Which is why I have your worklog followed in here. At least you bring to the table what you say and show what you can do. Just stay the way you are, don't get cocky.

+1 Exactly! All this thing about learning and fun is valid, but it is not fun learning when disaster strikes. In the process of building the rig, system builders like APES and the owner work hand in hand, sometimes devising unorthodox, out of the box methods and solution that doesn't come up if the owner himself decides to go at it on his own. That's the advantage of brainstorming and large pool of resources and ideas coming from bouncing ideas among people who are experienced in doing so, plus the inputs from the owner themselves on how they wanted it to be. Sure you can learn it the hard way by doing it yourself, but some of us do not have the luxury of time, money or effort to waste on making mistakes, learning from mistakes and gleaning "fun" from those mistakes.

In fact, first time watercooling rig owners, after seeing how its done by these professional system builders, observing it from the outside and seeing how it is done PROPERLY by the pros, now gain some form of basic guidelines on how to proceed so on their next watercooling rig by themselves. Going at it for the first time, and having it fall apart on you is not "fun". And for some, since they dont wanna risk having their first time watercooling build fall apart on them for the "fun of it", pare down the quality of their loop and build to a level they can manage themselves, resulting in their rigs looking barebone normal (an excuse lots of them use to say they build it "for performance" not "for aesthetics", coz they've not gain enough skills and expertise to make it look good). More challenging and complex builds are not the forte of first time watercooling DIYers, and some of us dont wanna building multiple rigs before getting it right. We want to get it right the first time, not having things break down on us, and learning from costly mistakes like that.

This does not apply to AIO solutions, these are simple install-and-forget kinda stuff. Custom loops with complex setup, determining loop flow, correct fittings and components, not to mention designing that out within the strict confines of a chassis, takes time and proper planning. I applaud those who go at it alone soldiering on, you gain experience that way, but most if not all the cases of those who went about their watercooling build alone, end up having their worklog stretching for months on end with no end in sight. Their builds will look good I guarantee it, but when your Pc ends up in "build phase" for so long without a proper chance of you using it also no point. Solo builders who do have their worklog done in shorter periods of time, end up having a "normal" looking loop. Personal achievement they can be proud of, but nothing to shout about either. That is absolutely fine, nothing wrong with that.

I also understand if distance and location where you are also forced your hand into going at it alone. APES is located in Penang and KL. Outstation potential customers either face the non-compelling notion of having to either travel back and forth to these location supervising their builds, hence forcing their hand on doing it themselves, OR the notion of having it build without them having eyes-on on it, and the shipping worries them as well. However, APES do build rigs for outstation buyers, and they do it well and orders received in perfect condition.

There are two sides of the coin. You wanna DIY your own build, fine. More power to you, in fact you learn more than those who chose to go the system builder route. But there are other reasons why potential owners want their build done by professionals instead of hacksawing their way around things they are not familiar with. They dont just want their rig to function well (a feature most first time DIYer can achieve by simply referring online for guidelines and go from there), but to look awesome as well(this skill takes time to achieve and to learn, but if you have the option of tapping from the great minds of these system builders who have those skill, why not?). Once familiarity and basic set of skills are acquired, then they would feel comfortable doing it on their own.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 20 2013, 02:01 PM

Probably coz some of us are consumers while some of us are builders. Like how some like to build/restore cars from scratch while other buy them premade with post-purchase modifications. Doesn't make one group of people any better than the other.

The end result however, may be. I mean, I can be proud with a pound cake I can make by following a recipe, but to say that my pound cake is better than a boutique bakery creation is kinda pushing it into the "overly optimistic" category now doesn't it?