Had you asked me a couple of years ago about buying prebuilt, I would never have even considered it. The cost was significantly higher than simply buying your own parts and building it yourself. But once I saw the specs of this machine, I couldn't believe how well priced it was. I went ahead and added to the best of my ability the same build onto pcpartpicker (case, keyboard and mouse are unique to iBuyPower, but there's decent substitutes for them, e.g. NZXT S340) and as of today, it's identical in price, if not in fact cheaper to buy this desktop. I have no idea how these guys turn a profit. In any case, I finally caved. I had to have this, and I'm absolutely thrilled with what I got.
Here is exactly what is included from what I was able to view from a quick glance over:
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit
CPU: Intel Core I7-7700k 4.2GHz Quad Processor
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 300 R
Motherboard: AsRock B250M Pro4-IB Micro-ATX LG1151
RAM: ADATA XPG Z1 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400MHz
GPU: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card
Storage:
Western Digital - Green 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Wi-Fi Adapter: AC600 WLAN USB (Unsure of exact brand)
Case: iBuyPower Slate Gaming Tower (2x Side Glass Panel)
Mouse: iBuyPower GMS5001 Gaming Mouse
Keyboard: iBuyPower Ares E1 Membrane Gaming Keyboard
Power supply is the one thing I haven't attempted to verify as it's concealed quite well by the case covering and wires, but I can assume based on the power consumption of the build and other reviews that it's some generic brand PSU, anywhere between 350W-600W. I'll update if I ever decide to take a peek.
The case is really solid. Black with red LED lights on the fans and front panel of the case. Has 2 dark tinted glass panels that are easily removed by hand for easy access to hardware. RGB case lighting with up to 16 colors that can be controlled via remote can illuminate the motherboard, giving you a great view of your PC in action, or just additional eye candy. Can be turned off if not your thing.
On startup, SSD booted immediately to Windows 10. No issues experienced in comparison to other reviews. No bloatware of any kind aside from the usual Windows games and apps, so that's very much appreciated. The few games I installed on the SSD as opposed to the HDD load incredibly fast. Multi-tasking is seamless with no hiccups. Can easily alt-tab in and out of games and browse the web/youtube without much slow down, if any.
Game performance is fantastic at 1080p. With some tweaking, RIse of the Tomb Raider, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, GTA V, and Witcher 3 all run flawlessly at 60 fps, all settings either Ultra or High. Any game you throw at this should run amazingly well and look good doing it. (Unless it's poorly optimized like Ark: Survival Evolved) I do not own a 4K or 1440p monitor, so I can't speak for performance at those resolutions.
Air flow is great due to nice open space. (Great cable management does wonders.) Fans are pretty quiet and never get too loud. CPU and GPU temps are pretty good for being air cooled. CPU idles at 37°C and typically stays around 45°C-60°C during play. GPU idles at 42°C and goes up to 65°C-70°C during intensive play.
Overall, this is the PC I always wanted, but there are some issues if you're ever looking to upgrade or make tweaks. Without liquid cooling, you're limited with how much you can overclock your CPU while maintaining decent temps (I personally wouldn't touch it. Stock speed is more than adequate). As for any hardware changes or additions, the motherboard is an upgrade bottleneck. There's no room left on the motherboard to add a 2nd GPU from what I can tell, so don't even think about SLI with this out of the box. The motherboard also only supports memory up to 2400 MHz, so you'd have to switch it out if you ever plan on upgrading and overclocking your RAM. One last personal gripe I have is that there's no front bays of any kind to allow for CD or Bluray drives, so I won't be able to add one like I initially planned.
So here's a TL;DR list:
Pros:
- Quiet
- Clean and open space, which means good air flow
- Fast boot and load times with SSD
- Plays all games on Ultra/High settings, 60 fps at 1080p
- Amazing price/performance ratio for a prebuilt gaming PC
Cons:
- Limited overclock potential without liquid cooling
- No room for multi-GPU upgrade
- Motherboard memory capped at 2400MHz, so no RAM overclocking
- Motherboard is an upgrade bottleneck, so it must be replaced if you intend to address the previous 2 cons
- No front bays for an additional CD/Bluray drive
(Since I haven't verified, I can't claim whether or not you'll need a new PSU if planning on GPU upgrades)
All in all, this is probably the best prebuilt you can buy that doesn't skimp on power, with a perfect price/performance ratio. Every other gaming PC I've seen sacrifices either the CPU or the GPU to accommodate the other (Get an I7 but with a 1060, or get a 1080 but with an I5) Unless we see some huge changes in game development soon, this PC should last a long time playing games at 1080p before it needs an upgrade.
When I found this computer through listings it was hard to believe what I had found. It has an i7-8700k which is, at the time of this review, top of the line as well as a 1060 Nvidia card, which are hard to find for good pricing due to the pricing issues after the 2017 holiday season. All around I've had a great experience with it, with it performing better than expected. All around a great purchase and definitely a good option in today's market. It ended up being cheaper for me at the time to buy this product than the parts individually at the time, which is a definite plus. I was surprised it hadn't flown off the shelves considering the contents of its package.
Reason for Purchase: Replacement of a defunct PC.
Pros:
- Good Modern hardware for a good price.
- Doesn't take up too much space thanks to a smaller case, while keeping temperatures and airflow good.
- If you like LED's, it comes with some that you can change the colors on if that is your thing.
- Runs quiet, which is nice.
- Case has an easy access panel that is easily removed and put back on to access your internal components in case of an issue.
- Came with Windows 10 Pro and an OS disk in case of OS issues or hard disk failure, which is a plus since I was expecting just Windows 10 Home.
Cons:
- With it being a smaller case, temps can run a bit high in high demand games or applications that use the card to its full performance. Idle temperatures and light to medium use do not have this issue in my experience. Keep an eye on it if you choose to overclock.
- Adding a second hard drive and my SSD from a now defunct machine was slightly difficult due to cord management. This has no real impact on my review scoring as I'm rating it out of the box.
- I was hoping for another fan slot on the board to handle the first concern but as far as I can tell the board doesn't have that capability. Not really a con with the computer and more a con with the board, so it has no effect on my review score.
GUYS the way you make it boot up is to go to bios and switch to the hard drive that has windows installed. Great condition everything works!!!!
I was a bit skept because of the price and what you got but this computer is a complete gem! It came in yeaterday and runs perfectly fine. My initial overview i7-8700k with1060 gforce. Everything is plastic, I thought the side was going to be tempered glass but it ended up being plexy glass which is NBD I’m sure if I really wanted to I can go get a piece of temp glass and swap it out. It has plenty of space on the inside which I was kinda skeptical about because of the pic amazon has. It has extra slots for adding ram or if you want to add another gpu. It also has extra cable, I put an 500gb ssd drive in it but I did end up having to buy a Sara cable (4 bucks) also NDB (it has 1 ssd tray on the opposite side of the plexy glass. I thought the cable management could have been better it but a few zip ties here and there when I added the ssd and it was good to go. It has 2 display ports and 2 hdmi ports for your monitors (make sure you plug them in the gpu not the motherboard) or ur screens will be black when you boot up. It has plenty of USB ports, I currently have 6 plugged in now. I didn’t have any temp issues playing pub on ultra or high setting last night (3 hours) but it is in a well ventilated area so that may be why. When the fans are running it’s really quiet so no issues there. It comes with a little remote to change the colors of the fan so your not just stuck with red. It comes with 2 disks one for reinstalling wondows 10 and 1 for the msi motherboard drivers but it doesn’t have a cd driver on it. If your worried about drivers just download the intel assistance to stay up to date or look online. All in all, for my first gaming pc I couldn’t be more happier! Nice bang for your buck.
If we talk about nothing else, lets talk about the value of this computer. Back in the day, if you wanted to save money on a computer, you built your own desktop. Nowadays, the laptops are cheaper than the desktops! Blasphemy! Putting all the work into building your own no longer holds value! I pieced this thing together on newegg and couldnt even approach this kind of a deal, even with parts bundles. And dont even get me started on these incredible 5-month payment plans Amazon is doing now, zero interest. you just cant beat it.
Now, lets talk performance. Holy guacamole batman, this thing is a Lamborghini wrapped in bacon complete with internal liquid cooling. This thing is BLISTERING FAST. 188 freakin-FPS on StarCraft 2, with all the graphics and physics set to EXTREME/MAX. It's simply ABSURD how fast this thing is, but the kicker is in the cooling system.
Last PC i built had 7-8 giant noisy fans in it, the thing sounded like a vacuum cleaner and put out some SERIOUS BTU's in the way of heat. This thing? I actually think it dropped the room a degree or two lol. It stays COLD, no cool, COLD. 8gb of RAM was shockingly plenty of oomph, my laptop has 24GB and 1 gen older i7, and the IBuyPower just poops all over the laptop with 1/3 the RAM.
So just buy it. you cannot go wrong here. Dont think you need a $2000+ computer for WoW or FPS Shooters or even VR. This thing comes "VR Ready" (which i havent tested but hold zero doubts about), with jusssst under the best of the best across the board. the GTX 1060 only has a handful of cards that will outperform it, and plain and simple most people arent going to max out this card. I tried running a stress test on the performance aspects, and managed to drag the FPS down to 17 or so, but gameplay remained absolutely silky smooth. and at the end of the day, if you /need/ more oomph (which i doubt) upgrades are as easy as ordering another card and plugging it into the motherboard. Youd probably still come out cheaper than the $2000+ PCs.
Feature Product
- System: Intel Core i7 8700 6-Core Processor 3.20 GHz (4.60 GHz Max Turbo) | 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM | 1TB 7200Rpm HDD | 240GB SSD | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Dedicated Gaming Video Card | VR Ready | Display Connectors: HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI
- Connectivity: 4 x USB 3.0 | 2 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | Audio: 7.1 Channel
- Special Add-Ons: iBUYPOWER signature Slate Tempered glass RGB Gaming Case | 802.11AC Wi-Fi included | 16 Color RGB Lighting Remote Controlled Case | Free iBUYPOWER Gaming Keyboard & RGB Gaming Mouse | No bloatware
- Warranty: 1 Year Parts & Labor + Free Lifetime us tech support | Assembled in the U.S.A
- OS : Windows 10 Home
Description
Conquer your enemies and max settings with the iBUYPOWER Elite Series of gaming desktops. The Elite series features the latest generation of high performance Intel Core processors and ultra-quick DDR RAM to easily handle system-intensive tasks, such as high definition video playback and gaming. Coupled with powerful discreet video cards, the iBUYPOWER Elite Series gaming computers provide a smooth gaming and multimedia experience.
My wife purchased this system for me as an early Christmas present and I'm very satisfied with it. I"m coming from a Gen 1 i7 with a 980xt 4GB, 12 GB RAM to this unit... Night and day. System arrived in great condition and booted without issue... ZERO Bloatware, which is awesome because no one wants to open a Christmas present and then spend hours "fixing" it. Plays all modern games at+60 fps on Ultra.. runs very quiet ( I have it under my desk)... My wife picked this up on sale , Black Friday for 1150 I believe... For the parts that are in it and how well it is put together, you couldn't do it cheaper yourself.
I've been around PCs (building/modding) my whole life and honestly, this one comes perfectly designed.
I just bought one for my son. I normally build my own computers but for the price I couldn't pass this up.
My system is a little different than what others are showing. Also, I pulled out the power supply because everyone wanted to know what it was.
Memory - Adata XPG DDR4 2400
Power supply - Allied AL-D500EXP 500watt
Video card - MSI GeForce GTX 1070 AERO 8G (blower style)
CPU Cooler - DeepCool GAMMAXX 400 blue
WiFi Adapter - Cheap generic Realtek RTL8811AU USB (You can see the white module inside the case, just above and to the right of the memory modules. It's connected to an internal USB port using a short cable and then zip-tied to the case. It's very slow and disconnects way too often. I disabled it and connected the system to my router using an ethernet cable. Much better.)
I ordered the system on Wednesday and got it by Saturday.
Other than the power supply and WiFI adapter, I'm OK with all the hardware. I also like how neat and clean the cabling is.
The case has tempered glass on both sides which I wasn't expecting, I thought it was only on one side. Also, other than the CPU fan, the case only has one 120mm fan on the back of the case. There are no other fans in the case.
The system booted right up and there are no partitions on either drive thankfully. The 1TB drive does have a large image on it in case the system needs to be restored. They also give you a DVD backup copy of the OS even though the system doesn't have an optical drive.
Overall it's a nice system for the price and I hope it will be reliable for a long time.
This is an excellent product. Though they recently raised the price (right after I bought it), the value is still superb and it runs my games very well. Plus, it has tons of extra space for hardware upgrades
One complaint: the WiFi adapter that they include in the computer is not great. At first it connected to my WiFi at a tiny trickle, and later on it disconnected completely. After calling tech support I was told to move the wifi adapter from an internal USB port to one on the outside, which improved the connection, and to just buy a new adapter since the existing one is bad (only $15 for a good one). This was a bit annoying, considering I had just purchased an expensive gaming machine, and they could easily have included a better adapter, but this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things
Received this PC yesterday. First I'm going to start by saying this case is beautiful, the tempered glass sides show the clean wiring and components great. For the price of this I could not find anything with the same or similar specs for near the it. Most others had a lower end video card, no ssd, or less ram for similar cost. As much as I wanted liquid cooling it is easy to add at a later date however I'm not sure I will need it. The pc runs cool while multitasking and gaming. Speaking of gaming, I'm blow away by this PC. I immediately installed Star Citizen, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, Wow, Battlefield 1, and Star Wars Battlefront. All games play on maxed out ultra settings flawless. Going from a 7 year old pc that wouldn't even load half of those games I am in awe. Well for the price paid, it was packaged well and arrived in great shape. Only "issue" was it initially wouldn't boot from the correct drive. This only required 30 seconds in BIOS to correct and I've been up and running since. Most people say "build your own computer, you get more for the money". I'm here to say that for the ease of this, warranty, and cost. That simply isn't ideal with iBuyPower. After I received my pc I went to pc part picker, build this exact pc with no case, mouse, or keyboard, and it came out to $1336.46. I don't know how they can make a profit. Thanks again!
Once I got my PC up and running, it ran great.
Just had a few annoyances:
* The WiFi dongle was unmarked, and the drivers to make it work were not pre-installed. I had to physically connect via an ethernet cable. The ibuypower driver website was also out of date, so had to google to find the right model.
* There is an HDMI input slot near the top of the case, but that only renders from the weak onboard GPU, not the graphics card. At first I was really upset I was getting poor performance until I plugged my monitor into the GPU directly.
* The system came with setup CDs, but no optical drive. I was able to get the GPU tuner online, but short of converting them into disc images on another system, there doesn't seem to be a way to make use of them directly.
*The system also came with a remote to control the case lights, but as near as I can tell, the only lights for this system are ones for the front and rear fans, so the remote doesn't do anything.
If you can see past these stumbling blocks, I think it's a great value for the price.
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