Epic Perfect World

Never buy an iBuyPower PC / AMD GPU!

Offline ๖ۣۜĐomgrath

  • Nightmare Berserker
  • www.youtube.com/domgrathpw Guides, Gameplay, Livestreams (Amy's property don't mad)
  • Characters: Đomgrath Nemesis Sauron
  • Faction: Artifex
About a year and a half ago, I was a console kiddie that thought that the "PC master race" was a complete joke.

Obviously, I was wrong- considering PC gaming is 100x better than console.

So being someone who knew absolutely nothing about gaming computers, I was online looking for a prebuilt-gaming PC. I found a few around the web, but they kept trying to throw in a bunch of useless junk that I felt I didn't need in the computer build.

So came to the fabulous. professional looking website.. iBuyPower.

The website looked awesome, you could buy a prebuilt computer, or pick the parts and have them build you a custom build. Being a tech-junkie I thought, "hey why not build a custom build!" .. It was a simple process with 5-6 selections a piece, and I picked out a nice i7 CPU and a cool looking case, when it came down the GPU (Graphics Card) I went with the (New at the time) AMD R290X.

I did my research about the 290X and compared it to the NVIDIA GTX980 which came out around the same time. They had the same benchmarks and the 290X was about ~$150 USD cheaper than the NVIDIA card.

So logically I said to myself "Let's get the AMD card, it's cheaper" - Since I've already spent around $2000 usd on the CPU, and rest of the parts.

I waited around a month, and then it came in the mail. It was amazing, I had worked so hard to get a decent computer and now I finally had it.

It was amazing. Perfect actually. Until around the 7 month mark.

I came to realize that the AMD 290X is one of the cards that runs the hottest on the market, hitting temperatures around 20C above the NVIDIA counterpart. The company had supplied my tower with too little amount of fans to effectively cool the hard, so overheating became a problem. I had to play without my side-plate in order to not overheat my computer.

One day, pixelated artifacts appeared all over my screen, this went on for about a week on and off, until eventually my entire card basically internally melted. I did my research on my spare computer and iBuyPower had some bad reviews when it comes to customer support and parts.

I spent about $150 USD to send my computer back, and about 30 days later my computer came back to me! I was so happy. It had been fine for 2-3 months until I wanted to upgrade my monitor from 720P to 1440P.  My 290X w/ it's stock cooler (the stock cooler is really bad on the 290X) couldn't handle the heat given off from the 1440P, so I downgraded to a 1080P monitor. When that came in the mail, my computer STILL couldn't handle 1080P due to the excessive overheating. So I did my research in replacing the stock-cooler on the 290X, and a new tech had came out recently..

The NZXT water-cooling system for GPU's. Which was completely crazy, so I bought a new radiator for my CPU; and then used my old water-cooling radiator and mounted it on my 290X.  



Mind the dust / cable management. That part of the story is coming soon.

So after installing the NZXT water-cooler onto my graphics card, everything was PERFECT for 2 months, until 2 days ago actually.

I was randomly playing counter-strike as I do usually all the time, then all of a sudden my computer shut down. (This happens when my GPU hits 96C)

I was confused, and wondered why in the world that this would happen. I turned my computer back on a few hours later and my average temperatures (I hadn't messed with anything in my computer since installing the NZXT) were 15C higher.

I figured this had to do with dust build-up, so I took my fans/radiators out and cleaned them up nicely, and reinstalled. The past two days I'd been able to play PW, however my temperatures were higher than usual.

Then it happened...

I turned on PW after cleaning my fans, everything back to where it's supposed to be.. and my GPU hit 94C (Usually caps at 60C on PW) on PW.. With pixelated artefacts all over the screen like before, when I had sent the computer in for repairs and they replaced my GPU.

So here I am, with the second faulty GPU from iBuyPower's support. My graphics card is dead, once again, regardless of it having the latest-cooling tech. I can't log on PW without my computer shutting off, let alone watch a youtube video without insane spikes in heat.

Since buying from them, I've fully constructed 9 computers from scratch and know 100x more than I ever thought I would about PC's.. 

My advice? Don't ever buy the AMD 290X's, and NEVER buy from iBuyPower. Their customer support is horrible, and so is their parts.

I'll be replacing my 290X w/ a NVIDIA GTX 980. It's more money, but the performance and overall heat difference will make the difference. I've had so many frustrations w/ the 290X that I don't think I'll ever buy an AMD product again. It's been nothing but a hastle.

Offline PedroSner

  • #TeamSner
  • Disbanded Tyrants, Siege, Savagery ,Hangover, AG, AE, Cardinals,and made them RQ to a diff server
  • Characters: PedroSner/ Sner
  • Faction: Artifex Leader
Disbanded Tyrants, Siege, Savagery ,Hangover, AG, AE, Cardinals,and made them RQ to a diff server. After that went to that server disbanded them there and disbanded that server aswell.

Offline Cynix

  • Who is Cynix?
  • Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time.
  • Faction: Salvation
This was literally the sadness I endured when I bought mine from them.  

First a defective motherboard, then one of my fans completely died on me, and the last problem I had to fix was a bad power supply.

They take an abysmal amount of time to send replacement parts even if you buy into the warranty on parts and labor, and getting my massive pc into a box to mail for a proper diagnostic was probably more expensive than the solution.

I recommend this company to no one.
I'm basically 40

Lulu

Haven't had an issue with mine since I got it.

Offline Madaa

  • Forum Veteran
  • Characters: Crazy
I am not any experienced with such stuff.. but i prefer nvidia over AMD in general..
i also heard that if u have an AMD graphic card already u can just buy a new one and simply merge them together, they dont have to be the same model.. but on nvidia to merge 2 they have to be the same model.. like GTX 970 x GTX 970 and its going to give u an extra 25%~40% performance only
But in general.. ill never go with AMD, doesnt matter from where i buy it.. i just wont.

Offline TeruTheGreat

  • Moderated
  • Tyrants Legend
  • Balance expert
  • Characters: Teru
  • Faction: Tyrants
I am not any experienced with such stuff.. but i prefer nvidia over AMD in general..
i also heard that if u have an AMD graphic card already u can just buy a new one and simply merge them together, they dont have to be the same model.. but on nvidia to merge 2 they have to be the same model.. like GTX 970 x GTX 970 and its going to give u an extra 25%~40% performance only
But in general.. ill never go with AMD, doesnt matter from where i buy it.. i just wont.
No only cards with the same GPU will work together. r9 280x for example is a rebranded 7970 so those 2 will work (same gpu)

 

Offline TeruTheGreat

  • Moderated
  • Tyrants Legend
  • Balance expert
  • Characters: Teru
  • Faction: Tyrants
About a year and a half ago, I was a console kiddie that thought that the "PC master race" was a complete joke.

Obviously, I was wrong- considering PC gaming is 100x better than console.

So being someone who knew absolutely nothing about gaming computers, I was online looking for a prebuilt-gaming PC. I found a few around the web, but they kept trying to throw in a bunch of useless junk that I felt I didn't need in the computer build.

So came to the fabulous. professional looking website.. iBuyPower.

The website looked awesome, you could buy a prebuilt computer, or pick the parts and have them build you a custom build. Being a tech-junkie I thought, "hey why not build a custom build!" .. It was a simple process with 5-6 selections a piece, and I picked out a nice i7 CPU and a cool looking case, when it came down the GPU (Graphics Card) I went with the (New at the time) AMD R290X.

I did my research about the 290X and compared it to the NVIDIA GTX980 which came out around the same time. They had the same benchmarks and the 290X was about ~$150 USD cheaper than the NVIDIA card.

So logically I said to myself "Let's get the AMD card, it's cheaper" - Since I've already spent around $2000 usd on the CPU, and rest of the parts.

I waited around a month, and then it came in the mail. It was amazing, I had worked so hard to get a decent computer and now I finally had it.

It was amazing. Perfect actually. Until around the 7 month mark.

I came to realize that the AMD 290X is one of the cards that runs the hottest on the market, hitting temperatures around 20C above the NVIDIA counterpart. The company had supplied my tower with too little amount of fans to effectively cool the hard, so overheating became a problem. I had to play without my side-plate in order to not overheat my computer.

One day, pixelated artifacts appeared all over my screen, this went on for about a week on and off, until eventually my entire card basically internally melted. I did my research on my spare computer and iBuyPower had some bad reviews when it comes to customer support and parts.

I spent about $150 USD to send my computer back, and about 30 days later my computer came back to me! I was so happy. It had been fine for 2-3 months until I wanted to upgrade my monitor from 720P to 1440P.  My 290X w/ it's stock cooler (the stock cooler is really bad on the 290X) couldn't handle the heat given off from the 1440P, so I downgraded to a 1080P monitor. When that came in the mail, my computer STILL couldn't handle 1080P due to the excessive overheating. So I did my research in replacing the stock-cooler on the 290X, and a new tech had came out recently..

The NZXT water-cooling system for GPU's. Which was completely crazy, so I bought a new radiator for my CPU; and then used my old water-cooling radiator and mounted it on my 290X.  



Mind the dust / cable management. That part of the story is coming soon.

So after installing the NZXT water-cooler onto my graphics card, everything was PERFECT for 2 months, until 2 days ago actually.

I was randomly playing counter-strike as I do usually all the time, then all of a sudden my computer shut down. (This happens when my GPU hits 96C)

I was confused, and wondered why in the world that this would happen. I turned my computer back on a few hours later and my average temperatures (I hadn't messed with anything in my computer since installing the NZXT) were 15C higher.

I figured this had to do with dust build-up, so I took my fans/radiators out and cleaned them up nicely, and reinstalled. The past two days I'd been able to play PW, however my temperatures were higher than usual.

Then it happened...

I turned on PW after cleaning my fans, everything back to where it's supposed to be.. and my GPU hit 94C (Usually caps at 60C on PW) on PW.. With pixelated artefacts all over the screen like before, when I had sent the computer in for repairs and they replaced my GPU.

So here I am, with the second faulty GPU from iBuyPower's support. My graphics card is dead, once again, regardless of it having the latest-cooling tech. I can't log on PW without my computer shutting off, let alone watch a youtube video without insane spikes in heat.

Since buying from them, I've fully constructed 9 computers from scratch and know 100x more than I ever thought I would about PC's..

My advice? Don't ever buy the AMD 290X's, and NEVER buy from iBuyPower. Their customer support is horrible, and so is their parts.

I'll be replacing my 290X w/ a NVIDIA GTX 980. It's more money, but the performance and overall heat difference will make the difference. I've had so many frustrations w/ the 290X that I don't think I'll ever buy an AMD product again. It's been nothing but a hastle.
Why would you spend money on a GPU cooler when it already artifacted? You should have RMAed or bought a new GPU instead. Get a 970, it's pretty much the same perfomance as a 290x and runs much cooler. 
 

Offline 𝓕 𝓪 𝔂 𝓮

  • Yikes.
  • 𝓟𝓸𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼

Goldengate

Click here to have the best computing experience of your life...

Offline 𝓕 𝓪 𝔂 𝓮

  • Yikes.
  • 𝓟𝓸𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼
Click here to have the best computing experience of your life...
You're funny. 

Offline Madaa

  • Forum Veteran
  • Characters: Crazy

Offline C

  • ☾⋆
  • Characters: Beloved | Jedi
Click here to have the best computing experience of your life...

Knowing you, you probably play on a Mac. 

Offline Vermilion

  • Forum Veteran
  • The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.
  • Characters: Sadistic, Stiletto
Then it happened...

I turned on PW after cleaning my fans, everything back to where it's supposed to be.. and my GPU hit 94C (Usually caps at 60C on PW) on PW.. With pixelated artefacts all over the screen like before, when I had sent the computer in for repairs and they replaced my GPU.

So here I am, with the second faulty GPU from iBuyPower's support. My graphics card is dead, once again, regardless of it having the latest-cooling tech. I can't log on PW without my computer shutting off, let alone watch a youtube video without insane spikes in heat.

Since buying from them, I've fully constructed 9 computers from scratch and know 100x more than I ever thought I would about PC's..

My advice? Don't ever buy the AMD 290X's, and NEVER buy from iBuyPower. Their customer support is horrible, and so is their parts.

I'll be replacing my 290X w/ a NVIDIA GTX 980. It's more money, but the performance and overall heat difference will make the difference. I've had so many frustrations w/ the 290X that I don't think I'll ever buy an AMD product again. It's been nothing but a hastle.
It's a sign

Offline ChicaBomb

  • fuck france
  • breadstick
when InTake gets ct buff

Offline Bill Dipperly

  • God of TW
  • Faction: storm