About to pull the trigger....

Hey guys,

I'm about to pull the trigger on one of the barebones (still not sure if the 17" is worth it), but I have a couple questions.

1) Should I wait for the new gpu's to come out? Not because I actually want them, just because I want the prices of the current gpu's to go down. How long til that takes effect?

2) I'm planning on ordering from Gentech PC, and I have heard from several people that I should talk to Ken. How do I get into contact with him?

3) Is it possible to upgrade the gpu down the road if I feel the need? Will this void my warranty?

4) Do I need the big foot killer network card if I'm not planning to game online?

5) If I order the machine with Windows 7 already installed, will it come with bloatware?

6) I have heard that the 15" keyboard flexes pretty easily, does the same problem exist on the 17" ?

7) How quick is Gentech with deliveries?

Thanks guys

 

Hi Tom

I am about to pull the trigger myself. I don't know the answer to all your questions, but to a few I have some comments to make which could be helpful for you.

1) Should I wait for the new gpu's to come out? Not because I actually want them, just because I want the prices of the current gpu's to go down. How long til that takes effect?

That was my question for the last 3 weeks or so. I personally was going to wait, but I decided not to because now I think it will take another 3 weeks for things to start going, and I don't think the price difference will be meaningful enough.


2) I'm planning on ordering from Gentech PC, and I have heard from several people that I should talk to Ken. How do I get into contact with him?

Ken is brilliant, I am ordering from Gentech too. Just send an email to their sales (you can find it on the site) and he will talk to you. He has given great support so far, taking the time to answer all my questions.


3) Is it possible to upgrade the gpu down the road if I feel the need? Will this void my warranty?

Yes, it is possible to upgrade both CPU and GPU down the road. I don't know if it will not void the warranty, though. I know that for the standard MSI models (not the barebones), you void the warranty just by opening the case (although there it doesn't on the barebones).


4) Do I need the big foot killer network card if I'm not planning to game online?

Well, here it depends. I would say no. I am ordering one partly because the latency improves a lot on the wifi but also because signal reception is very good. I am ordering with 2 antennaes only, I think that will be more than enough. Later on I can always add an extra antennae if I want to.


5) If I order the machine with Windows 7 already installed, will it come with bloatware?

I don't know, but I guess you can ask Ken to reinstall it without any bloatware if it does indeed come bloated. Ask him.


6) I have heard that the 15" keyboard flexes pretty easily, does the same problem exist on the 17" ?

I have read that too, and people told me the same thing. The keyboard is the same on both models, so I believe the flex is present in each one. There is the option of a steelseries keyboard on the 17", it costs 90 obamas and comes with a Kinzu gaming mouse. I personally will not order it because the flex is easily solved with some quick DIY, there are some threads here which explain how to do it. Also I don't really mind my keys not being lit


7) How quick is Gentech with deliveries?

I can't tell you the answer to this one because I have not ordered yet. I'd think about as quick as any.

 

Thanks a lot mtrein. I sent an email to them today.

Should be making a decision pretty soon!

 

If it's a barebones unit, it should come with just vanilla Windows.

Gentech is pretty fast, back when I ordered a GX640 from them I order on Sunday night, was customized, built, and shipped by Wednesday, got to me on Friday.

Just talk to Ken and he'll take care of you.

 

Also, am I right in assuming that more than 8 gb of ram is pointless?

Or should I upgrade to 16 gb?

 

I also ordered through Gentech. I'm curious, did you pay extra for shipping costs? I ordered last Tuesday and would like to have it by atleast Friday.

 

For gaming and normal tasks 8gb is more than enough. You should only get more if you plan on running VMs or disabling the windows page file.