Did I get scammed by the guy that built my computer?

[Nunusaur]

So I had gotten a computer built for like, around 1600+ euros - which was last year in december. When we finalized the specs; in the components' list, it said "3.0 USB". I've just recently bought two 3.0 USB external hard drives, and have only just realized that my computer only has three out of eight 3.0 ports. I didn't realize this earlier because I never checked as I wasn't as knowledgeable about computers, and I didn't think there would be any 2.0 USB ports because it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the list. It wasn't until my external hard drives kept notifying me that I didn't connect it to a 3.0 port, and I had to search up what a 3.0 USB port looked like.

I don't want to accuse him of something he wasn't at fault at, so I'd like to confirm first: Was this a scam, or is it supposed to be like that?

Thanking you in advance!

[trythil]

Did you ask for eight USB 3.0 ports, or just specify that USB 3.0 ports be present?

Many motherboards these days do not ship with eight USB 3.0 ports; they'll have (say) 2 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 2.0, or some other combination. (There's 212 motherboard listings on newegg.com that satisfy that criterion.)

There do exist motherboards that have eight USB 3.0 ports, but you have to specifically order it. (There's 8 listings on newegg.com that satisfy that criterion.)

[Nunusaur]

Did you ask for eight USB 3.0 ports, or just specify that USB 3.0 ports be present?

Many motherboards these days do not ship with eight USB 3.0 ports; they'll have (say) 2 USB 3.0 and 6 USB 2.0, or some other combination. (There's 212 motherboard listings on newegg.com that satisfy that criterion.)

There do exist motherboards that have eight USB 3.0 ports, but you have to specifically order it. (There's 8 listings on newegg.com that satisfy that criterion.)

To be honest, the amount of ports wasn't mentioned at all. I assumed that because he listed it as "3.0 USB", all the ports would be 3.0 as 2.0 wasn't mentioned anywhere. I kind of feel a little cheated because getting a PC built for 1600+ euros was quite a lot for me, but then again - I'm not sure if that was his fault for not specifying how many of the ports would be 3.0, or mine for not asking every littlest details.

[ZephyrStar]

No, I wouldn't say you got scammed. Though, for 1600 euros, I'd like to see what he did build you, then I might be able to properly comment.

Most motherboards out there only have a couple of USB 3.0 ports. The controller chips are expensive, so the manufacturers opt to do a combination of the two. You don't need a USB 3.0 port for a mouse, keyboard, microphone, and many other things, those do just fine on USB 2.0. Even my Wacom tablet is on a USB 2.0 port. Where you will find USB 3.0 handy is for external hard drives, dumping flash/SD cards, anything that requires transferring of large amounts of data. If you're worried that you might not have enough USB 3.0 ports, you can always invest in say:

http://www.amazon.com/Satechi-10-Port-P ... B00B9KOCYA

or maybe

http://www.amazon.com/Charging-Adapter- ... pd_cp_pc_0

I kinda want that Anker myself.

[Nunusaur]

No, I wouldn't say you got scammed. Though, for 1600 euros, I'd like to see what he did build you, then I might be able to properly comment.

Most motherboards out there only have a couple of USB 3.0 ports. The controller chips are expensive, so the manufacturers opt to do a combination of the two. You don't need a USB 3.0 port for a mouse, keyboard, microphone, and many other things, those do just fine on USB 2.0. Even my Wacom tablet is on a USB 2.0 port. Where you will find USB 3.0 handy is for external hard drives, dumping flash/SD cards, anything that requires transferring of large amounts of data. If you're worried that you might not have enough USB 3.0 ports, you can always invest in say:

http://www.amazon.com/Satechi-10-Port-P ... B00B9KOCYA

or maybe

http://www.amazon.com/Charging-Adapter- ... pd_cp_pc_0

I kinda want that Anker myself.

Sorry for the late reply! And here is the email I'd sent him with the finalized specs:

1. Intel Desktop Board DZ68DB - Media Series - motherboard - ATX - LGA1155 Socket - Z68 - USB 3.0, FireWire - Gigabit LAN - onboard graphics (CPU required) - HD Audio (10-channel)

2. Intel Core i7 3770 - 3.4 GHz - 4 cores - 4 threads - 6 MB cache - LGA1155 Socket – Box Ref: BX80637I53570K

3. Kingston ValueRAM - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9 - 1.5 V - unbuffered - non-ECC

4. Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2 - Power supply ( internal ) - ATX12V 2.3 - 80 PLUS Bronze - AC 90-264 V - 500 Watt - active PFC - Europe

5. Western Digital 2TB 7200rpm 64mb Cache 3.5 inch Black Caviar

6. Kingston HyperX 3K - Solid state drive - 120 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-600 - black, aluminium

7. Club Geforce GTX 560TI 2GB 1080p

8. Liteon 22x DVD Writer Dual Layer

9. 120mm Toner FAN Low Noise

10. Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM

Let me know if you'd like me to tell you about the price for each. Thank you very much for replying, I sure do hope it wasn't actually a scam. I agree though, I don't usually need 3.0 as much, except for whenever I switch on my external hard drives for the footage I edit with. That isn't an issue. I'd just be unhappy if I've practically wasted money that could've been spent on a Wacom tablet.

[ZephyrStar]

Yeah, that's about right. We're talking euros here as well, so I know that computer gear is generally more expensive over there than it is in the US in particular, if we were talking $1600 USD, I could probably do better, especially on the speeds of some of the parts (for example the ram, I'd use 1600 instead of 1333, and probably at least 16 gigs of it).

He did use quality parts, so that's what matters. I've used these brands in the past with good results, especially the Kingston and Corsair, and you can't beat the WD Black drives. I have 4x 1TB WD Black, been running without a hiccup for going on 5 years now.

That's a pretty solid build for what you were charged, I don't think you need to worry.

[Nunusaur]

Yeah, that's about right. We're talking euros here as well, so I know that computer gear is generally more expensive over there than it is in the US in particular, if we were talking $1600 USD, I could probably do better, especially on the speeds of some of the parts (for example the ram, I'd use 1600 instead of 1333, and probably at least 16 gigs of it).

He did use quality parts, so that's what matters. I've used these brands in the past with good results, especially the Kingston and Corsair, and you can't beat the WD Black drives. I have 4x 1TB WD Black, been running without a hiccup for going on 5 years now.

That's a pretty solid build for what you were charged, I don't think you need to worry.

Thank you so so much for verifying it for me, that takes a huge amount of burden off of me!