Drivers and Updates

I’ve been using custom PC workstations for film post production & VFX since the early 2000s, and I’ve always preferred to build them myself for cost savings & flexibility.

When my current studio brought up the idea of purchasing a pre-built workstation to replace our (woefully insufficient) Mac Pro 6,1 color grading system I was hesitant to let someone else assemble a box for me. I wasn’t thrilled with the configuration options on many vendor websites, and the cost premium seemed a little high, but our EP wanted to give it a shot with Puget due to their apparent focus on the post production industry.

First, my concerns about flexibility were addressed in about 5 minutes on the phone with Puget: they took my requests, understood why I was making them, and proposed a custom build not available through the online tools which met all my needs, even down to specific wire routing for ease of future upgrades. Really surprised that the first person I spoke with — in sales no less (not engineering) — was so knowledgeable about build options and why a customer might want something “off-menu” like I did.

Second, when we got the new workstation it was just as fast as I expected from the parts list, but the big surprises for me have been how stable it is, how well laid out the box is, and more than anything else how *shockingly* quiet the system is even under maximum load. They warned me that with some of my custom requests the sound dampening wouldn’t be as effective as stock options, but I don’t even know what that means in practice: we have laptops, water-cooled systems, tiny desktop RAIDs, etc — all of them are louder at idle than this box is under maximum load. Hell, our router is louder than this thing. Really impressive tuning & testing, far better than I’ve ever done for myself.

In addition to the great build, some 3rd party hardware did not function as expected when we initially received the system — despite it not being their responsibility they have been responsive and helpful in diagnosing the issues and we’ve been very happy with support so far. Having struggled with workstation support from Boxx & Dell in the past this was a very pleasant surprise.

I love tinkering with hardware so I intend to continue building my own workstations at home, but for anyone on the fence about buying pre-built, this is the bar for how it’s done.

I ordered a 4-GPU digits machine for a deep learning project at work. Jeremy was helpful getting the machine configured and when it turned out the CPU I selected wasn’t available from any of their suppliers, Jeremy and Wilson upgraded the CPU to another one they had in stock, answered some of technical questions about it, and expedited shipping so the order would make it in time. I got the machine a day ago, and it’s already running at 100% and saving us $100s of dollars per day that we would otherwise pay for AWS. Very happy with Puget!

In my search for a new computer I found two websites that were easy for me to navigate and read: AvaDirect and Puget Systems!

I tried using both sites for pricing but in my case it just did not matter as I had already decided on a specific video card type, a specific minimum amount of RAM and once I knew more about the available hard drives a specific hard drive!

I went with Puget Systems because their site was (at least for me) was easier to navigate and at the time their customization selection was the only one that allowed me to combine all three (video card, RAM and hard drive) that I wanted into one computer!

Also, their help section for comparing specific item choices and an explanation of what it is and what it does helped me out a lot!

This was my first purchase from Puget Systems. Unfortunately, damage occurred to my system during shipping. The service and technical support people were incredible in identifying what had happened and then providing the necessary replacement components. My issues were successfully resolved to my complete satisfaction as quickly as humanly possible. I will not hesitate to purchase a new system from Puget in the future.

Bought Spirit PC And 17” Laptop in 2014. Bother with SSD and HDD combos. Upgraded to Windows 10 when it was free. They still run just like new. I know any other would have issues by now. Glad I found Puget.

I wanted a system that was powerful but silent, so I ordered the Puget Serenity. After it arrived, Alicia emailed me to ask if there was anything that could be improved. I said it was great, but there was a faint whisper from the PSU fan, which wouldn’t even be worth mentioning, except that, you know, the Serenity promises total silence and this one is only like 99% silent. I didn’t really expect much but they shipped me a new PSU overnight at no charge and I installed it and now the noise is gone. So I finally have my perfectly silent PC and the support experience moved my opinion from “pretty good” to “wow that was amazing let me write a testimonial”.

This was my first experience with Puget Systems, a company that I found when researching custom pc builders online. I wanted a custom computer which would be adequate for some video editing but I am not a professional and didn’t want to go overboard. I was able to get a custom configuration via email in response to my email request within 2 days (I sent it Friday night and received a reply on Sunday) which met all my requirements while being affordable. I actually used the specifications and looked to see what it would have cost me to order all the parts and build the PC myself and the parts alone came within $200 of my total cost with shipping from Puget Systems. Puget’s web page allowed me to follow the build step by step and I received my computer within 2 weeks of placing the order – if FedEx had not pushed back the delivery date it would have been 3 days earlier. The build quality is excellent and I am very happy with the performance.

Just turned on my beast rig by Puget Systems and this thing is just soooooo fast and built really well, kudos to Houston and the rest of the team. I will be buying another rig from PS soon, you guys rock.

Your receptionist is a pain in the ass. She would not put me through to Mr Chau without answering 50 questions. After prying, she finally told me he was on another call.

She could have simply put me through to his voice main or taken message.

Let me start by saying that I’ve been building PC’s for years. As you can imagine it was difficult for me to wrap my head around paying the extra money to have them build, test & install my system. Anyway it was time to upgrade my last build and I called Puget and spoke with them about my needs and concerns. I worked with Oscar who assured me that many of their clients are just like me: totally capable but time constrained.

After looking at the actual cost difference I decided to give them a shot! All I can so is that I’m so glad that I did!

I was involved throughout the whole process. The status updates, thermal images and pictures of my computer made the process a joy. The only thing I did miss out on was the actual building the machine but honestly I’ve built enough computers in my lifetime…

So what’s the big deal right? Anyone can put together a machine right? Yes it’s true but Puget Systems really goes the extra mile. From the burn in testing to bench marking to thermal imaging under load. Every aspect of the system is meticulously completed and the build steps were presented and checked off every step of the way.

What really put me over the edge with just how much they care is the binder that’s included in the accessories which is a complete build log of the system.

I saved a ton of time by having them complete my build but I got a whole lot more than just a computer. I now have a relationship with a company that truly cares about their customers and the products that they create.

Thank you guys very much!
Aaron J. St. Pierre