CHARITY AUCTION LISTING IS NOW LIVE! We're auctioning this system off for charity because we don't want it. Signed on the side panel by the team. 100% of proceeds goes to to Cat Angels Pet Adoptions: www.ebay.com/itm/CHARITY-AUCTION-NZXT-BLD-AUTOGRAPHED-BY-GAMERSNEXUS-STREAMER-PRE-BUILT-PC/303627534822 GN Walmart DTW Pre-Built Review (Part 1):clip-share.net/video/PTni-Vfrf9c/video.html GN Walmart Second Chance Review: clip-share.net/video/pFVtDFhHy18/video.html Cyberpower Undercover Review: clip-share.net/video/rRlCtp_q1YM/video.html iBUYPOWER System Review: clip-share.net/video/h22vF98iGQM/video.html
@Gamers Nexus its customer service is still terrible i ordered a prebuilt as their guaranteeing 48hr for ship out times my progress hasnet changed in 6 days and every time i hop in chat i get no were im so fustrated
@gmu_alum08 Holy shit, it must be a full moon cuz the crazies are out. This comment is a year old, but ok... umm... My reply to your incoherent rambling is that capitalism has been stealing from the workforce and the government since the 1980s and there needs to be a radical redistribution back down. Why do you think employers are whining that "people don't want to work"? They're realizing their labor is worth more than the shit jobs are paying, so they're taking it to someone who will pay them what they're worth. What about YOU, hmm? Would YOU work a job at minimum wage (7.25 an hour) no PTO, no health insurance, nothing? If not, don't be surprised if someone else doesn't want to. And it's not just "uneducated" people - I knew someone with two master's degrees who drove a forklift at home depot because his field had a glut of qualified workers. Learn before you speak down to your betters.
@isturma what are you next gonna say we need wealth confiscation and just give it to people who didn't earn it just because they aren't paid enough? You don't get to just break shit and riot until people give you what you want. No society can function that way.. maybe that's the point to the people rioting.
Yeah I think putting the cpu and cpu fan on are always the most nerve racking for me. Crazy how bad the prebuilt scene is when you get past even the initial like 400 dollar upcharge
@Badumtss If they're buying a pre-built PC, the idea is it's ready to go when they get it... they shouldn't have to reseat CPUs or mess with anything. That's why they built a... "pre-built" computer...
seating a cpu is no stress for me after I have fixed a processor with bent pins with a pair of pliers however, applying thermal paste triggers my perfectionism to the level of anxiety. What if I do too much and it spills, its gonna be a pain in the butt to clean. What if I do too litle and it doesnt cover well, we are gonna have hotspots and shit performance.
@Badumtss its a suggestion someone might feel forced to do because they dont want to deal with rma's. And no, theres not a first time for everyone. People that buy an expensive prebuilt should not have to, or be asked to, stick their hands inside it without thorough guidance, and risk losing their warranty.
@Resident Weevil 2077 Yes, diy is often better. But let people be happy with their pre-builts and if someone reallt wants a pre built, advice a good one instead of going against what they want. Nothing wrong with disliking prebuilts, just dont hold it against people buying them.
@JayJay Golden when you start seeing incompetence across the board for prebuilts - especially for Dell/Alienware - wouldn't you start to believe DIY is better?
@JayJay Golden when someone gets a new prebuilt PC, the expectation is it's supposed to work out of the box. If someone has to tinker with a prebuilt in order to get it working properly, that's where the issue lies. It's not a matter of prebuilt vs DIY, but simply a matter of trusting those that should know how to build a PC and they sh*t the bed. It's when those of us who know how to build PCs see this ineptness start to get irked. If you're gonna make PC building into a career, at least know what TF you're doing first before doing so.
Not only have you benchmarked their customer support, you've also trained an army of subscribers how customer support should go, and hopefully this keeps NZXT on their toes. Great job guys, very high quality video.
As someone whose been in tech support for the better part of two decades, this is frustrating and sad. Most customers are borderline terrified of the inside of the computer and I don't blame them, I used to be that person. They should have a form they fill in which asks for their order number and photos of the inside and outside before they even begin diagnosing the issue. That's not even 101 advice, that's 88 advice...
Been in tech support for 15 years. And the first advice I give to the rookies in the company is this: Never ever believe the client. They ALWAYS LIE. Either because they have no idea of what they are talking about or because it is convenient for them. The split is 40/60." That is my experience with customers so far. This leads me to my next advice: Always ask for more details and pictures if possible. What? They do not have smart phone in 2020? They LIE. Unless it's grandma on the other line in which case be extra extra nice. In short never trust the customer and never assume he knows anything. Always investigate IN DETAIL and provide the most accurate and professional solutions available to you and the customer. Then there are the scammers that believe they know stuff but turn out to be that guy from The Verge. Those guys I have a hard on for declining warranty when they fuck up and break things. About 5% of the customer base is like that! Oh and for those that say: "you are getting paid for this so suck my banana" I say that as long as there are companies out there that pay their tech support less than McDonalds pays their workers then guess what level of service you are gonna get? Has not been a problem on our end. Since me and the other people go above and beyond to help our customers and that shows with our pay. But I have a trend lately. Oh and we get supper pissed when a client lies to us on purpose. We are here to help and will do so all the time. But if you are gonna lie to us and give us extra work for nothing then guess who pays for that!
@PappyMan If by 'pop culture reference' you mean 'alt right dog whistle' sure. When I see an 88 I normally assume someone's being an internet edgelord, which makes it weird to see in something that's not actually a troll comment.
@Watzleroviak1210 seriously, anyone who's ever SEEN a cpu installed would know it's not exactly possible for it to be shaken loose, between the thermal paste, 4 screws and a retention plate you'll have way bigger problems before the cpu gets "shaken loose" Fuckin gpu would be on the bottom of the case with half the pcie connectors ripped apart before your cpu comes loose in shipping
Are you willing to test the claim of the AMD stock cooler surviving a 4 story drop? I almost guarantee you will get a ton of views on that video... I'd watch it
As someone who was once that customer, and now a technician that helps assist users. Man do I appreciate the levels you guys evaluated their customer service. It's mind blowing how many people get paid fairly decent wages to neglect their customers and colleagues. Get people out of there that don't care, there is an ever growing number of enthusiasts that would love to have some of these jobs, thanks again for addressing this common issue in modern day support Steve and GN staff!
@Robin Bot Yes. You still need to have some technical skill or be able to pick up some technical skill on the job but customer service is a big part of being a helpdesk technician.
Imagine telling someone who admits to being computer illiterate to re-seat a CPU, lmao. Not the same but back in the 90's I tried to do this before I knew anything about proficiently building a PC and did not apply new thermal paste, about 60 seconds into it being on my Celeron Processor literally caught fire briefly. Customer service across all industries has really gone down hill over the past 20 years or so. This is what you get when you pay people a dog shit wage and hand them an excel spreadsheet checklist to go over. I think it's generating a new niche market someone can capitalize on off of just having good, competent customer assistance around your products.
You guys should make a playlist of undercover videos, I’d love to binge this stuff. I know it’s a lot of work but it’s mind blowing stuff here. Makes me feel like I have someone looking out for me in the PC world which can definitely be overwhelming or confusing for those of us getting the hang of it.
@John Henderson If they will not spit on my face when I visit there, I buy where I can get good stuff in good price, I am not looking for relationships from the stores.
I generally consider having to contact CS at all a failure. CS is important but basic R&D and QC are more important. If that's done well, I never have to contact CS at all.
Truthfully 99% of the time if you build it correctly and with pride you'll never even have to deal with a customer after the sale. Yes weird things happen but I mean that in a very general sense.
Has a CPU ever "shaken loose" in the history of Modern PC's? (30+ years) How is that even possible? The arm locks the CPU it's not going anywhere. Ever! WOW! That's got to be the worst response from tech ever.
Although I acknowledge a lot of these issues with NZXT customer service, I'm really thinking about ordering one of their systems. With the price of good GPUs these days, buying a build kit or a prebuilt for only $200 more than the price of just the GPU by itself doesn't sound like a bad deal, and I can inspect the connections and configure setting in the bios etc. setting myself with no issue. I'll definitely look into trying to improve the cooling if I go that route.
Wow, these reviews are so valuable to us consumers. It's rediculous that this company functions like this. I just built my 1st system just following directions on youtube and it's running perfectly. These guys do this for a living and can't ship a working pc!?
It's insane because I feel like email based customer support is so incredibly easy. Having worked in customer support for years it's so much harder over the phone and these guys are doing the bare minimum via email.
I really love and appreciate your no nonsense reviews of all of these products. You provide a reliable service to people like me researching PC's. Seriously the fact that you guys refuse to pull any punches speaks to your integrity.
Alright so I’ve had my streamer pc for over 7 months and thanks to this video I found out about XMP and other stuff. Now my pc runs smoothly and no dropped frames in 8 hours of streaming. Thank you!
The point you made at the beginning of the video is so on point. Last time I was into computer gaming and building, a 233mhz Pentium II Gateway was all the rage. I went to consoles. I play FFXIV on PS4 and my raid static has talked me into trying PC again. So I bought a pre-built from iBuypower. It came with a 3070 that was artifacting and had shipping damage. The way they handled it was so poor that I just decided to stick with console (this was just last month BTW, so you know they haven't gotten any better). I am giving CLX a chance to change my mind. I've started looking into the DIY side but if there are issues with the CLX, I am done with PC gaming. The static requirements and reliability at suboptimal performance are more attractive than all these headaches.
Just wanted to say thank you for the write up. After watching the other prebuilt machines have so many issues this seemed like the lesser of all evils and definitely was. Did a once over to check out all the connections and enabled XMP as soon as a windows was updated and i had 0 problems after that! The fan curves are a tad funky but it stays nice and cool still. 🤝
I had a really good experience with NZXT customer support. I had an issue with breaking a mounting screw on my kraken cooler, which was my fault completely. I could not find a replacement for one locally so I emailed them and explained the situation and they sent me a whole bag of AMD replacement mounts at no cost ever before asking me for any warranty information. And it arrived to Ohio from California within the week. I believe most customer service always comes down to the individual handling the issues, in my case they were great. I have heard some horror stories from various companies over the years on customer service, but have had more positive than negative. It seems to show there is bad quality control in this situation, and the first CS rep you talked to was very inexperienced or just didn't know what to do.
The person just sent you a replacement, no need for actual troubleshooting. Whilst obviously its a plus and its good, they were testing the technical knowledge and ability to guide a user which was terrible tbh. They also spoke with 2 people in the end, they both failed hard
You guys are so freaking thorough in your reviews. I'm out of the market for building a computer, and I have no need for hardware right now; but, I watch these just to hear what you guys have to say. Steve, you're awesome dude... Same with the GN crew.
As a small scale Australian PC builder and reseller - I cannot fathom how these kinds of issues are deemed to be acceptable. When I advertise a set ram speed - XMP will be enabled When I say it runs cool and quiet - I will pre-configure the fan curves and run thermal tests to confirm that I will also - always - make sure Windows is up to date and graphics drivers are installed and updated too, along with bios updates and any requested utilities (like RGB software / audio management for the motherboard etc) all within the OOBE setup so that they receive a computer that feels fresh, set up their Windows account as normal but once it loads up everything is up to date, functional, and ready to install games. I know it's different for large scale businesses vs sole traders, but these extra steps are just a few minutes of actual work.. with the bulk of time spent waiting for it to download/update etc while I'm doing something else. The whole point of a prebuilt is paying a little extra for someone else to do the annoying and tedious work for you, and to get a 'plug and play' type experience. If my customer has to do any additional setup steps before installing and loading a game then I haven't done my job.
As a system builder for a large tech company (I won't name here), there was a few things that stood out to me... In my workplace, System builders are told to follow a set routine after building the system, which includes manually updating and setting up the bios (xmp, fan profiles, Drive ordering/checking,) all of which is written down on a checklist before passing on to software and is checked each step of the way afterwards including during software and quality control. even the wiring i take some issue with, If you're building a set specification like this which you will be doing repetatively day in day out. Wiring should be perfect and efficient, i would call the wiring job a 6/10 maybe a 7. and the fact that the coolers USB control wire is running down the back of the actual motherboard touching the back of it would not pass quality control at my workplace... And the h500/h700 is a solid option when it comes to wiring they tend to be quite easy cases to work with. Overall though it's not the worst i've seen. i would just expect better overall considering that (atleast in the case of this build) It's a very simple build... No added drives only an m.2... no liquid cooler that would require sata power etc... These things can make wiring take that extra bit longer but this build is as plain as can be, Should be a very simple job to get this right.
@zaru Set rotating backgrounds to fuck with them lol, first one or two are default then toss some weird shit in there. But in all seriousness, the only reason I install programs for people I do side jobs for is because if they need me to build it then they aren't smart enough to not install everything on C lol, it just ends up becoming my problem sooner rather than later when that's the case
I just got my NZXT computer :D as soon as I plugged it in and hit the power button, it transformed into MY OWN PRIVATE JET. Who would have thought!!!! I always wanted my own jet. Just hearing the engine roar in my living room gives me the comfort I need to stream. I almost opened my window to see how far my NZXT would fly.
Have you heard back from NZXT since this video has been published? I'm very curious to know if they have seen it, did they offer an apology for their crappy customer service, and finally, did they make commitments to provide their staff with enhanced training with a focus on customer service?
@Dashawn628 No Steve took a totally random wire out, which would lead to a call unlike any they had taken. There is little to no chance that wire would come out in transit, they delivered a perfectly functioning PC and Steve intentionally broke it. The guy went through faults that would usually occur through transit, like he probably has to help actual customers out. Steve has had PC's delivered that haven't functioned correctly, even totally broken yet didn't ring their customer services. Pretty simple argument to me, yet you need to simplify it to black and white. Try reading?
@Jezwinni Wow what a pathetic excuse for low quality employees. So you're basically saying it's someone's livelihood so don't expose them for being bad at their job 🤣🤦🏽♂️
I can't believe I really just read this thread of someone throwing a 6 month long internet tantrum over their sense of humor not lining up with the general populations... Imagine getting upset at other people laughing, imagine how miserable of an existence that must be. Like how healthy is it to laugh at poor customer service rather than to respond negatively, then think about how unhealthy it is to get upset at people using humor in a situation that others could easily just be angry.
@SSJBart2003 I think the main reason I entered this rabbit hole was the low quality of the joke and the likes it got Looking back I don't think it was the video that offended me but the poor quality joke. Look at all the lols etc, seriously I wonder how such a crappy joke could make so many people laugh, how do these people function, they must fall about laughing all day.
@Gh0sT I am not the support guy, my biggest gripe in this is apparently "it is going to be so funny when this guy comes to work (or something)" constitutes comedy gold! Is it even a joke? Honestly I have never tried to assist anyone fix their pc over the phone but I am guessing it isn't as easy as it sounds. Watch Steve Vs jay2cents Linus tech challenge, they both miss more than a wire not being connected and they have the systems in front of them. I like Steve's videos and he has uncovered stuff, but I think this is one of his worst ones and a bit childish.
Even though there were some errors, 1499 is actually a good price for what you get in this specific build considering the current state of the market. Especially keeping in mind that the components, other than the quite unnecessary 32gb of ram instead of 16, match very well and will probably never cause any bottlenecks.
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel relieved watching these reviews. I'm pretty new to pc building and earlier on getting tech support with these companies had my pulling hairs
This is the engineering equivalent of a diss track. 30 minutes, of calm, cool, methodical and highly detailed explanation's of NXZT's failures, love it.
@The Hoonta You should understand that you are paying for a fully functional product out of the box AND for follow up customer service. These expectations do not apply to big dick alpha DIYers like you. Please consider the context and think about what you're saying before you talk. Use your epic 300 gamer IQ next time.
With such devastating observations as: the fan configuration is perfectly good. The cable management is good as well. The packing foam did its job, with only very minor paint scuffing. There is no bloatware, besides NZXT's suite. Talk about DEMOLISHING NZXT
I watched this video after buying a pc from them. I thought to my self that I would never have to deal with their customer service and that it would be that bad if I did. Oh boy is their customer service the worst there is. The case arrived damaged and the cpu cooler bent I told them and eventually after a long and grueling string of emails I struck a deal with them. They would refund the cost of the case. I didn’t receive my money after 2 weeks so I emailed them back and they went back on their deal.
I started out with pre-builds, I went to do it myself to learn how to do it and because its fun for me. But yeah these companies should do their best to provide something that is capable and well supported. I often wonder just how this gets done wrong, like is it purely due to volume? Like they need to put out SO many pc's that they just cant check? It is just irritating really
I think a ton of companies would miss number 3. Because shipping damage happens often, at least where I live. I was baffled that they said the CPU may have gotten loose. There's a very little chance that happens, because the damn CPU cooler. That's like the last thing they should troubleshoot
"I don't appreciate paying for something that I can't even use". The young man within me that did tech support over 20 years ago just felt this so deeply that he wants to file charges of assault".
@jvandervyver I know what you're saying, and I feel you, but truly I think tech support is probably worse; not only do you deal with awful coworkers, etc. same as we all do, but essentially all the people you are meant to deal with are troubled by their current circumstance, if not outright upset or angry...and that constantly negative experience can frequently be compounded by being not just mundane, but remarkably repetitive. ...and while much of this is presumption on my part, I base this mainly on the fact that I've met many a person who has worked in several completely different fields, and if tech support happens to be one, it's always the one they speak the worst of....even when they loved the actual work environment and their employees, they speak of it as if it justs drains the soul. Now I don't believe all of that necessarily has to be the case, but I think in order to take that type of work in stride, it requires certain personal skills and strengths that few of us are well versed in or adapted to, and which are uniquely demanded only in a few situations, much less environments or careers.
@Norbert Schmidt Ha! It's like trying to explain sunlight to someone that has never seen or experienced it. It's easier to just push them into the sunlight
@jvandervyver many of us have been there, what you're describing corporate America in a nutshell. VP's making unrealistic promises to CxO's as to when something can be implemented or go live and the engineers are threatened when they can't hit that target. Some managers just suck and try to make up for their complete lack of leadership with micromanagement and/or simply being a demanding pr1ck.
Thank you for the very informative video! I bought a new PC to replace a 10 year old one from BLD 5 months before this video was uploaded. I agree with you on that companies like NZXT are important for people to get into the hobby as I ripped everything out of the H510 case & slapped them into a Lian Li O11 (thanks GN for showing me this amazing case). It was my first PC 'build' & I enjoyed every second of it. Looking forward to future component upgrades. Overall, BLD was a pretty solid service. The PC was assembled neatly with nice cable management. I would highly recommend anyone that bought a system to doublecheck the parts they sent with the system. I found out that they didn't send the AM4 CPU backplate when I tried to swap out the cooler. It was disappointing having to wait for support to respond & send a replacement out.
You know one of the good things about reviewing customer service from Newegg and NZXT and other companies is that they are finally going to realize that anyone that's buying their products could be someone with a massive following so it kind of feels like secret shoppers, if you've ever worked in retail or the restaurant business you've probably heard of it where corporate send someone basically undercover to come and purchase something from your store and you don't know who it is you don't know what they look like so it makes it where everyone is on their best behavior and does the best they can so hopefully all these major companies will realize that every single sale they make could possibly be someone with a massive following therefore they start to straighten up and take things seriously
I had a solid experience with my prebuilt $3,000 PC from NZXT about a year ago. I had two issues with it, and the company’s customer service was acceptable. It took longer to get my system up and running than I would’ve liked, but ultimately that’s going to happen when you have to ship and entire system for RMA.
I just recently had an encounter with NZXT customer support, and they were phenomenal both by phone and email, as well as the support center on their website. My experience was incredibly smooth, helpful and they answered/explained everything I had inquired about.
The sent my buddy a $2500 pc with a used gpu. Also it won’t display. All this after a shipping damage incident the first time he received his prebuilt. December 2022.
Last year I tried to use NZXT’s BLD service. Over the course of two months they sent me 3 dead on arrival PCS. It was frustrating as hell as I was out $1500 for those two months and had to keep making trips to ship it back. I ended up getting a full refund because I couldn’t trust them with my money, used microcenters services to build a custom pc, and they got it right the first time. If you live near a microcenter, please use that over a web service.
I bought this case before xmas from a local PC shop with very little inventory....its basically all he had. I was concerned about thermals seeing as it had no front fans, but I have been pleasantly surprised how cool my PC runs
I used NZXT BLD to get a 2060 build since they had a sale and it was very comparable to normal at home building. It came in and booted instantly with no problems, I’m enjoying it a lot and am having no issues with it
I really like this video. You and more channels should do more videos like this. Mystery shoppers keep businesses on their toes, and don't let them get lazy
I personally had an excellent experience with NZXT which I was surprised for considering the price I paid for my PC was about equal to the cost of its parts. Maybe they don’t make much money of the actual service but do it because you’re forced to buy their hardware to use it. Either way, I bought an NZXT pc and was very happy with it.
I bought a cyberpower pc and it was totally fine and configured properly. Granted I've upgraded just about everything except for the case but it was completely fine out of the box.
Can't imagine how sad it would be if I was a noob at pc everything and would use this computer for the next 3-4 maybe 5-7 years and one day decided to learn about ram speed and finding out that my hard earned money was spent on a stick that COULD run at a much higher frequency but the people who built the pc did not decide to bother. These pre-builts are aimed at the exact kind of people I'm talking about and it's extremely irresponsible of NZXT to do shit like this over and over again.
@Beers And Beats PDX It most certainly does NOT void the warranty if the ram is marketed and SOLD under the OC value. That ram is sold as 3200mhz, it comes with the XPM profile and it must run at that speed without voiding the warranty.
@Nick Dzink I think it's a windows 10 thing. Can't really remember exactly if w7 has more info elsewhere. You can always use something like hwinfo, which everyone should once in a while anyway to see if everything is running well and cool enough :)
I just found this channel. I’m definitely a console gamer, but It would be great being able to play some of the PC only games. As my father once told me I have “stupid hands” and there is no way I would ever build my own PC and have no one who could do it for me. Watching some of these videos make me realize it’s probably best for me to stick to consoles. 🤣
Man the cpu being loose thing was unbelievable its the most tense part of a new build seating it the customer likely doesn't have any thermal paste to do it anyway and like you said the idea it could fall off is nuts. Like another commenter said they might have meant gpu.
i bought my first prebuilt through NZXT. i spent about 2600$ with them. everything was great until about 2 weeks in of having the system. out of nowhere is started to receive error code 00 and the computer wouldnt work at all. i called them and they were pretty helpful with the problem. luckily they give you a two year warranty so i sent mine back in and it all took about 2 weeks for me to send and get it back. havent had any problems since then. they stayed in touch with me through the whole shipping process and told me what the problem was when it was fixed.
I'm actually astounded by how bad their customer service was having worked similar customer service before. The first thing you do is ask for relevant information like the order # and pictures of the device. The immediate response would be to check cables while sending a labeled diagram of the pertinent cables connected to the motherboard. This problem could have been solved in 2 emails sent back and forth. I'm truly shocked.
I bought two prebuilt PC's and when i got them both of their CPU's were shaken loose, so i wouldn't say its their incompetence but rather the brutal shipping process that the computers go through
I had a similar response from a specific shop here in the UK - my new system kept blue screening, so I sent it back for an RMA. Their report said the problem was "the CPU wasn't seated correctly" which to me sounded extremely strange seen as it'd be a miracle the PC would boot and the mobo would be okay but anyway. After two weeks or so, I receive the computer back and shockingly it's still blue screening at which point I just asked for my money back. Go figure.
The reason why prebuilt manufacturers get away with this stuff is because the people that would know to call them out for it generally don't buy prebuilts. Thank you very much for calling them out, someone has to. You're doing a good thing for the industry as a whole.
I used to work for a rent to own store and was sent out repeatedly to get televisions to ship back to the manufacturer for 'repair'. I found that the answer was to reflash the device software. I was able to fix the customer's TVs in 10 minutes without ever having to take it from their home. It saved us hours of driving to customer's houses to swap TVs.
@charlene aguirre totally agree. Gotta love that a YT star does better work than multi million dollar firms. Damn, if I was CEO of this company, Id just watch the Steve and Jay show! My shareholders would be thrilled!!!
Steve. I like your content and we need people like you who rip open controllers and coolers, get to the bottom of the problem, expose culprits and have integrity! Good Job! That is why I find important to let you know that couple of recent videos I watched left some bad afterthoughts. Specifically I will refer to two instances where you were partial to sensationalism and not objectivity. One is the walmart computer review where you stated the power supply is junk and not rated when it is clearly rated 80+ on the label. You have later stated that it is a better unit that you initially reported but never corrected its rating. The second is this review where instead of giving a benefit of the doubt to the statement "CPU shook out of its socket" ("GPU shook out of its socket" makes more sense), you double down on it. I am sure I'm not the only person that noticed that.
While watching this video ironically, NZXT finally DM’d me back on Twitter 2 months later. Answering only one of my questions in the worst way possible. NZXT Twitter is 100% a joke.
Funny you mention that! As a 10 year old kid, I would have never gotten in to the PC community if it wasn't for my mum who was sucked into a pre-built at her local PC store. They dont exist anymore, but you're right in saying that pre-built pcs are an important part of the PC/Gaming ecosystem!
wait a second, if they asked to reseat the CPU, did they fully expect a buyer to know they would need to reapply thermal paste? Let alone I doubt they would of had any on hand?
We actually asked about that and they said not to bother and just leave the paste in place. Didn't make it into the final cut. That was on the phone, too!
Thank you for the review. I purchased a NZXT: Bld Starter+. The PC arrived with a graphics card that had to be reseated. Customer Service sent me a video showing how to do this step but the clips on the bottom of the card are not intuitive on how to open to release the card so I nearly broke the card. Two weeks later the Wifi/Bluetooth card managed to work itself out of the socket so once again I had to reseat the card. Once again it fixed the problem. Not sure what to say about the PC. The price is decent and it works well but too many issues with the cards not staying put
I am still fighting with NZXT. I have sent it back to them for RMA, and they shipped it back to me with a different broken component. I will NEVER buy from them again. They are awful.
Im very glad I went with LYTE GAMING for my dreamachine. Ordered end of May 2022(universally limited parts/prices) and received it 10 days later. I spent 2.2k before taxes/fees = 2.5k for the Top of the line build. Their customer service is by far the best i've experienced outside of a multi star reasturant/hotel. No complaints no regrets. I suggest giving them a shot as they are an amazing company with people that actually give a sh*t, not avoiding you.
I will say anecdotally that I had nothing but positive experiences for my NZXT BLD PC, my first gaming PC. My issues were admittedly very simple to solve, and were more questions than complaints, but just to add to the conversation I figured I'd share my positive experience. Also, I will add that the fan curve stuff is setup by the NZXT crew in CAM, not in BIOS.
"You bought our pre-built because you want performance, but are uncomfortable putting it together yourself. You just need to remove and reinstall the cpu. Eazy peazy."
I’ll always remember how terrified I was seating in my first CPU. Because I wanted to be as careful as possible, I ended up getting some white “computer” gloves for extra protection while building my “first computer.” Like yeah, this wasn’t near my first time in the guts of a device, and I never bothered with such things before, but a lot of “official” documents (lol) recommended them. So yeah. Overkill, especially as I also already grounded myself. But it was my first real build and a months pay, come on! Log story short: padded gloves, even if they are “meant” for things like computer building, are a pain and I wasn’t able to line it up the cpu correctly with them on. I ended up tearing one glove off with my teeth so I could get a proper grip and eventually seat it in right. But I was still sweating bricks until I had set up the build enough to post test it and verify I didn’t, in fact, damage any of the pins or pads in the unexpected shimmy. Point is, the CPU is the most finicky thing to install, especially for the first time, and even with in-dept theoretical knowledge of what to do I was fucking shitting it. You want a customer who doesn’t understand iGPU mechanics with a dGPU let alone what a sata cable or atena to bloody try it?? Not to mention the CPU is the most stressful thing to install anyway, as it is the thing that jockeys for first place with the GPU for most expensive item in any build. By hundreddddss of dollars mind. Plus, god. What if they decided to whipe off the thermal paste, or something, cause they didn’t know what it was? Or forget to plug back in the cpu fan header? Etc etc. Sure they could look up tutorials but if they are obviously someone with no prior experience, the jargon might not get compute (lol) with them! Look, not everyone is a computer/tech/hardware wizard. As someone who has always been on the higher end of know how in my family and friends, I can attest to that. Doesn’t mean they’re dumb, and some might be able to figure it out, but they shouldn’t have to, especially if they don’t want to: which if they bought a prebuilt, it’s between either not wanting to or being afraid to. Which is fine! Everyone has their own talents and interests! You shouldn’t be expected to open up your iPhone out of box to test a few wires, because someone didn’t connect something correctly. it’s ludicrous to even suggest it, even if there are great tutorials out there to help!
@Ayden Mygatt I built my own system. I installed the stock cooler my cpu came with at the time of building. Eventually when I wanted to upgrade it to an AIO i had to takw it off and just the part of figuring out what mounting hardware i need and where I plug the pump header in was a hassle and I was scared the entire time. Mind you, Ive built the system and its been running fine for 10 months at this point. Its not that easy, esp when everything is installed already. Ive done everything from changing gpu, adding ssd, adding rams at bunch of other stuff after the build but still taking cpu cooler off and putting another one was the hardest thing I did. Imagine now what a new customer who has never seen a 3 pin header or an amd mounting bracket will do
Ayden Mygatt with the sheer amount of excuses you keep using instead of just admitting fault, I’d say you’re a teenager…. or a teenager stuck in an adult body lmao
I can't say I've had a bad experience with Nzxt they have a live chat and email they answered all my questions and even send multiple emails requesting my response and if the help i got resolved the issue, I have the 1600 dollar gamer and streamer pc and this thing rocks, 2 day build and ship time as promised ✔ everything installed and packed professionally ✔ booted right up out of the box with minimal bloatware ✔ only con which is a small one and and easy fix had to update the NVIDIA drivers and after that I get the promises fps on the settings they said I would and on high settings even better fps, I am 100% satisfied with them and my purchase of the nzxt computer.
It really does surprise me the routes CS seems to take for these undercover stings. For me, it would make sense to offer something like the following very early on, "It sounds like something happened during shipping. I can't say for sure what it is yet because there are a lot of components. If you'd like, I can send a video of some of the simple troubleshooting steps to try, and I can walk you through whatever problems come up during it. If you don't want to or don't have the time, I'll provide shipping details to get you a new unit right away." It leaves the choice up to the customer, and gives them the ability to choose how long they're willing to wait to get up and running. It gives the customer the chance to be part of the solution and to get acquainted better with their machine. It gives the customer the opportunity to call the shots and chose what makes the most sense for them, based on their personal situation. Some people don't want to bother with the nitty gritty and just want something that works, without having to expend the effort. Others want to know things inside and out, if it won't void their warranty. Empowering people and giving them the chance to choose instills not just confidence that they'll be taken care of no matter what, but it also gives them _self confidence_ to try. It's a valuable thing, and is a good way to get some repeat business in the future.
So ive been looking hard on getting a monster build done and I was just about convinced NZXT was the company to do it.. like a I/9 x 3090 build. but after seeing this. I just want to ask you @gamersnexus what company IS the best to get a prebuilt from on this scale? Ive used Digital Storm before, but nothing as expensive as Id like this time. You do awesome investigative work. And I highly respect you're opinion. well I could say "Experience" would be the best word to use here. I just about want to ask you to build it for me.. But i'm sure thats not an option , so who do you suggest?
I'd love it if you (or LTT) could check out some of the lesser known manufacturers, especially for support. Have a friend who's looking for a pre-built (doesn't have anyone local to help him build) and having a good support system is important.
@sneakwastaken Oh my, how foolish of me. You sir, are actually very correct. I sometimes mistake the two. I also forgot to use my swiss army knife when I built my PC, will this reduce my PC life?
I have worked in IT support and I can honestly say that "Pat's" email is exactly the kind that would make me bend over backwards to help the customer. No knowledge, so not enough to be dangerous, yet willing to follow your instructions to investigate and fix their issue.
I got a skytech w a 3080 and I was shocked how well put together it was and XMP enabled. All latest bios n drivers. Just had to install gpu driver. Definitely recommend them. Their customer service gets back to me same day.
Videos like these just prove that old saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself". I've tried to educate people and help them understand, select parts, and build their own pc's and the numerous reasons why they should (beyond just saving money) since the mid 90's. Sadly the majority of people don't care if they spend almost twice what it costs, as long is they can get it "NOW" and have to learn nothing, which they usually buy a pc that dies in a few months and then do it all over again. There are just too many resources that are readily available and easy to follow to show you which parts to select (and why) and how to build a pc. Do not watch The Verge video as a basis unless you just want to be horrified or just to get a laugh. Building your own pc, even the first time, instills not only the knowledge of the different parts and how they work together, but a sense of pride and fulfillment (and saving a but-load of money). In the process do not forget to learn how to install windows yourself. It's as easy as reading what's on the screen as you do it and will save you allot more money.
Had a customer come in to my shop 3 days ago and we built him a really nice custom system with a white case. The customer then told me that he had bought a prebuilt system from 'some company' out of state and the pc came in DOA. He had attempted to contact this company and was not able to do so to the point where he had to dispute the charges with his bank to get his money back. It has apparently been 3 weeks at that point and he had still not heard back from their customer support. Obviously since im commenting here, the company is NZXT. I didnt even know they built systems!
IIxVxII don’t know where you are but the only “computer repair” shops around me I wouldn’t trust with changing a stick of RAM much less actually building a system
@Garrett Harker I work in a computer repair shop. Many computer repair shops offer custom builds as a service. Just make sure you find one that is experienced in doing so. There are plenty of 'techs' out there that just slap a system together without putting much thought into cable management, airflow, part quality, bios configuration, etc... Take some time and do your own research then go talk to the actual tech that will be putting your system together, not the sales people. Ask some detailed questions about components, build configuration, potential bottlenecks. Give them an idea of what you're trying to build and what your budget is and see what they recommend. You'll probably pay a bit of a premium when building it with a reputable shop but its absolutely worth it if you aren't interested in or don't know how to build a system.
Thank you for addressing the elitist mentality. I'm coming from consoles and that is one of the most off putting things about trying to get started. It is very difficult to get honest non opinionated idea
I would give them the benefit of the doubt on the two case fans, the intake running a little faster than the exhaust feels correct. Their cable management is pretty hot too. But for everything else like connectors not inserted, XMP forgotten, CAM installed for absolutely no compatible devices... RIP pre-builts.
I'd like 50 times if I could. If I was managing a business, and someone like you pulled off that sort of investigative review on me, I'd have 90% of my job done for me. I'd also make it a point for my customer/technical service management team to actively explore the interwebs for this kind of content, not just passively responding to reviews. Some companies actually pay large sums to have their service tested on a regular basis, and it keeps the employees motivated too.
Yes they should be doing everything they can to make it the best system ever. Imagine if you bought an Xbox or a PlayStation you had to manually go through and set everything how pissed people would be
What I want to know is HOW CAN THAT EVEN HAPPEN. If the CPU is installed, paste on it, and a cooler on top of it. How. the. fuck. can it "shake loose during shipping" that's what gets me about that answer.
As someone with support experience I would call that email exceptionally pleasant. Friendly almost to a fault. Neutral to friendly? Not a chance. I'd buy that person a beer if they just spent 1k+ on their PC and it didn't work when they pulled it out of the box, especially if they were not tech savvy. Excessive questions? Nah, excessive would have been asking for the history of those black antennas and how they shaped the world in the 21st century. If you really wanna stress test a support's ability to give a crap, inject some real life customer behavior like insulting the support's family, intelligence or other standard ad hominems. All in all, Pat's a nice person and deserves polite and competent support.
I really appreciate videos like this. I purchased an ibuypower a little over a year ago and have had usb 3.0 wires plugged in backwards, no power supply cable sent with the pc, one of my ram sticks not clicked in, my aio go bad.. etc. Called them probably 30 times total and never talked to anyone had to leave a message every time with 0 call backs so I ended up fixing the problems on my own. Sent multiple emails also and the only response I got back said that if I didn't receive a power supply cable they would be able to send me one within the next couple of weeks.
I ordered a streaming pc from NZXT in March of this year. It booted fine and nothing seemed out of place, but I did notice one thing. There was a ton of unintentional motion blur in games and on the web just scrolling about. I’ve returned 3 monitors in hope to fix this . I currently have a benq Zowie Xl2411P E sports monitor that features a TN panel. But it is still the same. I’m either very unlucky and have gotten three different faulty monitors, or it is a pc problem. I’ve since sent the pc back for “repair” in hopes that it gets fixed. Any sort of advice or solutions would help a lot! Also, this is my very first pc as I am switching from console. Been a nightmare so far :/
Man, if I had the partners, I'd totally start my own pre-built company that dedicates themselves to quality assurance and customer satisfaction. It's not fair to spend over 1500$ at times on a prebuilt to get....shit like this. I already run my own IT business and sell builds on the regular and I'm ALWAYS triple checking cables, bios settings, and all the configurations so that my customers can just plug in and go with ZERO issues. I've also always helped educate customers on their computers, how to use them properly, quick shortcuts, power settings, all that. I'll explain it in the simplest terms so that anybody any age or generation can understand lol. "You see that dangly thingy?" "Yea?" "Yeah, make sure the dangly thingy is always plugged in or this won't work."
My CyberPower PC I bought years back wasn’t too bad, came working just fine out of the box. I only wish I had realized then that getting one shitty stick of unknown brand 8gb ram, an old B250M-A mobo, a 7th gen locked Intel CPU, and a terribly designed Coolermaster case would severely impact my performance and future upgradability (PSU was surprisingly okay). On the plus side, it did eventually push me to start learning about parts and build my own computer. Never going back to prebuilt again when I can get better parts for cheaper
Those are the boutique builders that allow you to customise it to an extent, manufacturers like Dell however, are really good at their process, I find that the Dell Prebuilts are of really good quality, this includes Alienware, they use specialised components sure, but you can still upgrade parts of it if you buy a lower end system at first
@Dominic Robinson Saving money doesn't seem as easy today with the supply problems due to COVID. I started pricing out a system yesterday and I just stopped half way through when I saw where the price was headed.
It seems odd why a company wouldnt spend the time and money to have some basic guides / video on how to deal with common or uncommon issues. Those things are really worth their weight in gold. If you first get a bad company reputation, that can be nearly impossible to fix again.
100 % WHY I've been doing my own builds for 20+ years. Compared to back in the day, systems are much, much easier to build. Save yourself time and money and build it yourself. The sense of pride along with the knowledge you gain of what is actually going on in the case is huge and pays off later.
After watching a bazillion of your videos, I'm left with one thought that I want to share with you: Start your own custom PC company. I'm a software developer, and over the years I've built about a dozen of my development machines. My current build is an i7-8086K rig, so it's a couple years old and I'm ready for a new machine. The thing is, I'd rather have someone else do my builds from now on. I want to pay someone as knowledgeable as you to pick out *exactly* which case, power supply, motherboard, graphics card, and cooling system would be best for my AMD Ryzen 9 5900X or 5950X build. Things have become too specialized for me to research and get every detail right about building a new PC, especially when I do this exactly once every 2-3 years. Cheers!
CHARITY AUCTION LISTING IS NOW LIVE! We're auctioning this system off for charity because we don't want it. Signed on the side panel by the team. 100% of proceeds goes to to Cat Angels Pet Adoptions: www.ebay.com/itm/CHARITY-AUCTION-NZXT-BLD-AUTOGRAPHED-BY-GAMERSNEXUS-STREAMER-PRE-BUILT-PC/303627534822
GN Walmart DTW Pre-Built Review (Part 1):clip-share.net/video/PTni-Vfrf9c/video.html
GN Walmart Second Chance Review: clip-share.net/video/pFVtDFhHy18/video.html
Cyberpower Undercover Review: clip-share.net/video/rRlCtp_q1YM/video.html
iBUYPOWER System Review: clip-share.net/video/h22vF98iGQM/video.html
@Gamers Nexus its customer service is still terrible i ordered a prebuilt as their guaranteeing 48hr for ship out times my progress hasnet changed in 6 days and every time i hop in chat i get no were im so fustrated
999
Wow nice job Walmart
Vvbbb V bbb bbbbbb
Just me or does he look like the ddd-dedodated wam kid from minecon
Just straight up out here auditing other companies customer service departments. Companies pay consulting firms big money to do what you've done.
There is a lot of boot licking in this thread. People seem to not be able to imagine how this could be systemic issue.
@gmu_alum08 Holy shit, it must be a full moon cuz the crazies are out. This comment is a year old, but ok... umm... My reply to your incoherent rambling is that capitalism has been stealing from the workforce and the government since the 1980s and there needs to be a radical redistribution back down. Why do you think employers are whining that "people don't want to work"? They're realizing their labor is worth more than the shit jobs are paying, so they're taking it to someone who will pay them what they're worth.
What about YOU, hmm? Would YOU work a job at minimum wage (7.25 an hour) no PTO, no health insurance, nothing? If not, don't be surprised if someone else doesn't want to. And it's not just "uneducated" people - I knew someone with two master's degrees who drove a forklift at home depot because his field had a glut of qualified workers.
Learn before you speak down to your betters.
@isturma what are you next gonna say we need wealth confiscation and just give it to people who didn't earn it just because they aren't paid enough? You don't get to just break shit and riot until people give you what you want. No society can function that way.. maybe that's the point to the people rioting.
@hanse81 getting $10/hr doesn't give you a carte blanche excuse to be incompetent tho either
Well at least the big difference is now it’s public and potential customers know what to expect, what you mentioned stays private.
I've been building PCs for 20 years and seating a CPU still makes me sweat every time. Suggesting that random customers should do it is insane.
Yeah I think putting the cpu and cpu fan on are always the most nerve racking for me. Crazy how bad the prebuilt scene is when you get past even the initial like 400 dollar upcharge
@Badumtss If they're buying a pre-built PC, the idea is it's ready to go when they get it... they shouldn't have to reseat CPUs or mess with anything. That's why they built a... "pre-built" computer...
seating a cpu is no stress for me after I have fixed a processor with bent pins with a pair of pliers
however, applying thermal paste triggers my perfectionism to the level of anxiety. What if I do too much and it spills, its gonna be a pain in the butt to clean. What if I do too litle and it doesnt cover well, we are gonna have hotspots and shit performance.
@Adam C you dont shit yourself from the pressure intel's retention brackets exert on the cpu? it always feels wrong to me.
@Badumtss its a suggestion someone might feel forced to do because they dont want to deal with rma's. And no, theres not a first time for everyone. People that buy an expensive prebuilt should not have to, or be asked to, stick their hands inside it without thorough guidance, and risk losing their warranty.
When one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable PC youtubers says that DIY-only elitism is off-putting, that's strong. I like it
@Resident Weevil 2077 Yes, diy is often better. But let people be happy with their pre-builts and if someone reallt wants a pre built, advice a good one instead of going against what they want. Nothing wrong with disliking prebuilts, just dont hold it against people buying them.
@JayJay Golden when you start seeing incompetence across the board for prebuilts - especially for Dell/Alienware - wouldn't you start to believe DIY is better?
@Resident Weevil 2077 ? i'm talking about people judging others for getting prebuilt, not people fairly criticizing bad systems integrators/builders.
@JayJay Golden when someone gets a new prebuilt PC, the expectation is it's supposed to work out of the box. If someone has to tinker with a prebuilt in order to get it working properly, that's where the issue lies. It's not a matter of prebuilt vs DIY, but simply a matter of trusting those that should know how to build a PC and they sh*t the bed. It's when those of us who know how to build PCs see this ineptness start to get irked. If you're gonna make PC building into a career, at least know what TF you're doing first before doing so.
meanwhile in the comments the diy elitism is as strong as ever
Not only have you benchmarked their customer support, you've also trained an army of subscribers how customer support should go, and hopefully this keeps NZXT on their toes.
Great job guys, very high quality video.
I hope CS workers take notes.
Customer: Your case is on fire!
NZXT: DEFINE FIRE
Customer: it burns my skin and is bright! Also a lot of smoke
NZXT: CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Kantbot
_chuckles __-"I'm in danger"-__ _*_"This is fine"_*
@TheWanderingGrasshopper lol
Sounds like NZXT customer service is the equivalent of the school nurse giving you an ice pack for a virus
As someone whose been in tech support for the better part of two decades, this is frustrating and sad. Most customers are borderline terrified of the inside of the computer and I don't blame them, I used to be that person. They should have a form they fill in which asks for their order number and photos of the inside and outside before they even begin diagnosing the issue. That's not even 101 advice, that's 88 advice...
That's because they don't have balls.
Been in tech support for 15 years. And the first advice I give to the rookies in the company is this: Never ever believe the client. They ALWAYS LIE. Either because they have no idea of what they are talking about or because it is convenient for them. The split is 40/60." That is my experience with customers so far. This leads me to my next advice: Always ask for more details and pictures if possible. What? They do not have smart phone in 2020? They LIE. Unless it's grandma on the other line in which case be extra extra nice.
In short never trust the customer and never assume he knows anything. Always investigate IN DETAIL and provide the most accurate and professional solutions available to you and the customer.
Then there are the scammers that believe they know stuff but turn out to be that guy from The Verge. Those guys I have a hard on for declining warranty when they fuck up and break things. About 5% of the customer base is like that!
Oh and for those that say: "you are getting paid for this so suck my banana" I say that as long as there are companies out there that pay their tech support less than McDonalds pays their workers then guess what level of service you are gonna get?
Has not been a problem on our end. Since me and the other people go above and beyond to help our customers and that shows with our pay. But I have a trend lately. Oh and we get supper pissed when a client lies to us on purpose.
We are here to help and will do so all the time. But if you are gonna lie to us and give us extra work for nothing then guess who pays for that!
@Gandalf721 accurate
@PappyMan If by 'pop culture reference' you mean 'alt right dog whistle' sure. When I see an 88 I normally assume someone's being an internet edgelord, which makes it weird to see in something that's not actually a troll comment.
Not for as long, but yeah, been there, done that, and I completely agree
suggesting a customer reseat the cpu is just jaw dropping.
@Watzleroviak1210 seriously, anyone who's ever SEEN a cpu installed would know it's not exactly possible for it to be shaken loose, between the thermal paste, 4 screws and a retention plate you'll have way bigger problems before the cpu gets "shaken loose"
Fuckin gpu would be on the bottom of the case with half the pcie connectors ripped apart before your cpu comes loose in shipping
@Andy B One of the 4-pins was loose, so he couldn't move it at all.
'Customer bends pins' NZXT: refund denied due to user damage
Are you willing to test the claim of the AMD stock cooler surviving a 4 story drop?
I almost guarantee you will get a ton of views on that video... I'd watch it
i mean.. if i had a dollar for every time i reseated something and it just decided to fix itself.. lol
As someone who was once that customer, and now a technician that helps assist users. Man do I appreciate the levels you guys evaluated their customer service. It's mind blowing how many people get paid fairly decent wages to neglect their customers and colleagues. Get people out of there that don't care, there is an ever growing number of enthusiasts that would love to have some of these jobs, thanks again for addressing this common issue in modern day support Steve and GN staff!
@Robin Bot Yes. You still need to have some technical skill or be able to pick up some technical skill on the job but customer service is a big part of being a helpdesk technician.
Don't worry. I can not care for free.
Is this a job you would suggest for sometime with customer service experience?
Imagine telling someone who admits to being computer illiterate to re-seat a CPU, lmao.
Not the same but back in the 90's I tried to do this before I knew anything about proficiently building a PC and did not apply new thermal paste, about 60 seconds into it being on my Celeron Processor literally caught fire briefly.
Customer service across all industries has really gone down hill over the past 20 years or so. This is what you get when you pay people a dog shit wage and hand them an excel spreadsheet checklist to go over.
I think it's generating a new niche market someone can capitalize on off of just having good, competent customer assistance around your products.
You guys should make a playlist of undercover videos, I’d love to binge this stuff. I know it’s a lot of work but it’s mind blowing stuff here.
Makes me feel like I have someone looking out for me in the PC world which can definitely be overwhelming or confusing for those of us getting the hang of it.
Customer service is arguably the most important aspect of a prebuilt PC.
@John Henderson If they will not spit on my face when I visit there, I buy where I can get good stuff in good price, I am not looking for relationships from the stores.
Idk, actually building a good sturdy product that works and doesnt break or isnt a scam, is probably slightly more important.
xidax has amazing customer service
I generally consider having to contact CS at all a failure. CS is important but basic R&D and QC are more important. If that's done well, I never have to contact CS at all.
Truthfully 99% of the time if you build it correctly and with pride you'll never even have to deal with a customer after the sale. Yes weird things happen but I mean that in a very general sense.
Has a CPU ever "shaken loose" in the history of Modern PC's? (30+ years) How is that even possible? The arm locks the CPU it's not going anywhere. Ever! WOW! That's got to be the worst response from tech ever.
Although I acknowledge a lot of these issues with NZXT customer service, I'm really thinking about ordering one of their systems. With the price of good GPUs these days, buying a build kit or a prebuilt for only $200 more than the price of just the GPU by itself doesn't sound like a bad deal, and I can inspect the connections and configure setting in the bios etc. setting myself with no issue. I'll definitely look into trying to improve the cooling if I go that route.
I've always been skeptical of NZXT. Especially when they first got big as a brand and started just making meme-worthy cases there for a while.
Works fine for me
Zee or Zed?
Controversy generated
En-zee-eks-dee.
Wow, these reviews are so valuable to us consumers. It's rediculous that this company functions like this. I just built my 1st system just following directions on youtube and it's running perfectly. These guys do this for a living and can't ship a working pc!?
@s For sure but if they were knowledgeable enough to know where could and couldn't cut corners than they wouldn't have an issue.
I think the issue wasn't lack of knowledge, but speed of building
It's insane because I feel like email based customer support is so incredibly easy. Having worked in customer support for years it's so much harder over the phone and these guys are doing the bare minimum via email.
I really love and appreciate your no nonsense reviews of all of these products. You provide a reliable service to people like me researching PC's. Seriously the fact that you guys refuse to pull any punches speaks to your integrity.
Okay the fact you guys are donating to a cat shelter just ratcheted up my respects for you guys 10x! ♡
Alright so I’ve had my streamer pc for over 7 months and thanks to this video I found out about XMP and other stuff. Now my pc runs smoothly and no dropped frames in 8 hours of streaming. Thank you!
The point you made at the beginning of the video is so on point. Last time I was into computer gaming and building, a 233mhz Pentium II Gateway was all the rage. I went to consoles. I play FFXIV on PS4 and my raid static has talked me into trying PC again. So I bought a pre-built from iBuypower. It came with a 3070 that was artifacting and had shipping damage. The way they handled it was so poor that I just decided to stick with console (this was just last month BTW, so you know they haven't gotten any better). I am giving CLX a chance to change my mind. I've started looking into the DIY side but if there are issues with the CLX, I am done with PC gaming. The static requirements and reliability at suboptimal performance are more attractive than all these headaches.
You might want to wait until PC components become more efficient and don’t use the same energy as a microwave oven
Just wanted to say thank you for the write up. After watching the other prebuilt machines have so many issues this seemed like the lesser of all evils and definitely was. Did a once over to check out all the connections and enabled XMP as soon as a windows was updated and i had 0 problems after that! The fan curves are a tad funky but it stays nice and cool still. 🤝
I had a really good experience with NZXT customer support. I had an issue with breaking a mounting screw on my kraken cooler, which was my fault completely. I could not find a replacement for one locally so I emailed them and explained the situation and they sent me a whole bag of AMD replacement mounts at no cost ever before asking me for any warranty information. And it arrived to Ohio from California within the week. I believe most customer service always comes down to the individual handling the issues, in my case they were great. I have heard some horror stories from various companies over the years on customer service, but have had more positive than negative. It seems to show there is bad quality control in this situation, and the first CS rep you talked to was very inexperienced or just didn't know what to do.
The person just sent you a replacement, no need for actual troubleshooting. Whilst obviously its a plus and its good, they were testing the technical knowledge and ability to guide a user which was terrible tbh. They also spoke with 2 people in the end, they both failed hard
You guys are so freaking thorough in your reviews. I'm out of the market for building a computer, and I have no need for hardware right now; but, I watch these just to hear what you guys have to say. Steve, you're awesome dude... Same with the GN crew.
As a small scale Australian PC builder and reseller - I cannot fathom how these kinds of issues are deemed to be acceptable.
When I advertise a set ram speed - XMP will be enabled
When I say it runs cool and quiet - I will pre-configure the fan curves and run thermal tests to confirm that
I will also - always - make sure Windows is up to date and graphics drivers are installed and updated too, along with bios updates and any requested utilities (like RGB software / audio management for the motherboard etc) all within the OOBE setup so that they receive a computer that feels fresh, set up their Windows account as normal but once it loads up everything is up to date, functional, and ready to install games.
I know it's different for large scale businesses vs sole traders, but these extra steps are just a few minutes of actual work.. with the bulk of time spent waiting for it to download/update etc while I'm doing something else.
The whole point of a prebuilt is paying a little extra for someone else to do the annoying and tedious work for you, and to get a 'plug and play' type experience. If my customer has to do any additional setup steps before installing and loading a game then I haven't done my job.
@Yobama but then companies with larger scale also has more resources to cope with that type of stuff
@Pawz Uno Channel nice
@cinIALVEspO w depends, I usually ask the costumer. But if they don't give it, I usually use generic name like "User"
As a system builder for a large tech company (I won't name here), there was a few things that stood out to me... In my workplace, System builders are told to follow a set routine after building the system, which includes manually updating and setting up the bios (xmp, fan profiles, Drive ordering/checking,) all of which is written down on a checklist before passing on to software and is checked each step of the way afterwards including during software and quality control. even the wiring i take some issue with, If you're building a set specification like this which you will be doing repetatively day in day out. Wiring should be perfect and efficient, i would call the wiring job a 6/10 maybe a 7. and the fact that the coolers USB control wire is running down the back of the actual motherboard touching the back of it would not pass quality control at my workplace... And the h500/h700 is a solid option when it comes to wiring they tend to be quite easy cases to work with.
Overall though it's not the worst i've seen. i would just expect better overall considering that (atleast in the case of this build) It's a very simple build... No added drives only an m.2... no liquid cooler that would require sata power etc... These things can make wiring take that extra bit longer but this build is as plain as can be, Should be a very simple job to get this right.
@zaru Set rotating backgrounds to fuck with them lol, first one or two are default then toss some weird shit in there. But in all seriousness, the only reason I install programs for people I do side jobs for is because if they need me to build it then they aren't smart enough to not install everything on C lol, it just ends up becoming my problem sooner rather than later when that's the case
Sounds like a great business opportunity for you or someone else: prebuilt gaming PCs that actually work with good customer service.
I love how passive aggressive Steve is when he's annoyed but needs to still be professional
I just got my NZXT computer :D as soon as I plugged it in and hit the power button, it transformed into MY OWN PRIVATE JET. Who would have thought!!!! I always wanted my own jet. Just hearing the engine roar in my living room gives me the comfort I need to stream. I almost opened my window to see how far my NZXT would fly.
What did you do with it
lmao
Have you heard back from NZXT since this video has been published? I'm very curious to know if they have seen it, did they offer an apology for their crappy customer service, and finally, did they make commitments to provide their staff with enhanced training with a focus on customer service?
That guy in Customer Service coming into to work Monday is gonna be like... "What yall watching..."
@Dashawn628 No Steve took a totally random wire out, which would lead to a call unlike any they had taken.
There is little to no chance that wire would come out in transit, they delivered a perfectly functioning PC and Steve intentionally broke it.
The guy went through faults that would usually occur through transit, like he probably has to help actual customers out.
Steve has had PC's delivered that haven't functioned correctly, even totally broken yet didn't ring their customer services.
Pretty simple argument to me, yet you need to simplify it to black and white. Try reading?
@Jezwinni Wow what a pathetic excuse for low quality employees. So you're basically saying it's someone's livelihood so don't expose them for being bad at their job 🤣🤦🏽♂️
I can't believe I really just read this thread of someone throwing a 6 month long internet tantrum over their sense of humor not lining up with the general populations... Imagine getting upset at other people laughing, imagine how miserable of an existence that must be. Like how healthy is it to laugh at poor customer service rather than to respond negatively, then think about how unhealthy it is to get upset at people using humor in a situation that others could easily just be angry.
@SSJBart2003 I think the main reason I entered this rabbit hole was the low quality of the joke and the likes it got
Looking back I don't think it was the video that offended me but the poor quality joke.
Look at all the lols etc, seriously I wonder how such a crappy joke could make so many people laugh, how do these people function, they must fall about laughing all day.
@Gh0sT I am not the support guy, my biggest gripe in this is apparently "it is going to be so funny when this guy comes to work (or something)" constitutes comedy gold!
Is it even a joke?
Honestly I have never tried to assist anyone fix their pc over the phone but I am guessing it isn't as easy as it sounds.
Watch Steve Vs jay2cents Linus tech challenge, they both miss more than a wire not being connected and they have the systems in front of them.
I like Steve's videos and he has uncovered stuff, but I think this is one of his worst ones and a bit childish.
Really amazing work you're doing with these prebuild reviews.
Even though there were some errors, 1499 is actually a good price for what you get in this specific build considering the current state of the market. Especially keeping in mind that the components, other than the quite unnecessary 32gb of ram instead of 16, match very well and will probably never cause any bottlenecks.
I really appreciate the time and effort the team put into this video. Thank you!
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel relieved watching these reviews. I'm pretty new to pc building and earlier on getting tech support with these companies had my pulling hairs
This is the engineering equivalent of a diss track. 30 minutes, of calm, cool, methodical and highly detailed explanation's of NXZT's failures, love it.
@The Hoonta You should understand that you are paying for a fully functional product out of the box AND for follow up customer service. These expectations do not apply to big dick alpha DIYers like you. Please consider the context and think about what you're saying before you talk. Use your epic 300 gamer IQ next time.
@Kyler Clarke Looks like you missed the improperly plugged power cables and the 10 minutes of customer service benchmarking.
With such devastating observations as: the fan configuration is perfectly good. The cable management is good as well. The packing foam did its job, with only very minor paint scuffing. There is no bloatware, besides NZXT's suite.
Talk about DEMOLISHING NZXT
I couldn't agree more. This video was excellently executed.
I watched this video after buying a pc from them. I thought to my self that I would never have to deal with their customer service and that it would be that bad if I did. Oh boy is their customer service the worst there is. The case arrived damaged and the cpu cooler bent I told them and eventually after a long and grueling string of emails I struck a deal with them. They would refund the cost of the case. I didn’t receive my money after 2 weeks so I emailed them back and they went back on their deal.
I started out with pre-builds, I went to do it myself to learn how to do it and because its fun for me. But yeah these companies should do their best to provide something that is capable and well supported. I often wonder just how this gets done wrong, like is it purely due to volume? Like they need to put out SO many pc's that they just cant check? It is just irritating really
Gamer Nexus is the most unbiased tech channel on this platform. Thank you.
I think a ton of companies would miss number 3. Because shipping damage happens often, at least where I live. I was baffled that they said the CPU may have gotten loose. There's a very little chance that happens, because the damn CPU cooler. That's like the last thing they should troubleshoot
"I don't appreciate paying for something that I can't even use". The young man within me that did tech support over 20 years ago just felt this so deeply that he wants to file charges of assault".
@jvandervyver Well I mean at least managers tend to not threaten you with physical violence.
@jvandervyver I know what you're saying, and I feel you, but truly I think tech support is probably worse; not only do you deal with awful coworkers, etc. same as we all do, but essentially all the people you are meant to deal with are troubled by their current circumstance, if not outright upset or angry...and that constantly negative experience can frequently be compounded by being not just mundane, but remarkably repetitive.
...and while much of this is presumption on my part, I base this mainly on the fact that I've met many a person who has worked in several completely different fields, and if tech support happens to be one, it's always the one they speak the worst of....even when they loved the actual work environment and their employees, they speak of it as if it justs drains the soul.
Now I don't believe all of that necessarily has to be the case, but I think in order to take that type of work in stride, it requires certain personal skills and strengths that few of us are well versed in or adapted to, and which are uniquely demanded only in a few situations, much less environments or careers.
@Warmachine I get 'blunt as a brick' employees, but what do you do with 'smart as a box of rocks'?
@Norbert Schmidt Ha! It's like trying to explain sunlight to someone that has never seen or experienced it. It's easier to just push them into the sunlight
@jvandervyver many of us have been there, what you're describing corporate America in a nutshell. VP's making unrealistic promises to CxO's as to when something can be implemented or go live and the engineers are threatened when they can't hit that target. Some managers just suck and try to make up for their complete lack of leadership with micromanagement and/or simply being a demanding pr1ck.
I love the amount of sheer information you just throw at us. Idk why I hadn't found your channel till recently. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the very informative video! I bought a new PC to replace a 10 year old one from BLD 5 months before this video was uploaded. I agree with you on that companies like NZXT are important for people to get into the hobby as I ripped everything out of the H510 case & slapped them into a Lian Li O11 (thanks GN for showing me this amazing case). It was my first PC 'build' & I enjoyed every second of it. Looking forward to future component upgrades.
Overall, BLD was a pretty solid service. The PC was assembled neatly with nice cable management. I would highly recommend anyone that bought a system to doublecheck the parts they sent with the system. I found out that they didn't send the AM4 CPU backplate when I tried to swap out the cooler. It was disappointing having to wait for support to respond & send a replacement out.
You know one of the good things about reviewing customer service from Newegg and NZXT and other companies is that they are finally going to realize that anyone that's buying their products could be someone with a massive following so it kind of feels like secret shoppers, if you've ever worked in retail or the restaurant business you've probably heard of it where corporate send someone basically undercover to come and purchase something from your store and you don't know who it is you don't know what they look like so it makes it where everyone is on their best behavior and does the best they can so hopefully all these major companies will realize that every single sale they make could possibly be someone with a massive following therefore they start to straighten up and take things seriously
I had a solid experience with my prebuilt $3,000 PC from NZXT about a year ago. I had two issues with it, and the company’s customer service was acceptable. It took longer to get my system up and running than I would’ve liked, but ultimately that’s going to happen when you have to ship and entire system for RMA.
You guys are doing immaculate work here. I don’t even like videos because I’m lazy but damn this deserved a like for all the effort.
The professionalism and quality of GN videos is really something special. Thanks Steve.
I just recently had an encounter with NZXT customer support, and they were phenomenal both by phone and email, as well as the support center on their website. My experience was incredibly smooth, helpful and they answered/explained everything I had inquired about.
The sent my buddy a $2500 pc with a used gpu. Also it won’t display. All this after a shipping damage incident the first time he received his prebuilt. December 2022.
Last year I tried to use NZXT’s BLD service. Over the course of two months they sent me 3 dead on arrival PCS. It was frustrating as hell as I was out $1500 for those two months and had to keep making trips to ship it back. I ended up getting a full refund because I couldn’t trust them with my money, used microcenters services to build a custom pc, and they got it right the first time. If you live near a microcenter, please use that over a web service.
I bought this case before xmas from a local PC shop with very little inventory....its basically all he had. I was concerned about thermals seeing as it had no front fans, but I have been pleasantly surprised how cool my PC runs
You guys do amazing work. Both informative and entertaining
I used NZXT BLD to get a 2060 build since they had a sale and it was very comparable to normal at home building. It came in and booted instantly with no problems, I’m enjoying it a lot and am having no issues with it
I really like this video. You and more channels should do more videos like this. Mystery shoppers keep businesses on their toes, and don't let them get lazy
I personally had an excellent experience with NZXT which I was surprised for considering the price I paid for my PC was about equal to the cost of its parts. Maybe they don’t make much money of the actual service but do it because you’re forced to buy their hardware to use it. Either way, I bought an NZXT pc and was very happy with it.
I bought a cyberpower pc and it was totally fine and configured properly. Granted I've upgraded just about everything except for the case but it was completely fine out of the box.
I had the same result with AVA. Not all of them are awful (luckily)
Would love to see you guys cover the newer Redux pre-builds like this. They have been getting a lot of business lately
Can't imagine how sad it would be if I was a noob at pc everything and would use this computer for the next 3-4 maybe 5-7 years and one day decided to learn about ram speed and finding out that my hard earned money was spent on a stick that COULD run at a much higher frequency but the people who built the pc did not decide to bother. These pre-builts are aimed at the exact kind of people I'm talking about and it's extremely irresponsible of NZXT to do shit like this over and over again.
@Beers And Beats PDX It most certainly does NOT void the warranty if the ram is marketed and SOLD under the OC value. That ram is sold as 3200mhz, it comes with the XPM profile and it must run at that speed without voiding the warranty.
@Beers And Beats PDX yeah people are stupid and dont realize this
Changing the ram speed is considered an overclock and voids your warranty. Nzxt wouldn't automatically do something that would void a warranty.
@Nick Dzink yeah it does.
@Nick Dzink I think it's a windows 10 thing. Can't really remember exactly if w7 has more info elsewhere. You can always use something like hwinfo, which everyone should once in a while anyway to see if everything is running well and cool enough :)
I just found this channel. I’m definitely a console gamer, but It would be great being able to play some of the PC only games. As my father once told me I have “stupid hands” and there is no way I would ever build my own PC and have no one who could do it for me. Watching some of these videos make me realize it’s probably best for me to stick to consoles. 🤣
Man the cpu being loose thing was unbelievable its the most tense part of a new build seating it the customer likely doesn't have any thermal paste to do it anyway and like you said the idea it could fall off is nuts. Like another commenter said they might have meant gpu.
i bought my first prebuilt through NZXT. i spent about 2600$ with them. everything was great until about 2 weeks in of having the system. out of nowhere is started to receive error code 00 and the computer wouldnt work at all. i called them and they were pretty helpful with the problem. luckily they give you a two year warranty so i sent mine back in and it all took about 2 weeks for me to send and get it back. havent had any problems since then. they stayed in touch with me through the whole shipping process and told me what the problem was when it was fixed.
I'm actually astounded by how bad their customer service was having worked similar customer service before. The first thing you do is ask for relevant information like the order # and pictures of the device. The immediate response would be to check cables while sending a labeled diagram of the pertinent cables connected to the motherboard. This problem could have been solved in 2 emails sent back and forth. I'm truly shocked.
I bought two prebuilt PC's and when i got them both of their CPU's were shaken loose, so i wouldn't say its their incompetence but rather the brutal shipping process that the computers go through
I had a similar response from a specific shop here in the UK - my new system kept blue screening, so I sent it back for an RMA. Their report said the problem was "the CPU wasn't seated correctly" which to me sounded extremely strange seen as it'd be a miracle the PC would boot and the mobo would be okay but anyway. After two weeks or so, I receive the computer back and shockingly it's still blue screening at which point I just asked for my money back.
Go figure.
The reason why prebuilt manufacturers get away with this stuff is because the people that would know to call them out for it generally don't buy prebuilts. Thank you very much for calling them out, someone has to. You're doing a good thing for the industry as a whole.
I used to work for a rent to own store and was sent out repeatedly to get televisions to ship back to the manufacturer for 'repair'. I found that the answer was to reflash the device software. I was able to fix the customer's TVs in 10 minutes without ever having to take it from their home. It saved us hours of driving to customer's houses to swap TVs.
NZXT is giving the aura of
"If you don't like it, don't buy it"
Alright then.
@charlene aguirre why’d you copy and paste the top comment lol
@charlene aguirre totally agree. Gotta love that a YT star does better work than multi million dollar firms. Damn, if I was CEO of this company, Id just watch the Steve and Jay show! My shareholders would be thrilled!!!
ive got a head start on not buying or liking it. so good. that case is crap, so is nzxt
@charlene aguirre why you copying someone else’s comment lol
Steve. I like your content and we need people like you who rip open controllers and coolers, get to the bottom of the problem, expose culprits and have integrity! Good Job!
That is why I find important to let you know that couple of recent videos I watched left some bad afterthoughts. Specifically I will refer to two instances where you were partial to sensationalism and not objectivity. One is the walmart computer review where you stated the power supply is junk and not rated when it is clearly rated 80+ on the label. You have later stated that it is a better unit that you initially reported but never corrected its rating. The second is this review where instead of giving a benefit of the doubt to the statement "CPU shook out of its socket" ("GPU shook out of its socket" makes more sense), you double down on it.
I am sure I'm not the only person that noticed that.
While watching this video ironically, NZXT finally DM’d me back on Twitter 2 months later. Answering only one of my questions in the worst way possible. NZXT Twitter is 100% a joke.
Good honest review, absolutely spot on about the effing hot glue, on an almost $300 aio it's unacceptable
Funny you mention that! As a 10 year old kid, I would have never gotten in to the PC community if it wasn't for my mum who was sucked into a pre-built at her local PC store. They dont exist anymore, but you're right in saying that pre-built pcs are an important part of the PC/Gaming ecosystem!
wait a second, if they asked to reseat the CPU, did they fully expect a buyer to know they would need to reapply thermal paste? Let alone I doubt they would of had any on hand?
We actually asked about that and they said not to bother and just leave the paste in place. Didn't make it into the final cut. That was on the phone, too!
Thank you for the review. I purchased a NZXT: Bld Starter+. The PC arrived with a graphics card that had to be reseated. Customer Service sent me a video showing how to do this step but the clips on the bottom of the card are not intuitive on how to open to release the card so I nearly broke the card. Two weeks later the Wifi/Bluetooth card managed to work itself out of the socket so once again I had to reseat the card. Once again it fixed the problem. Not sure what to say about the PC. The price is decent and it works well but too many issues with the cards not staying put
I am still fighting with NZXT. I have sent it back to them for RMA, and they shipped it back to me with a different broken component. I will NEVER buy from them again. They are awful.
Where are you at with them now?
Im very glad I went with LYTE GAMING for my dreamachine. Ordered end of May 2022(universally limited parts/prices) and received it 10 days later. I spent 2.2k before taxes/fees = 2.5k for the Top of the line build. Their customer service is by far the best i've experienced outside of a multi star reasturant/hotel. No complaints no regrets. I suggest giving them a shot as they are an amazing company with people that actually give a sh*t, not avoiding you.
I will say anecdotally that I had nothing but positive experiences for my NZXT BLD PC, my first gaming PC. My issues were admittedly very simple to solve, and were more questions than complaints, but just to add to the conversation I figured I'd share my positive experience.
Also, I will add that the fan curve stuff is setup by the NZXT crew in CAM, not in BIOS.
"You bought our pre-built because you want performance, but are uncomfortable putting it together yourself. You just need to remove and reinstall the cpu. Eazy peazy."
@Grumbles Way more likely just a moron.
I’ll always remember how terrified I was seating in my first CPU.
Because I wanted to be as careful as possible, I ended up getting some white “computer” gloves for extra protection while building my “first computer.” Like yeah, this wasn’t near my first time in the guts of a device, and I never bothered with such things before, but a lot of “official” documents (lol) recommended them. So yeah. Overkill, especially as I also already grounded myself. But it was my first real build and a months pay, come on!
Log story short: padded gloves, even if they are “meant” for things like computer building, are a pain and I wasn’t able to line it up the cpu correctly with them on. I ended up tearing one glove off with my teeth so I could get a proper grip and eventually seat it in right. But I was still sweating bricks until I had set up the build enough to post test it and verify I didn’t, in fact, damage any of the pins or pads in the unexpected shimmy.
Point is, the CPU is the most finicky thing to install, especially for the first time, and even with in-dept theoretical knowledge of what to do I was fucking shitting it. You want a customer who doesn’t understand iGPU mechanics with a dGPU let alone what a sata cable or atena to bloody try it??
Not to mention the CPU is the most stressful thing to install anyway, as it is the thing that jockeys for first place with the GPU for most expensive item in any build. By hundreddddss of dollars mind.
Plus, god. What if they decided to whipe off the thermal paste, or something, cause they didn’t know what it was? Or forget to plug back in the cpu fan header? Etc etc.
Sure they could look up tutorials but if they are obviously someone with no prior experience, the jargon might not get compute (lol) with them!
Look, not everyone is a computer/tech/hardware wizard. As someone who has always been on the higher end of know how in my family and friends, I can attest to that. Doesn’t mean they’re dumb, and some might be able to figure it out, but they shouldn’t have to, especially if they don’t want to: which if they bought a prebuilt, it’s between either not wanting to or being afraid to. Which is fine! Everyone has their own talents and interests!
You shouldn’t be expected to open up your iPhone out of box to test a few wires, because someone didn’t connect something correctly. it’s ludicrous to even suggest it, even if there are great tutorials out there to help!
@Ayden Mygatt I built my own system. I installed the stock cooler my cpu came with at the time of building. Eventually when I wanted to upgrade it to an AIO i had to takw it off and just the part of figuring out what mounting hardware i need and where I plug the pump header in was a hassle and I was scared the entire time. Mind you, Ive built the system and its been running fine for 10 months at this point. Its not that easy, esp when everything is installed already. Ive done everything from changing gpu, adding ssd, adding rams at bunch of other stuff after the build but still taking cpu cooler off and putting another one was the hardest thing I did. Imagine now what a new customer who has never seen a 3 pin header or an amd mounting bracket will do
Ayden Mygatt with the sheer amount of excuses you keep using instead of just admitting fault, I’d say you’re a teenager…. or a teenager stuck in an adult body lmao
Great way to end up with bent pins on the socket or the CPU like Steve said.
I can't say I've had a bad experience with Nzxt they have a live chat and email they answered all my questions and even send multiple emails requesting my response and if the help i got resolved the issue, I have the 1600 dollar gamer and streamer pc and this thing rocks, 2 day build and ship time as promised ✔ everything installed and packed professionally ✔ booted right up out of the box with minimal bloatware ✔ only con which is a small one and and easy fix had to update the NVIDIA drivers and after that I get the promises fps on the settings they said I would and on high settings even better fps, I am 100% satisfied with them and my purchase of the nzxt computer.
It really does surprise me the routes CS seems to take for these undercover stings. For me, it would make sense to offer something like the following very early on, "It sounds like something happened during shipping. I can't say for sure what it is yet because there are a lot of components. If you'd like, I can send a video of some of the simple troubleshooting steps to try, and I can walk you through whatever problems come up during it. If you don't want to or don't have the time, I'll provide shipping details to get you a new unit right away."
It leaves the choice up to the customer, and gives them the ability to choose how long they're willing to wait to get up and running. It gives the customer the chance to be part of the solution and to get acquainted better with their machine. It gives the customer the opportunity to call the shots and chose what makes the most sense for them, based on their personal situation.
Some people don't want to bother with the nitty gritty and just want something that works, without having to expend the effort. Others want to know things inside and out, if it won't void their warranty. Empowering people and giving them the chance to choose instills not just confidence that they'll be taken care of no matter what, but it also gives them _self confidence_ to try. It's a valuable thing, and is a good way to get some repeat business in the future.
So ive been looking hard on getting a monster build done and I was just about convinced NZXT was the company to do it.. like a I/9 x 3090 build. but after seeing this. I just want to ask you @gamersnexus what company IS the best to get a prebuilt from on this scale? Ive used Digital Storm before, but nothing as expensive as Id like this time. You do awesome investigative work. And I highly respect you're opinion. well I could say "Experience" would be the best word to use here. I just about want to ask you to build it for me.. But i'm sure thats not an option , so who do you suggest?
I'd love it if you (or LTT) could check out some of the lesser known manufacturers, especially for support. Have a friend who's looking for a pre-built (doesn't have anyone local to help him build) and having a good support system is important.
"...the customer might look up 'how to re-seat a CPU' and end up with a bunch of smashed pins. Who's fault is it at this point?"
The Verge.
It's been over 2 years and Verge roasts always crack me up :)
It never gets old.
@CallaWolf no just make sure to ground the power supply so you don't shock yourself when you touch the rear brace
@sneakwastaken Oh my, how foolish of me. You sir, are actually very correct. I sometimes mistake the two. I also forgot to use my swiss army knife when I built my PC, will this reduce my PC life?
They should have screwed with confidence!
@CallaWolf excuse me sir, did you mean tweezers?
I learned a lot building my own system because I tried to take parts from an older pc to cut costs and learned about compatibility issues.
I have worked in IT support and I can honestly say that "Pat's" email is exactly the kind that would make me bend over backwards to help the customer. No knowledge, so not enough to be dangerous, yet willing to follow your instructions to investigate and fix their issue.
I got a skytech w a 3080 and I was shocked how well put together it was and XMP enabled. All latest bios n drivers. Just had to install gpu driver. Definitely recommend them. Their customer service gets back to me same day.
Videos like these just prove that old saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself".
I've tried to educate people and help them understand, select parts, and build their own pc's and the numerous reasons why they should (beyond just saving money) since the mid 90's. Sadly the majority of people don't care if they spend almost twice what it costs, as long is they can get it "NOW" and have to learn nothing, which they usually buy a pc that dies in a few months and then do it all over again.
There are just too many resources that are readily available and easy to follow to show you which parts to select (and why) and how to build a pc. Do not watch The Verge video as a basis unless you just want to be horrified or just to get a laugh.
Building your own pc, even the first time, instills not only the knowledge of the different parts and how they work together, but a sense of pride and fulfillment (and saving a but-load of money). In the process do not forget to learn how to install windows yourself. It's as easy as reading what's on the screen as you do it and will save you allot more money.
Had a customer come in to my shop 3 days ago and we built him a really nice custom system with a white case. The customer then told me that he had bought a prebuilt system from 'some company' out of state and the pc came in DOA. He had attempted to contact this company and was not able to do so to the point where he had to dispute the charges with his bank to get his money back. It has apparently been 3 weeks at that point and he had still not heard back from their customer support. Obviously since im commenting here, the company is NZXT. I didnt even know they built systems!
IIxVxII don’t know where you are but the only “computer repair” shops around me I wouldn’t trust with changing a stick of RAM much less actually building a system
@Garrett Harker I work in a computer repair shop. Many computer repair shops offer custom builds as a service. Just make sure you find one that is experienced in doing so. There are plenty of 'techs' out there that just slap a system together without putting much thought into cable management, airflow, part quality, bios configuration, etc... Take some time and do your own research then go talk to the actual tech that will be putting your system together, not the sales people. Ask some detailed questions about components, build configuration, potential bottlenecks. Give them an idea of what you're trying to build and what your budget is and see what they recommend. You'll probably pay a bit of a premium when building it with a reputable shop but its absolutely worth it if you aren't interested in or don't know how to build a system.
what type of place do you work that someone can come in and get a pc put together like you do?
@cool person you can, but leaves a bad first impression
contytub wait can’t u return it
Thank you for addressing the elitist mentality. I'm coming from consoles and that is one of the most off putting things about trying to get started. It is very difficult to get honest non opinionated idea
I would give them the benefit of the doubt on the two case fans, the intake running a little faster than the exhaust feels correct. Their cable management is pretty hot too. But for everything else like connectors not inserted, XMP forgotten, CAM installed for absolutely no compatible devices... RIP pre-builts.
I'd like 50 times if I could. If I was managing a business, and someone like you pulled off that sort of investigative review on me, I'd have 90% of my job done for me. I'd also make it a point for my customer/technical service management team to actively explore the interwebs for this kind of content, not just passively responding to reviews. Some companies actually pay large sums to have their service tested on a regular basis, and it keeps the employees motivated too.
Yes they should be doing everything they can to make it the best system ever. Imagine if you bought an Xbox or a PlayStation you had to manually go through and set everything how pissed people would be
I want a T-shirt that says "It sounds like your CPU may have shaken loose in shipping."
What I want to know is HOW CAN THAT EVEN HAPPEN. If the CPU is installed, paste on it, and a cooler on top of it. How. the. fuck. can it "shake loose during shipping" that's what gets me about that answer.
@tonie müller You have to really hammer it in
step 1, check if the cpu is loose top pc fixer upper guide survival guide
That's hilarious, I wouldn't even know what to think if I got that response 😆
YES PLEASE!
As someone with support experience I would call that email exceptionally pleasant. Friendly almost to a fault. Neutral to friendly? Not a chance. I'd buy that person a beer if they just spent 1k+ on their PC and it didn't work when they pulled it out of the box, especially if they were not tech savvy. Excessive questions? Nah, excessive would have been asking for the history of those black antennas and how they shaped the world in the 21st century.
If you really wanna stress test a support's ability to give a crap, inject some real life customer behavior like insulting the support's family, intelligence or other standard ad hominems.
All in all, Pat's a nice person and deserves polite and competent support.
I really appreciate videos like this. I purchased an ibuypower a little over a year ago and have had usb 3.0 wires plugged in backwards, no power supply cable sent with the pc, one of my ram sticks not clicked in, my aio go bad.. etc. Called them probably 30 times total and never talked to anyone had to leave a message every time with 0 call backs so I ended up fixing the problems on my own. Sent multiple emails also and the only response I got back said that if I didn't receive a power supply cable they would be able to send me one within the next couple of weeks.
I ordered a streaming pc from NZXT in March of this year. It booted fine and nothing seemed out of place, but I did notice one thing. There was a ton of unintentional motion blur in games and on the web just scrolling about. I’ve returned 3 monitors in hope to fix this . I currently have a benq Zowie Xl2411P E sports monitor that features a TN panel. But it is still the same. I’m either very unlucky and have gotten three different faulty monitors, or it is a pc problem. I’ve since sent the pc back for “repair” in hopes that it gets fixed.
Any sort of advice or solutions would help a lot! Also, this is my very first pc as I am switching from console. Been a nightmare so far :/
Man, if I had the partners, I'd totally start my own pre-built company that dedicates themselves to quality assurance and customer satisfaction. It's not fair to spend over 1500$ at times on a prebuilt to get....shit like this. I already run my own IT business and sell builds on the regular and I'm ALWAYS triple checking cables, bios settings, and all the configurations so that my customers can just plug in and go with ZERO issues. I've also always helped educate customers on their computers, how to use them properly, quick shortcuts, power settings, all that. I'll explain it in the simplest terms so that anybody any age or generation can understand lol. "You see that dangly thingy?" "Yea?" "Yeah, make sure the dangly thingy is always plugged in or this won't work."
if everyone had your attitude then the industry would be so much better! btw that dangly thing lol
“Cyber power, iBuy power and Walmart disasters” - prebuilts summed up in a single sentence
My CyberPower PC I bought years back wasn’t too bad, came working just fine out of the box. I only wish I had realized then that getting one shitty stick of unknown brand 8gb ram, an old B250M-A mobo, a 7th gen locked Intel CPU, and a terribly designed Coolermaster case would severely impact my performance and future upgradability (PSU was surprisingly okay). On the plus side, it did eventually push me to start learning about parts and build my own computer. Never going back to prebuilt again when I can get better parts for cheaper
@Arjun Singh Yup, I've had two Dell and an Alienware. Still using the Alienware x51 r2 after almost 8 years in a fairly harsh environment.
Those are the boutique builders that allow you to customise it to an extent, manufacturers like Dell however, are really good at their process, I find that the Dell Prebuilts are of really good quality, this includes Alienware, they use specialised components sure, but you can still upgrade parts of it if you buy a lower end system at first
@Dominic Robinson Saving money doesn't seem as easy today with the supply problems due to COVID. I started pricing out a system yesterday and I just stopped half way through when I saw where the price was headed.
OverPowered is the worst one of them all.
It seems odd why a company wouldnt spend the time and money to have some basic guides / video on how to deal with common or uncommon issues. Those things are really worth their weight in gold. If you first get a bad company reputation, that can be nearly impossible to fix again.
100 % WHY I've been doing my own builds for 20+ years. Compared to back in the day, systems are much, much easier to build. Save yourself time and money and build it yourself. The sense of pride along with the knowledge you gain of what is actually going on in the case is huge and pays off later.
After watching a bazillion of your videos, I'm left with one thought that I want to share with you: Start your own custom PC company. I'm a software developer, and over the years I've built about a dozen of my development machines. My current build is an i7-8086K rig, so it's a couple years old and I'm ready for a new machine. The thing is, I'd rather have someone else do my builds from now on. I want to pay someone as knowledgeable as you to pick out *exactly* which case, power supply, motherboard, graphics card, and cooling system would be best for my AMD Ryzen 9 5900X or 5950X build. Things have become too specialized for me to research and get every detail right about building a new PC, especially when I do this exactly once every 2-3 years. Cheers!
Very nice test for NZXT, I would hope other PC companies will watch this and use to assist training techs