Where to Buy a Computer From?

Honestly I have never bought a computer fully assembled from a company before.  All of my previous computers have been hand built and custom assembled by myself piece by piece from the case, motherboard, CPU, RAM and video card.

The problem is I also spent various hours resolving all sorts of problems from heat distribution, buggy hardware and little inconsistencies that occur when you build your own system.  Combine this with the fact that I want my latest system to have a liquid cooling system which is more complicated and I just don’t feel like building my next system.

To me paying a little extra money to have a system built and shipped fully intact and working is a better option.  My time is limited and I want to get off the ground running as quickly as possible.

So, I know I want my new system to be built around the X58 architecture with USB 3.0, to have an Intel Core i-7 960 and at least 8GB of DDR3 RAM.  I want at least an NVidia GeForce 560ti though want a 570 if I can get one and I want to find everything I am looking for at around the $1300 – $1500 price point.

The only two places Cyberpower.com and iBuypower.com (which appear to be the same company) offer this combination with liquid CPU cooling for the price I am looking for.  The problem is that both companies are HIGHLY advertised in virtually every computer magazine from PC Magazine, PC Gamer, Maximum PC…etc and I did some research and see various negative comments on various forums and such for both companies.

I can’t believe these companies would be as popular and bringing in the funding to advertise as much if they were "SO BAD" so I am figuring maybe 1% of the people or less who bought systems were very dissatisfied since we know that complainers tend to be more vocal and leave comments than satisfied customers.  No news is good news sort of thing.

So I have been polling on Twitter and Facebook and nobody has actually responded if they ever bought a PC or have any feedback or recommendations from these companies.  So I am curious to know if anyone has some PC manufacturer recommendations.  Note that you can’t get a gaming rig from Dell, HP…etc without paying big money and they don’t even offer "box" systems with the configurations I need here.

I really wanted a system that runs quieter and cooler than my very noisy current system which heats my legs like a furnace under my desk, but just don’t know who to buy from.

This is the custom PC I spec’d out from CyberPower for a total of $1474

Case: Xion Predator 970 Gaming Series Mid Tower Case w/ 2 External Removable HDD Bays [-5]

Internal USB Extension Module: None

Neon Light Upgrade: None

Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans

Noise Reduction Technology: Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels [+29]

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366

Venom Boost Fast And Efficient Factory Overclocking: No Overclocking

Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)

Motherboard: * (3-Way SLI Support) Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA-III RAID w/ 7.1Audio,GbLAN,IEEE1394a,USB3.0,SATA-III,RAID,3 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+32]

Memory: 12GB (2GBx6) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+84] (Corsair or Major Brand)

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Video Card 2: None

Video Card 3: None

Dedicated PHYSX Card: None

Multiple Video Card Settings: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors

Power Supply Upgrade: 800 Watts – XtremeGear Gaming Power Supply – Quad SLI Ready

Hard Drive: 40GB Corsair Force 40 Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+51] (Single Hard Drive)

Data Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+68] (Single Hard Drive)

Hard Drive Cooling Fan: None

External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None

USB Flash Drive: None

Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)

Optical Drive 2: None

Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

3D Vision Glasses: None

LCD Monitor: None

2nd Monitor: None

3rd Monitor: None

Speakers: None

Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

Network Switch: None

Keyboard: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard

Mouse: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse

Mouse Pad: None

Gaming Gear: None

Extra Thermal Display: None

Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: None

External Wireless Network Card: None

Wireless 802.11 B/G/N Access Point: None

Bluetooth: None

Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)

Video Camera: None

Headset: None

Printer: None

Cable: None

Power Protection: None

Surge Protector: None

IEEE1394 Card: None

USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

Operating System: None – FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY

Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None

Office Suite: None

Games: None

Ultra Care Option: None

Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Rush Service: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS

Does anyone have any recommendations?

-Justin Germino