Regarding overclockers built machines

orderoftheflame · 15 Oct 2008 at 20:52

Quick questions for anyone that has ordered a pre built from OcUK.

If you order a machine, what kind of state do they come in?

Are the cables neat/hidden?
OS/Antivirus installed or just given the disks?

With the overclocked machines, are they stress tested before dispatch?

Thanks guys.

apeZ · 15 Oct 2008 at 22:02

Good questions... I too would like to know this

And I'm pretty sure the cables are neat, to answer one of your questions.

Snograt · 15 Oct 2008 at 22:06

I was going to make some scathing comment - then I noticed there is absolutely no information about this on the site.

Come on guys, tell us here and advertise it on the main site!

pjansell · 15 Oct 2008 at 22:09

Yes, i too was thinking of a system for xmas, be interesting to know.

unclelonghair · 15 Oct 2008 at 22:42

I got one a few months a go, and the cables were all nicely tucked away. I went for the OS option, and it was installed, but I had to install all the drivers for the mobo, GFX card etc. All the unused cables etc from the GFX card/mobo/case were included in the package.
I didn't pay for the overclocking option, but mine was pre-overclocked (E6750 @ 3.2 GHz). No idea if it was stress tested, but it has been rock solid.

newbe5 · 15 Oct 2008 at 22:56

My brother got the Ultima Vortex GX2 a couple of weeks ago now. He got it with no OS installed, so I set everything up for him. the cabling job was perfect. I build and maintain quite a few systems, both prebuilt and custom built, and there are 2 things I look for in the machine internals:

1) Neat cabling.
2) Sensible cabling.

Some people can go a little OTT when hiding and tying back cables, which means that if you come to add more hardware, you have to pull the whole thing out of it's nice neat bundles in order to pull just one out to add a new HDD etc. The cables in the OC machine were neat, but accessible, and it proved no problem to insert a second HDD and not disrupt the cabling job so badly that it needed to be done all over again.

In that respect, both he and I were very happy with the whole machine, and after I flashed the BIOS to a newer version (and subsequently wiped the bundled overclock settings) a quick call to tech support was all it took and they swiftly emailed me the correct settings so I could get everything back as they were.

Hope that helps!

newbe5

dr. sarf · 15 Oct 2008 at 23:46

We'll hopefully be able to showcase some of our systems soon.
Each builder has a slightly difference cable management style, but all are along set guidlines for optimum temperatures, and for aesthetics.

The first system with photos should be our Overclocked BlackOps Quad XFire setup with SSD RAID, fairly soon.

If the motherboard supports BIOS profiles - our overclock settings are always stored here for easy reloading (F7 in the BIOS of the Ultima Vortex GX2)

.

orderoftheflame · 16 Oct 2008 at 07:22

dr. sarf said:
We'll hopefully be able to showcase some of our systems soon.
Each builder has a slightly difference cable management style, but all are along set guidlines for optimum temperatures, and for aesthetics.

The first system with photos should be our Overclocked BlackOps Quad XFire setup with SSD RAID, fairly soon.

If the motherboard supports BIOS profiles - our overclock settings are always stored here for easy reloading (F7 in the BIOS of the Ultima Vortex GX2) .

Thanks.

Are you able to answer my other questions regarding stress testing and OS installation?

Also how much to OcUK charge for the build currently?

jaybee · 16 Oct 2008 at 07:47

Yeah my friend has an OCUK machine and cables were quite good actually. Not sure about the rest.

dr. sarf · 16 Oct 2008 at 08:39

orderoftheflame said:
Thanks.

Are you able to answer my other questions regarding stress testing and OS installation?

Also how much to OcUK charge for the build currently?

Systems go through individual testing - for instance I currently have a Q9550 in a Rampage X48 that's been on Blend Prime95 overnight, next stop 3DMark06 at full resolution max AA.

If you look on our website, you'll see the prices for our builds - if you use our new configurator, you can customise a lot more options for your build.

orderoftheflame · 16 Oct 2008 at 09:27

dr. sarf said:
Systems go through individual testing - for instance I currently have a Q9550 in a Rampage X48 that's been on Blend Prime95 overnight, next stop 3DMark06 at full resolution max AA.

If you look on our website, you'll see the prices for our builds - if you use our new configurator, you can customise a lot more options for your build.

Brilliant.

I had a look at the configurer, but I couldn't get a break down of the individual cost.

Does it say how much the extra cost of labour is anywhere?

dr. sarf · 16 Oct 2008 at 09:55

It depends on the individual system, however its well worth it as it will be built professionally and the whole system will be under warranty as a complete product.

If your set on finding the difference, you'll need to add the individual products to your basket.

Yewen · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:02

We also now have a dedicated system support number to get straight through to our technicians. Have the ability to collect a system if anything goes wrong the same day (if we arrange it in the morning) or the next day.

Our support for the full systems when required is now top drawer, even working on support pages for them so people can "self help" with walk throughs of the BIOS settings etc.

Deleted member 2277 · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:04

dr. sarf said:
It depends on the individual system, however its well worth it as it will be built professionally and the whole system will be under warranty as a complete product.

If your set on finding the difference, you'll need to add the individual products to your basket.

When you say 'built professionally' what is this based on, experience, qualifications, training? How does a person become a professional PC assembler?

Metalface Mark · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:08

Deleted member 2277 said:
When you say 'built professionally' what is this based on, experience, qualifications, training? How does a person become a professional PC assembler?

I guess if you are employed to assemble pc's, you are a professional pc assembler

Deleted member 2277 · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:10

Metalface Mark said:
I guess if you are employed to assemble pc's, you are a professional pc assembler

So anyone who is paid to asemble a PC then is a 'Professional'

orderoftheflame · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:33

dr. sarf said:
It depends on the individual system, however its well worth it as it will be built professionally and the whole system will be under warranty as a complete product.

Sounds good.

I'm trying to weigh up wether to build myself or to buy it built, but a full warrenty is definately a plus box on the built side.

dr. sarf · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:42

Deleted member 2277 said:
When you say 'built professionally' what is this based on, experience, qualifications, training? How does a person become a professional PC assembler?

We are the UK's leading performance hardware specialists afterall. :rolleyes:

I'd base this on experience - our technicians on average build over 2000 PCs a year each, so the experience is definately a defining factor.

Deleted member 2277 · 16 Oct 2008 at 10:54

dr. sarf said:
We are the UK's leading performance hardware specialists afterall.
I'd base this on experience - our technicians on average build over 2000 PCs a year each, so the experience is definately a defining factor.

WOW! that's about 1 every hour, do they ever get time for a tea break?

fobose · 16 Oct 2008 at 11:12

Perhaps they get a lot of overtime

60+ hour weeks?