"This is the first gaming computer I have bought. After owning a few of the mass produced garbage from Compaq & Dell, etc. I decided that buying a well equiped machine that would work and tech support by someone who knows the machine was worth the difference in price. I am glad to say that I beleive I made the right choice.
I started shopping a few months ago and spoke to Jeff (the owner) probably 3-5 times over a 4 month period while I did research and compared prices. Jeff was very helpful, freindly and answered all my questions based on his experiences with the machines. Sometimes those answers differed a little from product reviews, or what other knowledgable folks have told me, but in my book that's a plus. Jeff always had a reason for his opinion and could justify it with some experience of his own.
I ended up buying a slightly customized Waster model with the ThermalTake Tsunami Dream case. AMD 3400+ and 1 gb or Ram.
From a pricing standpoint, I didn't find any manufacturer who could build the same system for substatially less. And the ones who did were certainly not true custom builders, they were just a spec your own parts shop. Jeff was also willing to make a few non-standard upgrades for me at very resonable costs. I wanted the Zalman dual heat pipe VGA cooler which Jeff installed on the card for me so I didn't have to experience the joys of working with thermal paste first hand.
The machine arrived in a non descript cardboard box (low cost is fine by me) and was very well packed. The machine was placed inside the original case box and that was put into a huge outer cardboard box filled with shipping padding. Everything was intact and undamaged when I opened it all up. The documentation and software was all put into the motherboard box and shipped in the same package. Because I had the Zalman cooler on my video card, Jeff wrapped that up very nicly as well and shipped that not installed in the machine.
The machine looks great. Jeff does a really good job of routing wires and wrapping anything exposed. When you fire up the UV light it glows like a UFO, very nice. If it's possible for glowing, pimped out gaming computer to be classy & understated, this is it.
Once I got it out of the box, I called Predator and Jeff walked me through inserting the Video card with that massive heatpipe cooler on it. Then he stayed on the phone with me to walk me through some of the set up features and make sure all was good.
The machine is very quiet. You can't even hear it from 15 feet away. Even sitting right next to it it is quiter than the Gateway I just replaced that sounded like an old DC-3 taking off.
The thing is scorching fast! I do a lot of audio tinkering with concerts I record directly to digital. This machine pulled an hour of live music into my WAV editor in about 35 seconds. I loaded up photoshop and I was playing with 600 DPI, 10 x 10 images and the system didn't even flinch. What a beast!
Over all I found the experience of dealing with Jeff & Predator very positive. THe pricing was very good. The customer Service appears to be great and the machine does what I need it to without grinding away for hours at a time. Unless I decide to build my next machine myself, There's a very good chance I will be buying it from Predator."
"I spoke to Jeff (owner) 3-5 times while comparison shopping. He proved to be very insightful & knowledgeable in the matter of "High performance Gaming PCs". He always took the time to discuss component selections and different configuration set-ups with me. Then he helped me configure a system that met my needs and budget. When I was ready to place an order I requested that we use a case (CoolerMaster) he does not offer through his website and Jeff was more than willing to accommodate. Once I placed my order my computer arrived 1 day after promised delivery.
The computer is a piece of Art! It is a showpiece! Jeff meticulously handcrafted the best looking computer I have ever seen (and I visited all the websites of all the major players and saw pictures of all their offerings). It is a black WaveMaster with a side window panel showing an elegant array of cables with different colors highlighted by the 2 UV lights and a dual fan PCI card (with lights) blowing on my X800 pro card. Jeff even sent me pictures of my computer before he shipped it so I could drool for a week while UPS took its time to get it to me. I hope he puts some of the pictures he took in his website for all to see.
Anyway, when I got to fire it up for the first time I had a big problem. The computer would power up but it would not boot. As disappointing as this was, Jeff walked me through checking everything to see what the problem was. We found out that the CPU was not properly inserted in the socket. Since Jeff tested my machine for a couple of days before shipping we have to assume that UPS rough handling of the box caused the chip to come loose. Anyway, Jeff walked me through how to fix it properly and then to make sure there was no damage done to any of the components. Within a few hours my PC was up and running like a champ, and it is blazing fast!! His optimizing , tweaking and CPU overclocking really show in the performance and speed of my new computer. It has been 100% reliable since. He even sets it up with a cool system info utility, tons of cool wallpapers and antivirus software. I can not over stress how happy I am with my cool looking, lighting fast new computer.
My experience with Predator Gaming Computers has been excellent. Sales and customer service has been flawless, the computer itself is incredible, and tech support was first rate. I recommend that anyone looking for a super Gaming PC call Predator Gaming. As they stand right now (as a small business), I consider them to be the best kept secret in the custom built gaming computer industry. "