Problems
We had no real problems to speak of with the F131. It booted immediately upon arrival, which is practically unheard of, and partially attributable to a good packing job (and partially to luck). The system was stable throughout our testing, and other than slight anomalies like the stray noise, we did not observe any problems.
Pricing
Our test configuration of the F131 is available on the Maingear website for approximately $2130 before shipping. The margins on components are quite high, particularly on hard drives and video cards. The cooler used retails for about $140, so clearly the $300 premium over the Intel heatsink goes towards the cost of labor. The closest that we came at Newegg with a very similar configuration was about $1530. This isn't that far off the mark from other system builders, but it would really help solidify Maingear's position if they could reduce their margins on video cards to allow for less expensive gaming upgrades.
Final Thoughts
First off, the good: Maingear builds quality systems without bloatware or clogged installations, ships them well, and all evidence shows they support them 100%. Their website is easy to order from, overclocking is "free" and covered under warranty, and their component choices are solid. You really do get the impression that these systems are hand-built with care.
Now then, here are the negatives. We find ourselves acknowledging that Maingear is a solid contender in this market, and understand why they garner customer loyalty, but this system just didn't clinch us completely. We honestly expected to see a bit more performance at this price point. This is supposed to be "the ultimate custom gaming machine" in Maingear's own words. For instance, instead of water-cooling, we would have opted to spend some of that money on a quad-core CPU (for those into video encoding) or a faster video card (for the gamers).
When paying for a system like this, one wants the performance to back up the cost. We also feel that a system like this should come with a 3-year warranty standard; it's an investment surely intended to last more than one year, and quite a few competitors in this area offer 3-year warranties at about the same price. As a third point, while the Silverstone case is elegant and functional, it lacks the glitz and glamour that some people might look for in a gaming system. The ability to choose a couple case alternatives would help. Customization options are available for most components, but they are more limited than other vendors and the price premiums are higher than average.
As we said when opening the review, we like the F131 and are very pleased with its reliability and by all accounts the huge emphasis that Maingear places on support. They are definitely worth a place on the short list of top quality PC suppliers. However, if support is not number one on your list, you may want to look around at some other suppliers to compare prices.
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CEO Ballmer - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
I run two of these towers, tricked out!These things are the very definition of cool!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
pervisanathema - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
In the past 3 years, I have ordered over 400 Dell PCs, about 3 dozen laptops, and about 2 dozen servers. I have yet to see a piece of equipment that failed to boot on arrival.Praising a manufacturer for having a PC that boots on arrival is like praising a car dealer for having a new car that starts up when you test drive it.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
See above: it's the large GPUs, HSFs, and cooling that cause problems. I remember getting a review system a couple years back that had a giant styrofoam insert inside the case, just to help protect things during shipping. It helped secure the cables and cooling devices, but it was rather over-the-top.yyrkoon - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
I think some of the Dell XPS's did at one time, or still do ship with a Styrofoam insert. And I remember the review of that system you're talking about, or at least remember you guys talking about the insert.With FedEx, and UPS in different areas tossing boxes around like they're garbage, it is no wonder. I have had a 21" CRT show up at our shop with the plastic front bezel completely ripped off because of some unscrupulous FedEX person . . .
3DoubleD - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
"As a third point, while the Silverstone case is elegant and functional, it lacks the glitz and glamour that some people might look for in a gaming system. The ability to choose a couple case alternatives would help. Customization options are available for most components, but they are more limited than other vendors and the price premiums are higher than average."Please don't encourage them. That is a GREAT looking case. I think just about everyone is sick of the tacky "Gamer" case look. The Silverstone is very minimalistic in appearance (which is a good thing) while being functional. In fact, I think I'd consider buying one, although I've never seen one for sale. Anyway, in my opinion, case manufacturers and pre-built assemblers need to move away from the tacky "gamer" case design that should have died in the earlier part of this decade. Also, they won't offer a case option because it makes the assembly process less standard and you get different quality cases (and perhaps features). I would suggest they stick with one case and design around that case as they have done here.
Griswold - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Words of wisdom. This bling-bling bullshit with a window and strobes is seriously getting on my nerves. Maybe its the age...JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
To each his own; there are plenty of other nice cases out there that don't have tons of bling but can compete with Silverstone. Using a single case helps with assembly and parts ordering for sure, but many other companies offer Silverstone cases as well as about 15 other options. Personally, I think choice is good and that users should be able to get what they want. But then they can: if you don't want Silverstone, you can shop elsewhere. :)Tormeh - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
I would like to see the time it takes to calculate a turn in Civ4...Really, back in the days of Civ3 I remember that the time it took from ending a turn until the game responded again could be several minutes. Well, at least in the later stages of the game with the maximum number of AI players and the biggest map you could get, anyway.
surt - Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - link
Which really was quite ludicrously bad programming. Even an n^3 algorithm over the number of units or map positions has no excuse for taking minutes to run on a modern processor.Tormeh - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
Well, "back in the days of Civ 3" means that the relevant processor was also "back in the days." :) A high-end Pentium 4, if memory serves.