Corsair Acquires Custom Gaming Computer Maker Origin PC (venturebeat.com) 55
Gaming peripherals maker Corsair has acquired custom gaming PC leader Origin PC. From a report: For the past decade, Origin PC specialized in delivering hand-built, personalized PCs aimed at delivering the best gaming experience possible. Origin PC offers a wide range of high-performance configurable PCs, ranging from gaming PCs and powerful workstations to gaming laptops, building systems focused on customization, service, gaming, and technology to deliver a complete gaming experience. "With the gaming PC market continuing to expand as an increasing number of players make the jump from console to PC, we wanted to do more to reach customers in North America that prefer to buy, rather than build, their system," said Andy Paul, CEO of Corsair, in a statement. "With Origin PC's expertise in personalized custom gaming systems and Corsair's strength in performance PC hardware and the iCue software ecosystem, we're excited to combine our efforts to create new world-class gaming experiences for PC gamers."
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Re: Video games are for children (Score:1)
Correct, not playing video games is a big factor in that.
Great move for Corsair! (Score:1)
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I actually really like their products so I hope that this acquisition only helps them deliver more custom hardware. That being said, it's not hard to build your own custom PC so if their trying to sell pre-built custom PC's they may not hit a home-run.
I bought a custom-built PC late last year. I've built one before, but just didn't want to deal with the hassle of being my own tech support. Origin was one of the builders I looked at, and while their stuff looked nice, options were actually pretty limited and everything seemed overpriced. You could really only pick from 3-4 options per component. The place I ended up getting it from gave you 10/15/20 different options depending on the component.
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"10/15/20 different options" = Bullshit.
I had options of about 30-40 video cards alone with the builder I used. Places like OriginPC, Xidax, Digital Storm, etc usually gave me options of about 5. Had even more choices on RAM. About 15-20 different options with motherboards.
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You provided zero evidence that anything you just said is true. Further, building a PC is trivial. You're so lazy and incompetent that you need to outsource this basic task, but also expect full control - and on ~zero addl budget?
Basically it's retarded all around, but you also supply nothing for anyone reading this to believe you actually got what you're pretending you did without being overcharged or "overpriced" at all. Bullshit call stands.
Pure anecdote is pure anecdote. Who is your mysterious unnamed corporate builder who does all these things and offers all this without a profit motive? Link? Or an admission, either one.
I built one before, as I said as it aged I got tired of doing my own Tech Support. I wanted one that "just works" and I got tired of spending a couple hours on a weekend every month googling to find out why X wasn't working right or why Y kept crashing. Was trying not to sound like a shill which is why I didn't name them, but the company I used was AVA Direct. My build was considered a "budget" desktop, and the chipset that matches my build currently shows on their website the following options: 24 mothe
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Looking at AVA Direct's site, they offer ~5-6 options for any one component, not 20 on ANY of them. Their cheapest starts at $900, barebones, and rockets up from there. So it's exactly as we've said.
You lied by exagerration, as the bullshit detector detected initially.
https://www.avadirect.com/2nd-... [avadirect.com]
Click the button under each component that says See All Options. This computer is a budget build that starts at $560 base.
" I got tired of doing my own Tech Support" - You don't need to "do tech support" to build a computer, nor is a computer builder going to remove 100% of tech support issues by virtue of assembling a machine environment.
Building was the easy part. Use a component checker for compatibility and it's pretty much plug and play.
Tech support is an ongoing process that you need after the machine is built. You aren't going to get that from most builders, which is why I asked for specifics since you supplied none really.
You are correct that it's an ongoing process, and it's the one I didn't want to deal with. From their website:
Customers who purchased a "Signature Series" or "True Custom" product from AVADirect are entitled to free technical hardware-related support for the lifetime of their product.
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You provided zero evidence that anything you just said is true. Further, building a PC is trivial. You're so lazy and incompetent that you need to outsource this basic task, but also expect full control - and on ~zero addl budget?
If it's trivial why should it cost a ton? You're contradicting yourself. I know a large parts company that also do complete PCs, unlike much of these "gaming PCs" you won't find much custom lighting/cooling or overclocks or exotic form factors but if you want a standard ATX/mATX computer built of brand name parts they'll probably do what you want. Sure there's a base cost to getting a PC over a collection of parts, but it fairly well represents the hassle of putting one together. It's pretty nice if you hav
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AVADirect. (Note: was trying not to shill which is why I didn't mention the name). Literally spent about 3 months watching prices and researching various builders (was waiting for holiday/black friday sales). No complaints on the PC after over half a year of use, and the customer service during the building was pretty good. If a part was out of stock/backordered they gave me alternative options or the choice of waiting for the part to come in. Their lifetime tech support (only covers components bought th
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Having a lot of options is really pretty superfluous for most of the components. The biggest difference would probably be the case, having a lot of options for the case would be nice. After that... you don't need a ton of video card options, you need one at each price tier for AMD and Nvidia. Same for CPU. For RAM you need even fewer options: some people make much ado about memory timings, but if you're going to get that fiddly about your build then you're never going to be satisfied by a custom PC maker anyway.
Doesn't Newegg have a PC building service? If you want options, that's probably the way to go.
The place I used sells all the parts individually as well, which is why they have so many options. If you have them all on hand anyway, why not offer them in your build service?
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You lied
What is this? The parent said something which, at first glance, seems to be entirely true. In fact he undersold it: the first system I clicked on has 27 options for motherboards, 193 options for video cards, 118 options for power supplies, etc. But even if it hadn't been true... so what? It would have been, at worst, an exaggeration, or hyperbole. He's given no reason for you or anyone to believe that he was trying to be deceptive.
Why have you declared that he's a liar? And not just declared it, but insi
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I'm a big fan of Corsair as well. Solid products.
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I'm a big fan of Corsair as well. Solid products.
Some are solid. Others just pander to trends. I've yet to find a general purpose PC company that produces solid products in every line they offer, and Corsair is no exception. I just hope Corsair doesn't force every product line onto Origin in the future. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes performance suffers.
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it's not hard to build your own custom PC...
This is true, but it also comes across as being way too simplistic.
The CPU you want to use can drive the motherboard you use, and the options/featureset here are huge. You kind of need to know how many slots of different types you're going to need for cards, some slots might not be necessary if you have onboard facilities you're satisfied with, ... You need to know the kinds of drives you're going to run (IDE, SATA, whatever) and that also can feed into or limit the motherboard choice. Memory quantity and
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Every individual component represents a choice from a wide range of options, but each option comes with compatibility issues with either the board or other components.
The early 2000s called, they want their incompatibility back.
Nowadays, pretty much the only thing you need to not mess up is CPU+Motherboard pairing. Look up the CPU you want and which socket it supports, then buy any motherboard* with that socket and the CPU will work on it. Apart from that, it's all standardized. XMP tables make sure the DRAM will work, PCI Express compatibility will ensure any GPU would work.
*sometimes the UEFI needs to be updated on that motherboard to support the very latest CPU
And the market shrinks again (Score:1)
The custom builders are disappearing. I guess that means local PC stores are poised for a comeback?
Long Time Origin Owner...very nervous (Score:5, Informative)
I'm on my third Origin laptop. They're huge, they're heavy, and they're expensive...but a lot of people seem to miss why people like me exist.
Though they have, in recent years, requested an order number from me, for the first six years, it was first and last name. If I call for support, the person I speak with is in the same building in Florida as the one who built the system. I get real help, not somebody reading off a script who didn't listen to the things I already tried.
My first Origin laptop, vintage 2011, is being used by a buddy of mine who is using it for real-time video encoding.
My second one I gave to a different friend, and before I did, I sent it back to Origin for a refresh, including a new keyboard and battery. Since I bought a three year warranty I never used, they gave me the parts and labor for free, even though the warranty lapsed. I only paid for shipping.
Now, everyone in this thread talking about "I can DIY cheaper" ...well, duh. I pay for Origin as much for the service that is given to me as one of their customers. If you're looking at the bottom line, you're not buying what they're selling. That's not intended to be derogatory, it's just the reality - Origin is as much about service as it is about specs.
Now, as far as the sale goes, I'm nervous. Origin started after the original owners sold Alienware to Dell, and in short order, Alienware became a logo on a Dell that said "I spend lots of money for my Dell laptop", and the same crap support nobody likes. Origin getting bought out makes me wonder if history is about to repeat itself.
The tepid optimism, however, stems from the fact that there is more overlap between Corsair customers and Origin customers. I'm one of them - I love my Corsair mouse that allows me to program the buttons on the side with sophisticated macros and doesn't require an online account like Razer does. If someone is going to buy them, Corsair seems like the company most likely to keep the product/service combination that made people like me Origin customers for life. ...but, at the end of the day, if there wasn't a desire to make more money than before, Corsair wouldn't have bought them. I'm nervous, but I'll be watching closely.
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As far as sale goes, you have nothing to worry about. You used to buy an overpriced machine with a decent after sale support plan.
It's easier for a large corporation to deliver such a plan for any of their hardware. Most of them sell it already. They just put an "Origin" sticker on it, bump up price significantly and give you a better support plan on top.
So basically, nothing changes.
Re:Long Time Origin Owner...very nervous (Score:4, Informative)
It's easier for a large corporation to deliver such a plan for any of their hardware.
By that logic, Dell and HP should have the best support in the industry. People should look forward to calling them for support and have short hold times and easy-to-understand, technically literate support reps that are more than willing to see you through the end of the process.
But they don't.
Oh, sure, if you're the type of client that buys machines 10,000 at a time you do, but even the most elite tier support plan either company offers is still not going to deliver the sort of personalized service Origin does. Economies of scale, admittedly, make it possible for HP to do a warranty claim with a four day turnaround, rather than the 2-week turnaround it takes for Origin (unless I pay for express shipping, which isn't cheap on a ten pound laptop). However, Dell isn't selling laptops with user replaceable GPUs at any price, and letting me do my own warranty work.
. They just put an "Origin" sticker on it, bump up price significantly and give you a better support plan on top.
So basically, nothing changes.
The concern of the change is whether Origin will continue to deliver the sort of service and support they have done over the past decade. As best as I can tell, the service-oriented, customer-centric focus of the company is woven into it from the C-level on down. Maybe Corsair has that, and maybe they don't. I can't tell yet.
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If you're looking at the bottom line, you're not buying what they're selling. That's not intended to be derogatory, it's just the reality - Origin is as much about service as it is about specs.
I am building my own computers since 1996. Never needed service for them. Part broken and under warranty? RMA. Otherwise, buy a new one.
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I will say it again... WHAT TECH SUPPORT?
You either know computers or you don't.
If you do, you need no hardware tech support, it's a lot faster to troubleshoot a hardware issue yourself.
If you don't, then building your own machine is not advisable at any point in time.
There is no such thing as "I can build my own computer but I don't because I want someone else to offer tech support" - it basically means you can't build your own machine, which is fine too. I've seen too many people thinking they can build t
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Interesting. I never thought of it that way, maybe because I simply love putting computers together and making them stand out. But it makes sense.
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I can DIY cheaper
I doubt anyone who actually applies value to their time can DIY cheaper. People can "hobby build" cheaper since hobby time is free time, but not DIY, especially when you factor in choosing parts.