Origin PC's Infinite Crisis Machine at PAX and their Support Process

Given our dedication to DIY system building, we've historically been wary of system assembly companies and still maintain that building your own rig is the best option. That stated, there are a number of legitimate reasons to contract your build out to an assembly company: Maybe there are time constraints, or maybe the system is a gift / not for you, or maybe you need a half-way step between the Dells and HPs of the world and a DIY machine.

We've been wanting to post a round-up of all the major system builders for a while now; with the rise of companies like Origin PC, Digital Storm, CyberPower, iBuyPower, and plenty of others, we've heard enough horror stories and high praise to thoroughly confuse newcomers to the market. The issues that arise with system building organizations is often one of quality of service and price: We've received numerous consumer complaints over CyberPower shipping rigs in such a way that the weight of the video cards rips the PCI-e sockets from the board, and I've personally commented on their $50 charge for a 20% overclock -- which can be done in 5 minutes.

After talking with Origin PC Product Manager Jorge Percival at PAX Prime 2013, we're a bit more hopeful about the future of pre-build companies. Let's hit the video before discussing why we walked away with that feeling.

First off, let's talk specs: The Infinite Crisis giveaway machine has custom painted front and side panels, an in-house assembled liquid cooling configuration, Corsair's 900D (write-up), 2xGTX 770s from EVGA, 16GB of Vengeance RAM, an AX 1200W PSU, 2x240GB SSDs, 4700k OC'd to 4.7GHz, Maximus VI board, and plenty of space. Definitely a fun machine to look at -- find other builds from the Corsair booth in our PAX System Build & Case Mod gallery.

Killer Infinite Crisis build and custom paint aside, let's talk about Origin PC. Of note, the company keeps everything in-house in the US. Support is all US-based (Kingstonactually told us the same when we toured their HQ), and more importantly, Percival insists that the company will still support you out of warranty, though specifics weren't provided. Similar to EVGA, Origin offers an upgrade option for component replacement: If a new GPU ships a year after you buy your rig, you can sell your old one back to Origin and pay the difference, then they'll install the new card free-of-charge. Definitely a promising selection of support options for gamers (or gift-buying relatives/friends) who don't feel comfortable with a DIY build.

We're hoping to talk in more depth with Origin PC and other system builders about their support options, pricing structure, and overall company philosophies; once we've knocked on all the right doors, a full system builder round-up / review will hit the web with further information on the process. And, more importantly, on who we trust to competently install a system.

Until then, keep on hitting our forums for any system builds you're interested in and we'll walk you through the DIY approach!

- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.