Need info on cyberpower

[therightstuff]

I'm in the market for a new PC. I am pondering building my own (first time ) or a prebuilt from FOX Technology or cyberpower. I have did a few configuration builds with cyberpower with some good results with price. I have read mixed reviews on CP PCs.

Could someone point out the good and bad points.

FYI...Been buying Dells for the last 10 years and just can't justify another PC that can't be upgraded.

Things I would like to know> quality of parts,BIOS unlocked,upgradability etc...

Thanks.

 

[hunter315]

As long as you specify which parts the quality of the parts is just as good as what you get off newegg because they are the same, just make sure you dont get their cheapo PSU brand, its really crappy, pay the extra for good quality brands. As far as i know they use normal boards with normal BIOS's, not custom ones like HP and Dell use, so you should be able to OC and upgrade it fine, however it does come with a price premium, especially if you are going to get a higher end system price it out on cyberpower and then on newegg, there will likely be a few hundred dollar difference.

 

[n_scheffel]

Check out AVADirect as well. They let you pick exactly the parts you want, and none of their selections are labeled as some generic component so you know exactly what you are getting.

Keep in mind that you are paying a $200-$300 premium for the labor and the warranty on the whole system, and nothing more. No PC builder makes a "better" PC than you could make if you bought the same parts off Newegg and put it together yourself. This is why I never understand why folks insist on being ripped off by places like Dell/Alienware. Is that stupid alien logo really worth a 50% markup?

 

[joshyboy82]

I bought from CP. Had to wait because my 580 GTX was backordered. They estimated my ship date to be the 28th of December and I got it on the 23rd of December. That was pretty cool. The box showed up uber haggard and I was very hesitant to sign for it, but when I opened it up, everything was packaged securely and in pristine condition. Make sure you order the advanced shipping option, or you might be up *** creek without a paddle. They ship you everything that you would've recieved in the individual parts boxes, and their price can't be beat. Literally. Here was my rundown.

Gamer Infinity 9000 (NO MONITOR)
INF9000Z, http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Infinity_9000/
*BASE_PRICE: [+869]
CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
CAS: CoolerMaster HAF 912 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Adjustable HDD Cage (Black Color)
CD: Samsung SH-B123L 12X BLU-RAY Player & DVDRW Combo [+38] (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-950 3.06 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366
FAN: Asetek 550LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Advanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) [+18]
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+50] (Single Hard Drive)
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: * (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Dolby Audio, eSATA, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2 x SATA-III RAID, IEEE1394a, 4 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI [+36]
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: * 850 Watts - Thermaltake TR2 RX Modular 80 Plus PSU - PN: W0319RU [+96]
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
VIDEO: * NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+441] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Coupon: INSTANT (5% Discount) $-79.80
SUBTOTAL: $1,516.20
Sales Tax: N/A $0.00
Shipping: UPS Ground $65.00
GRAND TOTAL: $1,581.20

I couldn't build that myself for cheaper if I tried. The video card I recieved was an EVGA card and the generic memory that everyone advised me to avoid, it was corsair.

Now for the bad parts: I've been have a MF of a time with my computer freezing about once a day. I logged on to Tom's originally to troubleshoot that problem. I thought I had bad RAM or a failing HDD, but in the process discovered that even though I paid extra for SATA3.0 in my HDD and Mobo, they hooked everything up to a SATA2 slave port. I literally fixed it last night after two weeks of dealing with it. I wish I had bought the case fan upgrade. It only cost $9 but they don't tell you that your case only comes with 2 fans, even though it has slots for 8. They don't mention it anywhere, but if you buy a blu-ray player, it only comes with trial software. You have to buy full software from Cyberlink or PowerDVD to play Blu-Rays on. And lastly, the free mouse and keyboard are equivalent to bloatware. They ship it to you regardless, it's junk you'll never use, and as soon as you see it, you put it in the trash.

I would definitely buy from CP again, but I can't promise you that you'll have the same experience. Hell, maybe yours will be better.

 

[brohde88]

I am a past CyberPowerPC customer and I am sorry, but I have very little positive to say about them and their systems. I purchased a computer from them and I went all out in terms of making sure it had the noise dampening sides, best fans, etc. (If you want to see my actual invoice to prove I was a customer, that can be done too because I despise this company and will prove they are a poor choice.) Anyway, I purchased a $2,200 computer that had an I7 950, GTX 465 in SLI that were superclocked, a Gigabyte UD7 motherboard, the works. I received the product a few days before my birthday (OCT 26th). When the package arrived, screen and all I was ecstatic because my roommate also has a cyberpowerpc and has had no problems in almost 4 years. (I have to give the company credit where credit is due)
My computer was not as fortunate as my roommates.

After loading all the latest drivers and such, I decided to run the EVGA test (some guy in a rocket chair). My system died, and restarted. So I blew it off and started playing starcraft 2 with my roommates (Maxed out, 1920,1080...beautiful) during the middle of a huge battle, the computer died and restarted. This time, it would not turn back on, it had the processor light going constantly but would not boot. Then came calling RMA services.

Long story short, I had to pay 75 dollars to ship my broken computer (2 1/2 weeks old) back to California for RMA work. A couple weeks later it shows up at my house during finals week and once again I am excited! But my joy was short lived.

Once again during starcraft 2, the computer dies and reboots during a battle. This happens several times until I call the RMA department and I say I want a refund for this piece of crap. They give me the run-around, that since my 30 day period was up that I will be charged 15% plus shipping to my account. I eventually talk to several people after losing my temper and explain the reason my 30 days is up is because it was in CP RMA for two weeks! So they say fine, send it back with everything you want refunded... This is the best part...

So I send back all my drivers, the computer and anything else I can fit into ONE box, because YOU have to pay shipping again. I get an email a few days later about the stuff I have not returned... the list was as follows....

GAME-STARCRAFT II TRIAL PASS
BLACK XTREME GEAR USB-KEYBOARD
SCEPTRE X226W BLACK LCD
GIGABYTE GM-M6800 NOBLE BLACK USB
ASUS USB-N13 WIRELESS USB ADAPTOR
BLUE ALL IN ONE EXTERNAL CARD READER
MOTHERBOARD- ACCESSORIES
VIDEO CARD-ACCESSORIES
SOUND CARD-ACCESSORIES, ETC


I agree to some of those things, but they charged me $50 because I did not send back the sheet of paper that redeems the starcraft 2 pass (free 30day trial) and a Napoleon free game. Not to mention all the other drivers were in that box! When I called to try and understand I was told "we do not have your driver disks, and you cannot prove we have them. If you get them to us in 15 days, we will refund your money for the difference." How much is an EVGA driver disk you may ask? $40 and times two because I had 2 GTX 465's.

After all the drivers were "not delivered" I was out about $120, then the free trial pass and game, another $80, but don't forget the shipping charge of $75 x 2. All said and done I was credited back $1,756.56 from a $2,070 (I subtracted out the sceptre screen because I did keep that,along with the mouse, wireless card, and keyboard from the original $2,200). This company is not worth anyone's time. If you need proof of what I am saying, feel free to shoot me an email or post a message to my account here.

 

[galeener]

You didn't mention you build specs such as power supply. I am not saying you did this but most of the systems I have seen that have the issues you had from them, Have tried to use the xtreme gear power supplys or the cyberpower branded one or the raidmax one.
Just because some else is building it for you doesn't mean you still do not need to research the parts.
If you had kept the discs from Dell or any where they would have charged you also.
If you had bought the products from newegg direct and not sent all of it back you would have only got a partial refund.
I have ordered 3 systems from them and never had an issue.
My wifes system was built when the 680i motherboards were first released and still running fine with raid and sli. My boys sytem never had an issue with at all.
I build my own for myself though. . The 3rd system I bought for my mom and dad and they never had an issue either.
But I did research every part of the builds for compatability and reliability.

 

[pwnttothemax]

Well, the only problem you might encounter is the compatibility of parts. But sometimes you wouldn't even know that even if you built it yourself until you had them in hand. I bought a cyberpowerpc about 3 years ago. Every once in a while, ~week it would just blue screen and shut off. Turns out the fan I chose was slightly too big and on occasion would vibrate just enough to graze the MB, which shut everything off.

I had one of my buddies (comp engineer student) take a look at it and suggested that was the problem. So I bought a $15 cheapo fan on newegg, installed it, haven't had a problem since.

Cyberpower was a great experience for me! Any problems you have probably aren't because of any fault or mal-intent on their part, I think it's probably just the nature of the beast since everything is so customizable. Don't be afraid... I mean, looking back at nearly every negative review, everyone was generally refunded. So if the worst that comes out of it is you lose 15% of your money, so be it. Totally worth the slight gamble.

Also, it seems like a lot of people go all holier-than-thou on you and suggest building it yourself... but some of us just don't have the time! If you're willing to pay $200-300 for someone else to put it together, install drivers and OS etc, all that junk then I say go for it! I did and I love my comp. In fact I just placed an order for a new one from cyberpower last week. So excited!

 

[brohde88]

Galeener: was that directed toward me?

 

[galeener]

Yes I am not saying I agree with what they charged you just that you would get charged from any company. If you would like to list your specs thats fine also.
My brother had to send an alienware back 4 times and was charged everytime in the end though they reimbursed him for all of his cost. This was before they were bought out by Dell also. He also was contacted several times from them while this was going on to request an external floppy back and was told he would be charged for it.
We had to get the build sheet he recieved with his system and have it notorized and copied to get them to drop the part about the floppy. So I would say companys other than cyberpower have issues also.
You have every right to your opinion though as I have to mine.

 

[brohde88]

I gave an opinion based on a roommates experience, and the experience I had. I gave them credit where credit was due, but I have no problem pointing out their flaws too. Of course other companies have RMA problems, that was not my argument, it was specifically directed toward CyberPowerPC. Congratulations to your brother for getting an overpriced alienware, I have not gone through them so I cannot critique them. If you would like to start a forum on them, then go for it.

When I recently went through IBuyPower, I purchased a P67 board, and the FIRST THING the representative told me was "we will pay for the shipping" when the problem with the motherboard was discovered. The product I received from IBuyPower has had no problems in the past three weeks and their customer service has been excellent in dealing with the motherboard problem.

For a concluding note, other people must have positive experiences with CyberPower or they WOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS. The research for my original PC was done, but a faulty product IS a faulty product and quality control should have caught it if they "stress test" it as they claim. Last note, for them to delivery a damaged product back to me after the RMA is a joke! my radiator has bent grooves, the swinging door on my hurricane case was partially broken, broken pieces of plastic were inside the case from who knows where. I am glad that YOU got a solid PC, but I did not.

 

[galeener]

I think thats what he asked for different opinions and from the looks of the replys he got them. And just to clarify a bit he had won some thing to where he got a $1000.00 credit but it had to be used at alienware so thats what we did built one there. What we got in the end was a very nice system just took us a bit more work than it started out to be.
All comes down to he wants to read opin ions and then will make up his own mine so I think he has some fuel for thought now.
We usually take a movie of the opening of the boxes any more just so we have proof if we have to talk to the shipping company they seem to be a lil rough on systems.

 

[galeener]

To get back to the original op question yes they have a lot of quality parts but you have to make sure you pick those parts.
Bios is unlocked as these are the same boards you can buy any where.
Totally upgradable if you chose the parts that give you an upgrade path.
You do have to inspect the entire system when you get it though.
Atleast thats what I do I look at it as if they put it together loaded everything and then when I get it I pull the video out and the other add in cards so I can make sure all connectors are connected where they are supposed to be.
All the fans are hooked up and spin freely.
Then I put the video card or cards back in then any other sound board and check those for seating and connections.
They send you a build list so you should check off ht ecomponents as your checking the system.
Also check for all driver disks and accessorys such as dvi to hdmi converter extra sata cables sli or xfire bridges.
If it all looks good button it up and give it a go.

 

[WR2]

Hello therightstuff;


Have you looked over the guides on what it would take for you to build your own?

Here is a Step-by-Step Guide to Building a PC

Look over the forum's "System won't boot" checklist to see some of the common build errors and how to avoid them.

-> The usual advice; read the manual / install guide; look at the parts, read the manual again and if everything makes sense and looks right - then go ahead with the install.

While you're waiting you can download the online version of the motherboard manual and start getting familiar with it. Same for the other parts you want to order if they have install guides or manuals available.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

Cyberpower is kinda a pain lol some people love them others do not, it seems that people who know how to build there own computers and still buy a cp desktop are not happy with it. Well no crap if you can build it your self do it, if you are a noob to this you will love your Cp desktop just get name brand parts.

 

[Daave12]

Though it can become meaning less if done in unorganized manner, otherwise it has its own advantages as it really help to reduce energy cost and consumption.

 

[bdbeall]

CyberPower is hit or miss. My advice is build it yourself, or check with custompcandrepairs.com. they normally charge right around what it costs to build, and then you pay shipping.

 

[sleapeasy]

In the last 9 years i have bought 3 computers. 1 from CP, built one, and custompcandrepairs was my last one. I saw good posts on here about them so i tried them. Building it myself was the mot satisfying, yet time consuming. CP was nothig but a headache with a mediocre product, and custompcandrepairs was the easiest most hassle free way. Building it yourself will be a little cheaper but not by much.

 

[galeener]

Are you paying Toms to advertise. If not I suggest you stop.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

Are you paying Toms to advertise. If not I suggest you stop.

I made a comment on this last night they removed it lol.

 

[gainiac]

In short CyberPower SUCKS. Lousy customer support and shady business practices. Save yourself the time, money and aggravation and build a system for yourself.

I recently spec'd a build from them at the $2400.00 mark and a GPU burned up within 2 minutes of turning on the box. These folks DO NOT QA their builds.

I opened the chassis to find that whomever cabled the system ran one of the GPU power cables through the fan enclosure preventing the fan from spinning.

What is ironic is that I PAID EXTRA for the "Professional Cabling Job/ Dress".

I sent the box back for repair, and decided to spec a minor upgrade on GPU's and they tried to upsell me on a power supply which I knew was NOT necessary.

Their tech was arguing with me on the phone, rude, etc...

Lousy people, lousy company, lousy product. They will try to nickle and dime you to death. I'm in the process of disputing a charge with them right now.

The JERKS want to charge ME for the return shipping of the PC that blew up out of the box.

CyberGarbage.

 

[joshyboy82]

his "In Short" doesn't mean "We all feel...". It is his/hers opinion that they felt was summed up by this thread. I didn't need to sum up anything I hadn't already said. I felt like posting to ensure that I was excluded from his group of "people with broken ***".

I am also posting this because this thread is old. You either own the computer now and need to update us on this, or you wasted all of our time and even made some internet user call anyone who didn't have a bad CP experience a advertiser. To that guy I say FU. Clearly I don't rep CP, because I wouldn't tell potential buyers FU, but I'm telling you because I can say my own opinion about a company without being judged for it. Get a real job hippie, the "man" wants you to pay taxes.

 

[galeener]

I liked the above post.
It is the same with every company to a certain extent sometimes a bad one gets away and then you read about it because thats mostly what people will take the time to write a complaint not a good report.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

his "In Short" doesn't mean "We all feel...". It is his/hers opinion that they felt was summed up by this thread. I didn't need to sum up anything I hadn't already said. I felt like posting to ensure that I was excluded from his group of "people with broken ***".

I am also posting this because this thread is old. You either own the computer now and need to update us on this, or you wasted all of our time and even made some internet user call anyone who didn't have a bad CP experience a advertiser. To that guy I say FU. Clearly I don't rep CP, because I wouldn't tell potential buyers FU, but I'm telling you because I can say my own opinion about a company without being judged for it. Get a real job hippie, the "man" wants you to pay taxes.

+1

for the rest of the people who read this I have never had an issue with there support team and I have had to have numerous things replaced. Its the same with all these computer places. People who can or do build there own dont buy a computer from a company. I build computers alot and i do it a certain way when i received my cyberpower pc i though some of this looks like crap but then again i didnt build it... so people who buy pre builts need to grow a pair and shut up.

 

[brohde88]

Cyber Power is just crap. Sorry, but it is true.

 

[galeener]

Well thats your opinion and thats what he is asking for, I on the other hand never had any issues with them. That would be my opinion.
I have read bad feed back on pretty much every company out there that builds pcs
So of course your always going to get their crap or their good storys.