My Review:  
 
Let me start by saying "I'm a total pain in the a** to work with." I talked to 3 reps before I bought the system, Giovanni and Gus, Raff. At first I was going to purchase a Prelude, I decided it may not be the computer for me. I waited for about a month to call back. I spoke to all three sales reps (also technicians, they actually build the products they support); I picked their brains for hours, I looked at reviews, I asked friends/acquaintances for opinions. I also googled "Maingear" for complaints, and I found none. I researched other companies, and none of them gave me the same post purchase care and attention as the fellows at Maingear. Also, half of the companies I reviewed had a long list of naysayers, and I couldn't find one negative opinion about Maingear.  
 
So...I bought the F131, it looked like the best choice, it had an excellent mix of style, affordability and upgrading options. I ordered the product at the beginning of June. The turn around time was 2 weeks from the day I ordered my F131. I live in southern New Jersey, so I picked it up at their building facilities in Union, NJ. Giovanni met me as did all the staff, including the VP Wallace Santos. All the guys were friendly and accommodating. They included a case of their great energy drinks, a t-shirt and Giovanni even helped me get the computer into my car!  
 
I couldn't wait to get home and get my new F131 up and running. Upon opening the box there was a neatly packed binder with all my disks (Vista CD, Mother Board install disk, drivers). Plus the motherboard documentation and Vista documentation. A box of spare cables and fastening devices.  
 
The Computer itself was black, brushed, shiny and the inside of the chassis was immaculate. Then I looked for the power cable to attach to my power supply and I found out, much to my dismay, that it was the wrong power cable. My Silverstone Power Supply had a proprietary cable. Upon finding this out, I was one cranky bastard. I called up and I calmly and politely expressed my dissatisfaction.  
 
They were unable to ship the power cable that night, so Giovanni decided to drive it out to me! I was pleasantly surprised, I have never witnessed better customer service from any other company. He delivered the part himself and showed top notch accountability for his brand name. I challenge any company or boutique to do the same for its clients. Thanks so much Giovanni!  
 
My computer is beautiful, it's silent, fast and it was built to my specification. When I call tech support I'm treated to knowledgeable, friendly people and I'm satisfied with my purchase. Recently the reset button on my chassis went south and the guys at Maingear repaired it, no questions asked. When I asked if they would honor an upgrade to Windows 7 even though I bought the product shortly before they dropped the ad? No problem. The list of good experiences with these guys goes on and on, so if you want your dream computer and you want it built by people that actually stand by their product and care about you as a customer, go Maingear, it's really that simple.  
 
My Computer:  
F131 Chassis  
6 GB HyperX RAM  
2 Nvidia GTX280 SLI  
P6T X58 Motherboard  
Zalman CPU Cooler  
22X Dual Layer DVD R/W  
DVD ROM Drive  
1 TB Hard Drive 32MB of Cache  
1200W PSU

I received my computer just about 1 month after I placed my order. My computer arrived in perfect condition. I must have emailed them about 10 times before handing them my hard earned money. They replied to every single email. I purchased an F131 system. I had to pleasure to speak to Giovanni and Raphael, they were both very helpful. Thank you Maingear!

This review was modified by its author, superstarme, on 11/29/08 4:26 PM.

Hello I want to say sorry it's been quite a while since I ordered and I didn't quite get to writing a review until now. But getting to the point.  
 
Last November 30th 2007 I happened to come across a company called Maingear and overall I am quite impressed of this PC called the "prelude"  
 
1.The staff is very friendly, and is highly capable.  
 
2.My PC arrived in no time.  
 
3.The packaging was excellent for a 600+ mile. journey they took care with preparing it :)  
 
4.My experience with the computer I ordered was awesome I didn't buy a real expensive computer just one in my price range.. but I must say it was well worth my money.  
 
And furthermore I would recommend this highly capable company to anyone who is interested in nice looking and well built custom PCS  
 
My apologies to Maingear for taking so long to write a review for such a beautiful PC.  
 
Peace...  
 

I am 100% delighted with Maingear. They met and exceeded all my high expectations.  
My expectations were; 1) the best high-performance specifications for my needs including customization if necessary, 2) superb build quality 3) polite, courteous, knowledgeable salesmanship.  
Maingear delivered 100% on all of these, and believe me, I am not that easy to please or impressionable.  
Maingear is for real and know how to do everything right. I cannot remember a better customer experience in my entire life.  
Here are my ratings, broken down by category;  
10/10 for the salesmanship and service provided by Raphael.  
10/10 for the build quality as executed by Giovanni.  
10/10 for Raphael's patience with me while trying to finalize the specifications.  
10/10 for delivering the system on time relative to promised delivery date.  
10/10 for the quality and effectiveness of the packaging.  
10/10 for working perfectly right out of the box.  
10/10 for customization.  
10/10 for speed.  
10/10 for reliability.  
10/10 for the best looking wiring job I've ever seen.  
10/10 for aesthetic appeal of the machine.  
10/10 for being a complete pleasure to deal with.  
My sincerest thanks to Raphael, Giovanni and the entire team at Maingear.  
For those in love with specifications, my new computer from Maingear included Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (4.0 GHz X 4), 1200W Silverstone power supply, 8 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory, Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi X 48 chipset and, 4 Western Digital Velociraptors 300 GB 10,000 RPM.  

This is a review of my MAINGEAR F131, 4th of July Special. It has been abridged from the version found on the MG forums at  
 
http://www.maingearforums.com/showthread.php?p=14584#post14584  
 
My 'High-end' Dell melted a few months ago. It had served me well enough for a couple of years, but I decided to treat myself and spring for a boutique gaming desktop.  
 
Unfortunately, I had a price cap of $1,500.00, which a few years ago would have put most boutiques out of my budget. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these days many shops offer more affordable selections.  
 
Pre-Build: 9.9/10  
 
Like many in the market for a boutique rig, I did extensive research before purchasing.  
 
In the end I decided on a MAINGEAR Prelude. MG impressed me with its clean, sleek website and configurator, though a couple of sections needed updates.  
 
I also like the look of the builds. None of MG's builds are over-the-top plastic monstrosities, they all use functional, elegant Silverstone cases with minimalist exteriors.  
 
Finally, MAINGEAR had a great rep both among reviewers and the enthusiast community. Questions on their forums were answered quickly and enthusiastically, usually by other customers but also by company reps. Most importantly when I came across situations where MG had made past mistakes they were very quick to correct them in the customer's favor.  
 
The impression I was receiving was that MG would cheerfully spend a great deal of time and effort to make sure their customers were happy *after* they received their computers.  
 
The Order: 10/10  
 
After receiving great input on build and components at the MAINGEAR forums, I was ready to order my Prelude.  
That's when I got lucky A couple of days before I was to place my order, MG put up a special on the F131 which put it within my budget. The F131 is the Prelude's bigger brother, with free overclocking and sweet components, I jumped at the chance to grab it instead. Again, the MG forums were very helpful with component selection.  
 
I placed my order as follows:  
 
F131 Fourth of July Edition  
Customizations:  
Exterior Automotive Color: Black Brushed Aluminum Finish  
Power Supply: 750W Silverstone Strider Power Supply  
Motherboard: IntelŽ Bonetrail DX38BT X38 Chipset  
Processor: IntelŽ Core™ 2 Quad Q9300 (2.5GHz x 4) 45nm 6MB L2 Cache  
CPU Cooling: Zalman Ultra Quiet CNPS9500 LED 92mm CPU Cooler w/ Copper Base  
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR3-1066  
Do you want us to Redline™ your CPU?: YES  
Hard Drive One: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache - SATA II  
Optical Drive One: 20X Dual Layer DVDąRW Drive w/ LightScribe Technology - black  
Video Card: Visiontek ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 512MB GDDR3  
Do you want us to Redline™ your GPU?: NO  
Sound Card: Integrated Sound  
Network Card: Integrated Gigabit Network Card  
Game: Yes, Give me 3 FREE Games!  
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (32-Bit) SP1  
The Final Finesse: Flawless Hand-crafted Wiring and Cable Management  
Warranty: 14 Month Standard Maingear Warranty  
 
With shipping it came in at a bit over $1,700.00, more than I had initially intended to spend, but also a whole lot more computer than I thought I could afford.  
 
The Wait: 10/10  
 
20 minutes after my order I decided to update the order to 64 bit Vista, with the idea that I would upgrade my RAM sometime soon...The MG website made this very easy, and it was changed on the invoice by the tech processing my order, Raphael, the same day.  
 
I was in contact with MG several times during the wait, and each time I was impressed with the friendly professionalism the company reps showed.  
 
I ordered ground shipping, so we would see how well the system held up on its 2k mile journey.  
 
Receiving the system: 10/10  
 
I received the system 3 weeks after ordering it. The chassis was secured in its box by two simple but effective foam restraints, it took a little bit of strength to work it free (which is good).  
 
Along with the system there were several extras, games, backup discs, and a T shirt.  
 
The Aftermath: 10/10  
 
My first impressions of the case were that no pictures could do her justice. The Silverstone chassis is a beast, brushed black aluminum pierced at strategic intervals by meshed venting.  
 
I felt like I had just gotten the Dark Knight's computer.  
 
The side panels are removed by popping handscrews at the back of the chassis. Every stray wire was neatly bundled and tucked up against the chassis wall.  
 
I quickly determined that every connection was solid, and that all cards, etc. had maintained their seating, that, in fact, the PC seemed to be in perfect shape.  
 
Performance (Don't she purr, though): 10/10  
 
Aside from scrapping a Tablet PC application, I couldn't find anything on the normally bloated and inefficient Vista OS that needed tuning, as MG had already done it for me.  
 
So far, my PC handles like a dream. Programs and games load immediately, and the quadcore makes multitasking a joy. I've only had the system for a few days, and I'll update this review if any problems arise in terms of performance it exceeds my expectations and earns a 10/10.  
 
Conclusion: 10/10  
 
Every aspect of the order process, from the useful forum advice to the slick website interface, was excellent. The system arrived on time and in perfect condition. The wiring/cable management is superb and the exterior is unique, solid, and elegant. Finally, every aspect of my interaction with the MAINGEAR staff and technicians left me feeling like I was valued, and could easily come back with concerns or even in search of simple advice.  
 
Minor details of weakness really only serve to highlight the overall fantastic product and service MAINGEAR offers. It's a good feeling, after months of research and careful budgeting, to know you made the right decision after all. It's even better to know you couldn't have made a better one.  
 
Thanks, Kestrel  

Having problems with my pc. Maingear is in the process of rebuilding my pc. I'm not sure what went wrong with the first build yet but so far my experience has been very frustrating... Maingear staff as always is very friendly and courteous. My frustration is having to make 3-4 trips to maingear to bring my pc in because of bluescreens. I understand hardware can fail and computers can be very tricky at times. Unfortunately I'm the one having these problems. I specifically asked the tech to take his time with my pc because all I wanted was a stable system. After going back&forth to the maingear shop with my pc I told the tech I don't care if it takes 2 weeks just give me a stable system. Got the pc back after the last visit and it had the same problems. I finally asked for a rebuild and maingear complied. The original dual 8800gtx graphics cards didn't OC well at all and ran hot. I was offered an upgrade for $180 more to ultras. I already plunked down about 1450.00 for the GTX'S. The hard drives are from my previous system and at maingears request I agreed to let them put in a new hard drive just to make sure that's not the problem. My experience so far is rare because most maingear owners have no problems and are very happy.. That's all I want, to be a happy M.G. customer. So far I can't say that's the case. Hopefully I will get my rebuilt machine and have a positive experience. I would consider building it myself next time around because of the cost and trouble I'm having. This is my 3rd machine from boutique builders. First was digital storm, stable but poor support. Then overdrive pc recently purchased by velocity micro. Overdrive was my best experience so far. They are no longer the same company in my opinion thats why I didn't go with them. I believe I'm just having some bad luck here with M.G. My advice would be to buy as close to home as you can in case you have situations like mine. Support should be on top of your list and I think M.G. support is very good but theres always room for improvement. Would I buy from M.G. again??? It's too early too tell. I will update my experiences here when I get my machine back.. They are nice people and very pleasant to deal with. All I want is a high performance luxury machine because thats what they claim they build and many customers seem to attest to that claim. HERE IS AN UPDATE ON MY EXPERIENCE WITH MAINGEAR...On 12-22-07 I'm sitting at my rebuilt from scratch maingear pc. All of my problems listed above have been solved by maingear above and beyond my expectations!!! Here is what maingear did for me without my asking. Gave me a new hard drive no charge. Installed an upgraded 780i motherboard without my asking. Previously I had a 680i. Maingear RMA'D my old hard drives for me at no cost. The hard drives were from my previous system (not a maingear). Turns out the hard drives might have been the reason for all these problems to begin with. Maingear is a company you can buy from and trust 1000% without any reservations. They genuinely care about their customers experience and stand behind their computers. All this was done very quickly in the midst of the holidays too!!! How can you beat a company that treats it's customers like this. I want to personally thank the C.E.O of the company Wallace Santos for taking special effort to turn my experience with maingear around. Thank you, you now have a loyal customer who will look to maingear for all their pc needs and tell family and friends about the way you treat your customers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 
Iv'e been a Maingear Owner for over a year now. Today I brought my pc in to reseat the heatsink which I thought I broke after changing the cpu myself. Gus was there to take care of the situation for me. He checked it out put a new heatsink in for me then Overclocked my new cpu at my request. Gus also noticed the bios needed updating and took care of that for me as well. While I was there I had a maingear energy drink on Gus. My pc is running great now. I also had a peek at the new nehalam I7 system The white case with the smoke looks awesome!!! The pics on here don't do it justice. If your here reading customer reviews and your thinking of getting a maingear system??? I can tell you from personal experience. DON'T EVEN HESITATE!!!! Maingear treats it's customers like pure GOLD!!!!! A whole year later and I'm still excited and very glad I went with Maingear over all the others. Thanks for your great treatment Maingear

This review was modified by its author, Trashman10306, on 10/31/08 1:59 PM.

Order Placed: January 3rd, Order Recevied: February 1st. Truly remarkable experience from start to finish. Each person I had the pleasure to talk to throughout the whole process was very professional and easy to talk to. Communication was a slight issue, but with a simple email I recevied a call updating me on my status. A few day's prior to my computer shipping I called in to see if upgrading my OS to the newly released Vista Business was possible and I was informed that my system was already softwared, but they would upgrade my OS from XP Pro to Vista Business at no charge to me. Computer arrived in excellent shape and I felt like a little boy opening a present on Christmas day. Excellent Staff, Packaging, Craftsmanship, Documentation and Value make Maingear the only choice. I assure you if you're in the market for a new computer look no further. Maingear will blow you away!!

This review was modified by its author, RJI, on 2/8/07 5:12 PM.

I ordered a computer from Maingear based on web and print reviews. Order was placed on the 6th of december and was delivered to me on december 31 by courier. System was stable with the exception of a Bios update that was needed after shipment. Maingear sent a courier to pickup my computer at a time of my choosing with no hassle or complaint. System was returned in 6 days. This is amazing for any company let alone a small business. I would recommend Maingear to anyone looking for a custom PC with name brand parts and the best customer support I have ever had the experience of being involved with.

OMG! Is the first thing I said when I opened up my new Maingear computer box in June. I have had this computer now for about 7 or 8 months and I have to say it is the best thing I have ever bought. I have yet to have a problem and anytime I have questions the tech support is just amazing. Never before have I felt secure with a purchase I made, but maingear makes me feel like an important person and for that I will always awlays recommened them. You can not go wrong with MAINGEAR.

Just wanted to drop a note about the great experience I had w/ the crew at Maingear. I placed the order online for a F131 computer, the next day one of their tech's called me to obtain verbal response. The tech asked some questions as to what I would use my system for, what kind of games that I would play and if I wanted my system partitioned in any way. He even asked if I would like some games pre-installed from factory (with my cd keys of course). I'm not a big gamer, but in my opinion, their attention to detail is pretty amazing. It's nice to see companies that actually care about their customer. Once I received my computer, I imediately proceded to poping my side pannel open to install my wireless nic. I couldn't believe how neat my system was inside. Every little wire was completely folded, tucked away, zip tied out of the way. Once again, I was just amazed how much attention they put into my $3500 computer system. I actually regreted in not choosing a side window. I would recomend these guys to anyone. Great product, great customer care and great warranty. Good job Maingear.

I pre ordered a F 131 highly customized PC on 12/30/07, but actually paid for it on 1/8/07. The ordering process was great; I had lots of questions, and the tech I was speaking to had all the answers, knowledgeable answers, without pressure, and solid guidance. I normally build my own PC's, but had decided to treat myself to Top O' the Line Custom PC. I had hoped Maingear could build me that dream, could actually care that I was spending good money, that I would be treated better than just a order number.  
 
I found Maingear after looking at the other custom integrators out there, you know the names, then reading a Gold Award review from a trusted tech review site, [H]hardocp.com. I then searched other reviews and other sites, and everyone only had Great things to say about Maingear.  
 
I received the machine on 1/31/07. The machine was very well packaged and arrived in pristine shape. It booted up to the desktop without any need to activate software, install anything, nada. ZERO un wanted software, like the big sites install, just instant SPEED! The F 131 has the free option of Overclocking, while still keeping it under their warranty, and this baby is overclocked from standard e6700 speed of 2.67Ghz to 3.33Ghz! I swear, opening any application is INSTANT. All the drivers were to the moment current. Very stable. I have had ZERO problems. The build quality is beyond amazing! I mean, my baby looks like it just came from the floor of a trade show. A Genuine SHOW MACHINE. Perfectly quiet, PERFECT wiring, PERFECT Automotive Paint job ( included in the price as well )This machine is truly a show stopper.  
 
Game play is..well..Mind blowing. I play MMORPGs like EQ and Wow, and it screams. Applications open at the speed of light.  
 
Even as an aside, a small gesture, showing their Amazing attention to details, I ordered my F 131 in Yellow from their available colors. I playfully started calling the yellow "Sponge Bob Racing Yellow" in my signature block on a few tech forums. Well, when I received the machine, the first thing I saw was a giant 3' Sponge Bob doll i the box! The doll is irrelevant, but the GESTURE ( learning something silly about me, and my purchase, without my intervention ) was truly a level of personalization you just can't find, or even buy. Choosing Maingear is to become part of an extended family of enthusiasts.  
 
Sincerely, THANK YOU Maingear for exceeding my dreams!

I just recieved a brand new, shiny, luscious, F131 desktop system, and I could not possibly be happier with the experience or the computer.  
 
I chose Maingear based on the stellar review they recieved over at HardOCP. You see, I'm one of those rare avid gamers who doesn't really know much about computers. Due to my lack of expertise, I decided I needed a system from a company that would back up their product after the sale, and based on every review I've seen, particularly HardOCP's, Maingear seemed to fit the bill.  
 
It took longer than I hoped for to actually recieve the system (~5 weeks), though that very well could be my fault as I specifically told Raphael, who called me a few days after I placed the order online, to take his time with the build as I was far more interested in a quality, rock-solid computer than I was in getting it quickly. As the days passed, I grew more and more anxious, having drastically underestimated my enthusiasm and anticipation. All my angst melted away when the computer finally showed up at my door.  
 
It was well packed, without a scratch on it. The case is a new Lian Li, an upgrade from the case pictured on the site. It's very well-constructed, and solid. The wiring is immaculate. It's obvious, even from my less-than-expert perspective that Maingear put quite a bit of effort into building this machine. They seem to believe that if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.  
 
After I had set up the computer, imagine my horror when I flipped the switch and nothing happened. That's right, the computer simply didn't turn on. After checking everything I could think of, I finally broke down and called Maingear. I won't go through everything, but suffice to say that Giovanni (the guy who took the call), patiently walked me through half a dozen different possibilities, from re-seating the memory sticks to re-seating the CPU heatsink and fan and even the CPU itself. Nothing seemed to work. After ~1.5 hours on the phone, we finally identified the problem as a tiny little switch plugged into the corner of the motherboard that needed to be re-seated. The computer has worked flawlessly since. I thanked Giovanni (and I'll thank him again: Thanks!) for his patience and help, and I was off and gaming.  
 
The bottom line is, and I'm 100% in HardOCP's corner on this one, anyone can build a kickass gaming system benchmark-wise. When that's the case, it seems to me that what separates the good companies from the bad is everything else. I went with Maingear based on their reputation for attention to detail and quality in the aforementioned everything else, and I have not been disappointed. They're expensive, to be sure, though not any more expensive than other "boutique" builder, yet unlike most of their competitors, they're definitely worth the prices they charge. If you want a righteous machine and you're not a computer expert or you don't have the time and patience to build it yourself and/or provide your own tech support, you can't go wrong with Maingear.

This review was modified by its author, Sunwolf Enemy, on 9/21/06 2:26 PM.

I purchased a hardcore gaming maingear pc and nothing has ever been the same. By far the best gaming system i've owned. I've owned an hp, a dell, even an alienware pc. But in comparison, nothing comes close. I purchased a glossy black F131 tower, microsoft keyboard, Mx518 hardcore gaming mouse and plantronics special edition counterstrike headphones. I recommend a maingear pc to anyone who is a hardcore gamer and i speak from personal experience. The maingear techs put a great system together to my exact specs, just as i wanted.