"Well built computer for a great price. Second computer I have bought from AVA. Got almost 4.5 years from first one. This computer was packed super nice and started right up out of the box. Would order another one again. Can barely buy the parts and assemble for what they charge for doing all the work."
"Ordered a custom PC gaming build from them and it turned out great. I wanted to switch out components multiple times and they were very helpful in ensuring the process went smoothly. Would definitely purchase from them again. Highly recommend Avadirect for your first custom PC build."
"The Z690i is just what I needed, when I needed it. A Digital Audio Workstation requires CPU power as well as extra fast disk access for playing entire symphony orchestras from sample libraries. m.2 slots as well as Thunderbolt and USB 3.2 provide all the fast disk access I need. As graphics needs are less, a smaller form factor became desirable and feasible. AVA aided me in putting it all together for me and I am quite satisfied."
"I hope this review detailing my experiences will help anyone reading in their decision to purchase a PC from this company, as the custom PC market is very large, and it can be difficult to find a trustworthy and reliable company to invest the substantial money needed for a high-end gaming PC. I’ve done my best to keep this review unbiased as a result, so that readers can have a fair and detailed impression of AVA-Direct before making their purchase.
1. The Website: AVA-Direct’s website is decent, leaning towards variety rather than streamlining PC purchases. Pre-builds are featured front and center; they can be customized once selected, or simply purchased outright. However, the pre-builds are categorized around the motherboard/CPU chipset, which subsequently can limit the configuration options (IE: If you choose an Intel pre-built, you’ll only be able to view Intel-compatible components. Choosing a motherboard model will lock your motherboard options to that model (Z690, B550, etc.) as well), so be sure of your motherboard/CPU selection before choosing a pre-built for customization.
2. Customization: AVA-Direct offers an extremely wide range of options for every relevant PC component, which comes with both advantages and disadvantages. If there is a PC part available on the market AVA-Direct will have it. The obvious advantage is the extreme customization possible with your order, akin to selecting and buying the parts yourself. This is rarely seen among most of AVA-Direct’s competitors, who often limit their parts selection ostensibly for ‘consumer convenience’ but in reality to cut costs by reducing component logistics. On the other hand, this places the burden of parts selection on the customer…meaning you are responsible for your PC specs as well ensuring your selected components are compatible. Obviously this can be avoided by sticking to AVA’s prebuilt configurations, but otherwise I advise you to do extensive research on PC building and part compatibility/availability prior to making an order.
3. Price: Unfortunately, this variety comes at a cost. While AVA-Direct’s pre-builds are more or less in line with their competitors in terms of price, making a custom PC order will see you paying around 100-200$ more than if you purchased the parts yourself. While this is somewhat made up for by their multi-year warranty, excellent quality assurance/customer service, and overall convenience, you may want to stick to their pre-builds or look elsewhere if you are on a budget.
4. Processing: If you’re not ordering a pre-built, AVA-Direct’s order processing can take an extensive amount of time. It took me a month to receive my PC after I ordered it, though I would say the average is about 2-3 weeks depending on how your PC is customized as well as your location (AVA-Direct is based in Ohio).
5. Customer Service: I found AVA-Direct’s customer service to be excellent. I communicated with them mainly through their website messaging system, but they would almost always reply back to me within a day of each message (Can vary depending on your time zone). In my case I made several mistakes in my build configuration, but AVA-Direct’s customer representatives, namely Aspram and Craig, were extremely helpful with their advice and quick to make any changes I asked for (Some of which were quite extensive), often at no additional cost.
6. Quality Assurance: I’ve never had any issues with the custom PC’s I’ve ordered from AVA Direct. Their multi-layered packaging is very secure, able to weather careless freight handling from FedEx with no damage whatsoever. It is also clear that unlike many other PC-builders, they take the time to extensively test each build they make to ensure there are no issues prior to shipping.
Overall I can say I’ve been very happy with AVA-Direct. Provided you have some PC knowledge, the customization and order experience are very smooth, and they are quick to address any issues that do happen. While they aren’t the cheapest builder around, they more than make up for it with their excellent customer service and quality assurance. I’ve been a loyal customer for many years now and I intend to remain so in the years to come."
"When looking for a company to purchase my husband a gaming PC I did a bit of research and AVA was listed. I am so happy I found them! We did an auto builder quote and there was some things my husband wanted specifically that were not listed. We called in, Kyle is who we spoke to. Great guy! Willing to listen to our needs and customize the build. We needed to skim down a few things to get the price down and Kyle found those things to make it happen. We said we had to split payment methods and again Kyle worked with us to get that take care of. As I am sure everyone knows the state of supply chain lead times we were worried it would be 2 plus months before we saw the PC. It arrived 3 weeks after we ordered. Thank you Kyle and AVA for your help and support with building this PC. "
"I have a need for an unusual set of functionality in my computer which cannot be met by over the counter purchases. I am also a hardware novice and would never consider building myself. I have used AVADirect for my last 2 computer builds and I am 100% satisfied with every aspect of the experience. Up front, they will consult with you as to your needs and make suggestions that meet those needs, not those that increase the price. They keep you informed throughout the build process and thoroughly check out the unit before shipping with a 24 hour burn in to detect any problems. Shipping is fast and packaging is secure. Everything that came with the parts and not used in the build is included in the shipment: extra screws, cables, all instruction manuals, even the empty thermal paste tube. I have had occasion to call AVADirect on several occasions with questions, always the result of my lack of knowledge or user error. They have always answered my concerns with patience and easily understood information. Thanks to AVADirect, I get the computer I require at a fair price and receive excellent customer support. They also sell pre-configured desktops and laptops. I purchased a laptop for my wife from AVADirect and she has been very happy with the product and performance. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with AVADirect for your computer needs."
"I'm going to be honest, this computer that I got from AVADirect is a BEAST!! This is my first "Professional" gaming computer. The cable management on the computer is done perfectly. Runs ALL my games smoothly. There was a problem with the testing process before I got the computer, but it was just a compatibility issue, MY FAULT not AVADirects. They were trying to fix it the best they could, but the part that they needed took to long to come in so I just told them to remove the Wi-Fi adapter. I do wish the website UI did have a notification letting you know what is compatible or not. Also, a preview of what the computer would look like would've great, I do wish I had more RGB, if I had the option to preview there computer I would have known what parts had RGB and looked nice on the PC. Those are just some picky problems I had. Other then that, the process of ordering the computer was great, the customer service is terrific, the computer build is amazing. "
"AVADirect has a customizer to let you build anything you want, and it has a ton of great options. Plus, once you build it, they work with you to make sure it is what you want. I'm writing this review using mine, and it's working very well after several months."
"There was an issue with a power supply that was out of stock. Customer service called me and after I missed the email and the issue was taken care of immediately. Was extremly surprised on the speed of build/shipping, and it arrived with no issues. Truly a class act in the boutique PC space."
"I've bought two high-end computer systems from AVA and bot times the systems were on spot with the specifications I ordered, well assembled with clean and organized installs, properly burned in and bench-tested - zero surprises. The company keeps it's commitments and is very transparent through the design and purchase process. I would absolutely recommend them."
"I have been talking with AVADirect, specifically Kyle Mizer, for about three years. This company has been exquisite. Every step of the way we discussed all the different options available for my system. Constant discussion back and forth to make sure that I would have a system that not only fitted my needs but also planning ahead for future proofing the system. When time drug on, due to my poor planning, I was kept informed of upcoming technologies. I would get recommendations to wait until new equipment was released to better serve my needs. And through it all they fought to get me the best price. I would configure something on my own but when I asked the sales team, again thanks Kyle!, I would always be set up with the best deal saving a ton!
One of my favorite parts? No bloatware. No proprietary tools that take up space, use extra processing power, and go unused only to go obsolete and be a drag on the system. It's only what you ask for."
"AVADirect was a really responsive and helpful group. Working through all of my questions and providing prompt feedback and help. High-end workstation got the support it warranted. Thanks!"
"The website was easy to use and they had a wide selection of components. I setup my PC and put in the order. They didnt have all the parts (only downside was the website doesnt show what is/isnt in the warehouse) but a customer service rep (Aspram Shahinyan) was absolutely amazing. He reached out, let me know what wasnt in the warehouse, gave me replacement options or the option to wait. We waited for some and replaced another and the process was quick and painless. The PC shipped and arrived quickly and works great! Easy to take out, hook up and use. No complaints!"
"Wife complained about my old noisy pc.
Contacted Joe at AVA and he helped guide me through the process of building a great and almost silent machine with all of the bell and whistles you could want.
I have been using it for months and could not be happier with the machine or the awesome service I got from them.
I would recommend them without blinking an eye.
JJ"
"(Background: I retired as a computer programmer for 42 years, 5 yrs. ago.)
Another '10' for AVADIRECT.
I have ordered 4 custom made desktop PCs from them in 2008, 2012, 2016 and just two months ago:
11th Gen Intel Core processors, Z590 Chipset, Custom Computer Desktop
It's always the same 'story': Excellent support during and after the order process.
This time, my order was finalized on Oct 25 and the PC was at my door Nov 17. That's 3 weeks and two days. It is important to state that, for the 1st time, I ordered a custom made PC WITHOUT a GPU (AKA video card). That's because I don't use my PCs to play modern, state of the art games, which require their own dedicated CPUs to run properly. (There's a long wait on those...)
For the 1st time, I concluded that the state-of-the-art Intel Graphics subsystem met all my needs, so no video card was necessary.
As usual, the PC was extremely well packed. A nice box contained all unused parts as well as every installation CD-ROM that came with the products.
Everything worked, 'first time every time' (phrase that we computer geeks use, not as often as we would like). Not a single flaw and complete attention was paid to every detail that my release notes specified.
*All* these times (4) I have always dealt directly with Joseph Mundy whom I highly recommend at AVA."
"Great sales team to help put your system together. Liked that there's an engineering review before every build. Awesome custome service and when I needed a minor tweak after a few months on a new system they were right there with tech support. "