AVADirect Custom Computers — Local services in Twinsburg

Ordered a 12+k computer from ava direct and am very happy with my purchase despite some flaws in the expieriance. If partial stars I would grade a realistic 4.7.

Pros: even with any hiccups you won't regret your order at all.

amazing custom work. My computer is fantastic even if there are a few things I'm unhappy about expieriance wise.

one of the only custom builders to openly offer eatx motherboards.

the hydrodipping is gorgeous.

the PC runs super quiet and so far temperatures have been phenomenal. My prior jet engine I placed on a different desk is indeed green with envy.

the parts/brand hey use for custom cooling is not only aesthetically Top notch, but also a billiontimes better than many other options ive seen. The graphics card cooler ive onlyseen offered with them despite superior capabilities.

packaging for shipping is phenomenal. I like that they use fedex for freight shipping vs a third party that sometimes makes it a challenge to actually get your orders.

sales team is responsive to status inquiries during creation which eased my concerns along by taking a chance with their company for an expensive purchase. Sales team is very polite and cordial.

if a part isn't listed you can get it ordered

most options of any online computer builder. With additional availability if you don't mind waiting for it to be ordered.

Cons:

process online lists phone call to ensure that to go over specs questions, concerns, preferences, and to go over parts. My call pretty much just said thanks for order.

online builder lacks details and other options from their site. wish the builder offered more personalization options without reliance on sales team for ordering and that it was configured to add slots available for certain cases and cards. computer came packaged with the lights controller and case lighting un-installed. charged me extra to get additional required parts. I don't know how to install it around the liquid cooling because my hands are to big, and now they don't get cable management w/o undoing prior management.

ordered an additional monitor for inside the case not realizing the mb came with one. They also sent this to me in a box with no clue how to install it. So more wasted money. sales team to my understanding is instructed not to help make a choice when a customer is struggling to make the right one due to lack of knowledge. I was trying to find a case that would allow my hydrodipping dream, without sacrifice of cooling capabilities. But u have a knowledge gap to make an informed decision. They were unable to help provide feedback.

I ordered purple coolant and received clear coolant.

my boxes that came with my computer are full of unlabeled parts that I have no clue what they are. No clue what's spare and what's important.

it was a bummer they didn't have access to custom cables for newer graphics cards. Originally I had wanted to lian li rgb cables, but they don't stock the newer versions. So I settled on custom cables in a color. They were unable to get one for the graphics card. -software was not preinstalled

website advertises that you can request alt colored fittings for custom hardline cooling. I had wanted goldy/bronze. Despite same brand and size online, they were unable to order alternative colors than the standard black.

All in all I'm extremely happy to have ordered with them. I know I included a lot of cons, but I wanted to share a detailed review that wasn't negative for things out of their control and wasn't so generically positive that it seems like it could be written by a bot. One of my hesitations for ordering were the sparse reviews on sites that cannot be edited by owner and reviews were super mixed over ridiculous things. (Like a manufacturers defect that they replaced, the shipper beating up their order ect. ) my finished product is much better than my original PC. No regrets. :) Update: post receipt service is good so far. They sent me purple dye and the tools to...

I hope this review detailing my experiences will help anyone reading in their decision to purchase a PC from this company. I’ve done my best to keep this review unbiased as a result, so that readers can have a fair and detailed impression of AVA-Direct before making their purchase.

The Website: AVA-Direct’s website is decent, leaning towards variety rather than streamlining PC purchases. Pre-builds are featured front and center; they can be customized once selected, or simply purchased outright. However, the pre-builds are categorized around the motherboard/CPU chipset, which subsequently can limit the configuration options (IE: If you choose an Intel pre-built, you’ll only be able to view Intel-compatible components. Choosing a motherboard model will lock your motherboard options to that model (Z690, B550, etc.) as well), so be sure of your motherboard/CPU selection before choosing a pre-built for customization.

Customization: AVA-Direct offers an extremely wide range of options for every relevant PC component, which comes with both advantages and disadvantages. If there is a PC part available on the market AVA-Direct will have it. The obvious advantage is the extreme customization possible with your order, akin to selecting and buying the parts yourself. This is rarely seen among most of AVA-Direct’s competitors, who often limit their parts selection ostensibly for ‘consumer convenience’ but in reality to cut costs by reducing component logistics. On the other hand, this places the burden of parts selection on the customer…meaning you are responsible for your PC specs as well ensuring your selected components are compatible. Obviously this can be avoided by sticking to AVA’s prebuilt configurations, but otherwise I advise you to do extensive research on PC building and part compatibility/availability prior to making an order.

Price: Unfortunately, this variety comes at a cost. While AVA-Direct’s pre-builds are more or less in line with their competitors in terms of price, making a custom PC order will see you paying around 100-200$ more than if you purchased the parts yourself. While this is somewhat made up for by their multi-year warranty, excellent quality assurance/customer service, and overall convenience, you may want to stick to their pre-builds or look elsewhere if you are on a budget.

Processing: If you’re not ordering a pre-built, AVA-Direct’s order processing can take an extensive amount of time. It took me a month to receive my PC after I ordered it, though I would say the average is about 2-3 weeks depending on how your PC is customized as well as your location (AVA-Direct is based in Ohio).

Customer Service: I found AVA-Direct’s customer service to be excellent. I communicated with them mainly through their website messaging system, but they would almost always reply back to me within a day of each message (Can vary depending on your time zone). In my case I made several mistakes in my build configuration, but AVA-Direct’s customer representatives, namely Aspram and Craig, were extremely helpful with their advice and quick to make any changes I asked for (Some of which were quite extensive), often at no additional cost.

Quality Assurance: I’ve never had any issues with the custom PC’s I’ve ordered from AVA Direct. Their multi-layered packaging is very secure, able to weather careless freight handling from FedEx with no damage whatsoever. It is also clear that unlike many other PC-builders, they take the time to extensively test each build they make to ensure there are no issues prior to shipping.

Overall I can say I’ve been very happy with AVA-Direct. Provided you have some PC knowledge, the customization and order experience are very smooth, and they are quick to address any issues that do happen. While they aren’t the cheapest builder around, they more than make up for it with their excellent customer service and quality assurance. I’ve been a loyal customer for many years now and I intend to remain so in the...

I ordered from AVADirect because I had used them before and had a good experience, but not so much this time. It's nice that you can pick your own components for the build, but you will pay a bit more for the privilege and it will take time because they order the parts from a distributor.

Configuring the build isn't terribly hard, but the website is a bit wonky. They try to make an effort to keep you from using incompatible parts in the build but sometimes that backfires. For example, I wanted to air cool a Fractal North Mesh case. The site would not allow me to choose an air cooler, probably due to an optional included fan bracket (which no one ever uses). I went ahead and selected a 240mm AIO and the rest of my parts. Nothing complicated or new/cutting edge, just a basic system.

First, a few days after I ordered they sent me an email asking if I would pay $135 more because they mistakenly applied a discount twice. Fine, stuff happens, I went ahead and paid. Second, it took over 2 weeks for them to let me know that they couldn't get the video card I ordered, and few replacement options were offered, so just to move things along I omitted the video card from the build and got a refund for that component. A month into the order and they finally received the case so the build could actually start. They must be captive to a single distributor or something, because at the time I placed the order I put the build together on pcpartspicker and could have had all the parts in a matter of days from various online sources. On top of everything, when the PC finally arrived it was configured with single-channel RAM (a single 32GB stick). I would NEVER choose to have memory configured this way. Maybe they were in a hurry since the build was taking so long. I tried calling support to address the issue, and was told that it was a sales issue and someone would get back to me that day. Didn't happen, and since time is running out before the spring semester starts I went ahead and ordered an appropriate 2 piece RAM kit from Amazon. At least the assembly of the build itself seems to be done well.

TL.DR - You'll be given a big selection of components to choose from, but it's a crapshoot as to whether you will actually get them, or when. Their configurator is a bit too conservative when it comes to compatibility, point for trying I guess. Be sure to pop the case and check things out and make sure you have what you ordered. After having to purchase my own memory I ended up paying over $1500 for an AMD R5-7600x system without a video card. The choose-your-own-components thing is a really nice idea, but the execution leaves much...