Ibuypower is a joke

Alright im not sure where to start but here we go:
In a recent xfire contest i won an ibuypower gaming rig which was supposed to be valued at 1200 dollars. winning it or buying it, i as should anyone else expected the computer to be without any flaws, especially since they are supposed to be "custom" built.

After receiving the computer i was pretty excited, i had never heard of ibuypower before but they seemed to look like they knew what they were doing. The computer came with a self contained liquid cooling system, which the point of most liquid cooling systems is better temps and silence. I turned on the computer and it was close to vacuum cleaner levels, sound wise. And on top of all that, there was this annoying ticking/slurping sound. It turns out that the computer fans were running on full blast, including the fan on the radiator which is one of the loudest fans i have ever heard. There were no settings to turn them down. I dont understand how a company can ship a computer like that but it gets worse.

I do some investigating and find some software for the mobo to help control the fans, bringing the computer down to a manageable volume, although it is still much louder than it should be on idle. Oh and that slurping/ ticking sound. Well the way the radiator was mounted, one of the tubes was basically twisted shut and very little to no liquid was passing through, causing this great sound. After moving the radiator every which way i could, the tube would still twist itself shut, i looked at some information on this liquid cooling product online and from pictures that i saw i realized that the pump was mounted in an incorrect position on the cpu, causing the tubes to not run in the correct direction.

But wait, the best is yet to come. I remove the radiator and pump, as the same unit, in order to mount it correctly. While fixing the radiator back to the case, i notice that it is leaking all over the place (pretty much my biggest fear).

I am just amazed how a company can ship a computer in this condition. I had to go out and buy a new heatsink/fan for the cpu, which cost about 70 dollars (spinQ, only one the local store carried and i couldnt wait a few days to have one from online shipped to me). I was very open minded and optimistic about this company before, but now that i see their product, i just dont understand who they are assembling these computers over there, it is obviously not anyone with even reading skills, since all it takes is the ability to read a manual to install something correctly. Also the constant max fans with no settings really ****ed me off, while i could figure a way to fix it, many people who buy from that company are not the computer building type, otherwise they would just build it themselves, and in most cases would have to ship the system back to have it fixed or spend hours on the phone with a techsupport that probably has no idea what is going on.

Any questions, comment, ill be happy to answer, i may have had a hand in having the radiator leak fluid so i dont fully blame ibp for this, had they installed the liquid cooling correctly, i think it would have worked great.

EDIT - Customer Support Call

Well i called customer support, it was ok. I had to pay 50 dollars to have a new liquid cooling sent out and i will be refunded once i send the broken one back. So hopefully that doesn't get ****ed up and i end up with a 50 dollar charge. I did get bounced around from different sections of the company and the representative said, "thats unheard of" when i told him everything. They also said it would take two days to process my credit card, i don't really get that, takes about 2 seconds at every other store out there. Hopefully everything works out.

You won a computer and the fans were loud and their was a kink in the tubing and you are complaining. I'll send you my address, send the computer to me.

updawg said:

You won a computer and the fans were loud and their was a kink in the tubing and you are complaining. I'll send you my address, send the computer to me.

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Thats kinda downplaying it i think, but these problems occurred from poor installation of the hardware. And i do have to pay tax on it so its not completely free. Also i fixed most of my problems, i am just trying to warn others who want to pay ibuypower to build a computer in order to avoid all the hassle and problems that come with building your own.

updawg said:

You won a computer and the fans were loud and their was a kink in the tubing and you are complaining. I'll send you my address, send the computer to me.

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Regardless of whether the OP won this system, or paid out the nose for it, it was sent to him in an unacceptable condition. If you ordered an HSF, and when you received it, found that bearings in the fan were grinding, would you not RMA? What if you bought a laptop and it failed Memtest out of the box? That kinked piece of tubing makes it sound like it was one of the Asetek OEM coolers, like the Coolit Domino or Corsair H50. It is a very good performing cooler, but it sounds like whoever installed it had no idea what they were doing. For another thing, who would want to run a prebuilt system that is that loud. I built my own, and I don't even want it that loud. I think the OP has every right to speak his mind, and if it were up to me, I would also take it up with the company he got the rig from. I don't think I would really start calling them a bad company before seeing how they deal with this problem though. You never know, they may take care of the whole thing in no time at all, and without hassle. If they are willing to stand behind their product, I would have to say that it atleast makes them a semi-decent company.

@op, I would check with them for a tech support number, and see what they are willing to do to correct this issue. Whether you won this rig in a contest or bought it with cash should not matter. Give them a call. You may be surprised with the outcome of the situation.

deadlysyn said:

Regardless of whether the OP won this system, or paid out the nose for it, it was sent to him in an unacceptable condition. If you ordered an HSF, and when you received it, found that bearings in the fan were grinding, would you not RMA? What if you bought a laptop and it failed Memtest out of the box? That kinked piece of tubing makes it sound like it was one of the Asetek OEM coolers, like the Coolit Domino or Corsair H50. It is a very good performing cooler, but it sounds like whoever installed it had no idea what they were doing. For another thing, who would want to run a prebuilt system that is that loud. I built my own, and I don't even want it that loud. I think the OP has every right to speak his mind, and if it were up to me, I would also take it up with the company he got the rig from. I don't think I would really start calling them a bad company before seeing how they deal with this problem though. You never know, they may take care of the whole thing in no time at all, and without hassle. If they are willing to stand behind their product, I would have to say that it atleast makes them a semi-decent company.

@OP, I would check with them for a tech support number, and see what they are willing to do to correct this issue. Whether you won this rig in a contest or bought it with cash should not matter. Give them a call. You may be surprised with the outcome of the situation.

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Yah im gonna try that out, it would be nice if they sent me a new liquid cooling thing because thats really all i need so i can return this spinq, which for 70 dollars, it is not a good cooler, looks sweet as hell, but i expected better cooling for that price.

Heres the liquid cooling that came with it btw

its called the IBP-Z001


And here is the spinq after i installed it.

http://www.overclockers.com/corsair-hydro-series-h50-review/

Here is a review of the H50 from Corsair, done by our own hokiealumnus. As you will notice in the pics in the review, the differences are minor. It is also a very formidable cooler, for what it is. I would say that you should make them fix what needs to be fixed, including the loud fans.

deadlysyn said:

http://www.overclockers.com/corsair-hydro-series-h50-review/

Here is a review of the H50 from Corsair, done by our own hokiealumnus. As you will notice in the pics in the review, the differences are minor. It is also a very formidable cooler, for what it is. I would say that you should make them fix what needs to be fixed, including the loud fans.

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i think ibp used that liquid cooling one before and then switched to the current one because i have seen it in reviews iv seen of their rigs. I fixed the fan thing on my own, i just would like a new cooler. I actually removed the system from the case it came with, which was basically a lexa s case minus the window, and i put it in a hades case. Ill post tomorrow to say what will happen after i contact the company, hopefully they can redeem themselves but from what iv read online, they have a horrible tech support, but we will see tomorrow.

I would still be unhappy about them leaving you with fans that sound like a Delta TFB, when they could have easily thrown in a $15 Sunbeam Rheobus to tame the noise down. To leave it on the customer to deal with the noise, or find their own way to tone it down is just unprofessional, IMO. When I build a rig for one of my clients, it is very close to silent, where if I do actually stick a fan in the case, it is a low speed fan. I don't feel that it is right to tell a client that their computer will be loud, unless they came to me looking for outright performance.

Although my rig has 3 Delta AFB1212SHE's rated at 130CFM and 48.5 db each, but I have them running at 7 volts to tame them down. If I crank them all the way up, and walk into the living room, which is 20 feet away from my office, it sounds like I am standing next to a running vacuum. At 7 volts, they are still a little on the loud side, but much more tolerable.

For $1200 I don't see much in there. I see generic ram and a low end video card that looks like a 5770.

What are its specs?

ibuypower uses some name brand stuff, but no heatspreaders etc are just odd nowadays.. for 1200 its probably AMD.. since they overcharge for everything!

updawg said:

You won a computer and the fans were loud and their was a kink in the tubing and you are complaining.

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You missed a step, he broke it first, then started complaining.

That isn't a corsair H50 because that would be a completely sealed system. They most likely use Delta fans for maximum cooling but are extremely loud which can be controlled with software like speedfan or through the bios. Their was a kink in the tubing, which I agree should of been inspected beforehand, but you received a custom computer for almost free after taxes.

Most of us know already, since this is an overclocking forum, to build our own computers and generally steer people away from these sites because of the heavy mark-up. However, I was just surprised that after you received a computer for next to nothing, and it came with two minor flaws that anyone on this forum could fix in 5 minutes that you are unsatisfied.

Did you call them to let them know of these mistakes? Did you see how their customer service department would respond? I'm glad you got everything resolved now but I'm guessing this is the exact opposite of the outcome Ibuypower expected after giving out a free computer.

ratbuddy said:

You missed a step, he broke it first, then started complaining.

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Turning on the computer breaks it? Why do you feel the need to accuse someone?

It "broke" because they installed it wrong and he tried to fix it. The point is that they sent it to him in a broken condition.

thideras said:

Turning on the computer breaks it? Why do you feel the need to accuse someone?

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After this I am done putting in my 2 cents, but they were really minor flaws that could have been affected by shipping, said nothing about contact their customer service and gives a bad review of a custom computer site after getting a computer for free. A fan could have damaged in shipping, tubing can kink a few days later from stress. He disassembles the h20 and then it magically starts leaking to which he admits that it could of been his own fault. Then signs up with a new account and posts this story. I like to give companies benefit of the doubt and take reviews with a grain of salt.

updawg said:

After this I am done putting in my 2 cents, but they were really minor flaws that could have been affected by shipping, said nothing about contact their customer service and gives a bad review of a custom computer site after getting a computer for free. A fan could have damaged in shipping, tubing can kink a few days later from stress. He disassembles the h20 and then it magically starts leaking to which he admits that it could of been his own fault. Then signs up with a new account and posts this story. I like to give companies benefit of the doubt and take reviews with a grain of salt.

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I'm not trying to be rude, but this whole situation is a bit silly. It arrived broken, he should have called, yes. The whole source of the problem is it was assembled wrong.

updawg said:

......Then signs up with a new account and posts this same story on several forums. I like to give companies benefit of the doubt and take reviews with a grain of salt.

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+1 ^^^ No need to go around bad-mouthing a company over some pretty petty stuff like this.

OP, as others have said, a lot more should have been done to resolve the issue before posting your complaints on the net

I just edited my message and if you could do the same thideras and miahallen I'd appreciate it, I only found this at this forum. It just seemed like a copy paste job.

Updated, no worries.

thideras said:

Turning on the computer breaks it? Why do you feel the need to accuse someone?

It "broke" because they installed it wrong and he tried to fix it. The point is that they sent it to him in a broken condition.

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Hmm? I'm not accusing anyone. He freely stated that it only leaked after he started messing with it.

Yah i havnt posted this anywhere else, i stumbled on this site when looking up the company and the water cooling system. I used to be part of twisted forums for anyone that knew what that was but that site went to hell a while ago. I am calling the company today about this issue. Some of you are saying that the computer was basically free and im still complaining. They held a contest which got them tons of publicity, this was just the price of their contest, so i think that the computer they send out should be in excellent condition if anything, not have silly mistakes like this. I will post back after i call them in a few min. I didnt say i broke anything but im saying i do not blame the company for the liquid cooling leaking since i did remove it, but i did take it out as one unit and i was very careful and the leaks came from the radiator, im thinking when it was screwed in there was a tiny hole made that was being held shut by the screw until i took them out, since the liquid was coming from there. I build my own pc's by the way, but im not gonna turn down one that i win. The things i said above about the company are true and a customer that drops 1200 dollars should not get a system in that condition. And no shipping does not mount the hardware wrong or change the fans to full blast.

The specs are:
-core i5 750
-asus p7p55d-e pro mobo
-5750 1gb ddr5 dx11 (actually an amazing card for being only 150 dollars)
-it had some 700 watt in there, i never heard of it but i took it out and put an antec 750 watt that i had
-4gb ddr3 1333 memory
-750 gb hd
-dvd combo drive
and the liquid cooling + the lexa s case with flames on it.
-and win 7
i added it all up once, i think it was kinda close, take maybe like 1 or 200 away