After finally deciding on my watercooling components, I placed a few orders on Performance-PCS.com. My understanding was that they were one of the best places to purchase watercooling components from, especially for things like EK to avoid high cost/long time shipping and other cross border charges.

I received the first order which was a GPU waterblock, and I am pretty dissapointed at the shape at which what was delivered to me. The box has seen better days, and it seems to be pretty obvious that this has been opened before and "resealed." (see pics) The components sound loose in the box (screws, etc) but I haven't yet opened it. It just seemed to not be secured within the box by the way it sounds and moves. It was packed relatively well, and the outside box didn't seem damaged, so this doesn't seem to have occurred during shipping.

Is this the normal experience? Is this something I should be concerned about? Is this a used product?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

First let me start off by saying, I've bought a lot of stuff from Performance PCs, especially since FrozenCPU went under. I constantly tweak my build with new parts, and always need new watercooling supplies. So far, after over ~30 orders with both companies, I've only gotten 3 defective items (mind you, over $6000 in parts so far, so a pretty good track record). However, two of these were with FrozenCPU. One was an issue with a molex connector that I received as broken from the package, and the other was a D5 pump that simply wouldn't turn on. Both times, FrozenCPU sent me a new one, free of charge, saying they apologize for the inconvenience. I offered to send back the old parts, but they didn't want 'em. Pretty good customer service, right?

So now, after a good 4-5 orders with Performance PCs, I finally get one defective product...my Titan-X waterblock (used on my shiny new 980 TI). When screwing down the card to the block, I noticed that one of the screw posts broke off (you may have seen my post a couple weeks ago about it). And it broke CLEAN off, without any thread beneath it to replace the standoff with.

This picture [here] (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/Vittra0/74615685-494d-47ec-977d-99cf6eb82a7b.jpg) is VERY similar to what happened to mine, but I didn't happen to snap a picture of my own, mostly because i was in panic-mode at the time.

I first talk to EK, the manufacturer, and they're happy to RMA it, but that takes a few weeks at the minimum, especially due to international shipping. So, I decided to go through Performance PCs. After many emails, they said they don't believe me that it broke, and that they're willing to send me a standoff if I prove it to them with pictures that the thread is not present on the block where the standoff was. They refuse to send me a new one (even though I offered to buy the 2nd one outright, and send back the old one, after which I can be refunded once in their hands).

Many emails went back and forth, but ultimately, they still refuse to help me, saying that they dont see HOW the standoff could simply break off..and that it was my fault. I (mostly kidding) compared them to Amazon, and said that if I got a defective Amazon item, they'd send me a new one, no questions asked. But, they're reply was "We are not a gigantic billion dollar machine like Amazon and so it's unfair to compare any store to them."

It's a shame too. I don't expect to receive many defective items, but it happens. And in such a small, niche community like watercoolers of PCs, we need to make sure we're shopping at stores with good customer service. This may just be my experience, or just that they don't like my face, so take this for what it's worth. But I just wanted to share a story of what happened to me for anyone who is looking to purchase their items in the future. Downvote if you must.

TL;dr Performance PCs will not send you a new item if the one they sent was defective. "Pics or it didn't happen

I don't understand how these guys are still in business, or how anyone still recommends them as a place to buy PC components from.

Their prices are fair, sometimes less than retail, and while I can understand charging tax (if they have to, they have to), it's ridiculous how even the cheapest shipping option is $11 or more regardless of weight or order value, and not very fast at that. Not only that, but you have to pay extra just to have it shipped out the same day.

This would be well and good (admittedly, the shipping and tax is not the greatest of evils out there) if it weren't for their return policies though.

First, you have to pay return shipping, which I wouldn't mind if it didn't mean I'd be paying shipping for the same item twice. Then, once they receive the item, you have one of two choices: a full refund as store credit, or a refund to your payment method after a 20% restocking fee. What?

Their rationalization behind this sounds fair, as it does take time and effort to retrieve then ship out an order, but as a retailer should it not be your responsibility to offer and front these services to your customers? Also, if I bought ten $1 items, I'd pay less in restocking fees than if I had bought one $500 item. That doesn't make much sense if you're arguing that the 20% fee is to make up for lost efficiency.

It's not like you get all your money back when you get it refunded as store credit either; you've already had to pay for two rounds of shipping, and come time to spend your store credit on something else, you still have to pay tax and shipping, again.

Maybe I'm just a disgruntled customer and my complaints are naive? If so, then I really want to hear how others justify this, as the amount of money I've lost in a single transaction is just ridiculous. I will not be buying from Performance-PCs again.

Part of me feels like I'm being a little overly dramatic about this, but the other part of me feels just really annoyed and wants to vent. I don't get too many chances to take the time to upgrade my rig with new cooling parts and this upcoming weekend was the perfect chance, so I log onto Peformance PCs and purchase over $300 worth of parts and just chose standard shipping since I was ordering so far in advance. This past Monday (about a week after my order was placed) my package arrived and uh-oh, they didn't include everything I had ordered. The set of 4 compression fittings I had added on to my new radiator order were nowhere to be found. I contacted their support and after showing them my order slip they sent me out the fittings right away, which I commend them on. The problem was is that they absolutely refuse to send them over anything but the cheapest shipping option which doesn't work for me because this is my only free weekend to get things worked on. I understand that mistakes happen, it's perfectly human. But when you have an order of that high price amount messed up, it would be nice to take an extra step to make sure you're customer is impacted as little as possible. They tried to tell me that they couldn't send the missing items over a faster method than the cheapest (USPS) because they're a small warehouse. That doesn't work for me. I work for a small company, probably smaller than them, and when we mess up an order we do what we can to make sure our customer is still happy even if it means fronting the extra $40 dollars for next day shipping. So after all was said and done I told them that this had kind of soured my relationship with them and that I didn't want to keep the parts, which as apologetic as they were and repeated the didn't wish to lose me as a customer, they still told be I would be charged a 20% restocking fee.

EDIT: Since I can't change the title of the post, I want to update to say that they worked hard to correct the situation to the extent possible. I will be doing business with them again. Kept original text for context.

>!I am in the process of starting my first watercooling build and followed recommendations that I read to order from performance-pcs.com for many of the components I will be using. I submitted an order around 6pm last night and apparently managed to do so without being logged into an account. Upon my realization this morning, I logged in and saw that my order had been attached to my account but that I was not credited with any rewards points for my order. Since my order was what I consider to be a rather large amount at nearly $1000, I emailed them to correct this and have the points added to my account. I received this incredibly disappointing response:

>!>"Good afternoon xxxxxxxx,

>!>We apologize rewards points are not added for orders placed before an account is created.

>!>Best Regards,
>!>Emily

>!>Logistics Manager"

>!I emailed them back questioning this policy because it seems ridiculous when their system does not prompt you to create an account or risk losing rewards points. Even so, I made a legitimate purchase so their decision not to add the points made zero sense to me. I asked if I needed to just return my order. This is the response that I received:

>!>"Good afternoon,

>!>We apologize you feel this way. Unfortunately we are not able to make exceptions due to previous issues. If we add points for your order, we will have to do it for everyone. When we've done this in the past, we will have people demanding points be added for orders placed days, weeks, and months before they created an account. We know this because this has actually happened before in this situation, this is why we no longer are able to make expeditions like this. Unfortunately people tend to take advantage when we make exemptions and continue to make more and more demands and they ruin it for everyone. If you would like to create a return you may do so once your order is delivered. Once delivered you can go to your order history, click on the desired order, hit the RMA tab and complete the fields.

>!>Best Regards, >!>Emily

>!>Logistics Manager"

>!This seems like terrible customer service and a terrible response from a business perspective to lose a customer ready to spend thousands of dollars with them in an effort to avoid...what, $25 in rewards points? There was zero effort to improve the situation on their end and it might as well have been chalked up to "you snooze, you lose."

>!Has anyone else experienced this?

>!Is this an unreasonable expectation on my end?!

They did a great job with powder coating this radiator in a perfect gold. Like the sleek look of the Ek radiators, but didn’t want the silver. Love it.

https://imgur.com/a/vwtN4Zi

Curious because they have a few accessories I am after, but I know these guys are old school so IDK if they are still around. I messaged them today so we'll see if they message back, but has anyone bought from them lately?

Hi guys, a newbie from Canada here. I checked the DazMode's inventory and I realized their prices are always higher than MSRP converted from USD or EUR, plus 13% tax here in Ontario, and plus insane Canada Post shipping fee.

Do you have any experience with buying stuff on Performance-PCS and having them shipped to Canada? Which carrier did you use? Do they charge you duty and tax? Was it worth it comparing buying stuff from DazMode?

Anyone else notice that when you browse it sniffs out Facebook and puts your pic there for you to comment automatically without your permission? If you go on their site in a secure privacy browser it warns you the site is not secure, your logins could be compromised, it blocks parts of the website that are not secure, it may track your browsing . Security/ privacy wise i haven’t seen a worse website in a while.

I've been in the process of a big build (for me anyway). It is my first hardline loop and it's been frustrating to say the least. After weeks of prep (I painted my case and waited on all the parts) I finally got started only to realize on 3 separate occasions I was missing parts. I put in several small orders for black fittings/adapters/etc. On my final order I realized they were out of black 6mm male to male spacers so I just grabbed a black nickel one. It wasn't going to be seen so I didn't worry about it.

ANYWAYS, thats the background. Shortly after placing that order I received a call from Florida. Turns out it was a rep from Performance PCs who had noticed my orders come in and wanted to make sure that I purposely ordered a black nickel adapter when all my other orders contained straight black fittings. I let him know that the site said they were sold out and that it wasn't a big deal. Turns out sometimes the inventory doesn't hit the site properly, he grabbed a black version of the adapter I wanted and put it in my order.

Having a black nickel vs black adapter wasn't a deal breaker but the fact that this site goes out of their way to make sure customers are satisfied means a lot. After the nightmare that happened with Frozen CPU I am thrilled to see how much these guys care. You guys will forever have my business (unless you drive your Range Rover through your warehouse).

I just spent 30+min trying to select watercooling>fittings but if I didn't follow a precise mouse path to where you click "fittings" I would end up seeing the watercooling category mouseover replaced with the sale mouse over. Clicking on just watercooling still has the same behavior as old where it was just slow and if it took too log the section of whatever you clicked on would just be empty so that's not an alternative.

I just gave up

Edit: After a couple evenings and a discussion with another redditor below I'm pretty convinced this is a scaling problem. Trying to use at normal, 100% scaling it's unusable. I found that scaling all the way down to 40% makes interacting with all the mouseover elements and windows close enough to what normal behavior should be though still have slight issue with accidentally hovering over other menus. The problem is at 40%, text is way too small for me.

Buying a prebuilt gaming PC right now honestly feels harder than it should be. One person says a system runs perfectly for years, another says it arrived overheating or dying after a few months.
A lot of it really comes down to the specific parts inside the build - not just the brand name on the box. 

Here are the best picks if you don’t want to read the full buying guide:

Best Prebuilt PC Recommendations for Gaming & Streaming

• HP Omen 45L Prebuilt Gaming Desktop

• MSI Vision Elite RS 14th Gen Prebuilt Gaming PC

• Corsair Vengeance i7200 

• Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 Prebuilt PC

• Alienware Aurora R16 Prebuilt PC

• CyberPowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC

Here are the key things to consider when choosing a prebuilt gaming PC:

-prioritize the graphics card (gpu) and vram

The number one thing you need to focus on when you're buying the best pre-built gaming PC in 2026 is the graphics card, or GPU for short.

The graphics card needs to be fast enough to give you enough frames per second, that's FPS for short, at the monitor resolution that you want to game at: 1080p, 1440p, or 4K.

It also needs enough video RAM, or VRAM, to run the latest titles. That's different from the system RAM, which we’ll cover in just a second.

For 1440p gaming, I recommend 12 GB of VRAM. For 4K gaming, I recommend 16 GB of VRAM. For budget gaming, we're still going to see some 8 GB GPUs as well.

Some games are super easy to run, like CS2 or Valorant, and you'll get tons of FPS even on weaker graphics cards. Other games really stress the graphics card, like Cyberpunk 2077.

One of the biggest mistakes 1440p gamers can make is buying an 8 GB version of a GPU that also comes in a 16 GB model. While 8 GB is fine for budget gaming PCs, you don't want to spend over $1,200 just to find out that your PC is VRAM-limited in newer titles at 1440p.

If the specs don’t clearly say 16 GB, I would just assume it's the 8 GB version.

As for GPU brands, both AMD and Nvidia now have excellent upscalers. Intel still trails a little bit in overall driver support, but they do offer more VRAM at lower price points.

-choose the right cpu

The second most important thing when you're buying the best pre-built gaming PC in 2026 is the CPU.

You want a gaming CPU that's fast enough that it doesn't bottleneck your graphics card.

AMD Ryzen CPUs have become some of the most popular gaming CPUs, especially the X3D models. The 3D V-Cache on those CPUs is incredibly powerful for gaming when paired with a very fast graphics card, although it matters less as you move down in GPU power.

At the same time, Ryzen 9 CPUs are really just for professional workstation PCs. They don't help gaming performance much over a Ryzen 7 CPU, so they're usually not worth the extra money if you mostly game.

Intel also has CPUs with very similar gaming performance.

Once you move into more budget-focused systems, you'll start seeing a mix of Ryzen and Intel CPUs that are still perfectly fine for lower-end graphics cards.

-ram matters more right now

RAM is also something you need to pay attention to in 2026, especially because we are currently in a global RAM shortage driven by huge demand from AI data centers.

Ideally, you'd want 32 GB of RAM in a pre-built gaming PC.

That said, for pre-built gaming PCs under $1,500, we'll probably have to settle for about 16 GB of RAM, which is really the minimum right now.

Unless you do high-end professional work, you do not need more than 32 GB of RAM.

For higher-end graphics cards, it's usually better to pair them with CPUs that support DDR5 RAM.

Meanwhile, more budget systems will often use DDR4 because it's much cheaper than DDR5 right now.

For RAM speed, systems using DDR4 should have 3200 or 3600 speed RAM. For DDR5, we'd love to see 5600 or 6000 speed RAM, but 5200 is still perfectly fine.

-cooling, airflow, and upgradability

One really overlooked thing that can destroy gaming performance is poor CPU cooling and airflow.

If the cooling isn't good enough, the system can thermally throttle and lose FPS during gaming.

In general, the bigger the CPU, the more cooling it needs.

Downdraft-style coolers are usually fine for lower-heat CPUs. For stronger mid-range CPUs, it's better to have a solid air cooler or liquid cooler.

For higher-end CPUs, you really want a dual-tower air cooler or at least a 240 mm all-in-one liquid cooler.

In 2026, liquid coolers have become much more common, partly because they survive shipping better than large air coolers.

Upgradability is another thing worth paying attention to.

If the PC is built with standard off-the-shelf parts, those systems are usually fully upgradeable.

On the other hand, some manufacturers use custom-made parts that may not be standard, and those systems can be harder to upgrade later.

In general, fully upgradeable pre-built gaming PCs are the safer long-term option, although sometimes an OEM pre-built can still be worth buying if the deal is good enough.

Curious what prebuilts people here have actually been happy with long term - especially stuff that stayed quiet, cool, and reliable after the honeymoon phase wore off 

For example when they play games/are testing high end games like cyber punk and stuff, you see the recording from the pc but doesnt screen recording effect the performance too? Wouldnt the performance be better if there were no screen recording?

I have decided to buy my first Desktop PC and I know little to nothing about how to choose a suitable one for me. I hope you can give me some advice. Please don't judge me if I write something stupid below.

I've always had just a laptop, but it's become clear that the one I have now (an ASUS VivoBook, i5, 2.4 GHz, 8GB RAM) cannot keep up with my work needs. What I need for work (not much really): 10 to 15 browser tabs open at the same time, I often use ClipChamp or CapCut for some light video editing, and the rest is the usual: Zoom, Netflix, some kind of video recorder, usually Vimeo.

I don't need specific device recommendations, I'd rather like to better understand the metrics I need to look for, and maybe also which brands to avoid and which to prefer. The models I'm looking at now are all i7, 3.2-3.4 GHz, 512GB-1TB SSD, 16GB RAM. Would this be enough of an upgrade? Am I looking at the right metrics?

Also, I'm thinking of buying it second hand, is it a terrible idea? I'd do it for the environment and for the cost as well.

Thank you in advance to those who will take the time to answer!

Evidence log: https://imgur.com/a/I4FPa

Web archive of the website on August, 2017: https://web.archive.org/web/20170804124208/http://www.performance-pcs.com/

Long story short: PerformancePCs blatantly tried to lie to me several times of its policies and items that it sells; it punishes me as a customer for it not listing at the time in its return policy or listing of the item that it is non-refundable by banning me; it changes some time between August 4th and September 6th (Today) by conveniently adding the word "Chassis" to the return policy - when confronted about it, the representative does not defend against that accusation. Even shorter story: PPC is an awful company that will favor itself more than the customer. I recommend purchasing the items through the manufacturers, Amazon, MicroCenter, etc. - All of which will provide world class customer support relative to PPC's.

Okay, here we go. I did not expect much from talking with the representative(s) through FaceBook, but Jesus was that an experience. I (With my brother) purchased an SM8 case for my dad, who wanted to get into water cooling. After assembling the case, we found that the parts we purchased for him, and his general feelings towards the case, changed. At the time of purchase, there were no clear indications of refusal of a computer case return. My brother and I accepted that we would have to pay shipping and eat the 20% of the cost, according to PerformancePCs.

As seen in the first picture, the representative asked of the condition and whether the item was opened or not. I stated that the item was assembled, but disassembled and placed in the box in the same condition we received it in. To my surprise, the representative then states that the item cannot be accepted because the website only sells new items.

Counterpoint: http://www.performance-pcs.com/scratch-dent/scratch-dent-aluminum-mosfet-cooler-for-ek-fc4850-cf-high-performance-water-block.html

(The item description states that the item is in NOT NEW condition) What's even more insulting is that PPC offers for me to sell the item on Craigslist, FaceBook, and eBay - As if there was an available market out there for a $550 case. Flabbergasted, knowing that the return policy does NOT EXPLICITLY STATE THAT CHASSIS ARE NON-RETURNABLE, I state that I would go through my credit card company if PPC would not take the return. The representative states that the company will accept the case, and issue a 20% restocking fee.

I did not think too much of it afterwards. However, around this time I had ordered several watercooling items from them, and noticed that despite my paying extra to have the items shipped out the next day of order, the items did not move. I sent an email through the website, but got no response. After approximately 5 days, I decided to contact PPC on FaceBook, seeing as how these companies would respond faster via social media than through email or their own respective websites.

It was through here that I finally learned that I was banned from the website for threatening the company. I again state that no where on the website - whether that be the refund policy statements or the actual listing of the item - was there a "NO RETURNS ALLOWED." How am I, the customer, going to be punished for this? On top of this, why did the company not tell me directly of this situation, rather than acting petty and not contacting me? (IMAGE 3)

In response, the company states that it would be a loss of $500 - a very poor way of describing a return process.

All in all, I was about to accept the fate - it is PPC's own website, and it can decide who it wants to do business with.

Then, the representative showed me the return policy (Facebook chat, F). I thoroughly read the return policy to make sure that the return was allowed back then. So I was absolutely surprised when I saw the inclusion of the word "chassis." I decided to go to web.archive in order to see if there was any change to the return/refund policy. AND SURE ENOUGH, PERFORMANCE-PCS CHANGED ITS OWN REFUND/RETURN POLICY JUST SO THAT IT HAS AN UPPER HAND (See the last two images)

I was absolutely floored. I showed the evidence, and the representative responds by saying, "We sell tens of thousands of products... We can not list every single item in our policies." In other words, when something doesn't go PPC's way, it will change the refund/return policy as it sees fit for favor over itself above the customer.

When I stated this, the representative simply states, "Sorry but I will not argue with you anymore about this issue."

I will be keeping a close look at my tracking number for the case that has been returned. A word of warning to you all though - if at any point you require assistance than just the typical protocol from PerformancePCS, know from my experience that the company will try to lie and manipulate the customers and its own policies to see that it wins at the end of the day. Again, look at MicroCenter, Amazon, etc. for better customer support.