Ibuypower and Cyberpower vs. Big named gaming PC's

[Chez]

Alright as some of you know I'm planing to buy a new PC and a powerful one for that matter. I'd like to get all these sweet little new pieces of techno like the next gen graphic cards, raptor hard drives and DDR2 ram when its avalible but the thing is my budget wont go that high if I were 2 configure a machine from Alienware or Voodoo with those nice things. I was wondering why I'm paying so little for Ibuypower or Cyberpower as oppossed to those big named companies.

[Chez]

bump sry just was hoping for someone's opinion.

[Christian-Comp]

In many respects, its like taking two oranges, naming one Alienware and the other Alias.
The Alienware orange is $5 while the Alias orange is $3. When you have a name like Alienware (built on a reputation), you can pretty well charge what you want to. Alienware is a price maker (i.e. monopoly in certain respects), so they have the ability to charge a premium for their name. Does Alienware offer something that the others don't? That is what would also separate one company from the next.

[elroy]

From what I've heard Alienware is vastly overpriced and has customer service issues. But I have no personal experience with them. They do have a high rating at www.resellerratings.com
Ibuypower also has high ratings.
There are 2 Cyberpower's listed, 1 has high ratings and 1 has low ratings. Not sure which one you're referring to.

[Jazzman621]

Dear Chez,
I own a CyberPower Inc. Gaming PC. Alienware started out the same way as cyberpower, but the reason they are so expensive is because they have a great reputation and they have these little gimicks like alienice, which don't do much but raise the price by about 150 dollars. As with Cyberpower, the only problem is customer service. When I first received my PC, my Geforce 5900 Graphics card was messed up, like, I couldn't watch dvd's or while playing games, the screen would turn blank or snowy. Once they replaced it, it went fine. But also, I think that their people aren't very enthusiastic about gaming. They wired the inside of my case so their is almost no airflow, and the case looks nothing like the one they showed, and I chose the same exact model! So if you can't afford Alienware, and Cyber Power has bad customer service (trust me) try looking at Ibuypower, or if you can, ABS. Hope this helps!

[Chez]

Thank you, that was helpful. Thing is I want an entertainment PC because if you have a PC thats strong enough to play games 2-3 years from now then u can do anything, except video editing and stuff like that 2 a limit.

[johnnyjam14]

hey chez,

you sounded like me back in march. I recently bought a system from cyberpower (if you look at ibuypower the components and pricing is identical, hmmm could be the same company). The experience has not been satisfying. I ordered the new FX53 chip and 9800 pro. It took 13 days longer than the expected arrive date to get the system. The system arrived, not configured the way I ordered and DOA. I ended up sending it back to get it checked out and configured the way I wanted it. After 2 weeks I got it back, still not configured the way I wanted it and still crashing on me. It's a nightmare I'm still dealing with. I would recommend ABS as an alternative. The responses seem to be much better and quality of equipment is better. The few extra bucks you save may be the beginning of a big computer nightmare. Good luck!!!

[Chez]

Yea I've heard alot of horror stories like those from Ibuypower and Cyberpower owners. I guess paying the extra money is more secure but then again any company can have its trouble.

[TylerDurden0123]

I bought a fairly high end gaming pc from cyberpowerpc.com a while back. I ordered over the phone because experience has taught me that online companies tend to screw up detailed orders from their website forms. I got a great price, as usual 1000+ cheaper than alienware and company. That said, the neon case light I ordered was not included, though I wasn't charged for it either. Another minor detail, the Audigy sound card had the front plate option and a cable wasn't connected to enable the ports on it. Luckily, I'm not hardware retarded so it wasn't a big deal. About a year later my hard drive died, can't really blame them on that one either. It was covered by my warranty so they sent me a UPS shipping label for return and got a new one back in a reasonable time.
Overall I'd say it was an average-ish experience and given the option between them or alienware/northwest/voodoo etc, the decision was/is easy. And don't give me the apples and oranges excuses, same processors, same drives, same OS, and yet 1000's higher price tag? Noone's rep is worth that unless you're that insecure... and alienware always seems to be slightly behind the curve on new cpu's and video card options. No crossfire setup, still...? If Nvidia is giving them some great deal for that it doesn't show in their prices. Not trying to turn this into an alienware bash. I've never owned their products, maybe they are well built with great customer service. But when I can afford to buy 2 pc's with the price difference, they make it easier for me to afford issues that might arise from a lesser known company.

[michaels39]

I'd urge you to check the ratings for these companies,there's a reason they're so low.The quality of work on their systems is substandard,the customer support even worse.Check builders like Envision and KC Computers,the prices are comparable and quality far higher.