"My original post was pretty negative overall. I had no problems with Maingear's product, but at the time I had issues with their customer service due to an excessive wait time to receive my system. Since then I've had nothing but good experiences with Maingear in terms of being followed-up upon and receiving tech support. I am now pleased with my overall experience with this company."

"I recently purchased a Maingear Ephex and my experience has been nothing short of excellent.

Upon receiving my order, I was one of those people who encountered problems - I didn't receive the RAM I had ordered and my system was damaged by shipping. I was prepared for a nightmare, instead, Giovanni and Maingear stepped up and provided fantastic customer service. They were patient, prompt, and took the time and effort to ensure everything was fixed and corrected to my satisfaction. In todays world, good customer service is hard to find - Maingear will not disappoint.

If you're shopping for a boutique computer, I highly recommend Maingear. They will not only design the computer of your dreams, but go that extra mile to ensure your experience is nothing short of amazing."

"I am closing in on a year with my first Maingear system. Prior to Maingear, I purchased two Falcon Northwest systems over ten years, which my family still uses. FN is an outstanding company. I came to Maingear based on reviews suggesting that I could get comparable quality and support at a better price point. I am writing to say that my experience with Maingear could not be better. The system continues to be first rate in everyway. Beyond that and just as importantly, the support I have received has been second to none. Recently I needed help on some system problems. Gus, who built my system has been extremely helpful. Chris Morely , who I have had the pleasure to speak with several times has also been helpful and professional in the extreme. I have urged friends and colleagues to make Maingear their first stop when shopping for a high quality computer. I have to say that as a customer of Falcon Northwest, it speaks volumes about the dedication and ability of Maingear's directors and staff that I am every bit as pleased with my experience with your company. Keep up the good work"

"I have been a consumer for more years than I would rather admit and to this point in my life I cannot recall a better experience than the one I have had with Maingear. Not only was the sales experience a match for the blazingly fast Ephex system I bought, but when one of the drives in the RAID 5 array I bought failed (due to my clumsily hitting the RESET button while the system was powered on) the customer experience continued to be excellent. Not only was there no quibbling about fault, but the drive showed up in record time two days later.

SYSTEM: ePHEX X58P
Black Brushed Aluminum Finish
Translucent Window Side Panel w/Green LED Lighting Bundle
1200W Silverstone DA1200 Powwer Supply
2X NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 3584MB GDDR3 in Quad SLI w/PhysX
Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X59 Chipset
Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition 3.2 GHz
12GB Triple DDR3 1600MHz
System Redline (measured at about 3.7GHz)
Three (3) Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB 10,000 RPM with 16MB Cache - SATA II
RAID 5 (Striping with Parity)
All-in-One Internal USB 2.0 Flash Card Reader & Writer
22X Dual Layer DVD-RW Drive w/LightScribe Technology
Lite-On Blu-ray Opticla Player
SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
Onboard Dual Marvell 88E8056 Gigabit Controller
Free AntiVirus Software
Microsoft Windows Vista (64-bit) SP1
Hand-crafted Wiring and Cable Management ("Flawless" is indeed the correct way to describe it!)
Lifetime Labor and Phone Support with 3-Year warranty

PROS:

1) Freaking fast. Like Ferrari/Pagani/Bugatti fast - it takes Crysis Warhead in high resolution and makes it its' ..... well you get the idea! ;)
2) Not as noisy as one would expect given all the fans and cooling systems it has in it.
3) Neat to look at - and NEAT on the inside - the finest job of cabling and system layout I have seen this side of a Cray Supercomputer lab (and yes, I've seen one!) Gustavo (Gus) was the technician whom built my system - his work went beyond craftmanship and into as close to art as laying out the internals of a computer can get.
4) Simply wonderful customer service. Never an attempt to "upsell", the emphasis is on honesty and practical advice. Raphael was first-rate in his treatment of me at all times.
5) No hassle, no quibble customer service from Giovanni when I called about the failed drive. It showed up two days later at my door. IMPRESSIVE.

Cons (more like "conlets" - just small issues: 1) Maybe the customer materials need some more fleshing out, but then again - when you have problems you can talk directly to the tech who built your system!
2) Hours - wish the hours were longer. By the time I get home from work here in Chicagoland, about 15 minutes remains to call on a regular working weekday. Again, this is balanced out by the cordiality and professionalism of the staff at Maingear and the above-mentioned perk of being able to speak to the very person who built your system.

Summary: I am VERY pleased with the system and just as happy with the professional and cordial approach of their staff. Maingear doesn't just live up to the saying "you get what you pay for", they go far beyond it.

Unhesitatingly and highly recommended - you want a fast computer backed by people who care about service - buy a Maingear."

"I ordered a Prelude 2 near the end of March and received it on April 22.

Specs

Exterior Finish: Black Brushed Aluminum Finish
Power Supply: 750W Silverstone Strider Power Supply
Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA® GeForceT GTX 260 896MB GDDR3 w/ PhysX
Motherboard: Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset
Processor: Intel® CoreT i7-965 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz
Processor Cooling: Zalman Ultra Quiet CNPS9500 AT 92mm CPU Cooler w/ Copper Base
Memory: 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz
MAINGEAR Redline Service: Yes, Redline my system!
Hard Drive One: Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache - SATA II
Hard Drive Two: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache - SATA II
Hard Drive Three: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache - SATA II
RAID: RAID 1 - Data Redundancy and Protection
Memory Card Reader: All-in-One Internal USB 2.0 Flash Card Reader & Writer
Optical Drive One: 22X Dual Layer DVD±RW Drive w/ LightScribe Technology
Optical Drive Two: Lite-On Blu-ray Optical Player
Sound: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
Network Card: Onboard Dual Marvell 88E8056 Gigabit Controller
Productivity Software: Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
Security Software: Free Antivirus Software
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit) SP1
The Final Finesse: Flawless Hand-crafted Wiring and Cable Management
Warranty: 14 Month Standard Maingear Warranty

Notes

The GeForce GTX 260 is the Core 216 version, and is manufactured by EVGA. As I understand it, it's factory overclocked. I know for certain that it's way more card than I need right now, so whether it's OC'd or not is probably a moot point.

I didn't want to go nuts on the CPU overclocking because, when it comes right down to it, the stock 965 processor is more than fast enough for me. I also don't want to burn any more electricity than necessary. Rafael, who first called me about my order, suggested that Maingear could bump up the speed as much as possible without raising the voltage, and I readily agreed. Gus, who built my system, got 3.38 GHz out of the CPU under that restriction. So I wouldn't call this thing "redlined," but it does "rev" a bit more enthusiastically.

I got the Zalman CPU cooler just in case the extra cooling might make a difference. And because it looks cool when I have the case open.

RAM prices are too low not to go with 12 GB of it. I won't have to worry about having to install more, as I did with my Voodoo. Photoshop loves me now.

The 750GB drive contains the OS and apps. The two 1TB HDs are in a RAID 1 configuration so my laziness in doing full data backups doesn't bite me in the future.

Praise

The case looks great on my all-black AnthroCart table. They look like they were made for each other. The blue lighting in the front grille, which matches the power-on light, is a nice touch. I love this particular shade of blue.

The etching is very nice indeed, and I'm glad I found something to put on the case that I can call my own. (But do see the note below under "Quibbles.")

This thing is quiet. I can hear the front fan, but it's no worse than having a room fan going, and much quieter than my old PC. (I can hear the old over the small TV I have here in Command Central; the TV drowns out the Prelude.) Working with Photoshop causes an internal fan to wind up momentarily on occasion, but that doesn't add much to the overall noise. It may get louder for a longer timewhen I make it work harder, but in my normal operating mode it's a terrific improvement.

Gus did a great job on the cabling. It really is as nice as advertised. I'm afraid to touch anything in there.

Quibbles

The DVD drive (an LG unit) does not fit into its opening very well at all. There's about a 1 MM gap all around it. It wouldn't be too noticable except for the fact that the power-on light leaks through the gap. I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm going to do about it, but "ignore it" would be a good guess.

My custom etched graphic fades a little bit toward the back of the case. I can't tell if that's intentional or not, especially since the MAINGEAR lettering on the same panel fades a bit toward the front. But nobody, including me, can tell the custom bit is faded by looking at it in its natural habitat since the area in question is in relative darkness. The bottom line is, it doesn't bother me enough to ask about it. I am mentioning it in case it makes a difference to anyone out there considering having their own graphic etched on.

Try as I might, I cannot find but one Ethernet port. I'm guessing that line is a carryover from the previous Prelude. It is a Gigabit port, though, which has made for a tremendous increase in throughput to my NAS.

When hibernating, the power light on the case blinks at a fairly high rate, and it's pretty bright. At night, it looks like someone is outside my window with a turn signal on. I wish I had some way of having it light briefly at much longer intervals.

None of these things really counts as a negative. I'm not even concerned enough about them to call Maingear about them; I've got more important things to get riled about.

Finally...

When seeking a builder for my new PC, I ran trial orders through a number of the "boutique" builders, as well as Dell. As it turns out, I found that I could not get nearly as much machine for my money anywhere else than I have by buying this Prelude from Maingear. With shipping included, I paid less than $4K for this computer. I don't remember finding anything else for less than $4500 w/o shipping, and even then I would have gotten less in terms of equipment and performance than what's sitting on my desk right now. That fact, and MG's stellar reputation, got me to finally buy the new PC I'd been promising myself for two years.

So far, so good. Color me happy!"

"I purchased my Ephex early January. I received a call from Rafael the next day. Rafael reviewed my order and helped me make some changes. Believe it or not, he undersold me. I was purchasing 3way SLI to run on a 22" Samsung LCD. Rafael explained to me that 3way SLI was overkill for the resolution I was running. I would get similar performance with 2way SLI for way less $$$$. I had never heard about MG before. Now I know why people stand behind them. "

"I received my computer just about 1 month after I placed my order. My computer arrived in perfect condition. I must have emailed them about 10 times before handing them my hard earned money. They replied to every single email. I purchased an F131 system. I had to pleasure to speak to Giovanni and Raphael, they were both very helpful. Thank you Maingear! "

"Hello I want to say sorry it's been quite a while since I ordered and I didn't quite get to writing a review until now. But getting to the point.

Last November 30th 2007 I happened to come across a company called Maingear and overall I am quite impressed of this PC called the "prelude"

1.The staff is very friendly, and is highly capable.

2.My PC arrived in no time.

3.The packaging was excellent for a 600+ mile. journey they took care with preparing it :)

4.My experience with the computer I ordered was awesome I didn't buy a real expensive computer just one in my price range.. but I must say it was well worth my money.

And furthermore I would recommend this highly capable company to anyone who is interested in nice looking and well built custom PCS

My apologies to Maingear for taking so long to write a review for such a beautiful PC.

Peace...

"

"I am 100% delighted with Maingear. They met and exceeded all my high expectations.
My expectations were; 1) the best high-performance specifications for my needs including customization if necessary, 2) superb build quality 3) polite, courteous, knowledgeable salesmanship.
Maingear delivered 100% on all of these, and believe me, I am not that easy to please or impressionable.
Maingear is for real and know how to do everything right. I cannot remember a better customer experience in my entire life.
Here are my ratings, broken down by category;
10/10 for the salesmanship and service provided by Raphael.
10/10 for the build quality as executed by Giovanni.
10/10 for Raphael's patience with me while trying to finalize the specifications.
10/10 for delivering the system on time relative to promised delivery date.
10/10 for the quality and effectiveness of the packaging.
10/10 for working perfectly right out of the box.
10/10 for customization.
10/10 for speed.
10/10 for reliability.
10/10 for the best looking wiring job I've ever seen.
10/10 for aesthetic appeal of the machine.
10/10 for being a complete pleasure to deal with.
My sincerest thanks to Raphael, Giovanni and the entire team at Maingear.
For those in love with specifications, my new computer from Maingear included Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (4.0 GHz X 4), 1200W Silverstone power supply, 8 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 memory, Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi X 48 chipset and, 4 Western Digital Velociraptors 300 GB 10,000 RPM.
"

"Buying Experience: In a word Maingear is outstanding! I had my choice narrowed down to Maingear or Digital Storm. The genuine, knowledgeable advice and guidance provided by Maingear (Raphael) was far superior to my experience with Digital Storm. I had a lot of questions and always received practical answers. I was never rushed off the phone as if I were just another customer. It took about 30 days to actually receive my F131 which was exactly what I was told up-front. Another compelling reason I chose Maingear was proximity. I live in Massachusetts so I received my computer in 2 days, (though FED-EX indicated it was an overnight transit time). The computer was well-packaged and there wasn’t a bunch of extra junk and paperwork that tends to overwhelm – just a clean, nicely constructed binder with the critical documentation and a small box with the power cord and leftover connectors, etc. The white gloves (and t-shirt) are a nice touch as well! I also liked the comprehensive checklist that included benchmark scores for my computer. Screenshots of the scores were saved in my document folder too!

Using the Computer – First Impressions: Again, outstanding! Craftsmanship: Excellent! Everything is clean, neat and nothing out of place. See the link to photos and see for yourself. Operation/start-up: No set-up required. I pushed the power button and everything worked flawlessly including the Office software I ordered. All the drivers are up-to-date and everything I’ve tried so far works without a glitch. The only thing I haven’t tried is recording with the DVDRW.

I was concerned about three things during the ordering process: 1) Whether I made the right choice with Vista 64-bit; 2) Onboard sound quality and 3) Computer fan noise.

1) Vista 64: I have to say Vista 64 is impressive and has worked flawlessly so far – no hang-ups, blue screens, etc. The only thing I’ve discovered is Flash Player is not 64-bit compatible however this isn’t a big deal because 32-bit Explorer and Firefox work fine. I did my homework before specifying 64-bit in terms of drivers. Just make sure Vista 64-bit drivers are available for your hardware. While searching the internet for my needs, I found more comprehensive 64-bit compatibility than I expected. Here’s a list of the software I’ve loaded so far – it all works fine. Some of these programs have separate 64-bit .exe files, so make sure you look for that.

MS Office 2007 Small Business
PC Pitstop Optimize
HW Monitor (Free)
Opanda IEXIF 2.3 (Free)
Firefox (Free)
7-Zip (Free)
Adobe Reader 9 (Free)
Desk PDF 2.5 (Free)
AVG 8.0 (Free)
Zinio Reader (Free)
Ad Aware 2008 (Free)
Nero Smart Start Essentials (was already loaded by Maingear)

Bottom line: Vista 64-bit is great! Don't be afraid - go for it!

2) Onboard sound quality: I can only compare this to my old computer that had a Sound Blaster Audigy system. I thought that sounded great. The onboard sound on the 780i is just as good to my ears. I personally don’t need anything more. If you’re on the bubble trying to decide, I suggest you save a few bucks, go with onboard sound and see what you think. You can always add a sound card later.

3) Fan noise: I’m spoiled because my old computer is an Antec Sonata that I customized with insulation and a fan controller. It is nearly silent, albeit not nearly as powerful as my F131. In any case, while the F131 is considerably louder than what I’m custom to, I am getting used to it. The TJ10 case is really nice and quite a bit lighter-weight than I expected.

Final thoughts and comments: 1) Do your research before making the investment. 2) Invest wisely and buy from Maingear. You will be happy."

"I ordered from them and was very happy! Due to situations not of their doing I had to cancel the order. The staff at Maingear were helpfull, professional and answered all questions in a very timely manner. When I get my next computer, it will be from them!"

"This is a review of my MAINGEAR F131, 4th of July Special. It has been abridged from the version found on the MG forums at

http://www.maingearforums.com/showthread.php?p=14584#post14584

My 'High-end' Dell melted a few months ago. It had served me well enough for a couple of years, but I decided to treat myself and spring for a boutique gaming desktop.

Unfortunately, I had a price cap of $1,500.00, which a few years ago would have put most boutiques out of my budget. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these days many shops offer more affordable selections.

Pre-Build: 9.9/10

Like many in the market for a boutique rig, I did extensive research before purchasing.

In the end I decided on a MAINGEAR Prelude. MG impressed me with its clean, sleek website and configurator, though a couple of sections needed updates.

I also like the look of the builds. None of MG's builds are over-the-top plastic monstrosities, they all use functional, elegant Silverstone cases with minimalist exteriors.

Finally, MAINGEAR had a great rep both among reviewers and the enthusiast community. Questions on their forums were answered quickly and enthusiastically, usually by other customers but also by company reps. Most importantly when I came across situations where MG had made past mistakes they were very quick to correct them in the customer's favor.

The impression I was receiving was that MG would cheerfully spend a great deal of time and effort to make sure their customers were happy *after* they received their computers.

The Order: 10/10

After receiving great input on build and components at the MAINGEAR forums, I was ready to order my Prelude.
That's when I got lucky A couple of days before I was to place my order, MG put up a special on the F131 which put it within my budget. The F131 is the Prelude's bigger brother, with free overclocking and sweet components, I jumped at the chance to grab it instead. Again, the MG forums were very helpful with component selection.

I placed my order as follows:

F131 Fourth of July Edition
Customizations:
Exterior Automotive Color: Black Brushed Aluminum Finish
Power Supply: 750W Silverstone Strider Power Supply
Motherboard: Intel® Bonetrail DX38BT X38 Chipset
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9300 (2.5GHz x 4) 45nm 6MB L2 Cache
CPU Cooling: Zalman Ultra Quiet CNPS9500 LED 92mm CPU Cooler w/ Copper Base
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR3-1066
Do you want us to Redline™ your CPU?: YES
Hard Drive One: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache - SATA II
Optical Drive One: 20X Dual Layer DVD±RW Drive w/ LightScribe Technology - black
Video Card: Visiontek ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
Do you want us to Redline™ your GPU?: NO
Sound Card: Integrated Sound
Network Card: Integrated Gigabit Network Card
Game: Yes, Give me 3 FREE Games!
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (32-Bit) SP1
The Final Finesse: Flawless Hand-crafted Wiring and Cable Management
Warranty: 14 Month Standard Maingear Warranty

With shipping it came in at a bit over $1,700.00, more than I had initially intended to spend, but also a whole lot more computer than I thought I could afford.

The Wait: 10/10

20 minutes after my order I decided to update the order to 64 bit Vista, with the idea that I would upgrade my RAM sometime soon...The MG website made this very easy, and it was changed on the invoice by the tech processing my order, Raphael, the same day.

I was in contact with MG several times during the wait, and each time I was impressed with the friendly professionalism the company reps showed.

I ordered ground shipping, so we would see how well the system held up on its 2k mile journey.

Receiving the system: 10/10

I received the system 3 weeks after ordering it. The chassis was secured in its box by two simple but effective foam restraints, it took a little bit of strength to work it free (which is good).

Along with the system there were several extras, games, backup discs, and a T shirt.

The Aftermath: 10/10

My first impressions of the case were that no pictures could do her justice. The Silverstone chassis is a beast, brushed black aluminum pierced at strategic intervals by meshed venting.

I felt like I had just gotten the Dark Knight's computer.

The side panels are removed by popping handscrews at the back of the chassis. Every stray wire was neatly bundled and tucked up against the chassis wall.

I quickly determined that every connection was solid, and that all cards, etc. had maintained their seating, that, in fact, the PC seemed to be in perfect shape.

Performance (Don't she purr, though): 10/10

Aside from scrapping a Tablet PC application, I couldn't find anything on the normally bloated and inefficient Vista OS that needed tuning, as MG had already done it for me.

So far, my PC handles like a dream. Programs and games load immediately, and the quadcore makes multitasking a joy. I've only had the system for a few days, and I'll update this review if any problems arise in terms of performance it exceeds my expectations and earns a 10/10.

Conclusion: 10/10

Every aspect of the order process, from the useful forum advice to the slick website interface, was excellent. The system arrived on time and in perfect condition. The wiring/cable management is superb and the exterior is unique, solid, and elegant. Finally, every aspect of my interaction with the MAINGEAR staff and technicians left me feeling like I was valued, and could easily come back with concerns or even in search of simple advice.

Minor details of weakness really only serve to highlight the overall fantastic product and service MAINGEAR offers. It's a good feeling, after months of research and careful budgeting, to know you made the right decision after all. It's even better to know you couldn't have made a better one.

Thanks, Kestrel
"

"I placed the order at Maingear's website. They have a simple and clean interface that many integrators should use. The only problem I could find with it was shortage of parts you could use. For instance, Creative sound cards are available, but not anyone else. Also, they do have a decent selection of processors but all processors that Intel or AMD make are not available, just the mainstream ones. A day after placing the order, Maingear called to confirm the order. After about a month, I received my new PC. Since the PC was made from retail not OEM parts, all the manuals, discs, and equipment that would be in retail packaging was placed into a nice binder to keep it organized along with an order checklist and the typical welcome materials. After unpacking, I opened the computer itself. The internals looked very well done with all the extra cabling tucked neatly out of the way. Once the PC was started, it ran like a charm without any extra bloatware clogging the system. I haven't had a single blue-screen or crash yet. Very highly recommended."

"I am now writing this on my brand new MAINGEAR F131 computer which arrived just today. Out of the box it runs great, looks great and was obviously assembled with care and attention to detail. I ordered this computer 4 weeks ago, but since each is hand built and since there is some demand, it has taken a while for it to be delivered but it was worth the wait. the ordering process was easy, any changes I wanted they were able to accommodate me. I wanted to be able to dual boot so they took care of it, setting my up with both Windows XP and Vista 32. I switched two to 2 9600GT video cards in SLI and they were able to handle that also. I probably bugged them once or twice a week and each time they were friendly. The packaging was first rate. the box had some serious dings but the computer is running just fine. Its tweaked well and is a joy to use. I shopped around for over a month at different builders but I settled on MAINGEAR for their quality and their service and the die-hard community that they have built up. I know that if I have any problems, it will be taken care of. I highly recommend them as a builder of quality power machines. "

"From start to finish, just about the best shopping experience ever. Based on reviews (HardOCP especially), they were the only boutique I had really considered. From initial consideration to the final pulling of the trigger, I was able to get assistance by calling their office, immediately speaking to a well-spoken, informed member of their staff, or by posting to their messageboard which is very well maintained and visited by, again, members of their staff. The price i was quoted was very reasonable, certainly more so than Falcon, and the case isnt some garish thing like an Alienware. I happen to live about 20 miles from their location, so I was able to visit them in person for consultation as well as to pick up my machine (yay for saving some cash and not having to worry about a fedex guy dropping it) and they were always happy to have me there. The machine is a stunner. it runs beautifully, the specs are great, and the build quality is second to none. it's really a piece of art. you owe it to yourself to look at some of their work. my pictures can be found on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chronoso/sets/72157603969201908/"