Anyone have experience with Cyberpower

[Bizman]

Well, I've seen a lot of damaged components. Some of them I've broken myself, some have been DOA, some have broken in mere weeks.

One of those I broke was a RAM stick. You know there's a slot a little off center to make sure you can't install it wrong. I checked and double checked the slot several times but the stick just didn't fit in. Finally I begin to notice some debris around the slot and I realize that I was trying to install it upside down! And the customer stood there watching...

And I have a nice dead Win8 laptop killed by an 8 year old boy with just one single hit of his fist. Hard disk beyond recognition, new hard disk won't install Windows.

If you can't kill a hard disk in two years, you must be a novice. Besides, there's no moving parts in that evo ssd and you'd have to kick it real hard to detach the circuit board. That'd need several G's to break.

[mbailey]

To the "you can build it yourself" (excluding Gman) folks.   While we do enjoy building, there are MANY who do not.   They understand that it can be cheaper but for reasons of anxiety, etc.   They would rather have one built and digitalstorm does not gouge as much as one would think.   Sure there is a markup but that gap is narrow when you factor in the assembly and work that goes into that assembly.   They are clean.

I'm exactly the guy you wrote this about.  Could I build one, sure, absolutely. Do I have any desire to, nope, not at all. If I have to spend a few hundred bucks more, really not a concern. Different strokes for different folks.

What ever you decide to do 8thjinx, hope it works out....I know you wanted info on Cyberpower, and sorry I couldn't help you there, but just wanted to share with you an experience I had with someone else.....I shopped around for 4mos reading reviews from all different Mfgs, and figured I'd share what I came up with <S>.

Let us know how you make out, I'd  be curious as Cyberpower was def on the list of ones I'd looked into

[The Fugitive]

I've built mine for years. I've had little issue here and there when doing so, but I've worked through them all. The computer I have now is one I built a couple years ago with one video card upgrade and it runs the beta well.

I will say however, the next one I get will be a pre-built one. I'm done going through the trouble to build them any more to save a bit of money. Im not paying nearly as much for my kids these days as they are 29 and 27 so I have a bit more money to throw at my next computer   

I say, if you can afford it, have one built either by a local group or DIgitalStorm. The warranties and service make it worth it.

[Chalenge]

I used to be one of those people that buy their machines from a box store, which is where the difference is far greater than buying from an online house that builds "gaming" machines. I just went trough this with a squaddie and one of the online houses. In comparing the price differences it was a lot more than 10% and though they had really great choices they still could not make adjustments for a particular item, meaning if you wanted a specific SSD they would not install it. Or, if you wanted a particularly high performing M.2 SSD they would not install it. This is why I left the box stores, and now the online houses are acting the same way. My point is that it isn't always about the money, it's about getting boxed in.

I used to hate building computers and part of me still does. However, nothing suits me better than when something goes wrong (something always goes wrong give enough time) I don't have to wait two weeks for the computer to go back and be fixed. I have seen that go as long as a month or more when squaddies had their systems fail. It is true that not even Geek Squad can look at my system (it's too high tech and I don't want to pay $100 just to get it in the door). Geek Squad won't have the parts I need anyway. Amazon can usually get things to me in one day, two at most. Newegg is a little slower, but sometimes you can really find a bargain with them.

So I take care of me and I don't look back.

[Gman]

Agree Karaya - in fact, since I often am 600 miles away from the shop I use, there has been a couple times when I've wanted/needed a new system, that it's better for me to pay the 60$ - which they wave for me and other long term customers - to have one of their wonderkids assemble it for me.  This is good for a couple reasons - most important being RMA/DOA stuff.  When 600 miles away, having a component not work out of the box is a giant giant PITA.  Where as, if they are building it and testing it for 2 days as they do, they can instantly replace it without playing tag in the shipping department.  So, I can understand if you're dealing mail order from a distance that having a "you build it" option isn't all that bad.

It's not that I can't or don't want to assemble/build, it's just simpler, sometimes, to have them do it for me, depending on where life has me living at the moment.  Most places in Canada offer this service, I'm sure it's the same in the USA - I've used the same 12 store chain since they had a single 2 room office store in Calgary back in the 90s, Memory Express, and they will build it, test it, install all the latest new drivers/etc, however you want it, for 70$ or 50$ USD.  NCIX and the other companies up here will as well. 

There are many reasons to build, and not to build, it just depends on the individual and the situation.  In my case a single defective part means about 2 business weeks of waiting, as getting the RMA, shipping it back to them, them being so busy it takes 2 days to receive it, then the turnaround, etc, it's been Friday of the next week the last time that happened.  Why go through that again when they can assemble it all for me for free (50$USD for non long term customers) - and they know I'll check the work as I know all the builders there, and they have been 100% for 3 of the times I've had em build for me.  Still, when I'm IN Calgary, I always prefer to do it myself, as I just prefer to as I always learn something while I use their shop doing it, and it's fun.  I do think it's something every serious PC user should learn to do, even if by trial and error/Youtube/etc, but again, I understand completely why because of circumstances many do not.

edit - I would also say that the shop I use, as well as the competitors, up here have a price match guarantee - I can use PCPartPicker, build a system, and they match it immediately, even if they are building it for me.  So if you find a good "local" shop like mine, which offers this, price isn't really an object because they will meet or beat any posted price.

[Masherbrum]

Agree Karaya - in fact, since I often am 600 miles away from the shop I use, there has been a couple times when I've wanted/needed a new system, that it's better for me to pay the 60$ - which they wave for me and other long term customers - to have one of their wonderkids assemble it for me.  This is good for a couple reasons - most important being RMA/DOA stuff.  When 600 miles away, having a component not work out of the box is a giant giant PITA.  Where as, if they are building it and testing it for 2 days as they do, they can instantly replace it without playing tag in the shipping department.  So, I can understand if you're dealing mail order from a distance that having a "you build it" option isn't all that bad.

It's not that I can't or don't want to assemble/build, it's just simpler, sometimes, to have them do it for me, depending on where life has me living at the moment.  Most places in Canada offer this service, I'm sure it's the same in the USA - I've used the same 12 store chain since they had a single 2 room office store in Calgary back in the 90s, Memory Express, and they will build it, test it, install all the latest new drivers/etc, however you want it, for 70$ or 50$ USD.  NCIX and the other companies up here will as well. 

There are many reasons to build, and not to build, it just depends on the individual and the situation.  In my case a single defective part means about 2 business weeks of waiting, as getting the RMA, shipping it back to them, them being so busy it takes 2 days to receive it, then the turnaround, etc, it's been Friday of the next week the last time that happened.  Why go through that again when they can assemble it all for me for free (50$USD for non long term customers) - and they know I'll check the work as I know all the builders there, and they have been 100% for 3 of the times I've had em build for me.  Still, when I'm IN Calgary, I always prefer to do it myself, as I just prefer to as I always learn something while I use their shop doing it, and it's fun.  I do think it's something every serious PC user should learn to do, even if by trial and error/Youtube/etc, but again, I understand completely why because of circumstances many do not.

edit - I would also say that the shop I use, as well as the competitors, up here have a price match guarantee - I can use PCPartPicker, build a system, and they match it immediately, even if they are building it for me.  So if you find a good "local" shop like mine, which offers this, price isn't really an object because they will meet or beat any posted price.

I have a friend who works at Memory Express in Edmonton.   Let me know if you intend on getting any stuff in the future and I can see if he can get you a better price.   

[Dark]

I have had 1 from ibuypower (same as cyber) and 1 from digital storm. Digital storm was more expensive but better parts and customer service.  The ibuypower had some issues and after awhile was sorted. My third was also a ibuy but I got at fry's electronics. Was a returned unit. Walked over to there tech area and had them try it out before I left. Well bad ram stick. So they went and got one from the back brand new never opened and left with that one. If you have a place like fry's get from them. They handle everything if something goes wrong and now they offer for 50/100$ to build you a computer after you chose the parts.

[BuckShot]

I have a machine from cyberpower and have not had any problems with it.

It runs ah2 with the graphics maxed out and looks fantastic.

Ah3... Not so much, very disappointing. I should have waited and bought something bigger than the 750ti card.

[Pudgie]

My reasonings for building my own boxes are the same as Chalenge.

Where I live the tech is behind approx. 2-3 yrs & every boutique builder that tried to establish a business here didn't last long....ain't enough gear heads here to support them (most of the folks like me build their own anyway) in addition to none of them could compete w/ Best Buy & the E-Machines prices that they sell.

In our local Best Buy the parts selections are very lousy & out of date for me.......don't even carry any DisplayPort cabling at all & how long has this been out? Have never seen any enthuiaist grade mobo or CPU carried in the store (Intel X58, X79, X99, AMD 900 series) or any mem kits for them as well. Most are geared to the general\business usage of computing, not gamers.

I'm also very particular as to what components I want to use & so it is just easier for me to build them myself.

I like doing it as well.

 

[Masherbrum]

Trying to compare Digitalstorm or cyberpowerpc to BB is not even relevant to the op. 

[Chalenge]

I think Pudgie is merely telling you why he chose to avoid pre-built systems, and I agree.

I visited CyberpowerPC to check out their top of the line system to compare with what I use. To be fair I will point out that I spent FAR more than they have this system listed for, but I also have a 1TB OS SSD and a 3.82TB backup SSD, and a total of 24TB of HDD space. I use a $500 external DAC, and a 4k monitor. Still, I will tell you exactly what I think about their system.

Windows Home 10 64 (adequate)
LED Keyboard, mouse combo (not needed but adequate)
Corsair Obsidian (very nice, I'm almost jealous but it both exceeds and falls short of my needs)
Default Case fans (inadequate - I prefer positive pressure, or positive pressure + H2O)
CPU - i7-6700K (I could accept this)
Extreme OC - I would never accept an overclock that someone else setup
Processor cooling fan + Liquid cooling (I don't care what it is if I didn't hand lap it down to 2 microns it ain't good enough)
Standard coolant (adequate)
Additional reservoir: none (uh-oh)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A (superb design)
RAM: 16GB (adequate for gaming, not enough for me)
Video: dual GTX 980 (hey, exactly what I use, but . . .)
SLI bridge: none (WHAT? I happen to know the MB has one, so this must be a typo)
Video Capture Card: none (inadequate in todays world)
Power Supply: 1000W Standard 80 Plus (inadequate and it shows me they have a one-size fits all viewpoint)
M.2 SATA: none (if the MB supports it then it should be included)
Internal PCI-E SSD: 400GB internal Intel SSD 750 NVME PCIe (nice, but inadequate just the same - it's too small)
Secondary HDD: 4GB (not NAS and not enough space - my Steam drive already exceeds this)
Optical: LG yada-yada (I must have a Bluray that supports writing 100GB discs)
Sound: On-board (inadequate and you know why)

No mention of monitor

Conclusion: This system is suited for an entry-level gaming machine. It is inadequate for anyone wishing to become part of the 21st Century gaming world of streaming. The PSU is too big and probably will self-destruct at some point even if it did fit. The audio is inadequate for any serious gaming/streaming or even movie watching. The storage capacity is not adequate.

This is why Pudgie and I answered the way we did. AND for $3149 I would expect far, far more.

EDIT: And just to be clear about the capacity of the SSD; the M.2 solution will provide a 1TB capacity for the same price as the PCIe slot card, and it doesn't take up a slot (unless the MB manufacturer just designs it that way. The 1.2TB version of this card, for example, goes for over $1000. And though the typical storage use benchmarks skew slightly in favor of the Intel card the actual advantage is minimal and not worth the price. Plus, the NVME still has compatibility issues. Chiefly, internal audio card related issues abound with the card, so why is it in a gaming machine?

[Masherbrum]

No.   Best Buy is far from an acceptable measure of both cyberpowerpc or digitalstorm.   Especially when some list 4-5 year old systems in their signatures like a badge of honor.   

That is fantastic that you picked a top of the line system.

[Chalenge]

I could just as easily have picked any one of their systems and find configuration flaws within each one, which is why I choose to build my own.

The only avenues to purchase systems are local shops, box stores, online stores, specialty sites like Cyberpower, or build it yourself. Nearly everyone starts at one end, or in the middle and moves up. Once you reach the top you seldom, if ever, move down the chain. I might order a bare bones system from a site like Cyberpower, but it isn't likely. In some cases you might find a barebones system at a site like Newegg that offers an enthusiast Motherboard, CPU, and RAM in a quality case (no HDDs, bare bones). That would be worth looking for and that also makes checking stock at places like BB worth it from time-to-time. So, yes it's worth mentioning.

[Masherbrum]

I could just as easily have picked any one of their systems and find configuration flaws within each one, which is why I choose to build my own.

The only avenues to purchase systems are local shops, box stores, online stores, specialty sites like Cyberpower, or build it yourself. Nearly everyone starts at one end, or in the middle and moves up. Once you reach the top you seldom, if ever, move down the chain. I might order a bare bones system from a site like Cyberpower, but it isn't likely. In some cases you might find a barebones system at a site like Newegg that offers an enthusiast Motherboard, CPU, and RAM in a quality case (no HDDs, bare bones). That would be worth looking for and that also makes checking stock at places like BB worth it from time-to-time. So, yes it's worth mentioning.

No.   Again, per one of my previous posts:  "building a pc is not enjoyed by some, due to fear of bricking a component".   Just because WE enjoy it and DO IT.   Does not mean others enjoy it.   But to compare Best Buy to either of the two aforementioned companies is asinine.

[Chalenge]

I don't think anyone made that comparison. The stores were mentioned. That's it. It's a matter of options. I wouldn't buy a Cyberpower system even if I wasn't in the mood, or whatever. It's not a matter of enjoying crafting a computer in the end. It is about getting a bigger bang for your buck.