Why Buy KillaRad?

Some might tell you to just build your own computer out of parts, but first you have to have the right knowledge.  Once you've acquired the know-how to assemble your own PC you're faced with the choices of what specifically to buy, which can entail countless hours of research.  Some advice can end up bad, leaving you with buggy components, and then you have to face up to supporting your own computer and troubleshooting quirks for hours.  Some hardware companies invest everything into marketing, but nothing into support of a product, or worse: an unfinished mass-marketed product.  A lot of companies offer no support to people building their first computer.  Other companies are notorious for rebate trickery.  The do-it-yourself build-your-own route can lead to a lot of screw-ups.  A novice even with guidance is not going to be able to build a PC as well as somebody who builds PCs for a living.  Experts will tell you that 95% stability is unacceptable.  With KillaRad you're buying a professionally crafted computer designed for enthusiasts, that bypasses a lot of wasted time.  We also have certain pricing advantages over building it yourself, which makes it worthwhile to just buy a custom pre-built PC.  For example according to Microsoft, a PC hobbyist building their own Windows PC needs the retail version of Windows 7 Home Premium, Microsoft part number GFC-00019, in order to be legal, and this retails for $199.99.  A business wanting a custom PC with Windows 7 Professional needs Microsoft part number FQC-00129, and this retails for $299.99.  Windows 7 Ultimate retails for $319.99.  Other variations of Windows 7 are marked "Licensed for distribution only with a new PC" and are for resale only, by a Microsoft-partnered PC company like KillaRad.

With KillaRad we have high standards for the PCs we sell, and we take pride in doing it all right to sell a satisfying new computer.  We stay away from the overpriced junk, and the ugly, gaudy components.  Some companies will offer a 'Gaming PC' which leaves out important essentials like a graphics card (instead of cheap onboard graphics), or even an operating system.  Some companies will offer a PC with cut-rate technology just to attract you with a low price.  We on the other hand are looking out for you and offering PC configurations that are suitable for the best games available today.

What happens after your warranty is up if you want a replacement part?  Are you stuck buying an expensive one of a kind part from the manufacturer?  Not with KillaRad.  Because we use industry standard parts, that means you can get out of warranty service virtually anywhere in the U.S.A.  If you can't wait for the days of shipping a system in to have it repaired and then sent back, you can call on the advice of KillaRad and then seek local service for a quicker repair turnaround.  This can readily beat shelling out upwards of $350.00 for an extended warranty from another PC company.

When it comes to creative professionals, the right workstation computer can be just what you need.  Many businesses and professionals don't understand that certain employees deserve better than the standard bulk purchase order corporate PC, or even worse, a regular economy model imported off-the-shelf PC.  A customized workstation with higher performance, more resilient parts, and nicer peripherals, can really improve employee disposition and productivity.  Make KillaRad your go-to company for higher performance business computers.

It's an expectation that a desktop PC should not come with a chintzy keyboard with a non-standard layout.  We ensure that the keyboards we offer have normal-working function keys, include the standard inverted-T, feature a large backspace, and have the insert/delete row keys exactly where you expect them.  And, a mute button is essential.

A price comparison during May 2009 between with a Dell* XPS* 730x model measured over $300 more than an equivalently configured KillaRad Radical Value i7 920.  When you compare spec's, and really line them up, the cost savings are obvious:  Buy KillaRad, and use that extra money you saved on a nice LCD monitor.

A price comparison during August 2010 between Alienware's cheapest gaming PC, a MicroATX Aurora Intel Core i3 dual-core PC, showed that you could configure a better gaming PC from KillaRad for less.  The Aurora PC was configured by default with no keyboard, no mouse, and no antivirus software for $999.00.  By comparision a MicroATX Kilo MT with an AMD Athlon II X4 635 Quad Core processor, more RAM (4GB vs. 3GB), a larger hard drive (640GB vs. 500GB), and far more superior gaming graphics comes in at the same price.  Or you could configure a comparably better system still for as low as $875.00, a $124.00 savings.  The Kilo MT by default is an upgradeable multimedia PC which of course includes a keyboard, mouse, and antivirus software.

Something you will find with major brand PCs instead of with a KillaRad PC is a lot of trialware preinstalled onto your new computer.  Experts and newbies alike don't appreciate a whole lot of third party programs on their desktop vying for their attention, and we get that.  Bundling software that expires in 30, 60, or 90 days is generally bad form.

Choosing the best anti-virus program is quite important.  The wrong anti-virus program can make a new PC work more slowly, or it can make an old PC feel older than it really has any right to.  With each gaming PC we bundle Norton AntiVirus 2011.  If we were sure of a better anti-virus program, we'd offer it.  Norton as a brand of anti-virus has had its ups and downs, but the latest versions are top notch.

Attention to high quality distinguishes KillaRad from other companies that tout the lowest prices.  We offer high quality audio options by default including Dolby Digital Live, DTS-Connect, and Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi 7.1 audio.  A prominent competitor was spotted selling a gaming spec'ed PC with AC'97 audio.  That's really old and cheap!  Another prominent company was spotted promoting a PC with more expensive high performance memory on a system that doesn't even support using it at the advertised speed.

Be wary of getting a 'free' monitor from other companies.  LCD manufacturing technology often leaves occasional pixels, spots on an LCD display, which are stuck black, or stuck red, green, or blue.  Obviously having a couple of stray dots stuck on your screen would be an annoyance.  It's conceivable that a company could catalog the monitors with defects, round them up in a bunch, and dump them off to unwary people at cost because they're imperfect models.

We primarily sell Samsung digital LCD monitors because of the overall high quality of their products.  With Samsung you're more likely to get a defect-free display.  We also make an effort to only sell monitors that support the full 24-bit palette of 16.7 million colors.  Anything less than 16.7 million colors in a display can lead to banding or dithering, or image defects that cheapen the PC experience.  For an office PC with average office duties and a cheap boss, it may not be as big a deal.  But, for the individual who may perform a wide array of tasks, it's hard to make that compromise.  Additionally, an analog-only (cheap) LCD monitor can have a distorted image that is vertically stretched by around 7%.  With a digital connection you can get a distortion free picture.

When it comes to a high fidelity PC experience, look no further than KillaRad Computers.