Support NeoGAF

[Sithlord77]

Only way to figure out something like that is troubleshooting each part. Depending on the place that you are referring to that built it and tested it, they may have even lied to you about it working. I've seen that happen first hand. Sounds like motherboard or PSU related, but that's just a guess.

They seem reputable to me and have good feedback and are well established but it does sound like a PSU issue or a fault going to the power button perhaps.

However I do wonder if they tested it properly, or lied like you said. But then again why would they? I'm only having to send it back again tomorrow and they're paying for the collection postage etc. They have nothing to gain from doing this.

 

[frogg609]

Only thing I would suggest is a different method to working your way up on the OC.

Start by figuring out what the lowest voltage setting is for your processor at stock speeds. Then work up in 100-200MHz increments, increasing voltage along the way. Though not all processors follow a curve, as you might hit a point where a drastic increase in voltage is required, it might give you a better feeling for how things are working out.

You are OC'ing with a static vcore, and not offset, right?

From every report, the Flextronics is the superior unit. It was hard for me to believe at first.

Yes, static core. I didn't want to even mess with offset until I was stable.

How low for VCore and and Mhz should I start? I was thinking 4.0 and 1.17, going from there. Then a 15 minute Prime95 run in between each bump.

Thoughts?

 

[storybook77]

My man story. What's your build look like?

i7 4770k
MSI Z87-G45
16 GB RAM G. Skill 1866
MSI HD7970 3GB
Seasonic 650W PSU

Using my existing hard drives...

256 GB Samsung SSD
1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F3

 

[Mad Max]

From every report, the Flextronics is the superior unit. It was hard for me to believe at first.

Well performance wise they are better, but in terms of build quality not so much. Using CapXon caps kind of disqualifies any PSU from having good build quality, as that's a ghetto tier brand for capacitors if I've ever seen one.

 

[BlazeBreak]

Super-quick question, gaf. I was told that a Samsung 830 is preferable to a vanilla 840. But currently, there's a $20 price difference on the 128gb models. $90 for an 840, $110 for an 830. Is the 830 worth that much more or should I just say screw it and get the 840? (Gonna be using the drive for Windows, programs, and my Steam folder)

 

[Addnan]

Super-quick question, gaf. I was told that a Samsung 830 is preferable to a vanilla 840. But currently, there's a $20 price difference on the 128gb models. $90 for an 840, $110 for an 830. Is the 830 worth that much more or should I just say screw it and get the 840? (Gonna be using the drive for Windows, programs, and my Steam folder)

840 is fine.

 

[sytadel]

Well performance wise they are better, but in terms of build quality not so much. Using CapXon caps kind of disqualifies any PSU from having good build quality, as that's a ghetto tier brand for capacitors if I've ever seen one.

CapXon capacitors have been shown to be lower quality in many instances, but as it is with all capacitors; a certain degree of grounding is needed to understand what people are talking about.

If the capacitors are next to hot components and burred under wires where they will not get any airflow, they will heat up and thus have a lower life span. If they are properly vented though and run cool most of their life, they will have a longer life span.

Typically, the desire for a certain brand over another is that the capacitors sold by the "Better" brand, generally last longer and are more true to their specs, due to a better formula being used to produce the electrolytic material inside.

 

[frogg609]

Yes, static core. I didn't want to even mess with offset until I was stable.

How low for VCore and and Mhz should I start? I was thinking 4.0 and 1.17, going from there. Then a 15 minute Prime95 run in between each bump.

Thoughts?

Also, here's my CPU-ID at stock settings:

 

[mkenyon]

Yes, static core. I didn't want to even mess with offset until I was stable.

How low for VCore and and Mhz should I start? I was thinking 4.0 and 1.17, going from there. Then a 15 minute Prime95 run in between each bump.

Thoughts?

I think you should do what I said above

 

[Prophet Steve]

Super-quick question, gaf. I was told that a Samsung 830 is preferable to a vanilla 840. But currently, there's a $20 price difference on the 128gb models. $90 for an 840, $110 for an 830. Is the 830 worth that much more or should I just say screw it and get the 840? (Gonna be using the drive for Windows, programs, and my Steam folder)

I dunno when it comes out in the US or how much of a price difference there will be, but I'd say look at the 840 EVO that should be coming out very soon.

 

[BeauRoger]

With AMD making the cpus for both PS4 and Xbone and both of them having 8 cores, is it worth going for a fx8350 instead of a 3570k? Will that architecture benefit the bulldozer/piledriver processors when it comes to pc gaming?

 

[RSTEIN]

Kind of a known issue. Do you have the game on an ssd?

No, on a mechanical. Didn't know it was a known issue. I have room on my SSD. Will I notice a big difference?

 

[Addnan]

With AMD making the cpus for both PS4 and Xbone and both of them having 8 cores, is it worth going for a fx8350 instead of a 3570k? Will that architecture benefit the bulldozer/piledriver processors when it comes to pc gaming?

It might benefit, but it still won't be better than the i5/i7. The new console CPUs are nothing like PC CPUs, they are so much less than what we have.

 

[frogg609]

I think you should do what I said above

I can do that, but how do I denote each bump is solid? Run Prime95 for a set amount of time between each bump? If so, for how long? And how much would I bump the Vcore when I increase by 100mhz, or would I only increase VCore when I get an immediate failure after increasing?

 

[mkenyon]

I can do that, but how do I denote each bump is solid? Run Prime95 for a set amount of time between each bump? If so, for how long? And how much would I bump the Vcore when I increase by 100mhz, or would I only increase VCore when I get an immediate failure after increasing?

Lets say you start at 3600MHz. Decrease voltage, run prime small fft for 10 mins, decrease volts->stress (repeat until unstable, revert to last stable volts), find the lowest possible voltage you can run at stock. This is your starting point.

Increase MHz 100-200 bump (depending on how patient you are, I know that feel), stress it, increase volts if it crashes, stress until stable.

If you have problems along the way, like some ridiculously high voltage number is required for 3.8 or 4.0GHz, then there might be some setting on your motherboard that is screwing everything up.

 

[ArynCrinn]

I have two questions
one from a friend and one from me :

He wanted to know if it is likely that once the 800 series is out all current Kepler series(including Titan) of cards would receive a price drop ?


For me : what would be the wisest course of action at this point in time?

A) Buy the Titan. (that 6 GB of ram and power are seriously tempting me )

B ) wait till we know more about the 800 series and its specs ?

Someone free me from this torment.

I have been going back and forth on this for weeks.

I have three Titans and plan to buy a fourth for Quad-SLI. Buy the Titan. Any price drop on them will be minimal at best (including the 690's probably). And expect Newegg and others to start discontinuing things once the 800 series and 700 series are out.

 

[Addnan]

I have three Titans and plan to buy a fourth for Quad-SLI.

Why!? Doesn't SLI scale very poorly at 4.

 

[Dolor]

Does anyone know if the Corsair H110 fits in the Fractal Design Define R4? Or do I need to switch the case for a Define XL R2 or cooler for the H90?

If it matters, I am likely planning to get the ASUS Formula VI Z87 board.

Looking at the specs on Newegg, the H110 seems to need the XL case, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with it to confirm.

 

[RSTEIN]

What is even the point of more than 2 titans? What kind of things are you doing?

 

[Addnan]

What is even the point of more than 2 titans? What kind of things are you doing?

Trip 120hz or trip 1440p?

 

[kharma45]

Fuck City Link. Why Amazon use them is beyond me.

 

[Addnan]

Fuck City Link. Why Amazon use them is beyond me.

WHY WOULD YOU LIVE THERE?

That sucks, I haven't had a company use citylink in a long time.

 

[kennah]

No, on a mechanical. Didn't know it was a known issue. I have room on my SSD. Will I notice a big difference?

Supposedly having the game on an SSD stops that problem.

Oddly enough - supposedly having the game on a FLASH DRIVE fixes the problem.

 

[lostsupper]

Does anyone know if the Corsair H110 fits in the Fractal Design Define R4? Or do I need to switch the case for a Define XL R2 or cooler for the H90?

If it matters, I am likely planning to get the ASUS Formula VI Z87 board.

Looking at the specs on Newegg, the H110 seems to need the XL case, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with it to confirm.

Not sure about clearance on the top, but it will definitely fit as a front intake if you take out both hdd cages.

 

[Jburton]

Fuck City Link. Why Amazon use them is beyond me.

Fucking hate City Link and don't get me started on Yodel.

Royal Mail Special Delivery has not let me down yet, next day means next day.

 

[Hazaro]

4600 was easy, just tried it at 1.24V and it worked.

4700 is another beast. My 4 sticks of RAM is really causing me trouble, and I wonder if the IMC on this 3770K is just bad. Backed my RAM to stock (11-11-11-30, 1333, then overvolted to 1.45V). Lots of BSOD based on memory and vcore. Still happy to wake up to this stable. 4800 next.
*Maybe I should lower my RAM voltage...

 

[rybrad]

No, on a mechanical. Didn't know it was a known issue. I have room on my SSD. Will I notice a big difference?

It will be a big difference. When I reinstalled I forgot to move Diablo back to my new SSD and had the stutter immediately. Once I moved it over everything was buttery smooth again. It is one of those rare games where it makes a highly noticeable difference in something besides load times.

 

[RSTEIN]

Thanks guys I will move to SSD tonight.

 

[kharma45]

Speak of the devil there is the delivery man.

WHY WOULD YOU LIVE THERE?

That sucks, I haven't had a company use citylink in a long time.

What's wrong with here? :-( really? Amazon always use them for me, them or Yodel.

Fucking hate City Link and don't get me started on Yodel.

Royal Mail Special Delivery has not let me down yet, next day means next day.

Yeah RMSD is a great service. They get a lot of undeserved flack IMO, always been pleased with them myself. DPD are also great too.

 

[Smokey]

What is even the point of more than 2 titans? What kind of things are you doing?

To handle all of those 8GB GDDR5 PS4 ports bruh

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Just a follow-up post:

I can now say that my PC build is finally complete. The TigerDirect nightmare is over; I managed to get my two faulty parts replaced and the new ones work perfectly. My rig is awesome and I am having a blast playing games on max settings. I have never been able to do that before. Some games (Dota 2) look completely different when you go from min to max graphics settings. It's almost distracting!

My build:

Thanks for the tips guys. You were all a great help. Here's what I ended up ordering:

POW! Right in the wallet... Thankfully I got my heatsink and power supply for free because apparently I had a $180 gift card balance on Amazon. Woohoo! And I qualify for $55 worth of rebates so that's nice. I'll definitely be taking advantage of those.

 

[storybook77]

To handle all of those 8GB GDDR5 PS4 ports bruh

Maybe he thinks Titanfall will run better if he has more Titans....

Being stuck at work sucks when you know the parts are sitting at your house waiting to be put together.

My wife threatened to put it together herself but I told her that would be a very expensive mistake.

 

[Smokey]

Maybe he thinks Titanfall will run better if he has more Titans....

Being stuck at work sucks when you know the parts are sitting at your house waiting to be put together.

My wife threatened to put it together herself but I told her that would be a very expensive mistake.

What proc gpu etc are you coming from now? That's a really solid machine.

 

[TGMIII]

Fuck City Link. Why Amazon use them is beyond me.]

Didn't know you were in belfast. It was the same the last time I got something from citylink to belfast, they fucked around for a few days before they decided to deliver it.

 

[Dr.Acula]

So, I just upgraded my 460 to a 770.

Heh. Ha ha. Haahahahahahaa. MWA HAHAHAHAHAHA GAHAHHAHHAHA, AAAAHHHHHHHHH AHAHAHHHHHAHAHA!

Metro 2033 looks so damned sweet.

I haven't even OC'd my i5 750.

Never had a ~500 buck card before, I can see why people go for one. I had just finished the first Witcher and it was all on max at 60 FPS, then when I tried Witcher 2 on my 460, I felt like I should upgrade. Yeah. Now Witcher 2 is running like Witcher 1.

I've got RAGE running with zero texture pop-in. Arkham City looks really good, but seems to be a little slow -maybe because of PhysX? Should I try and drop my 460 in there as a PhysX card? Will a 650 psu support a 770 and a 460?

Anyhow, really worth the upgrade.

 

[storybook77]

What proc gpu etc are you coming from now? That's a really solid machine.

Phenom X4 955
Nvidia Gefore 460 GT
8GB 1600 Ram

It's been 3 years so it's going to be one hell of an upgrade for me.

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

I have a quick question on the keyboard/mouse ordeal in the OP.

I was thinking about picking up the G700s mouse from Logitec, but some say the wireless on it isn't good? Can anyone verify?

Also, was going to pick up the K750 Keyboard, because lets be honest, it's just awesome. Does anyone know what it's input times are? Not that I'm really going to notice or anything, but I want to incur as little latency as possible y'know? Does anyone have personal experience with either of these devices?

 

[Addnan]

Speak of the devil there is the delivery man.



What's wrong with here? :-( really? Amazon always use them for me, them or Yodel.



Yeah RMSD is a great service. They get a lot of undeserved flack IMO, always been pleased with them myself. DPD are also great too.

Nothing wrong, probably . BUT if you lived in London you wouldn't have to deal with shitty delivery as much! DPD are incredible, they have literal tracking now. With a map and shit. If RM get privatised, there goes that.

So, I just upgraded my 460 to a 770.

Heh. Ha ha. Haahahahahahaa. MWA HAHAHAHAHAHA GAHAHHAHHAHA, AAAAHHHHHHHHH AHAHAHHHHHAHAHA!

Metro 2033 looks so damned sweet.

I haven't even OC'd my i5 750.

Never had a ~500 buck card before, I can see why people go for one. I had just finished the first Witcher and it was all on max at 60 FPS, then when I tried Witcher 2 on my 460, I felt like I should upgrade. Yeah. Now Witcher 2 is running like Witcher 1.

I've got RAGE running with zero texture pop-in. Arkham City looks really good, but seems to be a little slow -maybe because of PhysX? Should I try and drop my 460 in there as a PhysX card? Will a 650 psu support a 770 and a 460?

Anyhow, really worth the upgrade.

Disable/lower physx and turn of dx11. Piece of shit in that game

 

[Future PhaZe]

quad titans?

show us the receipts

better yet show us your temps

 

[theSlacker]

What's wrong with here? :-( really? Amazon always use them for me, them or Yodel.

Amazon uses a bunch of really shitty shipping options for their faster deliveries it seems. Just one of the reasons why they can do shit so cheap, and offer things like free 2 day shipping for prime members.

 

[Llyranor]

Ok, i've decided to go for the gtx 770 4gb instead of 2gb.

Rest of system would be i7 4770k haswell, asus z87pro, 650w power supply, cm hyper 212 evo.

I was going to go for 8gb ram, but if i upgrade the gpu, is it worthwhile to just yolo it and get 16gig ram? (Main use is gaming only)

If i do those upgrades, any need to upgrade the power supply or heatsink?

 

[SoulClap]

Do you guys generally disable hyper-threading on your gaming PC's? Any issues with leaving it enabled?

 

[kennah]

Ok, i've decided to go for the gtx 770 4gb instead of 2gb.

Rest of system would be i7 4770k haswell, asus z87pro, 650w power supply, cm hyper 212 evo.

I was going to go for 8gb ram, but if i upgrade the gpu, is it worthwhile to just yolo it and get 16gig ram? (Main use is gaming only)

If i do those upgrades, any need to upgrade the power supply or heatsink?

8 vs 16 for gaming alone would make zero difference.

 

[kharma45]

Didn't know you were in belfast. It was the same the last time I got something from citylink to belfast, they fucked around for a few days before they decided to deliver it.

I can't remember whether it was City Link or Yodel but a housemate of mine had his laptop 'stolen' out of their van one time.

Nothing wrong, probably . BUT if you lived in London you wouldn't have to deal with shitty delivery as much! DPD are incredible, they have literal tracking now. With a map and shit. If RM get privatised, there goes that.

It's great here, screw you <.< Even if I was in London Amazon would still use shite couriers.

Amazon uses a bunch of really shitty shipping options for their faster deliveries it seems. Just one of the reasons why they can do shit so cheap, and offer things like free 2 day shipping for prime members.

Yeah CL and Yodel must be hella cheap, can't be any other reason to use them.

Do you guys generally disable hyper-threading on your gaming PC's? Any issues with leaving it enabled?

It's fine to leave on.

 

[Thorgal]

There won't be an official price drop, but some stores will probably get rid of stock for cheaper.

The 800 series is a while away, probably next year. I can't imagine the top 800 will be much better or even as good as Titan, but there's no way of knowing. Only you can know whether you need a Titan now or wait several months!

Thanks .guess ill take the Titan next month after my vacation.

Just to be absolutely sure even tough ive asked it before :Is 550 w enough for a titan ?

I have three Titans and plan to buy a fourth for Quad-SLI. Buy the Titan. Any price drop on them will be minimal at best (including the 690's probably). And expect Newegg and others to start discontinuing things once the 800 series and 700 series are out.

Also thanks .but like the others i am curious why you want to go with 4 of them since if i recall correctly diminishing returns will hit hard on those 3rd and 4th ones. making it not seem worth the hassle nor the cost of it.

 

[Luigison]

• Your Current Specs: She currently has a Win 7 32-bit Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz with 4G RAM (only 3.1 recognized I think) and Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti. She complains that it takes way too long to load, has slow down and flashes of black screen sometimes, and gives a save error (won't save) that I read on EA's site is related to not having enough memory.

• Budget: ~$500 US

• Main Use: My wife is looking for a PC for gaming. She mostly places The Sims 3 (including all expansions, sets, etc.) and Steam, but wants to be prepared for The Sims 4. She also needs to use two monitors. For example, she needs to be able to run The Sims on one monitor while browsing house plans, designs, etc on the other.

• Monitor Resolution: She has two 1280 x 1040 monitors. I will also be building a similar machine for myself with a single 1980 x 1040 monitor.

• List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well:
Now: The Sims 3, Portal 2, Half-life 2. Stream HD video. Network backup and printer. Gig wireless. Image editing. DVD/video editing for Youtube.
Future: The Sims 4 and Half-life 3.

• Looking to reuse any parts?: Already have:
- EVGA 01G-P3-1556-RX GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI
- OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7
- Transcend 256GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5 inch SSD 560/530 MB/s TS256GSSD320
- 1 Gig HHD (WD black I think)... This is for files and stuff. The SSD will be the main drive.
- CD/DVD burner... To install Win 7 Pro 64, The Sims, etc. And occasionally burn edited DVDs of our daughters skating, etc.

• When will you build?: Within two weeks.

• Will you be overclocking?: NO!

• Potential items to Purchase from Amazon (free shipping):
- Intel Core-i5 3350P Quad-Core Processor 3.1 Ghz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637i53350P - $169.99
- MSI LGA1155/Intel B75/DDR3/SATA3 USB 3.0/A&GbE/MicroATX Motherboard B75MA-P45 - MSI Computer Corp. $67.24
- Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit (OEM) System Builder DVD 1 Pack - Microsoft Software; Software $124.00

• Potential Items to Purchase from Newegg($17.80 shipping):
- BitFenix Shinobi Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $59.99 deal
- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL $62.04 deal

Any conflicts in the above? Suggestion up or down? She wants to save money, and I want to make sure she has a machine that is well balanced and will meet her current and future needs.

 

[Addnan]

That looks fine. Should be great for the games she is looking to play. If you guys want to play more graphics heavy game then a new GPU, but thats about it. Although HL3. It might be 10 years away and you will need something new!

 

[kharma45]

&#8226; Your Current Specs: She currently has a Win 7 32-bit Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz with 4G RAM (only 3.1 recognized I think) and Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti. She complains that it takes way too long to load, has slow down and flashes of black screen sometimes, and gives a save error (won't save) that I read on EA's site is related to not having enough memory.

&#8226; Budget: ~$500 US

&#8226; Main Use: My wife is looking for a PC for gaming. She mostly places The Sims 3 (including all expansions, sets, etc.) and Steam, but wants to be prepared for The Sims 4. She also needs to use two monitors. For example, she needs to be able to run The Sims on one monitor while browsing house plans, designs, etc on the other.

&#8226; Monitor Resolution: She has two 1280 x 1040 monitors. I will also be building a similar machine for myself with a single 1980 x 1040 monitor.

&#8226; List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well:
Now: The Sims 3, Portal 2, Half-life 2. Stream HD video. Network backup and printer. Gig wireless. Image editing. DVD/video editing for Youtube.
Future: The Sims 4 and Half-life 3.

&#8226; Looking to reuse any parts?: Already have:
- EVGA 01G-P3-1556-RX GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI
- OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7
- Transcend 256GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5 inch SSD 560/530 MB/s TS256GSSD320
- 1 Gig HHD (WD black I think)... This is for files and stuff. The SSD will be the main drive.
- CD/DVD burner... To install Win 7 Pro 64, The Sims, etc. And occasionally burn edited DVDs of our daughters skating, etc.

&#8226; When will you build?: Within two weeks.

&#8226; Will you be overclocking?: NO!

&#8226; Potential items to Purchase from Amazon (free shipping):
- Intel Core-i5 3350P Quad-Core Processor 3.1 Ghz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637i53350P - $169.99
- MSI LGA1155/Intel B75/DDR3/SATA3 USB 3.0/A&GbE/MicroATX Motherboard B75MA-P45 - MSI Computer Corp. $67.24
- Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit (OEM) System Builder DVD 1 Pack - Microsoft Software; Software $124.00

&#8226; Potential Items to Purchase from Newegg($17.80 shipping):
- BitFenix Shinobi Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $59.99 deal
- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL $62.04 deal

Any conflicts in the above? Suggestion up or down? She wants to save money, and I want to make sure she has a machine that is well balanced and will meet her current and future needs.

If you want to ensure future needs I'd advocate looking into overclocking. It's extremely easy to do and you'll reap great benefits from it. This goes over budget at $550 but is a great set up

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($123.97 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $550.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-13 14:53 EDT-0400)

If you've a Microcenter nearby you can swap the case to the USB 3 version for no extra charge and the 3570K is $20 cheaper there too. If you're really adamant about no OCing then

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B75 PRO3-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $500.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-13 14:58 EDT-0400)

Again Microcenter for a cheaper version of the CPU. That Intel Xeon is basically an i7 sans the iGPU. No OCing with them either.

 

[TGMIII]

I can't remember whether it was City Link or Yodel but a housemate of mine had his laptop 'stolen' out of their van one time.

Well there's always stories of them taking things from the warehouse that they fancy since they know places like Amazon will replace it without question.

 

[kharma45]

Well there's always stories of them taking things from the warehouse that they fancy since they know places like Amazon will replace it without question.

Heard that before and it honestly wouldn't surprise me either. Crowd of crooks.