Another invadeIT recommendation

[ttac]

I live out in the "Dark Side" of Pattaya and was looking for a place to purchase all the parts necessary to build a medium-end computer along with a monitor and UPS. Searching online and especially on ThaiVisa, I saw no recommendations for anything local but some very good recommendations for invadeIT so researched a system using their website. As far as the purchase went:

1. Thomas, one of the owners always answered my emails quickly and was available to talk on the phone as well.

2. The have a pretty good selection of components

3. Shipping was fast and cheap. I had 4 boxes, monitor, ups, case, all other components that cost 680 baht. Boxes arrived in great condition. Components were packed carefully.

After purchase went even better and why invadeIT now has any more business from me. Thomas offers to swap out any component that is bad up to 7 days. After that, the manufacturer warranty comes in to effect. When I put my system together, I was getting memory errors on slots 1 and 2. After some research, I found a suggestion to put the memory in slots 3 and 4 and it worked. Of course that meant my system was running in a single channel configuration and also meant that if I wanted to run in a 32 GB configuration that I wouldn't be able to do that.

For motherboards it is a bit risky, because in Thailand MSI (my motherboard manufacturer) has a habit of denying claims, citing all sorts of excuses. Based on all the back and forth with Thomas he agreed that it sounded like the motherboard was bad and said for me to send in the board and he promptly ordered a new one (since I was within the 7 days). He assumed all the risk here, because if MSI denied the claim, he would be out money.

As it was, I ran a final test when I was disassembling the computer to ready the motherboard for shipment. I removed the liquid cooler (Cooler Master 240M) to see if the machine would still get the memory errors (LED on motherboard lighting up). I put the memory back in to the proper dual channel configuration and it didn't error, but then it shut down quickly, before the BIOS screen, so I just figured the board really was bad.

After further research on these liquid coolers sometimes causing problems (I did speak online with Cooler Master) and mulling on it another day, I took the motherboard back out and decided to re-assemble the computer step by step. I put it back together sans the CPU cooler and with the memory in the proper slots (2 and 4). Aha, it worked! I switched it off once it got to the Windows login. I then, very carefully re-installed the cooler paying careful attention to screwing it down to the cooler (I thought I was careful before!), but did not install the radiator or fans. It is a closed loop system and is very tight in the area, so was thinking there might be some stress on the CPU area. Anyway, the computer again booted up. Finally, I completely installed the cooler and routed the cooling lines the best I could to alleviate any other pressure. Still works and has been working great for the past few days. We don't use the air in our place preferring to keep it bright and open. Point is, the room is hot and with cooling, the CPU gets no hotter than 50c (CPU is an Intel Skylake unlocked and memory both running slightly overclocked). I'm really pleased with the system. I'll be running some Linux VMs and going to try and get an Android VM working as well as reliving my younger years playing DOOM with the new DOOM release coming up.

In this case, I'm really glad I took the extra step as otherwise, it would have ended up costing Thomas money and that would not have been cool at all.

Long story, I know, but questions always come up, so just trying to give complete story.

Let Thomas know, and of course he was pleased, and just said to reject the shipment when it arrives.

Thomas was available during the whole process and even answered my emails on the weekend during a holiday (had completely forgotten about labor day holiday).

THAT is customer service no matter what country you live in.

Cheers

Michael

Edited May 7, 2016 by ttac

[Seligne2]

Great write up! May I inquire as to total system cost versus buying off the shelf (comparable specs). Did you save a lot?

[mcfish]

He also has a well designed Web site, farang friendly

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[ttac]

Great write up! May I inquire as to total system cost versus buying off the shelf (comparable specs). Did you save a lot?

Thank You :-) Well, I didn't build the system with savings in mind. With labor so cheap here, I can't imagine that my exact system would have been more expensive by much if I had it built and not sure I could find a comparable system (same quality parts). I built it myself for:

1. The challenge. It is the second one I have ever built (last one was in 2004). It's pretty fun to research all the parts and put something together.

2. After talking with Thomas, I felt comfortable that I was getting 100% genuine parts.

My build (not including UPS and monitor) was over 40k, but you could probably get it down to around 30k for similar performance. Others here will say you can build something better performing for cheaper I'm sure.

Parts list:

Lian Li PC-V360B Computer Case fits Micro ATX USB 3.0 Black

Really nice case and liquid cooler ready (swing out mounting platform)

MSI Z170M MORTAR / LGA1151 / Z170 / 4 x DDR4 / 6 x SATA 6Gbs / mATX

Read some overall good reviews and the BIOS gets good praise. I like all the MSI utilities. The update utilities are very easy to use.

G.Skill 16GB (2x8GB) Ripjaws V DDR4 2400MHz DIMM CL15 1.2V Red

This memory is on MSI's memory compatibility list and gets good reviews

Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) (BX80662I56600K)

Unlocked and easily overclockable. Pressing the Game Boost and XMP buttons on the motherboard results in an easy overclock with memory running at 2400Mhz and CPU at 4.1Ghz.

Cooler Master Nepton 240M Liquid CPU Cooler (RL-N24M-24PK-R1)

Good reviews and does an excellent job at keeping the CPU cool as of this time (1:40pm) The CPU sits at 46C

Enermax REVOLUTION X't 630W Power Supply 80 PLUS Gold (ERX630AWT)

Power can be unreliable, so just wanted another level of protection and went with a good power supply. Also, it is partly modular, so the mass of wires is reduced somewhat (not a whole lot)

MSI nVidia GeForce GTX960 2GB GDDR5 Gaming (GTX 960 GAMING 2G)

Wanted a good NVidia card that would allow me to do some decent gaming, not necessarily at the best settings that todays games can demand. Also, went with MSI to keep it all in the same family.

Samsung 250GB 2.5" SSD 850 Evo Series (MZ-75E250BW)

Boot/Program drive. SSDs are nice and these Samsungs are pretty good.

Western Digital WD Caviar Black Desktop 1TB Hard Drives, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 7200 RPM (WD1003FZEX)

Data drive. Better quality personal PC drive. Everyone has their favorite brands, but overall, these seemed to get good reviews

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3050 Thai/English

I'm going to have my computer setup where I can feed my TV or sitting at my desk, so having the ability to switch locations was a must.

I believe that you get what you pay for, and from all the research I have done, these are good quality components.

Edited May 7, 2016 by ttac

[ttac]

He also has a well designed Web site, farang friendly

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

Absolutely. It's ridiculously easy to navigate and narrow down components to what you are interested in.

[sniffdog]

The 7 day swap period is required by law.

[WhizBang]

Agree that InvadeIT is very good to deal with. Last year I built a new high end system for gaming and video editing. I bought everything through InvadeIT. A big box of parts arrived on time and in excellent condition. InvadeIT's service was also excellent.

[MJCM]

The 7 day swap period is required by law.

Maybe yes, but try (what the OP experienced) with another company and see if you get the same results as with InvadeIT.

I sincerely doubt it (however there are exceptions to that rule and InvadeIT is fortunately one of them)

Edited May 7, 2016 by MJCM

[Crossy]

I know I'm a TV staff member and Invade is a forum sponsor.

BUT, despite my living 15 minutes from the "largest IT mall in Asia" (Zeer Rangsit) I still prefer to buy my major items from Invade.

Never an issue over many years of dealing, Thomas is the nicest guy I've met in years, 100% committed to his customer he knows that happy clients return, again and again.

OK Thomas, how much did we agree for the plug? ...

[ttac]

The 7 day swap period is required by law.

Maybe yes, but try (what the OP experienced) with another company and see if you get the same results as with InvadeIT.

I sincerely doubt it (however there are exceptions to that rule and InvadeIT is fortunately one of them)

Ya, I'd be really curious to see a link to that law and if it applies only to new and unopened or to used as well (for every single commercial product?). MSI carries a basic 12 month warranty and see nowhere that they will exchange free of charge/no questions asked unproven "defective" motherboards. In my case, the motherboard ended up being not defective and was obviously an installation error on my part. I could easily have sent the motherboard in for warranty and they would have had it for maybe a few weeks only to come back with nothing wrong. So I'm out for 3 weeks. Instead, Thomas stepped up and assumed the risk on a *used* part. In this case, had I not re-assembled the system, MSI would have found the motherboard 100% free of errors and Thomas would have been out some money. Had I ended up screwing something up (bent pins for example), he again would have been out money since they would have denied the claim (not really..I would have paid him back in that case).

I have a pretty good sense of what fair and right is and invadeIT exceeded those expectations.

Having said that, I'd really like to see a link to that particular law. For any future purchases it may come in handy to trot that out beforehand.

[MJCM]

I agree 100% with OP's experience.

I ordered a NUC with InvadeIT. When I received it, Intel in all it's wisedom didn't add a powercable, but instead put it in a nice box which makes the Intel sound when you open it.

When I emailed Thomas about that I received the package in good order and told him about the powercable he immediately replied "Intel indeed doesn't supply a Powercable with it, but I will send you one free of charge". Fortunately I had one laying around and declined his offer.

I wish more shops would be like that, but unfortunately they are very hard to find.

[sniffdog]

In the last 30 years I have always received the 7 days swap guarantee if defect. When I asked about it the vendor said it was the law in Thailand. If one thinks InvadeIT is exceeding expectations go and see them if after 3 years you have any problem they can have a look at it. I always got excellent service at Jedicool in In Pantip whenever I had a problem. For the non believers Google 'Thailand 7 days return' and look for the Thai Visa threads. InvadeIT is nothing more than post order company and is in no way a better solution than a lot of physical dealers in Pantip or Fortune. They only come in handy if you're not in Pattaya or Bangkok or other large cities.

Edited May 7, 2016 by sniffdog

[Somtamnication]

Sniffdog, ok, components can be returned by law within 7 days. So invadeit does honour that. Super. But we are talking customer service. A lot of us live close to an IT mall of sorts. Customer service along with everything else makes this company the best to buy from.

No, not affiliated. Yes, bought many things over the years.

[JaseTheBass]

Another thumbs up for InvadeIT from me. He always responds to my requests and is totally straight up (even though many of my queries are about items unavailable here).

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant

[Tywais]

Also a big Invadeit fan. Since I discovered them years ago I haven't been to a computer shop since and I get everything from there. Matter of convenience and piece of mind and the professionalism of Thomas. In Chiang Mai I may have to spend time going to several shops to find what I want, if I can find it at all but with Invadeit it is a one stop shopping experience. For purchases for work, due to university red tape preventing online computer gear orders, I do use local sources such as J.I.B. but have a tech fetch them.

[ttac]

Sniffdog, ok, components can be returned by law within 7 days. So invadeit does honour that. Super. But we are talking customer service. A lot of us live close to an IT mall of sorts. Customer service along with everything else makes this company the best to buy from.

No, not affiliated. Yes, bought many things over the years.

Bingo.

Not sure what all the butthurt is from sniffdog. He can certainly post a recommendation and his experience with Jedicool in his own thread. He ought to take a look at the warranty section of Jedicool. In the case of a motherboard, you (unless you have a good/long relationship with Jedicool) won't be ringing up Jedicool and tell them the motherboard is bad and they'll send you new replacement right out. Nope. You'll send your motherboard in to them and they'll send it off to MSI (or whoever the motherboard manufacturer is) where they will make a determination...0 risk to Jedicool, and you'll be out of luck for however long it takes to get it shipped, have MSI look at and get something shipped back.That is actually fair for very obvious reasons and that's how most companies (look at newgg reviews for motherboards and many people getting angry because their brand new bad motherboard was returned and the claim rejected).

So, I stand by what I said, invadeIT exceeded my expectations of fair and right.

[sniffdog]

Ttac you're either an idiot or have some screw loose. Jedicool is a physical store. If I want a new computer I do my online research, select the items I want and walk in to be helped by real people who put the whole thing together at no charge. After assembly they will check (even put the OS provided to them) and show me all the components within system info. If something doesn't work I make another trip to them, walk into their store and they check. If within 7 days, they replace the faulty item. If not they order a new one. No need to sent or ringing them up (where did you get that idea from). The whole idea of my post was to compare post order vs a physical store. So tell me what happens when you get a faulty component from InvadeIT? You have to pack it in the box, go to the post office and spent some more money. Then wait and wait before Invadit sents it back (on their expenses?). And what happens if you have a component failing after 7 days? Post order companies are good when you live in Nakhon Nowhere. And if my computer goes belly up (either through software or hardware failure) after let's say three years, II still can walk info their store (they still expand their retail shops in Pantip)) and they either fix or repair my computer FREE OF CHARGE. Btw my post was made to tell you that the 7 days is normal for electronics and components. Sorry to burst YOUR thread. What are you thinking? That you own a thread?

Edited May 8, 2016 by sniffdog

[balo]

I think Invade IT is popular because of the Dane working there , but really , you can buy the same components cheaper in your local IT shop. I think its just a language barrier , if you do not speak Thai you feel more comfortable speaking to Thomas. I prefer the lcal shop in Pattaya , if I have a problem they always do their best to fix it.

[sniffdog]

Yes I just did a spot check on one popular Intel processor ... The 4790k . Price difference between Jedicool and InvadeIT was 1000 baht in favour of Jedicool. Now the fanboys will come out and tell that they prefer to pay upto 10% more ( +shipping costs) for the 'excellent' service. Probably they are too lazy to get on the road or speak Thai. I won't be surprised if InvadeIT is a drop shipper with no physical stock.

Edited May 8, 2016 by sniffdog

[MJCM]

I think Invade IT is popular because of the Dane working there , but really , you can buy the same components cheaper in your local IT shop. I think its just a language barrier , if you do not speak Thai you feel more comfortable speaking to Thomas. I prefer the lcal shop in Pattaya , if I have a problem they always do their best to fix it.

True, Thomas is an outstanding guy, but I used to live in Pattaya and bought a lot of my computer stuff from them, as it was easier because usually when I went to buy things at Tukcom, they said "Mai Mee" or have to order them etc etc. So I just bought it online at Invadeit (as they have it in stock) and a couple days later delivered at my door. Prices are compatible with other stores but only disadvantage is the "shipping costs".

And now (I live in rural Buriram) it's the only shop for me to buy stuff. The computer shops in the city's nearby don't have s..t and for a special order (simple APC ups) you have to wait at least 1 weeks.

Edited May 8, 2016 by MJCM

[Somtamnication]

Yes I just did a spot check on one popular Intel processor ... The 4790k . Price difference between Jedicool and InvadeIT was 1000 baht in favour of Jedicool. Now the fanboys will come out and tell that they prefer to pay upto 10% more ( +shipping costs) for the 'excellent' service. Probably they are too lazy to get on the road or speak Thai. I won't be surprised if InvadeIT is a drop shipper with no physical stock.

Proof positive you know nothing of you are talking about.

You can drop by invadeit at Hua Hin at: http://www.invadeit.co.th/store-information/

Do your research before you talk out of your ass!!

And if I have to pay 10% more to get something from someone who DESERVES the business, so be it.

[ttac]

Yes I just did a spot check on one popular Intel processor ... The 4790k . Price difference between Jedicool and InvadeIT was 1000 baht in favour of Jedicool. Now the fanboys will come out and tell that they prefer to pay upto 10% more ( +shipping costs) for the 'excellent' service. Probably they are too lazy to get on the road or speak Thai. I won't be surprised if InvadeIT is a drop shipper with no physical stock.

Well, actually, 900 baht difference, but 1000 baht does sound more dramatic. For the parts that were carried in both places, I found much smaller differences. My CPU was 300 baht more expensive, but the my SSD was 400 baht cheaper. Also, they carry inventory, but not on all things. The stuff they have in inventory is listed as "in stock". They order the other parts (My order shipped in 2 days from order). As I said in my original post, the 4 packages (monitor, case, UPS, all other components) came from and were packaged by invadeIT.

Not only was the service exemplary and the prices comparable, but the website was great for this second-time PC builder. I liked having part numbers (jedicool, does not have part #'s) and links to the manufactures site. The part numbers make it a little bit easier to research. Just an easy site to navigate

So for those that seem to be chafing at the recommendation of invadeIT, chill! It's all good. If you like heading down and chatting with Somchai and you like his inventory and know what you are looking for, great! If you like a different company and are happy with them, awesome!

Personally, invadeIT earned my trust and future business, I don't sweat a few hundred baht either way, especially when I get great service.

Edited May 8, 2016 by ttac

[JaseTheBass]

I have had Thomas price match an item before. If you don’t ask...

[MJCM]

I have had Thomas price match an item before. If you don’t ask...

5555 that is a good one, will try that next time when I order

[wpcoe]

I have had Thomas price match an item before. If you don’t ask...

5555 that is a good one, will try that next time when I order

I felt like a Cheap Charlie doing it, but yeah, Thomas does price matches if he can.

[MJCM]

Another InvadeIT recommendation.

I used to order my Garmin GPS stuff from EagleGPS in Chiang Mai, but unfortunately they (seem) to be out of business.

So I emailed Thomas at InvadeIT (Wednesday 11th May) if he could get a Nuvicam (http://www.garmin.com.sg/products/ontheroad/nuvicam/) for me. After confirmation I placed the order with him and paid (all done Wednesday 11th May at around 2pm)

Just now I had Kerry Logistics deliver Water Filters which I ordered from Lazada and the delivery guy said, we have another package for you, and to my UTTER surprise it was the GPS I ordered from InvadeIT on Wednesday. So less then 2 days from ordering to delivery.

WOW

[Somtamnication]

Thomas is great. Wish he had a food import business.