My new AVA..about to order

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jybgess

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GAMING PC, Core 2 DDR2 Gaming System $1422.16
INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E8400 Dual-Core, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
XIGMATEK, XP-S964 CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink, Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2, 92mm Fan, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
ARCTIC SILVER, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver
SERVICE, No CPU Overclocking
GIGABYTE, GA-P35-DS3L, LGA775, Intel P35, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1066 8GB /4, PCIe x16, SATA 3Gb/s /4, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail
G.SKILL, 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
eVGA, e-GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 650MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1900MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV/S-Video Out, Retail
SERVICE, No GPU Overclocking
SEAGATE, 320GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II 300MB/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache
RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
LINKSKEY, LKA-CR15BW Black/White 52-in-1 Card Reader/Writer Drive, 3.5" Bay, Internal USB
LITE-ON, LH-20A1L Black/Beige 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ LightScribe, SATA, Retail
THERMALTAKE, Tsunami Dream Silver Tower Case, ATX, No PSU,
CUSTOM WIRING, Standard Wiring with Round Cables
CORSAIR, CMPSU-750TX TX Series Power Supply, 750W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Multi-GPU Ready
MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64-bit, OEM
SERVICE, OEM System Recovery (secure HDD partition only)
SERVICE, System Binder
GAMING PC, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
SERVICE, Standard Shipping (UPS, DHL, or Fedex)

Total price is $1422.16
Any suggestions? I would like to keep the total under $1,500. I will not overclock and I already have a Monitor, mouse etc.
The computer will be used for gaming, and internet use most of the time. Thankyou
 
AVA is a good choice.

I was actually just configuring a system for about $1500 on their site and this is what i came up with:

TOTAL PRICE = $1389.92

INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E8400 Dual-Core, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache, 45nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
XIGMATEK, HDT-S1283 CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink, Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2, 120mm Fan, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
ARCTIC SILVER, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver
SERVICE, No CPU Overclocking
GIGABYTE, GA-P35-DS3L, LGA775, Intel P35, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1066 8GB /4, PCIe 16, SATA 3Gb/s /4, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail
G.SKILL, 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
XFX, GeForce® 8800 GTS 650MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1.94GHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV-Out, Retail
SERVICE, No GPU Overclocking
SEAGATE, 500GB Barracuda 7200.11, SATA NCQ 3 GB/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache
RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster™ SH-S203B Black 20x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, w/ Software, OEM
COOLERMASTER, CM 690 Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, SECC, SLI Certified
CUSTOM WIRING, Standard Wiring with Round Cables
CORSAIR, CMPSU-620HX HX Series Modular Power Supply, 620W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Triple +12V, Multi-GPU Ready
WINDOWS Vista Home Premium Edition 64-bit, OEM
SERVICE, OEM System Recovery (secure HDD partition only)
SERVICE, System Binder
GAMING PC, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
SERVICE, Standard Shipping (UPS, DHL, or Fedex)

you can see i have chosen a smaller power supply (corsair) and a larger and newer HD. i dropped down to the CoolerMaster case and dropped the floppy/media card reader (but you can add that back if you need it). and the hsf is upgraded as well. for an extra buck i would look into going with the AS MX-2 instead of AS5 (i think the mx-2 is a bit better but not sure tbh). i would also pay a bit more and get the system recovery on a disk instead of the secure hdd partition

good luck with whatever you purchase

EDIT: whoops...chose the wrong video card...FIXED
 
Is AVA really a good choice?

I really am looking into them - they have all the options I want at an outstanding price. I see their reputation is good (so I hear!) and they have some awards.

I just need a little more reassurance before I go ahead and make my purchase.

Anyone else with experience buying from AVA?!
 
jybgess said:
GAMING PC, Core 2 DDR2 Gaming System $1422.16
... Any suggestions? I would like to keep the total under $1,500. I will not overclock and I already have a Monitor, mouse etc.
Click to expand...

About the only changes I would make would be:

1. Replace the Seagate 320GB HDD with a Western Digital 320GB HDD. The new WD's use a 320GB platter and are really fast.
2. If you want a quieter DVD drive, get the Samsung 203N, it's only a couple dollars more.
3. The Corsair CMPSU-750TX is a great PSU, although probably more than you need. You could drop down to the 620W and still have enough power for future upgrades.
4. You didn't mention the size of your monitor, so I can't really comment on the video card much except to say that if your monitor is 24" (1920 x 1200) you should consider moving up to the 8800 GTS.
 
Zetherin said:
Is AVA really a good choice?
Click to expand...

Yes :)

Two of my friends, and my father, have purchased computers from AVA Direct, and they are all very happy with their computers. I configured the computer my father purchased, working with Joe at AVA to get a video card that wasn't listed in their web site config at the time. I will be purchasing a new computer from AVA for myself in a few months.
 
I've been seeing a lot of these AVA purchase threads lately and notice that they say no overclocking. Is that something they don't support at all or do you have to buy that as an option.
 
over clocking is free for a limited period of time right now, check the forums for details. But regularly they offer it but you have to buy it as an option.
 
WhiteGuardian said:
over clocking is free for a limited period of time right now, check the forums for details. But regularly they offer it but you have to buy it as an option.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I have to admit the prices are very good. I wonder how they do it.
 
heatlesssun said:
Thanks for the info. I have to admit the prices are very good. I wonder how they do it.
Click to expand...

The gaming computers are only one facet of their company. They also have a business division and government division. With the amount of parts they purchase, they get very low prices.
 
WhiteGuardian said:
over clocking is free for a limited period of time right now, check the forums for details. But regularly they offer it but you have to buy it as an option.
Click to expand...

On the website it still charges you for the overclocking.

Do you have to call them up to get the free overclocking?
 
yes, in the forums there are special deals. The overclocking are call in orders only, which you should do anyway. I would not settle on a configuration without talking to them first. Overclocking will take a bit longer to get your system ready tho, they test it for stability and make sure that it's safe.
 
WhiteGuardian said:
yes, in the forums there are special deals. The overclocking are call in orders only, which you should do anyway. I would not settle on a configuration without talking to them first. Overclocking will take a bit longer to get your system ready tho, they test it for stability and make sure that it's safe.
Click to expand...

How much longer are we talking here? Cause I was just planning to do it myself anyway.
 
Virtualarc7 said:
the whole month of may i believe
Click to expand...

I actually meant how much longer additional build time does overclocking on their end take, but I got the answer from checking out the forums: It's about an additional 24 hours for them to test it and whatnot.
 
AVA is definitely a great choice. I just had my system delivered a few days ago and wrote a post about them. You can search by my name. It did take like three weeks which is kinda tough to wait when you're excited about a new pc, but it was worth it. They do an excellent job.
 
If I was you I would look at another maker. I am currently in a year and a half long nightmare with AVA direct. I bought a computer a year and half back. So far its eatten AT LEAST 6 vid cards(8800gtx) 5 sets of corsair ram( 3 9136speeds and 3 8500 speeds) and 3 mobos. Its become obvious to me that something is wrong with the computer. All the seem willing to do is to keep replacing those same 3 parts over and over. Well guess what 2-3months and I get another failure if that long.

To be fair AVA direct has done some nice things for me in all this... They paid all the shipping. They did give me 200$ software and some other things. They also told me last time I posted about all this that if I left post they wouldnt fix my computer.... Look at my posts you will see one that I deleted recently. I have emails to back myself up too. Everytime we talk their attitude is crap happens sorry you had bad luck... Not sure why you are unhappy we fix it dont we.... I might be happy if the problem was fixed.

Now I basically have a $4200 brick I am going to have to take to someone so that MAYBE we can find out what it is thats causeing things to burn out so that we can replace that and fix the computer.
 
Well that sucks but to be honest every manufacturer has its problems..choose one you think is best for you and go from there!
 
AVA direct
AVA
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

There's the key: Just don't combine the two words. LMAO.
 
I just received my Ava Direct rig last week...and I'm happy to say it's working beautifully. :D
 
Good news CTT3 pray it doesnt fail or your opinion will change rapidly
 
I do not and have never worked for maingear or any other computer maker. Go with AVA but be prepared for a nightmare if you need service. They dont stock parts and its become obvious they learned computer repair the wrong way. They dont know how to find the cause of a failure they just think that replacing the failed part is enough.
 
maingear said themselves that resellerratings "means nothing". you also have to put into account that AVA sells so many more computers than other boutiques, and reseller has like 5 dissatisfied customers and most were from 2005.
 
If AVA direct is threating no warranty support for other people like they did with me that might account for the lack of complaints. I have email proof that they were going to deny me service if I didnt delete a complaint thread here. Just look at my posts you will see a thread I couldnt delete totally and I have posted another thread where I cut and paste the emails in question. If anyone cares I can foward you a couple pretty damning emails from AVA.
 
How do they know who you are when you are posting on resellerratings if you simply use a different user name than you register with here or on AVA's site?
 
kodan said:
Good news CTT3 pray it doesnt fail or your opinion will change rapidly
Click to expand...

To be honest I know of 5 people who have ordered from AVA over the past 2-3 years. Some of which had some issues that required tech support. I spoke with each of them prior to ordering with AVA and all of them raved about their rigs and interactions with AVA.

Sorry you had such a bad experience with AVA.
 
After hearing kodan's story and seeing those e-mails, it really has deterred me from ever choosing AVA. I mean, I've seen bad customer service before, but the way Misha spoke to him was astonishing. He spoke laxed as if he was talking to a buddy friend of his, and then turned the whole story around on the customer, even threatening and insulting at points. Usually a customer service rep. will at least respond professionally, even if they aren't helpful (which would make it a bad experience!) This isn't just a bad experience, it's sickening.

In AVA's defense, one of the other reps Chris seemed to respond more professionally, but when Misha spoke...wow.
 
billy269 said:
How do they know who you are when you are posting on resellerratings if you simply use a different user name than you register with here or on AVA's site?
Click to expand...

You must list a valid order number to post a review.
 
WhiteGuardian said:
maingear said themselves that resellerratings "means nothing". you also have to put into account that AVA sells so many more computers than other boutiques, and reseller has like 5 dissatisfied customers and most were from 2005.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that RR means nothing, despite what integrators say. I would say that 5 reviews isn't necessarily a good sampling, but 500 would be a better indicator.

I'm not sure why you think that AVA sells more systems than other boutiques, but that is incorrect. Even if it was accurate, that's not really an excuse for providing less than acceptable service for all of its customers.

The situation with Kodan is truly a tragedy for the amount of money he paid. I'm saddened to see that the situation was not brought to a mutually beneficial close.
 
I am in no way defending or promoting ava but you have to keep in mind every company is going to have dissatisfied customers, its bound to happen. Most companies are going to have a bad rep or two, it takes time for a pattern of cases to develop before someone can be fired. Don't judge a company by a single customers experience on a single forum. As another poster has mentioned the relatively low rating count isn't much to go by.
 
boomhower said:
I am in no way defending or promoting ava but you have to keep in mind every company is going to have dissatisfied customers, its bound to happen. Most companies are going to have a bad rep or two, it takes time for a pattern of cases to develop before someone can be fired. Don't judge a company by a single customers experience on a single forum. As another poster has mentioned the relatively low rating count isn't much to go by.
Click to expand...

While this is true, isn't Misha one of the head reps? I constantly hear of him, and he refers to the company as 'his', so I assume he has a close affiliation with AVA. If he is the head rep, I do believe it may be a reflection of the company. If he isn't and just some new associate, he should he reprimanded immediately or fired.

Again, the thing i'm holding against AVA isn't that his computer broke down, I understand this happens. It's the way he was spoken to. The threats, the insults, and lack of care that Misha, the one dealing with him, showed. Again, I don't just view this as a bad experience and I'd suggest you read those e-mails kodan put up to see what I'm talking about.
If Misha is the head rep., there is a good chance many other people with unlucky situations may be directed to him! And noone wants to be directed to someone that speaks like that to a customer.
 
Zetherin said:
While this is true, isn't Misha one of the head reps? I constantly hear of him, and he refers to the company as 'his', so I assume he has a close affiliation with AVA. If he is the head rep, I do believe it may be a reflection of the company. If he isn't and just some new associate, he should he reprimanded immediately or fired.
Click to expand...

Misha is the CEO.
 
DNA_Doc said:
Misha is the CEO.
Click to expand...

Then it boils down to this in my eyes:

A.) Kodan wrote all those e-mails himself in a bitter attempt to get back at a company that has failed to deliver him a working computer
B.) Misha is one of the worst CEO's I've ever encountered in my life, and leads a company that seems to approve of threats and insults.

A doesn't seem to hold that true, as kodan showed me the majority of the e-mails and they seem legit.

That leaves B.
 
I admit guys I am disgruntled atm... no doubt about it I am mad. I spent $4200 on a box that eats vid cards ram and mobos like candy. Its had this problem since I bought it. I think anyone in my situation would be livid and honestly I put up with the situation far longer than I ever should have but I am a nice guy like that. I am glad that other people arent having issues but I know alot have had them.

Hell even one of the best threads going for them where that one guy spent 8 or ten grand on his comp ended badly and he didnt ever even get a full refund. Look at the last page there he said after all the hassles all he ever got was a partial refund. Hell I wish they would offer me a partial refund and I would take it.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169021
 
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