Velocity Micro Gamer's Edge 1500 Evaluation - Take 2 - @ [H]

I agree, you should have returned this thing at the first sign of damage. For UPS to say it's damaged, then have these problems right out of the box, it clearly must have taken quite a shot in shipping. No way to test for that during assembly, is there?

Get them to build you a new system and quite trying to make a good system from what UPS did.
 
sounds like shipping damage to me. I agree with Happy Jack - I would have sent it back straight out and get them to fix it. I've seen how shippers throw around boxes. For them to call it shipping damage, the problems must have been pretty severe. But it does look like Vm tried to make everything better.

As for onsite repairs. Using local technicians is part of the game. Can you imagine how incredibly expensive it would be to have VM techs living in 50 different states, ready at a moment's notice to go out on a call? The only companies that can afford to do that are the huge players like Dell and IBM and I think they only do that for business clients. - I take that back. I just learned that everyone outsources. Even those guys.

But mostly they're a good option for small repairs you wouldn't feel comfortable doing yourself. I'd hate to be without my system for a week, just cause I had to send it back to the factory for a new floppy drive.

but in your case, jjh, I'd send it back and get them to build you a new system.
 
The technician comes, installs the new motherboard

At least you got a tech to come replace it. My MOBO went bad on my Vision GX, they sent the board (used), after three calls to Velocity support asking when will the service tech call, I said the hell with it and put the board in myself.
After I install it, my windows authentication code will no longer work as it tells me something to the effect there have been too many changes to the config, and I have to call Microsoft for a new code. This was a one week old system and now my recovery disks are worth nothing. VM support told me, yes if you ever have to do a recovery, the disks are now useless, you'll need to contact Microsoft for a new Authentication code. Nice.
 
First, I'd like to confirm that the service technicians were in fact from a third-party / agency.

Second, about the shipping damage -- Yes, I am sure my PC got bounced around a bit during shipment. There was visible damage to the box. However, there was no physical damage to the case itself, and all of the packaging surrounding the PC was OK. Obviously, if there had been physical damage to the case itself I would have not accepted it. Why my PC was not delivered on Friday due to "damaged in transit" but delivered on Monday is probably something only UPS can answer. Velocity claims that they were never contacted by UPS and did not have anything to do with it being delivered / not being delivered. I have no reason to doubt Velocity on this.

As far as the components being damaged in shipping, I don't know about that. Obviously, the heat sink fan did fall off during shipping. I don't mean to suggest that Velocity sends out PCs with fans dangling from the heat sink. Actually, seeing how the heat sink fan is attached to the heat sink, I don't see how this could be prevented from occuring. It seems to me it could come loose very easily, even without a lot of bouncing around during transit.

As far as the memory goes, I think it is pretty unlikely that memory would go bad as a result of rough handling. And, regarding the position of the drive in the drive bay (which was the reason for the drive not appearing to work), I think it is very unlikely that the drive moved during shipping. After all, the drive can be secured to the drive bay with four screws. If the drive was installed correctly from the start, and secrely held in positon in the drive bay, I don't see how it can move during shipping.

My gut feeling is that the memory and the drive were bad from the start, and my machine was not tested, or more correctly, the memory and the functionality of the drive were not tested thoroughly to reveal these problems. I do however, concede that there is the possiblity that both of these occurred as a result of shipping (but I don't think it is very likely).

Regarding the instructions for disabling the sound card: I was actually glad Velocity included instructions for the technician to disable the onboard. True, a technician should know to do that, but I mentioned it because it illustrates all the things / settings not changed by the technician. Velocity claims to "tweak" the system; ie., configure it using optimal settings. If this were true, why wasn't the technician given more instructions for configuring settings, particularly BIOS settings. If the BIOS is left to the default settings, I really don't see how Velcocity can claim to tweak settings. They're are just the defaults.

Right now, aside from reset button not working, my PC works. And, I think the technician just wired the Reset button to the wrong location on the mobo. So, I am good (I think). Well, I also was promised a free game, and that hasn't come, but, oh well.

I guess I had seen some questions from people regarding building their own systems or buying from a system builder. The purpose of my post(s) is to suggest that these people build their own.
 
sbowen2 said:
The technician comes, installs the new motherboard

At least you got a tech to come replace it. My MOBO went bad on my Vision GX, they sent the board (used), after three calls to Velocity support asking when will the service tech call, I said the hell with it and put the board in myself.
After I install it, my windows authentication code will no longer work as it tells me something to the effect there have been too many changes to the config, and I have to call Microsoft for a new code. This was a one week old system and now my recovery disks are worth nothing. VM support told me, yes if you ever have to do a recovery, the disks are now useless, you'll need to contact Microsoft for a new Authentication code. Nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah.... Windows XP is seeing your PC as a "different PC," a method they use to safeguard from people re-using their OS. I have heard that most upgrades are OK, but the MOBO change can cause you grief. You should be OK after you get the new code.
 
jjh said:
As far as the memory goes, I think it is pretty unlikely that memory would go bad as a result of rough handling. And, regarding the position of the drive in the drive bay (which was the reason for the drive not appearing to work), I think it is very unlikely that the drive moved during shipping. After all, the drive can be secured to the drive bay with four screws. If the drive was installed correctly from the start, and secrely held in positon in the drive bay, I don't see how it can move during shipping.
Click to expand...
If the system took a heavy enough shot in transit to knock off the CPU fan, the mobo could certainly be injured enough to cause the memory to fail, and the floppy could shift enough to not fit perfectly. I know that it's common for PC companies to save a BIOS so that when you click "reset to BIOS default" that it goes back to a configuration they stored on it, not the one ASUS began with. Also, the floppy has to be used to instal SATA drivers during the build process, which is why they even include it still, so it had to work at some point. (I learned this when I was screwing around with mine and had to call for help) I think your conspiracy theory that the system was not tested is off base, looking at this objectively.

Why didn't you just ask them to replace it? They probably still would even now.
 
jjh and sbowden,

I'm certainly very sorry to her about the troubles you both are experiencing, and will do anything possible to help you both. jjh, I promise you your system was indeed tested thoroughly prior to shipping, as every system here is fully tested and burned in as part of our assembly methodology. We don't have assembly lines, and each system is hand built by a single system builder and then tested by three different people. I am positive your system took quite a hit to have the fan fall off, and it could easily have hurt the motherboard in that process, too. We'd be glad to return your system here and build you an all new PC you can have confidence in. Just let our tech support department know. I don't have your order information to get the specifics, but I'd offer this to any customer who has been through this.

Randy
 
Randy,
Thank you for your message. I am not trying to be argumentative, but I can't help but wonder why my system had to receive a "big hit" to knock the fan off the CPU, when this very same occurence (the fan coming loose from the CPU) is documented in the Hard Forum review. From the Gamer's Edge 1500 Evaluation Take 2 reivew at Hard Forum:

"We opened up the side panel to see the CPU fan dangling free from the heatsink."

Then later in the review:

"We called up Velocity Micro about this and the tech immediately knew the problem – luckily, it has a simple fix. Just press the fan back onto the four rubber gaskets. We asked the tech if this happened often, and he said that it was “beginning to.”

And, to clarify, my original motherboard was not damaged. I was able to isolate the memory problem to one 512k stick. When I used the other 512k stick by itself, or when I used it together with another 512k stick I took from another PC, everything ran okay, and there were no memory problems. And, even on the bad memory stick, it would only exhibit errors after the machine had been on for some time. So, my machine and mobo ran fine when I didn't use the bad memory stick. Velocity tech support only thought the motherboard was bad because of the inability to get the floppy drive to work correctly.

I also don't see how, if the drive had been securely fastened to the drive bay and positioned correctly, it could have moved in such a way as to have the eject button pushed down, preventing disks from being read. I would think there would have to be evidence of a great force or stress: the drive bay actually twisted or damaged; the drive bent or damaged, screws bent or warped, etc. I observed none of these things.

Not to be disresptectul, but I am still going to believe my system was not thoroughly tested. I believe my memory was bad from the start. I also believe my disk drive was improperly installed from the start. Although I cannot definitely rule out that these things occured during shipping, to me it still seems very unlikely.

And, as I said in a previous post, except for the fact that my reset button is not wired correctly, everthing now appears to be ok. I really don't want to have to wait for a new system to be built just for that. I do appreciate the gesture, however.

Regarding Happy Jack's comment about the system BIOS being unique for Velocity: I downloaded the manual for the mobo from the Asus Web site. It appears as though all of the menus and commands are the same. And, like I said earlier, when the technicians installed the replacement mobos they left everything at default values, except for disabling the onboard sound because I have a soundcard.
 
Hi jjh,

You have the advantage of facts, and I'm only speculating since I don't know any details of your order. If you'd like to send me a private message (my email is below in my sig) with your specific order info I can look into it deeper. The one thing I can say is that I'm sorry your had these problems, and we are ready to do whatever to make you comfortable with this system. No questions asked!

I know for sure on our end that your system was fully tested and QC'd because that's the only way each system ships. I'm in no position to speculate what happened to the RAM, but it does sometimes test fine in house and then not work correctly after shipping. I deeply regret the problem, and hope you are back up for years to come.

As for the CPU fan, since December we now use clear adhesive on the rubber posts to nearly eliminate the fans from falling off in shipping, and while it still happens in a very few cases, it is not like the problem we had last fall. We love the rubber posts ability to reduce noise coming from the fan, but we can only use a soft adhesive to lock it in place for shipping or else it will no longer have the floating properties we designed in originally.

Bottom line, I'm very sorry you had a bumpy experience, and will take this forum post back to our support team to find ways to improve our process, especially with the onsite tech. We are always ready to help solve the problem in the manner that's easiest for you.

Best,
Randy
(sig line is missing, so: [email protected])
 
Randy,
Thanks for your post and concern. I have been e-mailed by Heather who has made an offer to send my system back for a rebuild and some upgrades at no additional charge.
This is my 4th system from the company in a few years and it's why I came there in the first place, quality and a product that the company stands behind.
As soon as Heather gets with me tomorrow, I'll be boxing it up and sending it back.
Thank You again Randy for caring and following up. I'll be spending my money with your company for some time to come.
 
Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I felt compelled to post this response to my previous post concerning my MOBO dying in the Vision-GX and me having to replace it myself. I asked for permission from VM Customer Care prior to posting. I am taking them up on this most generous offer. Thanks again Heather.



Stephen,

I saw your post in response to a disgruntled customer on the HardOCP forums. I’m sorry you had such an unpleasant experience. Did we exchange your A8NVM board for an A8N-SLI?

If we did not, I’m offering to bring your system in and upgrade your motherboard for no additional cost, and while it’s here, we can create a new restore DVD for your system. I certainly don’t want your experience to be negative, and since you have been a wonderful customer over the years, we will do whatever is required to make you happy.


Once again, I’m sorry all the trouble you’ve been through.

Thanks,

________________________________________________

Heather Taylor
Customer Care Coordinator
Velocity Micro - Ultra Performance PCs
Experience speed for the first time!
www.VelocityMicro.com
T - 804-897-6166 x225
F - 804-897-4777
TF - 800-303-7866
 
Sounds like this company really knows what it's doing. I applaud Vm for standing by their products and even posting on this forum, which can be pretty hard on folks. I thought their CEO did a nice job in explaining his position and his understanding of the systems' problems. This guy clearly has some experience in tech and isn't just some hot shot exec who's never touched a computer.

It's much easier to flame a company than to give it a chance - I'm glad some people on here are taking the effort.
 
I'd just like to post and say I also received a VM pc recently. In all the excitement I didn't go and post a thread here on the OEM boards for it once I got it, but I got it in late March, around the 22nd or so.

It's been running absolutely perfect since I got it (hope im not jinxing myself) it's cool, and it's fast, I was impressed with how every single driver was up to date, for every piece of hardware. The system was built very clean and not loaded with garbage.

The only complaint I had was the wiring, I've never had a PC built by someone else before and when I initially spoke to Chip about wanting to install an IDE HDD in there after they sent the PC to me, he said I should inform them in the comments about this so they can do the wiring to accomodate it. But after I spoke to someone else they said not to worry about it basically, low and behold I had /serious/ issues trying to get the IDE drive in with how tightly kept the wiring was.

Also I ordered the rounded IDE cables because I didn't want ribbons, but they didn't provide any extra ones for use of any additional IDE devices I might have, they just wired whatever I had pre-configured that was in IDE with the rounded cables.

All of these are pretty much nitpicks, the system is great and I love it, but I think they should have a little questionaire when you order a system that asks you if you will be installing an additional drive, what interface, etc, so they can accomodate the wiring for that!

I wish I had a digital cam so I could take pictures of the rig and make a thread, the interesting thing is how it matches the rest of my equipment in terms of color. My monitor is silver/black and so are my Logitech i-Trigue speakers, as well as the VM case. (All the exact same shades) My Logitech Elite keyboard as well. It looks pretty nice, like the PC came with all this stuff. (The monitor, kb, speakers are stuff from my old rig)

Oh I did have one extra problem -- the ASUS A8N-32 SLI has 2 network adapters on board, a Marvell and a NVIDIA one, but neither of them let me connect to the net, I had to use my old ethernet card from the old pc. So its taking up a PCI slot which sucks... A friend told me it might be because my connection is bound to the MAC address on the ethernet card, so maybe its not a problem with the board but something I need to call my ISP for.

Oh by the way -- the expanded cases are ginormous.

System specs for the curious:

ASUS A8N-32 SLI Mobo
AMD 64 X2 4800+ CPU
2GB Mushkin PC3200 RAM (2x1024)
Double Cold Cathode Light kit
LXe-W Black case (Their expanded case, windowed, black)
600w Enermax Noisetaker PSU
2 eVGA 7900GT's in SLI (OC'd by me to 550/1600)
150GB Raptor 10000RPM main drive (30gb partition for windows)
300GB WD Storage
XP Pro

That's basically it. Runs like a beast. I think I got something like 8000 in 3dmark06, can't really slow it down too much even with Oblivion going. (I FRAPS while I play and still maintain 30+fps on max settings 1600x1200 too)

Not gloating -- just trying to stand by the fact they make some good quality systems, that do run fast, and reliable. I highly recommend them for anyone looking to buy boutique. I sure know I /will/ be going back to them for any new PCs in the future, thats a fact.
 
Svengali said:
I the ASUS A8N-32 SLI has 2 network adapters on board, a Marvell and a NVIDIA one, but neither of them let me connect to the net, I had to use my old ethernet card from the old pc. So its taking up a PCI slot which sucks... A friend told me it might be because my connection is bound to the MAC address on the ethernet card, so maybe its not a problem with the board but something I need to call my ISP for.
.
Click to expand...

Could be if you have a router that you need to release/renew several times with your new NIC connected to the net alone with no router connected for the ISP to see the new NIC's mac addy then hook back up to the router. Before you do that it's usually good to power down the router and modem and let it sit for a minute then power back up the modem alone and hook your new NIC up to it and release/renew (sometimes takes a while). Additionally depending on the router brand and interface you have to reset the router too and clone the new mac address into the router's interface.
 
Svengali,

You may have already done this, I assume you are on a cable modem (?)...

power down system, power down modem (wait 10 seconds or so), connect cable to ethernet port (nvidia), power up modem, wait for a few minutes, then power up system. As Zone_86 stated, you need to synch your modem to the mac address of the new system. This is the process I used to get my new VM with the same mobo.
 
wahoogeek said:
Svengali,

You may have already done this, I assume you are on a cable modem (?)...

power down system, power down modem (wait 10 seconds or so), connect cable to ethernet port (nvidia), power up modem, wait for a few minutes, then power up system. As Zone_86 stated, you need to synch your modem to the mac address of the new system. This is the process I used to get my new VM with the same mobo.
Click to expand...

Wow that actually worked, thanks so much. I really appreciate it!

Wewt now I have a spare PCI slot! *splurges on a PPU*
 
I was looking into getting a PC from Velocity Micro. I noticed last month that there was a discount offer along with some games, but there doesn't seem to be any offers anymore. Any word on when a new offers will be out?
 
buji said:
I was looking into getting a PC from Velocity Micro. I noticed last month that there was a discount offer along with some games, but there doesn't seem to be any offers anymore. Any word on when a new offers will be out?
Click to expand...

You do get FREE shipping. That's quite a good offer :p They do bundle some games, and usually seem to have some sort of monthly offer.
 
buji said:
I was looking into getting a PC from Velocity Micro. I noticed last month that there was a discount offer along with some games, but there doesn't seem to be any offers anymore. Any word on when a new offers will be out?
Click to expand...

We always have something fun to throw in like free shipping or instant coupons, so please check our site for the latest offers. (I'd dive in deeper but don't want this to be an advertisement.) Also, call your order in and ask the sales consultant for any free games that can be thrown in, and they should usually be able to hook you up with something. Be sure to tell them you read this on [H]!
 
Velocity_Micro said:
We always have something fun to throw in like free shipping or instant coupons, so please check our site for the latest offers. (I'd dive in deeper but don't want this to be an advertisement.) Also, call your order in and ask the sales consultant for any free games that can be thrown in, and they should usually be able to hook you up with something. Be sure to tell them you read this on [H]!
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, how many systems do you (VM) sell/ship on a monthly basis?
 
jon67 said:
Just out of curiosity, how many systems do you (VM) sell/ship on a monthly basis?
Click to expand...
My sales rep told me he couldn't/shouldn't officially say and didn't know the exact numbers, but that it was well more than 1000 per month, and that was back before the BB thing really started. I'd be curious to know this too.
 
No doubt they read this religiously. best reviews out there - good way for them to learn up on the competition.

sneaky
 
Being a private company, I'm not particularly interested in letting my competition know EXACTLY what we are doing, but it's safe to say Happy's info is at least in the ballpark. I can tell the readers of this forum that we are nearing completion of a new 34,000 square foot facility in Richmond, VA that could support our growth needs up to 4400+ units per month. An additional 24,000 feet of space may come on line when needed, as early as November 2007.

The new facility will house our entire integrated operation, including manufacturing, tech support and depot repairs, R&D, warehousing, sales, and the business operations. I'll post pictures in the coming weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks!
 
Velocity_Micro said:
Being a private company, I'm not particularly interested in letting my competition know EXACTLY what we are doing, but it's safe to say Happy's info is at least in the ballpark. I can tell the readers of this forum that we are nearing completion of a new 34,000 square foot facility in Richmond, VA that could support our growth needs up to 4400+ units per month. An additional 24,000 feet of space may come on line when needed, as early as November 2007.

The new facility will house our entire integrated operation, including manufacturing, tech support and depot repairs, R&D, warehousing, sales, and the business operations. I'll post pictures in the coming weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Whoa! That's bigger than I even thought! Very nice. When do the factory tours start?
 
Velocity_Micro said:
The new facility will house our entire integrated operation, including manufacturing, tech support and depot repairs, R&D, warehousing, sales, and the business operations. I'll post pictures in the coming weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Please do!
 
Velocity_Micro said:
The new facility will house our entire integrated operation, including manufacturing, tech support and depot repairs, R&D, warehousing, sales, and the business operations. I'll post pictures in the coming weeks if anyone is interested. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! We'd love to see what VM is up to.
 
sounds very cool. I think this must be an [h] first. I like how open this company is - I don't think many other builders would be willing to show pictures of their facilities. Not sure if this is smart business-wise, but it sounds like a great opportunity for folks here to see more about how the industry works. please do post pictures.
 
lovemyPC said:
sounds very cool. I think this must be an [h] first. I like how open this company is - I don't think many other builders would be willing to show pictures of their facilities. Not sure if this is smart business-wise, but it sounds like a great opportunity for folks here to see more about how the industry works. please do post pictures.
Click to expand...

Im sure anything that they consider a trade secrt will have to be removed from pictures.
 
Congrats, Kangaroo. After our PM's, I am glad to see you've got everything together. You will be very happy, especially if something does go wrong. Please post your specs and pix.
 
Here's the latest update on the GE 1500 - We have now upgraded the motherboard to the Asus M2N SLI with either 3800+ or 4200+ AMD socket AM2 processors, and Corsair DDR2 memory is now standard. Leadtime is still 10 days.
 
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