Puget Systems and iBUYPOWER: two sides of the system integrator coin

Closing Thoughts

As we mentioned already, all of the systems we are discussing today have at least a few components that are no longer available -- or at least components that are not generally considered the best choices for the particular price range, and the manufacturers recognize that. Given that all of the components are off-the-shelf parts, the performance is basically in line with what we've seen from similar systems. The midrange iBUYPOWER comes with a slower processor and graphics card and therefore doesn't do as well in gaming benchmarks or CPU intensive tasks, but at less than half the price of the other two systems it still has plenty to offer. Rather than spend a lot of time and effort putting together graphs that are basically meaningless, we felt a look at these two system integrators focusing on the experience rather than looking at which one scores a few percent higher would be more beneficial. After all, there are many different ways to put together a system, and individual needs will determine which components are the most important. Feel free to let us know what you think about this approach, although we should also note that we are going to be focusing more on laptops in the future and that we may not be doing any prebuilt system reviews for a while.

For those of you wondering about performance, there was nothing particularly unexpected from any of the systems. The iBUYPOWER quad core configuration was very fast in benchmarks that could utilize multiple cores, but the CrossFire graphics were not able to match the performance offered by 8800 GTX SLI. The system overall was slower than the Gateway FX530 that we recently reviewed, but that's not too surprising considering the Gateway processor was overclocked 20%. For the price, anyone looking at QX6700 with X1950 CrossFire would be much better off purchasing the overclocked Gateway setup; on the other hand, those interested in maximum gaming performance would want to upgrade to a 680i motherboard and 8800 GTX SLI GPUs. Performance of the Puget Systems computer was similar to what you would expect from 7900 GTX SLI, only slightly slower, with the graphics cards still being the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The E6700 processor is more than fast enough for all but the most demanding tasks, and until we see games that can utilize more than two processor cores the CPU isn't going to hold you back. It's really a shame that you can't get the GTO cards anymore, as the price and performance offered was quite attractive -- better in most games than GeForce 7950 GT. Finally, the midrange iBUYPOWER was obviously slower than most of the other systems we've looked at lately, but the 7900 GS graphics card is clearly the limiting factor. It's still a good midrange offering and a reasonable match for the E6400 processor. What it comes down to is that gaming benchmarks end up being comparisons of the graphics cards used, while the other benchmarks are constrained by the CPU. Spending a lot of time analyzing benchmarks that don't tell us anything new just doesn't seem to be necessary for this particular type of article.

When looking at these two companies, both are among the smaller players in the computer market -- quite a few people have probably never heard of Puget Systems -- but smaller doesn't always mean worse. iBUYPOWER is relatively well-known among enthusiasts, and with good reason. They offer very competitive prices and an excellent selection of components. If your primary concern is saving money, and perhaps if you aren't interested in putting a lot of effort into building your own system, paying them what amounts to a couple hundred dollars to save yourself time is definitely a reasonable choice. Several iBUYPOWER systems are also offered at Newegg now, so you can often find them for even lower prices but without the ability to customize any of the components. The warranty that comes with any iBUYPOWER system should probably be looked at more as a guarantee that the hardware will continue to work for three years rather than as providing an excellent level of technical support, though that's not to say that they weren't able to answer our questions. It's a step up from building your own computer and doing all of the technical support yourself, but we would be hesitant to recommend iBUYPOWER as a solution for people that aren't at least comfortable doing some of their own troubleshooting.

Puget Systems takes the opposite approach, focusing on exceptional customer service and providing only the highest quality components. The selection isn't as large, but they cover all of the important choices very well. (You can also have Puget Systems custom order parts they don't normally stock if you want, but if you know and care enough to have differing opinions from what they normally stock then you should probably just build your own system.) Puget Systems' prices are going to be higher than many other companies -- think Alienware and Falcon Northwest without customized paint jobs and you're not too far off -- but the cost also gets you a better build quality and customer support compared to most system integrators. If you want a high-performance computer and you need advice on the subject, Puget Systems looks like a very good choice, and they are more than willing to discuss your particular needs with you at length to make sure that you get the exact system you want/need. Would we personally shop at Puget Systems? Probably not, given the prices, but we certainly have friends and relatives that would be interested.

Basically, Puget Systems was almost the exact opposite of iBUYPOWER: better support quality for more money. Neither solution is going to be optimal for everyone, and some people are still going to want some of the options not offered by either company. There are definitely other system vendors out there worth a look, and we have reviewed computers from some of them. The simple fact of the matter is that the system integrator market tends to be pretty cutthroat, so businesses have to try and differentiate themselves. In general, the quality of service and support is one of those areas that can vary greatly from company to company. Other than that, the biggest factor for most people is going to be price, so if you're in the market for a new computer you should add Puget Systems and iBUYPOWER to the list of businesses you want to check out. You may end up going with someone else, but unless price is no concern it doesn't hurt to shop around.