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Conclusion

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3:00 AM - 09/19/2008 by Thomas Soderstrom

The Überclok Ion pushed some impressive performance numbers in a few benchmarks, but was completely obliterated by our “home built” system in others. And this is where we must tell you that it wasn’t a completely fair comparison.

The problem, of course, is that when we overclocked our system, we forfeited the warranty on all affected components. Conversely, Überclok’s price reflects a warranty policy that covers not just parts, but shipping in both directions. A few service deliveries could easily wipe-out any profits Überclok made on the original sale, and that fact puts enormous pressure on the company to deliver a system that remains reliable for a full three years. Your $1,760 buys $1,100+ in components and a $600 insurance policy against any potential problems.

Naturally, experienced system builders will likely look past the Ion’s warranty coverage, choosing to spend that extra money on go-fast hardware. But don’t underestimate the allure of a fire-and-forget setup when you’re recommending a system to friends—especially if you’d rather not be the designated support line.

Überclok’s system configurator allows buyers to step up to a double HD 4850 CrossFireX solution, complete with X48 Express motherboard upgrade, for around $330. Such a system would have easily beaten our home-build, and the price difference is still less than $600. If you’re all about gaming, that’d be route to take for the best bang for your buck.

Überclok brings the best of what makes home-built systems special to buyers who can’t build it themselves, with three years of service and support putting value in their price structure.

Talkback
kitsilencer 09/19/2008 12:32 PM
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ap90033 09/19/2008 1:55 PM
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ap90033 09/19/2008 1:57 PM
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Oh and kit, overclocking is so much more accepted and used. A lot of people overclock a little for say a 10% gain but keep it safe...

Why would you only want your chip to last three hours anyway? Thats STUPID! Goof...

randomizer 09/19/2008 2:08 PM
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ap90033 :
Why would you only want your chip to last three hours anyway?


E-peen of course!

kitsilencer 09/19/2008 2:31 PM
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Of course E-peen. Plus I'd get featured as an article.

kittle 09/19/2008 7:25 PM
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kitsilencer :
Of course E-peen. Plus I'd get featured as an article.


15min of fame for a chip with a 3hr lifespan?

each to their own....

ThePatriot 09/19/2008 7:54 PM
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Entertaining a niche market...... clever move.

guyladouche 09/19/2008 8:06 PM
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kitsilencer :
Sensible, still-under-warranty overclocking. Those words don't belong together.Overclocking should be about using liquid nitrogen, pushing pash 5.5GHz, and shortening the lifespan of the chip to 3 hours. Not years.But still, I'd buy this PC.



It's warrantied by Uberclock, not by the component manufacturers--hence the addition of $600 to the price tag for the insurance (aka warranty). So if something like the CPU dies, getting it replaced (for free apparently) has nothing to do with the manufacturer.

guyladouche 09/19/2008 8:11 PM
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It's a nice idea, but I don't see this going anywhere because of the terrible problems they could likely encounter with need for support/returns. One simple BSOD loop would require the entire rig to be shipped back for analysis (if the user isn't computer-savvy, which is likely the demographic they're aiming at). I wonder if the $600 overhead (in addition to whatever profits they make on the system as a whole) will recoup it? I remember "back in the day" when monarch computers would custom-build systems (no overclocking) and they went belly-up with all the returns and warranty-service (granted, if things are built carefully, there are rarely any needs for services after sale).

skalagon 09/19/2008 8:49 PM
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kyeana 09/19/2008 10:49 PM
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But you have to figure that the people who would be getting this computer wouldn't have the know how to build their own system, overclock it, or fix it if something went wrong. In that group this computer makes perfect sense, and lets face it, you would have to recommend this over a dell or alienware.

ViViF 09/20/2008 9:19 AM
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nice one...but i don't get enough money...

mgl888 09/20/2008 4:45 PM
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Isn't 1.45V a bit high for vcore?
I wonder what the temperature is like

Anonymous 09/20/2008 7:29 PM
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What if the CMOS-battery dies, and all BIOS/overclocking-settings with it?
Not for the average user to try to reconfigure these....

rhysee 09/21/2008 10:07 PM
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Not bad , nice case and very good cabling.. like my cablekami!

neiroatopelcc 09/22/2008 3:15 PM
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I really like their business strategy. I'd like to see them make a discount model though!

Most of those I build pc's for don't really use them for much hightech stuff. What if a company like this could provide them with an overclocked pentium dualcore with cheap pc2-6400c5, a 1tb spinpoint f1, and a overclocked 8800gt (or similar) packed in an antec sonata 3 chassis or some other lowcost-but-nice chassis?

I mean - let's face it .... those systems I built years ago with x200 onboard and 2gb memory are still running, and if I'd been able to deliver an oc'ed system with warranty, they'd run another year more. They ARE too slow now though, and need replacing. Which means I'll have to built more pc's which I'd rather not.

warlordsagan 09/24/2008 2:20 AM
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I live in Edmonton, Canada and bought a custom Reactor from Uberclok. I won't bore anyone with my story of what happened but Thomas Glen went out of his way to make sure I was happy with it. The cables inside the Cosmos S case where as neat as anyone could possibly get them. And it was stably overclocked by 33% and still running at a good temperature. A happy customer here.

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