"Before the purchase of this new custom built computer, I wanted to visit the builder.

On January 10, 2008, I made a round trip drive of 300+ miles to see Velocity Micro's business location, tour their production facility and meet with several of their personnel. My thanks to Trace Dixon for arranging that visit. He was most knowledgable, competent and courteous.

At the conclusion of the visit, Trace and I sat down and created an order based on the Edge Z15 with a number of component upgrades or enhancements incorporated.

I received the PC on 01/23/08. The PC is carefully crafted and a work of art. Somewhere in the shipping process, the PC was apparently subjected to some rough handling which was promptly addressed and fully resolved by Velocity Micro.

In getting used to a Vista (Ultimate) OS, I have had occasion to ask a few questions and seek better understanding and enlightment from Tamer Eldrin in Tech Support and Joe Nelson in Repair. My questions or concerns have all been promptly responded to by phone or email and have been fully answered and resolved by them. Thank you.

My experiences with Velocity Micro have been nothing but positive. Their responsiveness has left nothing to be desired. They have been most professional.

The PC operates flawlessly.

I highly recommend Velocity Micro to anyone who wants to create a quality, high performance PC and one that is built and supported here in the US by highly competent personnel. Their PCs are exceptional.

I appreciate dealing with a firm which is sincerely interested in their customer's satisfaction. They are a first rate business producing first rate products."

"Velocity Micro may sell nice hardware, but without quality service to back it up, I don't recommend purchasing from them.

We have purchased several Velocity Micro systems in the past for our developers. Overall, the end users are happy with them. However, as the person responsible for the maintenance of our hardware, I have had less than satisfactory experiences with them.

We last purchased two ProMagixW160 High Performance Workstation PCs from them. One system had a memory failure within a month of arriving. Not a problem in itself as I know that happens occasionally. I called Velocity Micro support and was disconnected after a long hold time. I called back and spent another 30 minutes on hold until I was too frustrated to wait any longer. After sending an email to support, followed by one to the Director of Customer Care, we finally managed to get the replacement memory sent, eventually. That in it’s self took too many emails to get straightened out.

Now, a second Velocity Micro has a hardware failure. Velocity Micro's support answered the phone this time and quickly diagnosed the problem. They improved in that area, however, it took two weeks to get the motherboard on-site. That was after getting conflicting status information when calling their support line. Early last week I was told it had not been approved because they didn’t know where to ship it to. Apparently, they were confused by my billing address being different then the shipping address. Yeah, my personal credit card is registered to my home address. That’s not so unusual, is it? On the 15th I was told it was finally approved, but has not been sent yet. On the 21st I was told it shipped 11 days ago. 11 Days ago?! That’s not what you said 4 days ago. If it shipped 11 days ago, where was it? If was in transit, it must be coming by mule, because it was shipped from Virginia to Virginia. Let’s not forget the fact they will not even schedule a technician for the installation until AFTER we have it in hand. That adds more delays. Why not just send the technician WITH the part?

After the motherboard arrived, I waited 24 hours to hear back from a technician to schedule the install, but no one called. We’ve already waited two weeks, so we installed it ourselves. Turns out, after all this and two weeks, the motherboard was not the problem. Now they want us to ship it back to them so they can replace the CPU. Apparently, they do not trust the end user or field technician to replace the CPU. That’s odd, because we had to move the CPU from the old motherboard to the new motherboard. Any, we will be shipping it back to them as soon as they tell us where to ship it to. I am still waiting for their email wit that information.

We now have had a developer using a low performance spare system for over 2 weeks. That costs us money in lost development time. Velocity Micro systems may come with a good price tag, but you more than lose the difference in poor quality support. Our developers may like the performance of Velocity Micro hardware, but since I am not only responsible for the maintenance, but also new hardware purchases, I have switched to purchasing from Dell for all new developers. We have a lot of Dell systems here and they have always sent a technician the next business day with part(s) in hand.

OK, I'm done ranting..."

"I purchased my computer, a CineMagix Grand, in September 2007. I received the computer in late October. On the first day, a hard drive failed. Within the first week a second hard drive failed. The computer was returned for repair. I received the computer back in late November. Immediately, another hard drive failed. In total 5 hard drives have failed and I have had the computer for less than 4 months. While Velocity Micro does send replacement parts, the computer has only functioned for 3 full weeks without failing in the past 4 months. Now, the motherboard has malfunctioned. All of this (5 failed hard drives and now a failed motherboard) within 4 months with even less than 4 months of usage because of times when the computer did not function at all.

Now the company tells me that I am responsible for paying to have the computer shipped back to them for repair and that I cannot receive a refund.

This is ridiculous and I would never recommend anyone purchase a computer from Velocity Micro. Even though I have a one year warranty, I have no confidence that the computer (which retailed for nearly $4,000) will be worth anything once the warranty expires because every indication is that multiple parts have repeatedly failed in just the first few months of ownership.

I had high hopes for this system when I first purchased it, but they were immediately dashed when the system was received and immediately failed. I have no confidence in Velocity Micro's merchandise because even their techs informed me that they receive "bad batches" of components at times.

All I want is a refund and they won't give it to me. So think twice before your purchase anything from Velocity Micro. You'll be stuck with a nonfunctioning system and they won't give you a refund.

"

"I purchased a Velocity Micro computer and am very pleased with the purchase. I did have a problem with the E-Sata connection that was quickly resolved with the Velocity Micro phone and live chat support."

"It took two weeks to ship from order date, which isn't horrible, except when I got it in, the power supply unit wasn't properly functioning. I contacted VM's customer support via email, and a surprisingly nice representative called me the next morning to troubleshoot. A week later, my PSU came in--without instructions--but it ended up being so easy to install--ten minutes, tops. Now, it's running great (so far)."

"Delivery within 3 weeks, excellent machine, better price than Dell, many options, extreme performance. Staff was always available to answer questions by email and phone."

"Very unhappy customer here. I paid $4,000 to Overdrive PC for a "custom" gamer; Shortly thereafter, Overdrive PC was purchased by Velocity. I've had nothing but problems with the machine and little sympathy from VM despite numerous emails and telphone calls to the service department. The machine freezes during game play requiring one to crash the system. It won't reboot; it doesn't recognize the dual video cards; frequently, it won't even boot to windows unless I walk away for several hours. The machine was returned, the hard drive wiped and returned to me. Once the games (Witcher & Crysis) loaded, the machine continued to freeze and crash. No one really seems interested in either fixing the machine or replacing the core parts. It is suggested that I have introduced a "Virus" somehow; I have spent $400 of my own money on IT person in Seattle to inspect the machine. There is no virus. And, there seems little interest in fixing the machine on VM's part despite my "platinum warranty" contract.

February 12th: I have had several contacts with service and am satisfied thus far on the troubleshooting aspect of the problem. Aaron Palmer is doing a good job trying to work me through it, although I'm a complete novice. More to come. "

"Initial Review 1/7/08
Ordered 11/24/07 (a Saturday when no building is usually done), customized and received 11/30/07, was originally delivered 11/29, did not receive notice it was even ready, let alone shipped. Problems since day 1.

Motherboard Asus M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition
Audio On-Board Integrated Realtek Audio, 7.1 Channel Support - this is NOT what I got, it's c-media6501 integrated USB audio that you can't listen to anything with. Using XPPro, so it's not a Vista software issue. Robyn and Flav tried to help me on the phone (they are superb) - they were able to get me a soundcard - that took almost 3 weeks. In the meantime I went and bought one just so I could have any audio. I continue to have problems from computer "freezing", running slow and in general just not quite right. I feel that this computer (spent almost $1,700 including 3 year extended warranty) is gonna be "one of those" systems. If it was built on Monday, that means it was shipped on Tuesday to arrive here on Thursday (UPS is usually 2 day shipping). That's NOT enough time for build/burn-in/test. I specifically said No to Norton a/v. What was the first thing I saw on boot? Norton. Flav stopped me from just uninstalling it and got me the proper uninstall tool. Robyn went above and beyond to try to get my audio problems solved. (3 phone calls to tech support between Fri night and Sat afternoon!) Both were beyond patient and explained step by step what to do and how do to it. I appreciate their help immensely. The video card, while seated well enough to work, was in slightly crooked. I reseated the video card and ran 3DMark06 and it seems to be ok, but something's not right overall.

Had to send my older (1 1/2 y/o) GE1000 in for repair. Upon return of that computer the front cover fell off when I removed the protective foam - all but 1 pin was broken. Also the back VGA socket was ripped off - I note gpu was upgraded so maybe that's why? And since return my A drive does not work. Spoke with James on 12/14, he sent a new front cover and dvi adapter, awaiting floppy.

If I had the "tech" knowledge or wanted something that I'd have to uninstall/reinstall/fiddle with, I'd have bought a "big box", spent alot less and expected alot less. I wish they would've taken it back and refunded my money, it'd be easier to start over - but I ordered a customized system and they are clear that there are no refunds on those.

EDIT 2/03/08
Received rebuilt computer Fri, Jan 25. Still having soundcard issues. Tech has been contacted and will be coming to the house to check everything out and/or replace the current SB0460 soundcard with an XtremeGamer SB0730 (Approved and arrived Fri Feb 2 - Note original XG was full size card, this one is the half size - supplier I guess?).

EDIT 3/18/08
4 months later, mobo on older computer replaced, floppy still not working but that's one of those mystery things, not the end of the world. New computer (11/07 build) still having problems re: soundcard/tons of error messages, hangs, freezes, sometimes C/A/D doesn't work, have to hit reset. Tech Supervisor tried doing a remote uninstall which didn't work completely. It's NOT her, it's gotta be the soundcard. Onsite tech (Derek) is suggesting reformat again to clear everything out and start over, which is looking more and more likely. VM phone tech support I will say is excellent, especially the evening staff. Professional, friendly, patient and they really do their best to try to get things taken care of.

EDIT/UPDATE 4/24/08
Looks like things are working! Tech came to the house (Steve), replaced front panel, had an initial Oh No on reboot and hearing severe static. I don't know what he did after that - he had his hands deep in the case - but after 5 months things are working and looking up. As in I CAN have a few windows open and no have errors/freezeups/lose part of my screen, etc. It's just working! Floppy on older puter now works too. I was sent a different, even better model, Steve popped it in, we tested it with a floppy and voila. So, here's hoping everything's resolved.

Thank you VM for following through. Thank you Tech Support, especially Ellen, Flav, Jessica. You have been with me every step of the way, even when I went completely ballistic (a few times I admit). VM does honor their Warranty. I can't stress enough how important this is for anyone considering VM. Their phone techs do everything but get in their car and come to your house.

It's been a long, strange trip. But I've had some great companions on the way. And a rig that makes my friends' jaws drop ;)
"

"I ordered my Gamer's Edge PC from Velocity Micro in late September after reading all the reviews here. Seemed like the way to go.

MY PC arrived on time, packaging was exceptional, setup was easy and my new baby wasn't loaded up with all the useless software you usually have to wade through when you order a PC from Dell or Gateway or HP.

It's been almost three months now and I'm very happy with my purchase. One little nitpick, though. I'm having a relatively minor issue (I think) and called tech support over the weekend... not sure if I had purchased the emergency 24-hour tech support, I left my name and number with the answering service, who informed me that someone would get back with me. Six hours later no one had, so I called again. The answering service rather rudely informed me that my issue was not considered and "Emergency". When asked what exactly constituted an "emergency" I was told that in the case of a blue screen or not being able to boot up, I could get emergency tech support.

Since my issue wasn't really an emergency (by their standards or mine) I let it go and just hoped I had not paid extra for "24-hr tech support" that doesn't really appear to be... well, 24 hr tech support.

However, it's now Monday evening and no call back has occurred as of yet. I called tech support myself but was on hold for about half an hour, after which, I either got disconnected or my cell phone decided it was tired of holding. I called back immediately and was two places back in the queue. I give up.

In summary, I'm completely satisfied with my Gamer's Edge. Not so satisfied with tech support as of yet, but hopefully I will be able to contact them soon and resolve my issue. I'll post back later with my results.

UPDATE: As of today (Jan 10, 2008) I have worked extensively with Ellen in tech support, who has been wonderful. We have been unable to solve the issue of Windows Updates being unable to install on my system but Ellen is still searching for a solution and has been very good at calling me back during the evenings to troubleshoot. So, in summary, not fixed yet but am impressed by Ellen at tech support and the follow up calls. It's most certainly better service that one would get from the "big name" companies. "

"I had purchased my computer a year ago. And suddenly had a coolin fan issue. I had contact tech support i was so extremly impressed with the gentleman i talked to named Chirs Durden. Not only did he point me in the rite direction, he also helped me with some performance issues by simply uploadin new and improved down loads..
To sum it all up... I will be a returnin customer in the future. For all my computer upgrades and or new purchases...


Thanks you Again....

Johnathon R. Sasala"

"Had the system for 4 months now. Very frustrated w/ Velocity Micro. Complaints are:

iTunes locks up, cannot be killed; writes disk error messages to the System log ... ONLY itunes ahs this problem. Vista had numerous other problems, rebooting every hour, crashing, not allowing my legacy software to run, disk seems to run constantly. VM told me to do a system restore, I did, it failed. When I complained about VM selling an unstable OS, they told me they were sorry that I was 'unhappy with the OS I chose' and they could/would not help solve any problems with software that was not sold with the machine e.g. the iTunes problem... which of course they sold the system with Vista for 100 bucks less than the one with xp ... so I foolishly bit on that.

Before I pruchased the machine I asked if it came with the regular vista cds, not some modified version they said it did ... one of the suggested fixes that I use to fix vista is from http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/101393-repair-vista-options-preferred-sequence.html

However it appears that the VM vista cd is an OEM version not the retail one, so I feel that I was lied to.

While their support is friendly on the phone they do not offer the premium system and support that they advertise. In my experience you can get the same level of support from any company.

If you are computer knowledgable and can solve the simple stuff yourself, then find the cheapest machine you can buy because the type of problems you will encounter with VM/Vista will try your patience and if VM can solve the problem, you can too but if you can't then you will not have the frustration of finding out that VM has no answers ... and be disappointed in their promise of a quality system.

Microsoft and VM have both proven to be disappointing in the quality and stability of their products."

"In August of 2007 I began searching to either build or purchase a video editing computer when I ran across Velocity Micro. The first unit I purchased at Best Buy which failed in 6 days (the raid controller went bad). Best Buy replaced it with a second unit which failed it 60 days (the hard drive shorted out and burned up the motherboard.) Best Buy replace this machine with a third Velocity Mirco which failed in 15 days. Best buy did't have another machine to replace it with but did offer to refund my purchase on a gift card and I could then purchase anything else. I called Velocity Micro and after some conversation they gave me an RMA and I sent my machine to them.

Avery in repair, began working on the machine once it arrived and discovered a software conflict which he fixed and the computer ran fine. It was at this point I began asking about upgrading this system, since technology had made a quantum leap. The jump wast to install the evga 780i MB additional RAM and QX6850 Penryn core 2 quad CPU, and BluRay drive. they made the installation and bench tested

They have completed the bench test as of today. Its performance has exceeded spec's. They will be sending it to me and I'll have it by Friday.

I want every one to know that Velocity Micro has been excellent to work with and exceedingly cooperative. I am proud to say I own a Velocity Micro.

Any questions you can emai me at ****@****."

"5 minutes with James & 5 minutes with David got my cablecards (2) and off air antenna tuner (1) working with an extender (XBOX 360). I have had experience with other resellers and they could not understand my problems, and I could not understand them – even when they resorted to Text Messages.
These guys from Velocity Micro were GREAT and I rate them 1000 ++ !!!
"

"This is my confirmation number. I can't find my invoice number. I had excellent service from Shawn an English speaking tech that was outstanding. We had a bad ram stick which he quickly determined and I am now awaiting a pair of sticks. The delivery was timely and I received exactly what I ordered. I am not sure of the performance of the E6850 MB or the 8800GT video card but so far I am satisfied with the service of this vender. "

"Absolutely horrible tech support. I had some issues with hardware early on. I was an early adopter of the new Grand Theater CableCard media center system and their handling of those issues was absolute frustration. They continually made promises to me over the phone and via email and then took no actions on those promises. Hardware delays in replacement parts were never communicated to me until I called in to find out why I didn't have them yet. The latest issue is a bug with the IR receiver, again I was told they would ship the part out and today I called and was told there is a note in my file stating that the part was not field replaceable. Now they want me to ship the system back to them to fix that. If this system goes back to them, I never want to see it again. I want a full refund!

5/10/08 Update:
I did end up shipping my system back and got a new motherboard installed and upgraded the CPU (for a fee). The problem with the IR receiver remained after I received the system back. Turns out it is a software issue and there's nothing that can be done to fix it. I continued to have problems with the Cablecard tuners until a week ago when ATI released newer firmware. Velocity Micro promised that they had a system to notify customers of these CRITICAL updates. I was NOT notified by them and found out about the update via TheGreenButton forums. My experience with Velocity Micro still consists of broken promises. At least I now have the machine stable and set up the way I want. Too bad I had to do most of the work to get it that way."