Computer Planet www.computerplanet.co.uk Review

Generally Very positive, I would highly recommend you, specific

feedback below.



Build options - Excellent.

Unless you're willing and able to browse through a host of websites for each

component with a view to self build, I doubt you'll ever match the options available here for a PC built to your own specs.



Yes, there

were some items I'd have liked a bit more control over, i.e. specifying the make and model of hard drives used, but I can live with that. However,

ComputerPlanet do give an option to ask for alternative components, which I did and they we're happy to oblige.



I nearly took the lazy

option and bought a Dell, but their options are very limited by comparison, thank heaven I didn't choose a Dell.



Value for money -

Excellent.

I've built and upgraded my own, friends and family PCs since the early 90's with my first Intel 286 12Mhz 1Mb Ram 40Mb HDD, 5 1/4

floppy PC (scary!) but having decided on the general spec I wanted and browsed around for component prices there was probably only about 5% saving.

And while I enjoy tinkering inside my PCs, the thought of a stress free weekend wondering if it'll all actually work was IMHO worth the 5%. Plus if

there are any component problems, I only have one place to contact instead of lots of retailers.



Order process - Generally good, but

one issue

The pick list is easy to use, with some items being greyed out if not suitable with other selected components. The option to save a

'quote' and re-work the PC till all the specs are spot on is nice.



Once I'd finally pressed the Buy button, there was initial email

feedback, then not much more for a week or so, that's all OK by me, but the one thing I do have an issue with is



I only heard a few

hours before dispatch that one of the key things I wanted, a RAID stripe, could not be configured as I'd ordered hard drives with too large

capacity.



Hearing this so late gave me zero opportunity to react.



Given the lengthy burn in tests being performed the

O/S must have been installed quite some time earlier and I would have expected to have been told the issue as soon as known to give me an opportunity

to revise my spec. As it was I only had two choices, return my nice shiny new PC without even opening the box to be re-built with revised spec, or

just accept the fact of being stuck with two drives and no RAID.



I would hope that future customers will be given feedback on items

affecting their order in good time to make changes before bring shipped. It would be good if two or three items could be flagged as essentials, so

that if anything affects these during the build the customer can be advised asap?



If you choose to buy a PC here (I have no reason why

you shouldn't), I'd recommend you check during the order process that you review the option for ComputerPlanet to replace items you've ordered at

their discretion with similar alternative components. If you don't disable this, you might end up with something quite different than you ordered. I

spotted this from another users comments, so didn't have a problem. As long as you know, you shouldn't have any surprises.



Delivery and

packaging - Excellent

Next day by UPS. Large outer box, with the case box inside (I ordered a CoolerMaster, and it came in the original

CoolerMaster case box) Then inside this the actual PC. Also enclosed was the original MOBO box, cables, fittings etc etc. Original Windows discs. Nice

touch guys, much better then you'd get at Dell :-) Various freebies etc. The actual PC was Very well packaged, I needed to open the side of the PC to

remove a lot of packing material placed by the look of it very carefully around the CPU cooler, expansion cards, drives, power supply etc. Again Very

Nice :-) Just remember to remove the packaging as carefully as it was installed. And you also need to keep ALL the boxes and packaging just in case

you need to return the PC.



Build quality - Excellent

Top Notch. I can fault these guys, I'm a fussy sod re routing cables, fain

noise, positioning of components. This was all done very nicely. I didn't go for a gamers, show off see through case, so no desperate need to make it

pretty inside, but it was all really well put together.



After sales - Very Good

I've had the PC for nearly 3 months. I've had a

copy of small questions which were answered by email very quickly. I've only really had one problem, one of the 3 memory chips failed. The support via

email is a bit quirky as you don't email support direct, you actually send an email via the Web site, then get a reply, normally very quickly. Their

support guy, Tom is vey good, and he certainly works some very long hours, I got replies late evenings and weekends. But I suppose I should say don't

expect out of hours yourself, I consider I just got very lucky. As far as actually fixing the problem, after a few emails describing the issue Tom

sent me a replacement set of memory chips, which I fitted myself, which sorted the problem. I suspect that normally you'd probably need to send the PC

back to base, but I said I was happy to do this myself and take the warranty risk if I caused any problems.



So from my experiences so

far, and not whishing to tempt fate, I would happily recommend ComputerPlanet as a good place to order a nice value, well built, custom built PC. I'd

certainly be happy to use them again when I want my next system.





My PCs spec

Intel Core i7 920 D0 (4 x 2.66GHz) 8 MB

4.8GT/s

Corsair Hydro Series H50 V2 (Advanced Liquid Cooling)

Asus P6TD Deluxe V2 (Intel X58) (Includes 2 Free Games)

Corsair 6GB

(3x2GB) XMS3 1600MHz - Lifetime Warranty (DDR3)

ATI Radeon HD 5750 - 1 GB - DVI/VGA/HDMI (Asus) (Includes Total Immersion Racing Game) /> RAID 0 (Stripe) - NB Couldn't be configured, so no RAID installed.

1.5 TB (1500 GB) SATA-II HDD UDMA 300 7200 32MB

1.5 TB (1500 GB)

SATA-II HDD UDMA 300 7200 32MB

Samsung (SH-S223L) DVD +/- RW 24x - Black - Lightscribe (SATA)

Cooler Master 600W Pro M Modular -

Silent

Cooler Master 690 Black Dominator - NB I upgraded this to a different case not on the Website

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64

BIT (Genuine DVD & COA Included)

Floppy Disk Drive 1.44 MB - Black - NB this couldn't be fitted, the MOBO didn't have the connector. I was

refunded the difference.

Restore DVD & Original Operating System DVD

Built & Tested CP