skywaiter
08-11-2011, 04:42 PM
My Maingear Shift Super Stock is, on the plus side, better than I expected but, on the negative side, has an unanticipated and nagging problem. I found a helpful staff with someone always picking up the phone, although there was an important communication failure. I would like to describe my impressions as well as recount what has happened with the PC.
The main and significant parts of the Shift Super Stock I got are:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3.
Processor: Intel I7-2600K redlined to 4.5 Ghz.
Graphics: Two Nvidia GTX-570 in SLI.
Primary Hard Drive: 240 GB OCZ-Vertex 3
Other Hard Drives: 2TB SATA 6G, 1TB SATA 6G
Optical Drives: Blu-ray burner, DVD Player
Memory: 8 GB
Other: Acousti-Pak Ultimate Sound Dampening
My PC was originally scheduled to arrive on June 21. It arrived on July 6. When I first saw the PC, I was delighted that all of the various cables (except for the power cord) plug in at the top. This is much more convenient that the usual placement at the back, especially for units stored on or near the floor. I was next impressed when I first turned it on because it was extremely quiet, much quieter than I had expected).
When I turned on the PC I was surprised to find out the display set to what I think was 800 x 600. I was very familiar with Windows XP but not Windows 7, so trying to fix the problem was somewhat frustrating. I finally found how to change to a more managable display resolution but needed a helpful Maingear tech to help me out by reinstalling the Nvidia drivers; this installed the Nvidia Control panel and recognized my Dell monitor.
I used the PC for the rest of the day and everything seemed fine. I was gone the next day but the next day after that, I moved the PC off of my work desk and moved it to a platform next to the desk, plugged in some peripherals, and then turned on the PC. This time the PC was unbelievably slow. I tried running the Windows 7 performance test (the one where it ranks various aspects of the computer from 1.1 to 7.9) but the test timed out before completing. I worked with a mainframe tech to make a few hardware and software adjustments, none of which helped. Then the tech decided I must have gotten a virus (even though the first thing I did was to install my antivirus program). We reinstalled Windows 7 and this solved the slowness problem.
I found the PC to be incredibly fast. The solid-state hard drive boots up and loads programs really quickly. The USB-3 and SATA6 functions are a lot faster than previous versions. Then another problem surfaced. I got occasional black screens, sometimes while actively working and sometimes after coming back from turning off the display.
I worked with a tech to try in making a number of changes to the PC but the black screens kept periodically recurring. Finally we removed the primary card and put the secondary card in the primary slot. I used the PC with the one card for a week and had no black screens, which seemed to suggest that a defective video card caused the problem. On a Monday, I called to tell them the results of my testing and was told that a replacement card would be sent right out. The card had not come by Thursday afternoon so I called to inquire about it. I was told that it had just shipped that Wednesday and that I should get in no later than the next Tuesday. It had not come by Tuesday afternoon so I called again and was told that the card had never actually been shipped. I explained the details and was told that a new card would be sent out immediately. I got the replacement card on Friday.
Unfortunately, the new card did not solve the problem. I still got black screens. So then we switched to just one card in the last slot but I still got black screens (recall that I did not get them with just one card in the first slot). We then decided that something was wrong with the motherboard and it should be replaced.
I returned the PC to Maingear Monday and it arrived yesterday (August 11). A new motherboard is supposed to be installed. Except for the black screens, the PC is very fast and very quiet (although a tech’s attempt to fix the black screen problem made it a bit louder). I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problem, some of the time with the tech and some on my own. I screwed the little cover on the video cards quite a few times, which took a great deal of time and effort until I got the hang of it (three hands being quite a help).
One unusual thing that happened while I was in SLI-mode is interesting. I used the HDMI output for a large-screen HDTV and changed the display configuration to make my monitor the primary screen and the TV the secondary screen (for occasional use). Once, when I got a black screen, the picture never came back. The helpful tech figured out that the computer display was now on the TV (which was turned off but still attached). I assume that the black-screen event reset the configuration to make the HDMI output the primary output.
I believe that when it is fixed, this PC will be awesome.
The main and significant parts of the Shift Super Stock I got are:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3.
Processor: Intel I7-2600K redlined to 4.5 Ghz.
Graphics: Two Nvidia GTX-570 in SLI.
Primary Hard Drive: 240 GB OCZ-Vertex 3
Other Hard Drives: 2TB SATA 6G, 1TB SATA 6G
Optical Drives: Blu-ray burner, DVD Player
Memory: 8 GB
Other: Acousti-Pak Ultimate Sound Dampening
My PC was originally scheduled to arrive on June 21. It arrived on July 6. When I first saw the PC, I was delighted that all of the various cables (except for the power cord) plug in at the top. This is much more convenient that the usual placement at the back, especially for units stored on or near the floor. I was next impressed when I first turned it on because it was extremely quiet, much quieter than I had expected).
When I turned on the PC I was surprised to find out the display set to what I think was 800 x 600. I was very familiar with Windows XP but not Windows 7, so trying to fix the problem was somewhat frustrating. I finally found how to change to a more managable display resolution but needed a helpful Maingear tech to help me out by reinstalling the Nvidia drivers; this installed the Nvidia Control panel and recognized my Dell monitor.
I used the PC for the rest of the day and everything seemed fine. I was gone the next day but the next day after that, I moved the PC off of my work desk and moved it to a platform next to the desk, plugged in some peripherals, and then turned on the PC. This time the PC was unbelievably slow. I tried running the Windows 7 performance test (the one where it ranks various aspects of the computer from 1.1 to 7.9) but the test timed out before completing. I worked with a mainframe tech to make a few hardware and software adjustments, none of which helped. Then the tech decided I must have gotten a virus (even though the first thing I did was to install my antivirus program). We reinstalled Windows 7 and this solved the slowness problem.
I found the PC to be incredibly fast. The solid-state hard drive boots up and loads programs really quickly. The USB-3 and SATA6 functions are a lot faster than previous versions. Then another problem surfaced. I got occasional black screens, sometimes while actively working and sometimes after coming back from turning off the display.
I worked with a tech to try in making a number of changes to the PC but the black screens kept periodically recurring. Finally we removed the primary card and put the secondary card in the primary slot. I used the PC with the one card for a week and had no black screens, which seemed to suggest that a defective video card caused the problem. On a Monday, I called to tell them the results of my testing and was told that a replacement card would be sent right out. The card had not come by Thursday afternoon so I called to inquire about it. I was told that it had just shipped that Wednesday and that I should get in no later than the next Tuesday. It had not come by Tuesday afternoon so I called again and was told that the card had never actually been shipped. I explained the details and was told that a new card would be sent out immediately. I got the replacement card on Friday.
Unfortunately, the new card did not solve the problem. I still got black screens. So then we switched to just one card in the last slot but I still got black screens (recall that I did not get them with just one card in the first slot). We then decided that something was wrong with the motherboard and it should be replaced.
I returned the PC to Maingear Monday and it arrived yesterday (August 11). A new motherboard is supposed to be installed. Except for the black screens, the PC is very fast and very quiet (although a tech’s attempt to fix the black screen problem made it a bit louder). I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problem, some of the time with the tech and some on my own. I screwed the little cover on the video cards quite a few times, which took a great deal of time and effort until I got the hang of it (three hands being quite a help).
One unusual thing that happened while I was in SLI-mode is interesting. I used the HDMI output for a large-screen HDTV and changed the display configuration to make my monitor the primary screen and the TV the secondary screen (for occasional use). Once, when I got a black screen, the picture never came back. The helpful tech figured out that the computer display was now on the TV (which was turned off but still attached). I assume that the black-screen event reset the configuration to make the HDMI output the primary output.
I believe that when it is fixed, this PC will be awesome.