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just brew it!
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Re: Custom Builders

Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:05 pm

camel wrote:
DPete27 wrote:
Just for fun, I priced up that same system on iBuyPower = $2,150 w/o the fan controller and optical drive (both not worth it IMO).

I have found tons of negative comments about iBuyPower. I challenge you to find even one single negative report about eCollegePC. Just one!

Also, after doing some more research, I asked the builder to remove the fan controller (since the temperature monitor can't read tCore or tJunction) and got a card reader

There are a few bad reviews if you go back far enough in their resellerratings history. Overall, yes they have a very good rating. The thing I find somewhat odd is the fact that after more than a decade in business, they have less than 100 total reviews on the site, and a pretty thin internet presence overall. I suppose part of that could be chalked up to dissatisfied customers being more likely to post, but I'm surprised they're not better known if they're as good as the reviews imply, especially given how long they've been around.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
camel
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Re: Custom Builders

Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:15 pm

just brew it! wrote:
The thing I find somewhat odd is the fact that after more than a decade in business, they have less than 100 total reviews on the site, and a pretty thin internet presence overall. I suppose part of that could be chalked up to dissatisfied customers being more likely to post, but I'm surprised they're not better known if they're as good as the reviews imply, especially given how long they've been around.


I asked them about the paucity of reviews and comments online, and specifically about how much business they do. They told me they sell about 100 systems a month, and they don't solicit reviews (unlike the wholesale comment begging other firms do).

I will report back here how satisfied I am with them, or not. If they suck, I will tell everyone they suck.

Edit: Since I started researching builders, I have emailed them about 10 times with questions, and after I ordered I asked to alter my configuration. Every single email has been answered in under an hour, even after business hours and over the weekend.
 
blahsaysblah
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Re: Custom Builders

Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:59 am

Just fyi, try out the Samsung NVMe drivers. I normally never install any additional drivers(except GPU) but i was getting atrocious copy rates for anything but straight huge file copy until i installed the Samsung drivers. Have 960 Evo 512GB with manufactured date of earlier this year. Grats on new build. Looks good.

If you waited maybe 3-6 months, the beefier X299 boards specially tailored for Kabylake-X only and Kabylake-X itself, would have given you better OC potential likely. (That's Intels stance anyway). But have to wait for dust to settle first and likely Silicon Lottery to find you proper CPU too. I wouldn't think twice about it.

I would have gotten bigger primary drive. Its not that 250GB is too small, rather its not big enough, likely you will end up actively managing data on it. With bigger games taking a good 80GB, and don't forget all the free space you also need to keep available to do updates/installs.
 
camel
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Re: Custom Builders

Tue Jul 25, 2017 5:44 am

blahsaysblah wrote:
Just fyi, try out the Samsung NVMe drivers. I normally never install any additional drivers(except GPU) but i was getting atrocious copy rates for anything but straight huge file copy until i installed the Samsung drivers.

Good advice. Corroborated elsewhere.

blahsaysblah wrote:
I would have gotten bigger primary drive. Its not that 250GB is too small, rather its not big enough, likely you will end up actively managing data on it. With bigger games taking a good 80GB, and don't forget all the free space you also need to keep available to do updates/installs.

I really wanted to get the 1TB 960 EVO, but my budget just couldn't accommodate it at this time. Significantly faster than the smaller EVOs. On the to-do list.
 
DPete27
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Re: Custom Builders

Tue Jul 25, 2017 9:26 am

Flying Fox wrote:
DPete27 wrote:
Because a GTX1080Ti is MASSIVE overkill for 1920x1200 (assuming 60Hz also). A GTX1070 would have been more than enough for $300 less.

Not when the OP said this:
camel wrote:
And then I have to decide, HTC or Occulus (or something else).

Oops, I forgot that was said. My apologies.
Still, I doubt the OP will be doing all his gaming on VR. Money money money, I know. VR ain't free, and neither are high end monitors. But something like a GTX1080Ti deserves to be hooked up to a 1440p or greater GSync monitor IMO. Maybe a sweet 34" curved ultrawide like this!!!!
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
camel
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Re: Custom Builders

Tue Jul 25, 2017 4:47 pm

DPete27 wrote:
But something like a GTX1080Ti deserves to be hooked up to a 1440p or greater GSync monitor IMO. Maybe a sweet 34" curved ultrawide like this!!!!

"Thank you for visiting Newegg.com. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience but we are currently experiencing problems on our server. Please try again at a later time." The past two days this is all I've seen at Newegg.
 
DPete27
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Re: Custom Builders

Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:49 am

Odd. I've been on newegg multiple times a day over the past few days (and pretty much every day) and haven't seen any problems. Just checked this morning also, and everything is fine.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
camel
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Re: Custom Builders

Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:50 pm

FedEx says it'll be here Wednesday. I'm so excited! Nobody wants unboxing pics...?

Possibly off topic: I did a cursory look around the 'net for information about possibly mining BitCoin with the GPU. The first thing I noticed is that there's now about 100 cryptocurrencies! Who actually sells stuff for all these currencies people are mining these days?

I also saw various people mention undervolting and underclocking their GPUs for better performance. This makes no sense to me. Can anyone explain how this works?
 
DPete27
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Re: Custom Builders

Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:32 pm

Undervolting/Underclocking related to your 1080Ti:
Nvidia GPUs in the Pascal generation will automatically "overclock" themselves whenever possible depending on GPU temp. This means a 1080Ti will often exceed the published 1582MHz "boost clock". As with any CPU/GPU, the frequency voltage curve is not linear. At some point, increasing frequency will require more and more voltage until you just can't add enough voltage to achieve stability (I call this the exponential voltage range).
If you don't NEED to squeeze out every last bit of your GPU's performance (any FPS that's in excess of your monitor's max frequency is generated frames you're not seeing), it's often beneficial to sacrifice 5-10% frequency/performance to stay out of the exponential voltage range for even greater % of power saving which translates most importantly into cooler temps and quieter fan noise (or no fan noise at all).

TR's 1080Ti ran at 1759MHz at stock settings (aka before OCing) which is pretty typical of most GTX1080Ti FE cards reviewed.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
End User
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Re: Custom Builders

Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm

camel wrote:
Does my head go on a stake just for asking such a sacrilegious question?

Yes.

You might as well admit that you drive a car equipped with an automatic transmission.
 
Cuhulin
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Re: Custom Builders

Thu Aug 24, 2017 7:35 pm

End User wrote:
camel wrote:
Does my head go on a stake just for asking such a sacrilegious question?

Yes.

You might as well admit that you drive a car equipped with an automatic transmission.


That's a great analogy!

Having driven both at one time or another, I find the ability to shift when I want to, but to not have to shift when I don't want to, is optimal. So the modern +- shifters, whether by paddles on the wheel or by moving the shifter, are great! In the same way, a custom build that I can modify at will provides the most fun for me, albeit with the problem that I sometimes end up with components in a box after I swap them out for something better, so not as efficient from a money standpoint, but a lot simpler from an initial "get er going" standpoint.
For Work: Corsair One Pro, i7-7700, 16GB, GTX 1080, Samsung 49KS8000 and 2xAsus 27" 4K, 2 x Sonos Play 5

For Play: Ryzen 5, MSI B350M, 8GB, Radeon 580 and building....
 
GalantisShape
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Re: Custom Builders

Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:12 pm

First, any processor prior to 7700K is a waste of money, as we're talking about Gaming processor.
Second, the series is great and optimized for gaming. If you need a build for massive use of CPU like mining bitcoin, rendering video etc..that's a different story. Not all CPUs are built the same.
 
Common Sensei
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Re: Custom Builders

Sun Oct 02, 2022 7:18 pm

I have had both old time and recent experience with ecollegepc. TLDR: I have been extremely happy with them, and this is over the course of about 20 years they've been in business. More fun to build your own, and cheaper too, but not by as much as many other SIs. Plus, their quality has always been great.

Most recently, I had to get some workhorse computers for creatives working at my business. I ordered four from ecollegepc—all reasonably high end because the data crunching work involved—with the following specs (near as I can recall),

    Intel i9 12900KS
    NVidia 3080 Ti (which was supplied in the form of an Asus TUF Gaming version in three and a somewhat less expensive Gigabyte Gaming OC in the fourth)
    Fractal Design Meshify II case
    Gigabyte z690 Aoruis Elite motherboard
    NZXT Kraken 360mm x73 RGB cooler (this had to be specially requested, but the request was accommodated at something near cost, about $2 cheaper than PCPartPicker suggested)
    2 TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSD
    4 TB Samsung 970 Evo SSD
    32 GB DDR 5 memory

And I upgraded the case fans for the RGB lights to make the cases fun. I ran the configuration of PCPartPicker and it gave me a total price of about $3100 (estimating for the case, as that case was not listed on Part Picker). EcollegePC was charging about $3600. $500 is not a small amount of money (especially x4), but they have overhead to cover and employees to pay. Given that I was on the road, the PCs arrived without me lifting a finger, the build quality was excellent (I checked them all closely for loose connectors or other issues), they worked immediately out of the box, they're blazing fast, and they look good...I am overall pleased.
Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.' The stranger is a theologian.

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