk bought from Ikea for around £55, the only thing I can advise anyone whom is looking for a desk. If you are wanting a desk where you are going to be spending about most of your time at your computer cleaning the desk then a white desk is totally for you! If you don't want to be spending most of your time playing clean up the dirt than I can suggest DO NOT get a white desk as I can assure you keeping them white is a job all in its own! Just thought I would add this incase anyone is looking to buy a new desk, the Besta desks do come in black also and I think wood stain but I would definitely not recommend buying it in white if you don't have time to be cleaning it most days....(If only I listened to my gut and got the black desk! Doh!)
So to conclude my review I will talk about some of the upgrades I'm hoping to carry out over the next year or 2. I'm hoping to change the PSU to one of the modular PSU's by Corsair and to change my GPU over to either a 7950 or 7970 and adding a second one as time goes on so I can enjoy the power of 2 GPU's! And as I've said many times over I would recommend PCS to just about anybody and well I even managed to convince my older brother to get a PC from PCS which he will be getting in a month or 2. So it literally is keeping it in the family
Lol! But my overall experience with PCS has been absolutely fantastic, that fantastic I even still have my welcome pack I got from pcs with my computer last year...I am hoping to build a little collection maybe 2 or 3 Haha! Here's some pics below that I've posted before and the last one being of my setup now!!
Cheers
Jonny
