CyberPower PC lets you configure your very own high-end PC, and lets you do it at really good price (just a little bit more than you would pay for parts). I was skeptical at first, but CyberPower PC advertises in quite a bit of gaming publications, including PC Gamer. I decided to give it a shot and configure one. My specs (the stuff that counts) ran as follows:
How did the CyberPower’s high-end system stack up? Click the jump to read on!
Once the PC arrived, I set everything up slowly and precisely- so nothing came loose and none of the parts were damaged. The black aluminum (Praetorian II) case was great, it was cool looking and offered great protection. After everything was set up, I hit the switch, but nothing happened. I went through and checked all of my connections to make sure I hadn’t missed something. I decided to give CyberPower a call and after staying on hold for a half hour, I went through troubleshooting techniques with the tech support. After opening up the case, unplugging and replugging in cables, it turned out my power supply had been damaged in some way. Here is where I should note that CyberPower has a specific section in their warranty for DOA (Dead On Arrival), in which they replace your system in case something like this happens.
For some apparent reason, the tech support told me I had to wait for a new power supply to be shipped to me, and then test it out to see if that works. He explained it would be better for me to just try that rather than to send my computer in and wait 2-4 weeks for it to be repaired. When the power supply came, I had to open up the PC again and set it all up. I now had a running PC. After about an hour and a half of reinstalling Windows and all of my drivers I finally got to test the system out.
The first thing I wanted to try out was F.E.A.R. The game ran beautifully, for lack of a better word. The lighting was great, the character models and textures were breathtaking, and the game did not chug at all. If you are unfamiliar with F.E.A.R. , this game is known to slow down almost all PCs. I tested out other games including World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Half Life 2: Episode One and Quake 4. None of the games engines caused the PC to chug. At this point, I was proud of my purchase. I had an Alienware configuration, at half the price.
After a couple weeks of gaming, the system stopped booting up. For this problem, I was on the phone with tech support for about 4 hours (including hold), and troubleshooting every internal part of the system. Another point hit me: how many average gamers are okay with opening up a $4,000+ and messing around with its internal components? In the end, I spent another $150 and sent the system back in. Two and half weeks later it came back – still not functioning correctly. Another 4 hours on the line with tech support, lots of yelling and $150 later, the system was sent back out.
Verdict: CyberPower makes some great high-end PCs – while they last. Which was about 2-3 weeks for me. If you plan on purchasing a high-end PC, save up some extra cash and go with a company with some more credibility. The cash you saved from purchasing a PC from CyberPower will easily be lost either in time spent troubleshooting the system, and/or shipping the PC back for them to fix.