Puget Custom Computers @ [H]

J

Jason_Wall

[H] Consumer Managing Editor
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
Messages
2,138
Puget is back with its fourth system at [H]. This isn't a super-high end rig, but it has respectable hardware and comes in at around $2000. We've always been big fans of Puget here despite their spotty evaluation scores. This time around, they get one step closer to a perfect evaluation. There was still some weirdness with the system and a couple of areas that they can fix, but overall, it was a great experience.

...we had a very good experience with Puget. The customization options and unique, utility-driven customer Web interface alone put Puget in a separate category from its peers, and when combined with stellar build quality, attentive support, and a clean Windows installation, you have an integrator that goes the extra mile to please its customers. As such, we have no problem recommending Puget to [H] readers. If you haven’t checked this company out, we recommend you do so.
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Thanks for reading!
 
Page 2, errors:
There’s a lot of marketing speak on the company’s website, but reading it does..
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(the I should be an L)
which is faster than we’ve seen Tier Is move.
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(missing a ' )

Nice review. Good work, Puget.
 
Company of Heroes

We are slowly starting to not like this game, mostly because we apparently suck at it and can never beat the Germans, ever. After ten minutes of playing we get a message telling us we are losing points, and we haven’t even seen a single German soldier yet. What’s up with that? But we digress.
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I LOL'ed

And with those 'first time only' issues, I think you guys need to hire a medium to check out the lab. There's some weird voodoo going on in there...

Or perhaps sacrifice a goat to the system before the unboxing like SONY does to their games?
 
Very nice review. It seems a bit on the pricey side, but otherwise very good.

Your suggestion to include VLC on computers shipping without PowerDVD or similar may not actually be valid. If I understand correctly, VLC uses DeCSS, and thus it is illegal for someone in the US to distribute it. I can't say whether or not that applies here (would Puget be considered "distributing" it?), but it's a legal quagmire that Puget probably isn't willing to muck around in.
 
But as we looked down at the sleepy Alaskan village below us, it was as flat and uninteresting as Hilary Swank.
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Pwned!

1337-speak aside...

Very good review as usual. This seems to be one of the best rigs that you've reviewed in a while. With this review I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Puget to friends and family.
 
I'm going to miss these articles.

Puget was a great friend to [H] Consumer and we've always liked what the company stands for.
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Maybe it's just the way things played out with [H] Consumer, but that line really hit home with me.

Great article and review, as always.
 
Glad to see Puget ironed most of the wrinkles out. Nice review guys! :)

Oh, and btw:

We've always been big fans of Puget here depsite their spotty evaluation scores.
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Dyslexic a bit this morning? :p

And, the power supply wasn't in the hardware list. I would have to assume you were relying on Puget to supply an adequate PSU to handle the load?
 
Puget is definitely a beacon of hope for us computer junkies :D They're offering support for those who got bit by Monarch, and they make damn good system :D

Great review, Puget has definitely advanced a great deal since last time.

Edit: Zomg AceGoober is a Ninja. Somehow you've managed to take most recent post in the C&G subforum view, but mine is after yours in the thread >_>
 
some very innovative stuff for the customer.

Gonna miss these reviews alot.

Puget really stepped up with the Monarch deal, too.:D
 
One word that probably didn't make it into the article as much as I'd like is integrity.

From the transparent build process to the honesty in the techs to Puget taking all of the Monarch customers under its wing - this company is all about integrity. Bad luck and voodoo aside, this is why we like this company.
 
Good review, first time I've heard of this company and they seem pretty legit, unlike some of the other ones I hear about. Though they could use some better looking cases.
 
Bbq said:
Page 2, errors:

(the I should be an L)

(missing a ' )

Nice review. Good work, Puget.
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Caught the first one, thanks.

Adding an ' could confer possession and be a little confusing, so that's why we leave it out.
 
Nek said:
Good review, first time I've heard of this company and they seem pretty legit, unlike some of the other ones I hear about. Though they could use some better looking cases.
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As we noted in the review, Puget offers more cases than just that little Antec unit. It also has Lian Li cases, Silverstone TJ07, Antec P180...basically all the "best" cases out there are available. It's nice to see several different vendors offered, rather than just Lian Li, or just Antec, like a lot of integrators. Even Overdrive PC, which we like, offers just one case, the CM Stacker. It's a great case and all but choice is good.
 
I like the idea that Puget gives lifetime support with a tiered warranty for parts, i think other places, particularily a few that have received very high marks from you particularily in the tech support area would do well to consider this. Since i really think regardless how long i've had a system it would be cool to at least having it looked at and diagnosed as complimentary (and then however long i want part RMA's to be supported be what i pay extra for, otherwise i can just end up paying to having broken stuff off warranty replaced).
 
Hello all, I actually work for Puget in the production department, and just wanted to point out one thing. The review says that we did not install any DVD playback software, but we actually did.

It’s also worth pointing out that this machine does not ship with DVD playback software, which is something we’re used to seeing on competitors’ machines. If Puget doesn’t want to pay the licensing cost for PowerDVD or similar, it should install VLC on its machines, since that software can play DVDs and is freeware. Generally, though, DVD playback software comes bundled with most, if not all, video cards. Granted, this isn’t a media center PC nor was it requested that we wanted DVD playback on this system, but it was something extra that Puget could have done.
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We dont install PowerDVD, but what we do install is NvDVD, which is a great DVD playback software that comes with Nvidia video cards. You can see the "nVidia Corporation" folder in the Start menu in a screenshot of section 5: "First Boot".

No big deal, but I thought I'd point it out!
 
Thanks for dropping by. I'll admit my own ignorance here and say I've never even heard of this application for DVD watching, and I own an NVIDIA card. I didn't even know NVIDIA made such an application.

Sorry for the oversight. We'll get it fixed.
 
Hi Xiun - thanks for chiming in.

I'm actually very familiar with NvDVD - I was just on a conference call with NVIDIA about it yesterday! - but I completely missed seeing it when I was looking over the system and preparing for publish. Very much my mistake.

Well done. We'll bump the Multimedia score to reflect this.
 
Best wishes to you all at [H] Consumer/ Console. Some of the best articles I have read on the net.

You actually made the industry pay attention. May the spirit of your work live on. :cool:
 
Nice review, I like the fact that they will build your own custom PC. For people that know somewhat about PC parts but can't build one themselves or someone who may have a friend that could recommend some components and they could input those components into Pugets site and have them build the PC and provide tech support. Most of us who recommend PCs or build one for friends/family/etc more then likely do not have the time to troubleshoot/repair everyone of our friends home built PCs and etc so I think this is a good alternative. You can recommend good components but not have to deal with the tech support side of it. Pick the components you want, have them build it and be your tech support and you can leave your enthusiast friends alone! :p

Great job Puget, i'm glad to see some of the shortcomings from previous evaluations being rectified.

And I wish good luck to all of the [H]Consumer folks, best wishes to you in the future. I will miss these reviews, good or bad, it was always fun to read the reviews. Sometimes the bad ones were the best because of the bad tech support stories hehe.
 
Another great and in-depth computer review. Keep up the great work!!

And congrats to Puget, too!
 
Am I the only one here who thinks this should be highly recommended?

It's a great review, but after several reviews where companies seem to half ass things, it seems a little unfair that pudget misses out on the "highly recommended" mark for lower-than -average processor performance, which just seems to be a case of bad luck. Afterall, you're reviewing more than just the machine, but also the company, and after this review I cant help but think that Pudget more than deserves to be in the same catagory as Maingear, Velocity, and Anatech.
 
It was a very difficult decision for me. It came down to either completely devaluing our performance benchmarks, which have been used in every evaluation we've ever done, or taking them into consideration and having to punish Puget for the uncharacteristically low performance.

This would have been a very different story if the performance delta was only a few points. Without question, highly recommended. However, the performance difference was far beyond what we would call an acceptable standard deviation. Bottom line, if we credit OPC for being able to make computers faster, and punish Vigor for classically making computers slower, we couldn't morally exclude Puget from the same rubric.

This issue is usually a non-issue as computers generally perform up to the capabilities of their hardware, give or take a few points. In this case, that didn't happen. It wasn't an easy decision, as I would LOVE to see Puget totally nail an evaluation, but in the end, I think it was the right one.

That's not to say that we don't recommend Puget. In fact, the rating is exactly that - Recommended. I'm very glad that you read the article, and gathered enough information from it to form your own opinion of the company. That's what our program has always been about - empowering the reader with quality information to be able to make their own decisions on a purchase.
 
Hi Jason,

Thanks for the great review. The HardConsumer program has been a great one, and the insight it's given us is a major asset to our business. We'll miss you guys. I've always appreciated your consumer-based viewpoint, it's the point of view that I try hardest to keep, and sometimes it's the easiest to lose sight of.

The performance difference issue was nagging me all weekend. We all know that it's really unusual to get such a large performance gap between functioning systems with identical hardware. We don't install any bloatware, the OS is clean, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why our system was benching as much as 10% slower. I'm not familiar with WorldBench (we use 3DMark and PCMark for our benchmarking here in the shop). The three systems that you compared to ours in the review were all running WindowsXP, just like ours, I just don't understand how we could be benchmarking so much lower.

Anyhow, thanks again HardOCP. We're going to miss the system reviews. Your attention to detail and consumer-approach were unique in the industry. I hope you take it as a compliment when I say that your critical analysis has helped improve our business in more ways than I can count.

P.S. - I'd been lobbying for CD sleeves for the binders for a while now! I'm so glad you brought those up, you'll give me the leverage I need to finally have a crate of 'em ordered in. :D

Thanks,

Richard A. Millard
Director of Operations
Puget Custom Computers
--------------------------------------
[email protected]
www.pugetsystems.com
(425) 458-0273 x1000
--------------------------------------
 
I agree, great review!

I wonder whether anti-virus might be the explanation for the performance difference. Like Richard, I was racking my brain for a reason why our system might be slower. Check out the screenshots:

Puget, showing AVG running:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3ODA2ODM1OFJkSnJSM2hiZkZfNV84X2wuZ2lm

Maingear, no anti-virus:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3NjE5MzYyMUdWeGh4UUxXcUhfNV8yX2wuZ2lm

PC Club, no anti-virus:
http://consumer.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3MjA5NTU4ODNCNXpKZkkzS2lfNV8zX2wuZ2lm

Digital Storm, no anti-virus:
http://consumer.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE2NzY5MjY3NldIdnlRMUlpR0JfNV82X2wuZ2lm

I'm seeing a trend here :) I might have just overlooked it in the review, but are anti-virus programs turned off before you do your benchmarks? Just looking for a reason we're lower in performance!

Jon Bach - President
Puget Custom Computers
------------------------------------
http://www.pugetsystems.com
[email protected]
(425) 458-0273 x1003
------------------------------------
 
pugetsys said:
I agree, great review!

I wonder whether anti-virus might be the explanation for the performance difference. Like Richard, I was racking my brain for a reason why our system might be slower. Check out the screenshots:

Puget, showing AVG running:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3ODA2ODM1OFJkSnJSM2hiZkZfNV84X2wuZ2lm

Maingear, no anti-virus:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3NjE5MzYyMUdWeGh4UUxXcUhfNV8yX2wuZ2lm

PC Club, no anti-virus:
http://consumer.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE3MjA5NTU4ODNCNXpKZkkzS2lfNV8zX2wuZ2lm

Digital Storm, no anti-virus:
http://consumer.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTE2NzY5MjY3NldIdnlRMUlpR0JfNV82X2wuZ2lm

I'm seeing a trend here :) I might have just overlooked it in the review, but are anti-virus programs turned off before you do your benchmarks? Just looking for a reason we're lower in performance!

Jon Bach - President
Puget Custom Computers
------------------------------------
http://www.pugetsystems.com
[email protected]
(425) 458-0273 x1003
------------------------------------
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just because you mentioned that and i have AVG, ill run some quick fraps benchmarks in far cry and see if it makes a difference :D
 
Thanks! I'll be interested to see it, but I don't think AVG will make much difference in gaming. It was in WorldBench 5 and video encoding in Premere Elements that the review found a performance difference.
 
$2031.00?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

Are you kidding me?

chipfast.com has much better systems for $400+ less than that, plus a nicer case.

That just seems overpriced imo...
 
Uh, What? You're getting a custom computer, great support, made by and for enthuiests. And your prices are at least a bit off, seeing how it's price when it was purchased

Pay attention to what you're saying before you say it :rolleyes:
 
pugetsys said:
Thanks! I'll be interested to see it, but I don't think AVG will make much difference in gaming. It was in WorldBench 5 and video encoding in Premere Elements that the review found a performance difference.
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Actually, you'd be surprised :p

all things being equal save AVG, running the same route through the treehouse level in far cry for 60 seconds (everything maxed, HDR at 11 :p ) the average WITHOUT AVG was 43.8, WITH AVG it was 38.8 (same route, getting shot at at roughly the same time, finishing with me staring at them shooting at me)

dont have world bench though :p

tnu5 said:
$2031.00?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

Are you kidding me?

chipfast.com has much better systems for $400+ less than that, plus a nicer case.

That just seems overpriced imo...
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are you crazy? with that 400 dollars cheaper system, you get a slower CPU, REALLY crappy ram, and a REALLY crappy by comparison case, and no soundcard. and i doubt the support is even half as good as Puget's
 
That's fascinating. We've always thought that AVG did not interfere with performance - that's why we like it (besides it being free). We've never seen overt evidence of it, but perhaps there's a first time for everything.

For the CPU benchmarking, however, I always tell my guys to disable/uninstall the AV software. This goes back to McAfee and Norton, but we've also seen PC-cillin have a huge effect. So, as a blanket rule, I tell them to uninstall it.

I don't know for sure that this happened on this evaluation, but even if it didn't, the fact that AVG would case such a significant discrepancy is disturbing to me as an AVG user.
 
PCC-Richard said:
P.S. - I'd been lobbying for CD sleeves for the binders for a while now! I'm so glad you brought those up, you'll give me the leverage I need to finally have a crate of 'em ordered in. :D
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Hey, however we can help, buddy :).
 
Jason_Wall said:
That's fascinating. We've always thought that AVG did not interfere with performance - that's why we like it (besides it being free). We've never seen overt evidence of it, but perhaps there's a first time for everything.

For the CPU benchmarking, however, I always tell my guys to disable/uninstall the AV software. This goes back to McAfee and Norton, but we've also seen PC-cillin have a huge effect. So, as a blanket rule, I tell them to uninstall it.

I don't know for sure that this happened on this evaluation, but even if it didn't, the fact that AVG would case such a significant discrepancy is disturbing to me as an AVG user.
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run some tests really quick with and without the CC running and see if you notice a difference. (gotta be somthing a little more stressful than far cry for you :p )
 
It might be a while before I can get to it, but I'll see if I can post something by tomorrow.
 
WorldBench is still running, but I did the Adobe Premiere Elements benchmark again.

If you recall from the article, it was 58 minutes to encode. I retested it tonight.

With AVG, it was 58 minutes.
Without AVG, it was 58 minutes.

I'm running WB for the hell of it, but the Adobe test in itself is pretty telling. Stay tuned.
 
how did it go? heres to hoping we figure out whats so nutty.

do you guys still have the puget machine in? or is it a very similar build?
 
Same machine.

First run of WB finished, running it again without AVG. Will post results later.
 
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