Since my last post about Cyberpower, I have continued to experience issues with my system.  First, something was seriously wrong with my video system.  After a lot of diagnoses and downloading EVGA Precision, I determined that one of my two 9800GX2 cards was running hot (WAY HOT).  At idle, this card was running @ 70(c) and at load it hit 112(c)!  I pulled one card and then the other to determine which one was bad.  Now comes the moment of truth, a call to CyberpowerPC tech support (dum dum duuuuuum!).

At first, I sent Cyberpower an email explaining the issue and asking for help.  I received no response.  Once I became convinced the issue was a bad card, called and left a message, again, no call back, however the next day I received and email (addressed to Dear Mr./Mrs.).  I played phone/email tag with them for almost a week(In fairness, I was out of town for two days).  Finally Zakary called me and it was a simple process.  They needed a credit card number for a cross-ship (They send me a new part and I return the old one in the box I received the new one in).  They ship the part ground, which would really suck if it was a part I needed to get my PC running!

After pulling the “bad” video card, I was still having issues with lockups.  After doing a lot or research, I felt I had a bad memory module.  I downloaded memtest86+ and tested both modules and found that I did indeed have a bad 2GB module.  I followed the same process with Cyberpower to cross-ship a new memory module, however, I find it strange that I have had two parts fail in the first month of ownership.  Fortunately, it only took me 1 business day to get a hold of Cyberpower to ship me my new memory stick.

On 11/4 I received me replacement video card, though the packaging was dubious, the card was in good shape and appeared to be new.  The card performed as well as the my “good” card had.  I have experienced temperature levels of a high of 70(c), which is within normal operating temperatures for this card.

As of this morning, my rig has been running for 48 hours without a lockup.  I have a laid heavy load on it with Folding@Home and Prime95 tests.

I give CyberpowerPC a 5 for technical support.  I am also not sure if the cost savings was worth the money for the rig.  I spent a lot of time diagnosing issues with the system.  While the Dell rig was a lot more expensive, their technical support is better and their rigs generally work out of the box.

I will update you on the memory chip this weekend.

UPDATE 11-10-08:

I received my replacement memory stick on Saturday.  I immediately replaced my “good” chip with the new one and ran memtest86+.  memtest86+ reported over 600 errors.  I call CyberpowerPC on Sunday and worked out a complete memory swap.  On the plus side, CyberpowerPC does call back and most RMA issues are resolved right away.  I discovered OCZ is not on the certified vendor list for the ASUS Striker II Extreme.  I decided to pay a $78 upgrade fee to buy top of the line Corsiar PC1333 DDR3 memory.  That is supposed to ship today, I will update you on the progress as well.  <sigh>

UPDATE 11/20/08

I recevied my replacement memory on Wednesday the 19th, I installed it and ran a full compliment of memtest86+ test, the tests passed with flying colors.  I have since then been running for 48 hours with no issues.  I will update you early next week, however it looks like the OCZ memory was the culprit.  I hold the OCZ memory choice against Cyberpowerpc, however, you would anticipate a name brand vendor like OCZ to sell memory that actually works.

UPDATE 12/01/07:

I cannot tell you how happy I am with the change in memory.  The new Corsair memory is rock’in the house!  No issues, lockups, blue screens, NOTHING since I swapped out the crappy OCZ memory.  This system now flys!  If only I would have spent the $78 in the first place for the Corsair, but it was slower and more expensive.  I have used OCZ memory in the past with good result, but I have never used OCZ’s high-end parts.

This is the end of my buying experience story.  Ultimately, CyberpowerPC failed in properly vetting their suppliers.  I think I would buy from CyberpowerPC again, only this time, I would by the name Corsair memory.

After the grand unpacking of the system (see the review part 2 HERE),  I was very excited to power on the rig and see how the box performed!  I attached a keyboard and monitor, watched the POST screen flash (with me rubbing my hands in rapt anticipation), waiting for this beast to jump into Windows Vista!  Then, suddenly a flash and a screen appeared….”No Operating System Found”!  I was thinking, “You have got to be kidding me”.

It is an ASUS motherboard and I had lots of little issues with my old ASUS.  I rebooted and jumped into the BIOS configuration, hmmmm RAID is turned off on the SATA controller.  Since I ordered the box with RAID-0, either CyberpowerPC never configured anything, or the BIOS got messed up.

I turned the RAID controller on and enabled RAID for the two SATA drives that were factory installed.  As I held my breath, I rebooted the system and waited.  Joy of joy, the system LEAPED into the Windows Vista 64 boot screen!  Amazing!

However, the issues continued to occur like a rainstorm.  Just a list of things that happened:

• The system failed to boot (Never finished the POST) 60% of the time
• The system hung frequently during patch installation
• The system Blue Screen of Death’d (BSOD) several times for no apparent reason
• The system locked up installing updates to NVidia graphics and chipset software
• Generally things sucked!

I turned to the best tech support group I know of:  Google!  I followed the trail of lock-ups, first and foremost, the 60% boot failure:  Google revealed that my OCZ 1600MHZ Gold memory had some serious stability issues with the ASUS Striker II Extreme. I updated the BIOS to reflect OCZ’s recommend memory timings (8-8-8-24), that seemed to work and allowed me to boot most of the time, but I still was having some crazy issues booting up.(even going into the BIOS)

My next step was to check the BIOS level on the mobo, it was at version 0804, which was  several major revisions back.  I downloaded BIOS version 1104 from ASUS and attempted to install, however, the front USB ports do not appear to be functional I played with the US issue or awhile, finally determining that only two of the four front USB ports were working.

After more work than it should have take, BIOS 1104 was installed. After a lot more testing, version 1104 appears to have really stabilized the system, eliminating a large percentage of the lockups.

Together the memory timing fix and the updated BIOS resolved about 95% of my issues.  However, I still experienced occasional lockups (Playing Team Fortress 2), but it was hard to diagnose when and why.  Finally, I decided the system was stable enough to try downloading Crysis from Steam see how that looked.  Crysis locked up EVERY TIME I tried to run it (It made it past all of the cut scenes, then locked hard before the “airplane” scene).  This was a good thing, as I went back to technical support (Google) for this issue and I found several recommendations for different versions of NVidia’s Geforce drivers.  I downloaded an older version of the Geforce drivers and installed it (version 178.13).  This appears to have solved the problem.  As of this witting, I have had not lockups in 24 hours and the system has been VERY stable in Crysis and TF2 (and anything else).

Here is a picture of the rig up and running:

Finally up and running

Here is my (nearly) final review.

Most of the issues I had were not actually related to CyberpowerPC, and I did customize my rig from their recommended build.  With that said, there clearly was no configuration or burn-in testing done of the rig or it would have failed. The price was great, the build was very good.  I never dreamed of calling technical support, but in fairness, if this would have been a Dell, I would not have called either.

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best:

• Price:              10  (This things was a lot cheaper than I could have built it)
• Build:                8  (It was nice, but it was not Dell build)
• Stability:           1 (Clearly it did not work well out of the box)
• Performance:    8 (After all of the fixes were done)
• Sales Support:  9 (Actually, my two calls were answer quickly and to my satisfaction)
• Tech Support: NA (Most tech support sucks though)
• Over All Ted Scale: Errmmm, I am going to say 7.5

It would have been in the high 8’s, but man the system did not even boot on my first power on!

Notes: If you are good with computers and understand how they work, this might be a good way to go for you.  If you want to buy a computer the “just runs”, this is so not the purchase for you.  I looked at this product as a cheap way to build a high-end rig, without the bloody knuckles!  I did a lot of work, sure, but I saved $1,700 over a similarly equipped Dell, I can afford 15-20 hours of my time to save that kind of money.

Other miscellaneous observations:

1. Windows Vista 64 is pretty darn good if you have a rig big enough to run it.
2. Quad SLI kicks butt!
3. The Cosmos S case is absolutely beautiful!
4. I continue to dislike ASUS motherboards.

Read additional info on my experience HERE

Oh, joy is upon us, dear readers!  I FINALLY received my PC from CyberpowerPC.  Read Part 1 HERE

I received the PC on the revised date that Cyberpower had promised (10/15/08).  I arrived home to find a single HUGE white box, which looked quite beat-up. In case anyone was unsure of the contents of the box, the big “PERSONAL COMPUTER” stamped on the side was sure to clear up any confusion!

Beat-up big white box

Not to be deterred, I opened the box. I was shocked to see a 900 Watt Power Supply Box inside, since I ordered a 1000 watt power supply. Happily, I found that they had simply re-used an old 900 Watt power supply box to pack all of the component manuals and CD’s. Here are the contents, after removing the foam packing material from the top of the box:

What came in the box

Continuing to unpack the box, I found my rig underneath, in the original case box:

CPU packed in original Cosmos S case box

Along with the case, all of the other promised items came in the power supply case box (including the “freebies”):

Extras in the box, including power supply wiring

Then came the moment of truth: the unpacking. I thought the high-quality bag the case was stuffed in was quite well thought-out. It really protected the case from scratches, etc. As you can see in the picture, the cat decided to come over and “help”:

Computer In A Bag

Now, with the “help” of the cat, we are half in the bag. (Sorry, I could not resist!):

Half in the bag

After carefully unpacking the case, everything looked to be in fine order. The case was well-protected and I LOVE the handles on the Cosmos S. They make it very easy to move the case around:

The case, completely unwrapped

A side view of the case

Now, the next moment of truth: Let’s look at the innards and see about the “professional” wiring and the quality of the parts build. First, I spent time puzzling what the heck was this for:

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

It turns out the “LCD Poster” is attached to the Asus Striker II Extreme. It displays POST messages and then a custom banner or the time of day (while the computer is running). (Quite lame actually: time displays only a 24 hour clock, and the “custom banner” is 8 characters, w/ no spaces or special characters allowed!)

Finally, the big case opening!

Cable management and the innards

Actually, I was quite impressed: The professional wiring was, well, professional. All of the parts were shiny and seemed to be brand-spanking new. The overall effect was quite pleasing. I’d had a great deal of concern related to purchasing this system from CyberpowerPC. This view helped dispel some of those concerns.

Thus ends part 1 of my review. Check back later in the week for the second (and probably final part). I will tell you, things may have looked good, but looks can be (and generally are) DECEIVING!

Continue on to part 3 HERE

I have read MANY advertisements for Cyberpowerpc.com, though I have never paid much attention to them.  I generally buy high-end Dell PC’s, or I build my own.  I read MaximumPC magazine religously and I was surprised to see the high marks they gave the CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI QUAD.  I currently have an aging home built dual core E6700 oc’d to 3.06Ghz with an NVidia 8800Ultra.  One of the biggest issues I run into is drive performance, since I am running dual 400GB drives in a RAID-1 configuration.  My ASUS mobo basically sucks and the RAID performance really sucks.  I am going to turn this box into my new sever at home.

Back to my CyberpowerPC.com story.  I spent the last few weeks pricing out rigs and looking at many PC manufactures, I also looked at parts to build my own.  I came to the conclusion that I could buy a system from CyberpowerPC.com cheaper than I could build one, plus I get VIsta (I already have XP for a new PC if I need it) and some nice freebies.

Of course wanting to be sure, I jumped over to resellerratings.com and found very mixed results.  They have been improving over the last 6 months (7.8 ranking) and most of the issues seemed to revolve around tech support.  Since I am pretty handy with computers, and they do have a 30 day money back guarantee (I just have to pay return shipping).  I thought it would be an interesting experience to configure and buy a system and chronicle the purchase on my blog.

With the MaximumPC review in mind, I opted for the CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad, however I stepped the configuration down a bit:

• CoolerMaster Cosmos S Gaming Full Tower 420W Case w/ Transparent Side Panel
• (Quad-Core)Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad Q9650
• LG 20X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
• Round Cable Upgrade for Optical Drive
• INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
• Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (300GB (150GBx2) 10,000RPM)
• MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) Asus Striker II Extreme nForce 790i SLI Mainboard)
• 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Memory Module OCZ-Gold
• Microsoft(R) Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
• Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU
• 1,000 Watts  Thermaltake ToughPower - Quad SLI Ready
• HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
• NZXT Sentry LX Aluminum High Performance Fan Control, Clock, & Temperature Display
• 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)

And the Freebies:

• FREE! (Age of Conan) Game
• FREE! (Microsoft(R) Flight Simulator X Deluxe) Game
• FREE! 4GB USB Pen Drive
• FREE! CyberPower Multi-Purpose Carrying Briefcase
• FREE! Cyberpower Unleash The Power T-Shirt

All in all, a pretty nice rig.  I used coupon code SMARTCOMPU for a 5% discount, opted for two day FedEx, and with my Tennessee address, no tax.  This rig came in @ just about $3,064.

The system configuration tool was pretty decent (probably overly complicated for a newbie).  The order process was straightforward and I received my order confirmation in less than 60 seconds.  So far the experience has been good.

More later.

UPDATE 9/20/08

CyberpowerPC.com acknowledged my order this morning and gave me an estimated ship date of 10/3/08, which should have my new computer in my hands on 10/7/08.  The date is a bit longer than I had hoped for, but if they hit the promised date, I am okay with it.  I will update shipping status on this post until my new PC  is delivered.

UPDATE 9/23/08

Just to give me some heart failure, CyberpowerPC.com changed my order status from in-process to “Order Received” again. Since there is no description on the order page of what each status means, I called CyberpowerPC, hit “1″ for sales and was immediately connected to sales. Apparently they are working on my order and the “in my hands date” is still tracking for 10/7. He did not have an explanation for why the status changed. It is somewhat confusing, but not a huge issue. On a side note, the charge for the system did hit my Credit Card this morning.

Update: 09/23/08 12:05pm

My status has changed back to the in-process screen. I do not know if my call caused that to happen.

UPDATE 10/9/08

My new PC was supposed to ship 10/3/08.  As of today (10/9/08) the status still says expected ship date 10/3/08.  No additional information.  It is crazy that their order status screen (designed to keep people like me from calling them) is not smart enough to update.

This afternoon I called CP and rang directly to Steve.  Steve was puzzled by WHY my order had not moved and put me on hold.  Steve came back and let me know that my processor (Q9650) had been back ordered and they just received shipment today.  He stated that they were working on my PC and it would ship Friday or Monday at the latest.  He immediately apologized and offered me a 5% discount on my purchase (wow!).

Minutes after the call to Steve, Steve called me back and let me know that since I already had used the 5% off coupon code, they were unable to offer me an additional 5% discount, however he would credit me $30 once I received my system.  No big deal to me, since I was calling for a status and I was not looking for a discount.

However, I am interested in how they can charge me in full for a system they have not started to build.  I will ponder that one for a bit (while I am waiting for my system to ship).  So far, their order status frontend is less than elegant.  The jury remains out on CP, however Steve was very polite and responsive.

Now read part 2 ,the unpacking HERE