pcspecialist.co.uk > Reviews (1140)

I was looking for a good computer that would last me another 10 years as my previous computer was getting on a bit and the motherboard eventually kicked the bucket after years of abuse. Obviously I was looking for something that would last 10 years so I needed something at lest of a medium spec but I was also on a tight budget as my dad would be the one buying me this computer and the cheeper it was, the more likely he was to accept the one I had chosen over a £300 one he has his eye on.
I looked at Dell as a starting point and many online benchmarks, thoroughly researched components and their power to cost ratio while searching out the minimum specs I needed. I decided on a Intel Core 2 quad, hopefully the 6600 or the 9400, an Asus P5* motherboard and some basic graphics card to tide me over and this setup from Dell cost something in the region of £1000. Way too much. I then checked other companies like Mesh (sells custom to Comet), Cube24, Pc Specialist and a couple others and only Pc Specialist gave me a large range of choice as the others limited my choice in the area's that I wanted.
I had found rigs I was willing to settle for from Mesh at £720 and from cube for £740 but the Pc Specialist rig was the only one exactly what I wanted and for only £720. Unfortunately I was almost put off looking at the reviews from here but a quick check shows they are all as bad as each other and even Dell has alot of complaints... so I took the risk and ordered my Pc Specialist Rig and added the arrive in 5 days option to make it arrive soon after my birthday.
The actual task of ordering it was really simple. I got my dad to pay by credit card for extra cover but it cost an extra 2% which was only about £15. He could have paid through Direct debit or Google Checkout but the extra protection of credit cards seemed worth it. The site itself may be slightly confuzing if you dont know exactly what you are going for but the layout is simple to operate and if you know your budget and you have looked at roughly what you want roughly then getting a rig with all compatible components is easy. Just know roughly what you are after.(e.g. quad or duo core, AMD vs Intel, Geforece vs Ati, DDR2 vs DDR3)
My only criticism about the site is that you have to completely configure your computer, then click a button to calculate the price and then go back to the previous page to change things. This stops you from seeing the individual price of components I suppose.

In the end I chose:

• Cpu: Intel Q9600
• Motherboard (mobo): P5N-T Deluxe
• Ram: 4GB Corsair DDR2 800Mhz
• Graphics: Single GeForce 9800GT
• HDD: 250GB

I waited and on day 2 I got my e-mail saying it was being built! Non of the horror stories of out of stock parts for me. On Day 2's evening it was getting tested and it arived on only day 4! This is the computer that was meant to be built in 5 days so I expected it after 7 days. I must say I was impressed to get it 3 days early.

Now I had the computer in its box in the middle of my lounge and opened it up and it was packed into a perfect sized box even though I ordered a specialist case.

Good packing. Also It came with a special welcome pack with an extra fan, extra SATA wires, a DVI to VGA adapter (handy because I am still using my old CRT monitor), Mobo, video card and Lightscribe DVD writer drivers, an original copy of windows! not just some recovery disk and all these extra's were very re-assuring.

I then proceded to lug it upstairs and got it wired up to my keyboard and wireless USB mouse and the speakers. The ONLY problem I had had so far was that the DVI to VGA adapter was bent about a millimeter out of shape and unusable without using a screwdriver to put it back to shape. This is because my dad tried to put it in slanted, NOT Pc Specialist's fault, It was perfect when we got it. Opened up, setup Vista (It was installed but set to setup 1st time so I'm impressed with their preparation) plugged in my Ethernet cable, Downloaded Avast, AVG, WinPatrol ect. and then once all the drivers were setup I had 1 last thing to check, the insides.

I powered down and switched off, took off the side pannel and stared into my perfect computer. No dust, No scratches, No badly fitted heatsinks....... perfection in a rig, looked more like it was crafted than built it was that nice. I quickly checked all the components serial numbers and checked they were the right models and finally all my worries were relieved. Until my fat Dad came upstairs, asked me "whats that" and actually poked all the components bending them. I quickly removed him from the room and booted up the computer to check he hadn't broken anything but It was still alive and still blazingly fast. Every horror story I had read hadn't happened, everything was perfect, mint condition and done perfectly and faster than expected.

To conclude, I have bought computers from Evesham, Dell, HP, Comet, PC World and others but for me Pc Specialist was faster than everyone else I have previously used. Had a better setup and welcome package than Anyone I had ever used. Was better built and had better cable managment than anyone else. More choice AND cheaper than everyone else. Lest hastle than anyone else and this is the ONLY company I have used that has given me NO problems at all.... This computer is a dream for me.

Update: fixed some typo's