Why buy a custom PC

Many people believe, that the world of computers is so confusing. Others believe it is so easy. And yet more others are unsure where they stand. So, you may ask, finding a buying experience for both markets must be next to impossible, right? Well, you may find you are wrong there.

 

My name is Alexander Straker. I have recently begun offering custom laptops, to be configured however you want, from the comfort of your own PC. But what has come to my attention is that although many people are aware of the ability to configure your system online, a lot of people are either intimidated by all the options, or confused as to why this is better. And even more people don’t know we even exist. Well, good news, for I am here to enlighten you!

 

The computer business was one of the first to be advertised on the internet, with a great many ecommerce stores still being dedicated to selling computers, even now. Even more companies offer computers among their other products, like supermarkets and places like Argos. Often, people are attracted by the extremely low price, or dazzled by brand they are buying from. Those that do purchase from a custom computer builder often are delighted by the service, the value, and the vast range of customisation options. So why don’t people do this more? Well, that is what I am going to tell you here and now. The pro’s and con’s of the computer market, along with my personal advice for securing your own custom system at really good value.

 

So, first off I guess are the pro’s. I myself am a big fan of custom PC’s, having experienced the benefits of them quite often over the years. Primarily they offer value. They cannot compete at rock bottom prices (like supermarkets offer). Instead of this, they tend to offer a much better performance to price ratio. For instance, you may get a whole laptop for £300 at a supermarket. However, it will contain the cheapest components at the lowest end of the market. On the other hand, look up the ladder a little and you many find something much more expensive, for instance the HP Pavilion 15-e051sa Notebook, which at the time of writing costs exactly £500 from Tesco direct. You can of course find the exact specifications online, but I will just run through the basic specs below:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i3-3110M

Operating System: Microsoft Windows® 8 Home edition 64 bit

RAM: 6GB

Screen size: 15.6 Inch

 

Now, obviously better deals may exist, but from my experience, this is about average for this price range.

 

Now, would you believe me, if I was to tell you I could not only upgrade the processor and RAM, but also provide a graphics card, for approximately the same price? No, I thought you wouldn’t, but I can. As can a lot of custom pc providers. Do see my point? Not only this, but once you get past the nvidia 650m or 750m, you can rarely get a laptop unless you go to a large provider direct (e.g. Dell), who can be classed as custom providers in their own right.

 

This allows the gamer to, well, game. Very few standard providers of laptops, or even desktops can offer the value, nor can they offer the immense range that companies like mine can provide.

 

So why do customers even bother to buy off them, you ask? Well, it all has to do with familiarity. You have a choice when buying a PC, like with everything in life. You can buy a laptop from a well advertised brand, who has stores everywhere, who have adverts everywhere, who everyone is aware of… you get the idea. Or, you could buy from a small company, who doesn’t advertise on TV, or national newspapers because they can’t afford it, they only operate online..you get the idea again?

 

It is all to do with the marketing. We simply cannot compete with the big brands, so we limit ourselves to targeting customers the big brands don’t cater for. That is the only reason.

 

Now, I don’t want to make this a marketing pitch, but next time you are in the market for a PC or laptop, I implore you to instead of going straight to PC world, look online. Look at places like my website (xtreme-gaming-solutions.co.uk), pcspecialist.co.uk, gentechpc.com, because they can provide the best value in their price range. And because we don’t have a one-answer fits all support line, we can all provide you with the best after sales advice and assistance.

 

I hope I have done everyone some service out of this, not least you, the consumer. I felt that the word needed to get out, as very few people are aware of these services. And should you not want to wait for delivery, almost all local repair services provide the same service, should you contact them.

 

Thanks very much for reading. This post was brought to you by Xtreme Gaming Solutions Limited, a supplier of high end gaming systems and components in the UK (xtreme-gaming-solutions.co.uk).

Rome 2: Total War Game Review

One of my favourite series of games, the Total War series is (to me) the epitome of strategy and fun. I have been a veteran of hundreds of campaigns, across Roman Italy, Medieval England, Colonial Britain and even commanded Samurai thanks to Total War. I absolutely love all aspects of their previous games, but how does this game fare when compared to previous titles. Does this game live up to all of the hype, or does it flounder and sink below the high mark of previous Total War games. Let’s find out!

First off, Rome 2: Total War has a great tutorial. One of the problems of many of the older Total War games was the learning curve. Many of the tutorials were badly designed, or tedious, making it tough to learn the more advanced concepts. This is no longer the case. I am pleased to be able to report a brilliant tutorial, full of battles, and campaign expertise. Much Improved.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the campaign side of things. One of the strongest points of all previous Total War games was the campaign map, and the high level strategy. Unfortunately, although these features returned, they felt highly complex and cumbersome compared to previous games. I believe this is due to several new systems that are at the core of this new game. Previously, cities in Total War were managed independently, and therefore could be expanded many different ways e.g. you could dedicate to Military purposes and then change the focus to economy when the front lines moved away. This is now much harder and costlier, due to the province system.

In this new game, the province system has changed. Previously, a province contained a single city, with farms and workshops scattered around sometimes. Now, a province is a vast swathe of land, containing up to 4 different settlements/cities. When you conquer a province, you can sometimes issue an “Edict”, which can cause positive effects, such as more food, or more happiness/less unrest. This means, in order to stabilise a city in a province, you first need to destabilise it by conquering the rest of the province, in order to re-stabilize it later. This has caused me many a hiccup in my campaigns. Veterans be warned, this game is a completely different beats!

The other glaringly obvious issue is the Army/Legion system. Now, every single unit must be accompanied by a general. Now this is not a problem in previous games, as you can hire infinite generals, or leave troops garrisoning a settlement/fighting small battles without a general. Well, not anymore. You now need to use one of your highly limited number of generals to lead every single army. No more 50 small armies. You are forced to use very few armies, and this leads to many pyrrhic victories, as your opponents massive army faces off with your own. I absolutely hate this feature, and wish Creative Assembly had not doe this.

However, other than these gripes, the game remains one of the best in the business. The graphics are superb, and look amazing at the “Extreme” preset. Unfortunately, this takes an awful lot of graphical horsepower though, as my dual SLI 780m’s often struggle with this setting on large battles. But overall, graphically this game is amazing, and for a strategy game, this is high praise indeed. I personally feel this is the Battlefield 3 of the strategy genre, as the graphics are far ahead of most other games. However, don’t be put off if you don’t have the ultimate gaming rig. On Low graphics settings, this game played perfectly on my old 3rd generation i3 processor, without any form of dedicated graphics. This range of performance is highly impressive.

Also, although some of the new gameplay editions (mentioned earlier) are not very nice, the core gameplay remains highly similar, and is the best in genre to me. The blend of Real-Time-Strategy, and High-Level-Strategy is perfect, and not found in any other game. Believe me, I have tried to find similar games, and the only one that comes even slightly close is the Hegemony series.

However, it is not all plain sailing. The game suffered many crashes and issues from the outset, and although most of these have been patched, the game still suffers from stuttering, CTD’s (crashes to desktop) and similar faults every now and again. So, SAVE OFTEN!

Overall, I would award Rome 2: Total War a 4 out of 5, for being the best in niche. I would highly recommend this game, and would suggest buying it. However, if you have been put off by my issues with some of the new features, but still want the Total War experience, then please check out some of the older games such as Empire: Total War, Medieval 2: Total War, Shogun 2: Total War and even other games such as previously mentioned Hegemony.

Thanks for reading this article. It has been a pleasure writing this, and I hope I have provided people with something to think about at least. This has been brought to you by Xtreme Gaming Solutions Limited, a company building custom gaming computers and offering the widest range of high end gaming components available in the UK. Please visit our website (xtreme-gaming-solutions.co.uk) for further information.