Gaming Pc

★★★★☆ Hey everybody! Just wanted to say a couple things about this computer as somebody who needed something more stable than my couple years old Dell "gaming laptop" that ran a 1050 ti that had to be set to low specs on nearly anything I tried to run. I'm not an extreme gamer. I just want to play Valheim, some MMOs, and a couple games like Stardew or Garden Paws. Particle effects are the devil's friend when it came to my laptop, and really ruined the experience in a lot of games for me. I'm a stickler for a constant 60 fps.For the price, I bought it at $699, $749 with tax, and I do believe that is a terrific value for the mid level computer that it is for gaming. USPS lost my package despite it being one day shipping, but as you can see, it was shipped in the box that declares very proudly that it is a gaming computer in a time where electronics are sparse and being scalped to the extreme. So that one was most likely stolen. Amazon was amazing and had a replacement sent out immediately and that one arrived next day and thank goodness I was home when it was delivered.I do agree completely with the comments here in the reviews: go get yourself some DDR4 RAM. This little guy can run up to 32GB of RAM, (only two open slots versus four), at 3200mhz for those who don't want to do all the research I've put myself through. I bought 2 sticks of 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16), and that ran me $85, $95 with tax. The store I purchased it from also claimed to have delivered the package, but was most likely stolen as well since the image attached to the delivery was of the driver's feet on a sidewalk that is clearly our apartment complex, but not the road I live on. That or my neighbors got some nice new RAM. I got a replacement the next day. Reminder for RAM, thank you Google for teaching me, is to look for XMP in your BIOS to match the speed it's supposed to run at if it doesn't run at that speed out of the box. 🙂 My RAM usage would idle around 30-40%, and it now idles around 14-16%. Running games like Valheim or Craftopia will run it at 37%, there about.The SSD SATA hard drive itself is 240GB which for most part is fine for me since all of my games are generally under ten gigs, but if I want to install an MMO, well that's kind of out of the question. I spent $59 on sale for a M.2 Western Digital 500GB SSD, (running about 2400MB/s versus the stock which was about 500MB/s) but I'd recommend going bigger with storage you can considering the size of games and media in general these days. This was pretty much a budgetary constraint thing for me. The SSD fits right into the open, available, M.2 slot that is just above the graphics card. Phrasing in the questions/review sections about whether or not this slot was an open secondary slot didn't seem obvious to me until I owned the PC itself, but yes, there is a free slot open for M.2 storage. To note, my PC didn't pop up with a new drive letter after installation. I had to go under Disk Management and add a drive letter to the drive, go into the BIOS, and have it boot with the M.2 SSD that way. Works like a charm now!I want to say that out of the box, the wireless did not work. I had to run an Ethernet from our gateway into it and update Windows before it would pick up a signal on it's own. I was worried that the wireless card was shot, but after downloading a bunch of updates, it finally worked. Same goes for the AMD graphics drivers. Your games will run considerably worse without them so make sure to not only download the Windows updates, but go search out the latest AMD software.So altogether, about $914 for this computer with 16GB of RAM running at 3200mhz versus the stock 8GB running 2133mhz out of the box, and 740GB SSD, I'd say it was worth it. I spent $1,100 on my old gaming laptop that struggled with everything.I've seen comments saying the fan could use an upgrade, but my temps seem pretty good, or maybe I'm used to a laptop running at 80c, but this is low 30s.Most games seem to run stable on medium-high settings unless you're playing something really well optimized like WoW, FFXIV, Fortnite, I'm sure… I haven't tested a million games, but my vote would be you could run the average game on high settings. I do not think Ultra/Epic settings are going to work out, depending on the game.I would say this is great for those getting their feet wet into PC gaming or only play a couple games that aren't incredibly demanding, but for somebody who wants to go all out in 4K resolution, streaming, VR, heavily intensive games, I would say hold out for something else. My husband is currently dropping twice the price on another computer, but he requires the necessary specs to effectively future proof his games. He's also coming from a 11 year old Dell XPS that was not meant for games, so he deserves it. For somebody like me, who wants to plant crops in a game and then maybe open a browser page, it's great. For somebody in the middle who plays a lot of average games and wants a little extra, I would still say it's great. But for those who are seeking something on the higher end or can push their CPU/GPUs to it's limits for gaming, this isn't it.Overall, I recommend it, but know that upgrading it is highly recommended and will pay off greatly. It took the strain off a couple of my games and gave me those precious extra frames back. Hopefully this helps you give you some idea since I like to see numbers change to better numbers when I upgrade. Having to figure out what I needed to upgrade, since I am not the most literate in the language of computer specs, I figured I would write that all here so maybe the next anxious, overthinker who is in the same boat can have some knowledge and rest easy. Just be sure to be home when it's delivered.

★★☆☆☆ *Update 4/16/22*The Apacer Panther SSD failed 2 months outside of warranty with a SATAFIRM S11 firmware error out of nowhere. Google shows this is not uncommon for Phison S11 firmware controllers. Contacted iBuyPower to see if they'd send a replacement since a SSD with less than 200hrs on it failing after just over a year is really not normal. They refused since it is 2 months past the 1yr warranty. That's their right as a to the letter company, but it also means they do not really stand by their products. I would no longer recommend systems built by this company. 2 stars for the 2 months outside warranty that the SSD failed.Original review:I've been building my own systems since 1998. I've sold thousands of pre-built systems when I worked retail. I vowed I would NEVER buy a pre-built.. but 2020 had different plans. I've been waiting to upgrade my gaming system for over a year now. I was running a GTX 970, which has been an amazing card but it has showed it's age. I've had to drop some games down to medium settings to run well. Due to the huge shortage of graphics cards, and the outrageous prices on scalped cards I've been stuck waiting for a new card to become available at somewhere near MSRP. After 5months of searching and waiting this just doesn't seem like it's going to happen now. What I did notice though is somehow, prebuilt systems were getting the new graphics cards. But.. the premium price was just not worth it. Enter the iBuyPower Trace 4. At $699 it really is a great deal. At current prices, it is impossible to build a similar system anywhere near this price. The 5500XT alone is going for ~$350-$400 now if you can even find one. No it's nowhere near top of the line, but was a upgrade from the 970. So, I bit the bullet as much as I hated buying a pre-built, there really was no other reasonable options. The thing that's a bit tricky and a gamble is iBuyPower is very careful to not mention specific brands or models, just capacity so you could get a decent SSD, RAM, graphics card, motherboard, and fans, or you could get some unknown junk brand.Actual Specs of the system I received:Motherboard: ASROCK 320m ASCPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6core (3600mhz)CPU Cooler: Deep Cool CK-AM209GPU: MSI RX 5500XT Mech 4gb OCRAM: Adata DDR4-2666mhz 8gb - Single stickSSD: Apacer AS350 256gbPSU: High Power HPG-500BR-F12s 500w3x 120mm RGB side intake fans iBuyPower branded1x 120mm RGB exhaust fan iBuyPower brandedWindows 10 Home Edition OEM (NO PRODUCT KEY Included)First Impression:Box arrived pretty beat up, not a knock on iBuyPower but either USPS or Amazon warehouse. Fortunately the box was well packed so everything inside was fine.Case is a what I'd call a high mid-range case. It's mostly aluminum, plastic, and surprisingly has a tempered glass side. Cable management is well done. There is a PSU shroud with plenty of room for an upgrade. Case fan layout is not traditional front to back airflow opting instead of a 3x 120mm side intake with 1x 120mm exhaust. This is probably not ideal airflow. There is a magnetic mesh dust filter on top, a slide to remove on the bottom, and another magnetic on the side intake. It could easily house a 360 AIO liquid cooler if you wanted to go that route. The motherboard is a mini-atx form factor. Fair amount of room for future upgrades or putting in a ATX board. There does not seem to be any mounting points for 3.5" HDD, nor is there any way to install a optical drive. The back panel is a bit difficult to remove and put back on, but nothing unusual for this class of case. The power supply is Bronze rated, so that's something, but it's a off name brand "High Power." It is not modular, nor would I really expect it to be at this price. No idea on the quality of this, which leaves me a bit leery. I will likely upgrade this at some point.First Boot:RGB is blinding and obnoxious. If that's your thing, rock on. Personally I couldn't get into the application fast enough to disable it. The fans are running at max RPM (~1600rpm) they are extremely loud. I don't have a accurate decibel measuring tool, my phone app says it's ~56db at about 3ft. It is comparable to a oscillating floor fan, which to me is pretty loud.Beyond that though, the system booted to Windows with no issues. However, it is a OEM copy, you do not have a product key, so I'm not sure what to do if you want to replace your SSD or reinstall the OS.Software:I really appreciate iBuyPower built this as a basic OS install. There is almost zero additional bloatware. I'd give you 6 stars for this if I could. The only caveat here is they did not include the actual AMD drivers, relying on Windows to pick a driver. This means the graphics card could be running less than ideal software. Easy to fix for some, basic users would probably never know.Upgrade 1 (Required):Even with minimal bloatware however, about 70gb of the 256gb SSD is taken up by the OS alone. This leaves precious little room for more than a couple games/additional software. This is the first required upgrade. It's not optional. You will need additional storage. Again, be advised, there is no obvious mounting for 3.5" drives. There is an additional slot for a 2.5" SSD or a m.2 drive in the motherboard.Upgrade 2 RAM (Highly recommended):8gb of ram is the "minimum" today. There really is no reason not to upgrade this to 16gb of 3200mhz RAM to take full advantage of the motherboard and CPU capabilities, as well as dual channel. I purchased and installed 16gb (2x8gb kit) DDR4-3200mhz Patriot Viper with no issues. There are only 2 RAM slots on this motherboard, so keep that in mind.Upgrade 3 Fans (optional) but this is primarily why I gave it 4 stars:This is subjective, but to me this system is simply too loud unless you're keeping it somewhere far away from your monitor. Going into the bios and attempting to adjust or build a custom fan curve does nothing. I noted that due to the RGB effects, this system uses a fan hub to control it. When a hub is used, often times the PWN fan control of the motherboard cannot work. I was going to bypass the control and just use a fan splitter to the motherboard, but the fans are a weird 5pin configuration specifically for the controller. The controller itself is either powered by USB or a 3 pin connector which cannot do fan speed control. This motherboard runs all 3 pin fan connections at max speed, it cannot be modified. Also note that it has 2 fan pins for chassis fans. Only pin 1 is able to modulate fan speeds when a 4pin connector is used. Chassis pin 2 runs at max speed regardless. I purchased a 5x pack of Arctic F12 PWM 120mm fans (3x intake fans on chassis 1 with 3 way splitter), and a Arctic F12 Silent 120mm fan for the exhaust (Chassis 2 pin). This dropped the noise down to ~39db at 3ft.Optional Upgrade:PSU.. get a name brand with a bit more headroom.Testing:3dMark score: 5398In conclusion:So.. I'm fairly happy with this system. No I would not have built one like this, but supply of computer components in early late 2020 early 2021 are just so hard to come by at sane prices right now that this makes this a very good deal. You can't buy the individual parts for less, or even near this price if you can even find them in stock. As it comes it will do 1080p gaming at high settings for most things decently. But, if you try to do streaming, or browsing/workstation stuff, the 8gb of RAM limitation will really start to show. This is the best pre-built turn it on and go I've ever seen, so it'd be a great purchase for your kid/niece/nephew gamer. After upgrades it's a respectable 1080p gaming machine.My cost after upgrades:Purchase cost: $699RAM: ~$70Fans: ~$70500gb SSD: ~$90Total:~$930

★★★★★ This is an excellent gaming PC for the price, and works flawlessly after a little setup. Be aware that this is a *full size ATX case*, so it's larger than you may be used to.NOTE: Make sure to activate your copy of Windows. The machine will have a pre-loaded "manufacturer" code, which will be replaced by a unique code when you activate.I was surprised to find that the unit doesn't come preinstalled with GeForce video drivers. Make sure to install the latest set before you try to game, or you'll be shocked at how great it isn't. My unit also defaulted to 30hz refresh rate, which was easy to change in settings.The included keyboard and mouse are... fine... I didn't have a use for them. They're not great quality, but they're useful to have as an extra and the lights are pretty. They're wired, though, so no thanks from me. (I don't consider this a downside since they're basically free).The only significant downside is that, because of the case design, you can't add an optical drive. That likely won't matter to most, but you'll have to rely on an external one if needed. The case is gigantic, so this is an odd choice.Pros:- Great component list (Mine has an MSI 3060)- Great value- NVME SSD (very fast)- Excessive packaging (no dents!)- Quiet- Looks neatoNeutral:- Very RGB (fans synchronize and cycle through colors)Cons:- Case is BIG. This is a full sized ATX case, meaning it's wider and taller than you might be used to.- No optical drive *or* way to install one.- BIOS is custom and unintuitive- Drivers absent

★★★★★ When it comes to getting a thrill out of gaming, few people can rival the avid gamers. Thanks to their superior gaming skills, they earn the nickname Super Gamers. No wonder the gaming industry has become very popular in recent years. There are plenty of affordable gaming PCs out there that you can purchase and customize to your liking. CyberpowerPC is one of the most popular brands in this field. Let's take a look at what makes CyberpowerPC special and why it is so successful.First off, CyberpowerPC is one of the most affordable gaming PC brands in the market today. Many of their PCs are under $1,000, which makes them extremely competitive in the marketplace. They also have a variety of other models that are even less expensive. Buying a CyberpowerPC will help you spend your money on high-quality components instead of flashy aesthetics. Plus, all their PCs are ready out of the box and require very little configuration before use. This makes it easy to get a new gaming computer up and running quickly.Another thing to consider about CyberpowerPC is how powerful their lines are for their price range. Their cheapest model has an Intel i5-6400 quad-core CPU and a GTX1060 graphics card. For only $849, this model is more than capable of handling most modern games at maximum graphics settings. They also have other models with much more powerful CPUs and graphics cards. Even their most expensive PC models have far more power than typical gaming desktops. This makes CyberpowerPCs ideal for anyone looking to upgrade their computer for gaming purposes.CyberpowerPC also has an impressive Master Gaming edition that is incredibly powerful for its price range. All their other models cost over $3,000 but include similar components. The Master Gaming edition includes an Intel i7-6800K quad-core CPU and a GTX 1080 graphics card with 8 GB of memory. It also comes with a 2 TB SSD drive and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. All this adds up to one of the most powerful gaming PCs on the market today!To conclude, CyberpowerPC is one of the best brands for purchasing an affordable, customizeable gaming PC system for your home or office computer setup. Their line is far more affordable than competitors without sacrificing performance or components quality. Their Master Gaming Edition is perfect for any avid gamer out there looking to max out games on high settings!

★★★★★ I purchased this computer for my hubby, to replace one that had a failing motherboard. We didn't need the fancy lights but they are nice. The computer came with windows 11 home. It boots into windows in 3 seconds. I added a 1TB SSD HD for programs as well as a HD that had all his files. The video card is amazing, games are crisp and fast. 8 GB video ram beats 2 GB any day.The gaming mouse arrived broken (the left button will not function), I have sent an email to cyberpowerpc and am waiting for a response.EDIT: Heard back same day from tech support. Sent in a short video showing the mouse not working. New mouse has been ordered and should be here in a week or two.The packaging was excellent, the computer came with packing inside so that the video card did not move. The mouse box was not damaged at all, they may have just had some defective mice.We are very pleased with the system. I am looking forward to ordering myself a new computer sometime in the next few months. Still haven't decided if I want intel or AMD. This computer came with an i5-11400F, 6-core, running at 2.66 GHz. This replaces the old system running an Intel Core2-6600 running at 2.4 GHz.I would definitely recommend CyberPowerPC if you are looking for a computer.

★★★★☆ I had to order this twice; the first one was DOA out of the box. CyberPower tech support was very quick to respond to my call for help and was able to quickly troubleshoot the problem to the motherboard or CPU.Amazon's response I found a little odd, as they wouldn't ship a replacement, only offering a full refund. Not having a choice, I accepted the refund and got the PC repacked and down to the UPS store before the last truck left for the day.I immediately ordered another of the same PC and it arrived this afternoon. At the moment, I'm still getting the system configured how I want it, but I must say I'm impressed with both the build quality and the parts used. Everything is from a brand name I recognize -- EVGA graphic card and power supply, CoolerMaster case and fans, ASRock motherboard, Western Digital M.2 NVMe SSD. The only items that weren't third party brand name are the mouse and keyboard, which are CyberPower branded. Even these are better than the normal el-cheapo pieces you find shipped with the big brand PCs.I also like the little touches, like the no-screws drive rails, the extra zip-ties for neatly routing any cables you may add to the chassis, and even two SATA cables if you decide to add a hard drive or two later.Another thing I appreciated is almost no bloatware, and what I found I think came from Microsoft and Windows 11. I will mention that the Amazon description for the rig said it came with Windows 10, which I was fine with, not being a Windows 11 fan, but I was instead greeted by the overly smug front end of Windows 11 on start-up. Oh, well.This is a really nice system, and with all of these standard components, I can do any number of upgrades in the coming years without having to worry about compatibility.The only whisper of negativity was that one of the front panel fans was making a ticking noise, but once I adjusted a few mounting screws, the sound went away.Overall, this is an excellent buy (There was a pretty good discount going on at the time of my purchase.) and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good middle-of-road gaming PC. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was due to it taking two tries to get a good one.

★★★★☆ Not 'necessarily' an HP Hardware issue or an issue with choice in Architecture components. Its simply that AMD drivers and Windows 11 do not work. Its more Windows 11; overwriting the AMD Adrenaline driver and more Windows stuff.For some reason I can't get the Hardware 'decoder' for HEVC H.265 to work.I've have numerous Driver issues since opening the box.Performance and hardware wise this machine is good for the money, its quite, I CANT STAND The Green LED; and you have to install YET more HP bloatware to shut off the light. You Cannot do it through the BIOS.Overall; it works well with AMDSynch TV's , the HDR Works as intended. the HEVC works as well but I cannot tell if its hardware decoding or not; (perception wise, there is no way to tell if its improvement or not to have hardware decoding if I can't get it working to compare for myself)There are no features this unit is lacking that I need. USB-3 transfer rate is upwards of 90MB and thats my external drive limitation.The SD-HDD; runs at about 300MB-400MB Read;and the write Speed between SD's Will start off at 400MB and AVG to 200MB for large copies.That could also be my SD limitation; I'm running M.2 as my Second SD.Note: Again I have massive issues with Windows 11 file "optimization" and File Explorer. This is most likely NOT hardware. Windows will not delete certain file types and other Known issues not patched yet.I'll Boot Linux and find out, but I don't have the space or time right now for Dual Boot.I upgraded the RAM; it cost me $80. factor that into your purchase.you need 16gigs unless your just a 'word . ppt' person. if you do Data Sci, PowerBI, Gaming; etc... you'll want 16gigs with this rig.NOTE : Make sure to get the correct RAM. or you'll slow your machine down.No use spending more money to slow down your machine.GAMING; I've not gamed with this. But reviews state its good for the money; and performs just as good as a console. For specific games; it can be slightly better, if you can get all the drivers and features lined up. and you only play that game.I don't see any machine having a dual purpose as a gaming machine useful under $1500 market price for needs; and honestly I'll just wait for the next console. The DEV is not there and never will be, gaming is dev for the console first. Industry standard for me.Anyone wanting to take advantage of AMD Platform and integrations on budget should just know that for all the work; you get Average; ...No machine under 1500 will give you more FPS than AVG no matter the marketing or tweaks. Console for games, PC for PC stuff. PC for console stuff = sad ; you can't put time back in the box.NETFLIX , AMAZON, Streaming:Does all these things with 4k HDR+10; and Digital audio.Amazon streaming is recommended through the TV native app; or a Fire Stick; as Amazon will go to war. It will not stream Prime HDR10+ 4K on windows with Chrome. Even after I took great lengths with specific hardware purchases down to the wire; Could not get it to work; the Hardware is capable. The device is advertised as 'theoretically' capable.OFFICE:aside from hardcore Tensorflow; this machine is Far capable of all office and Business Inelegance reporting.VIDEO Editing and DEV:If you've read this far; turn back now. it will do DEV, it will host ENV's (with ram).It will run AI video stuff and DaVenchi; I do a lot of Lossless Cut, GIMP, and Handbrake; it works great for this.Can you take an ML Model and train it on this? or Dev with Unity? ...Eh' you 'could' do some light DEV.Its faster than an intel of 5 years ago.Running Stockfish on analysis with Nibbler; tis faster than my Tablet for sure; but honestly not $650 faster for that extra 40 seconds it takes to find a novelty. Now that I have a tablet and this machine; I don't find myself running to this machine just to analyze or train.If you have a non-gamer machine your fine.This machine is for Steam, Stream, and Budget. It checks all boxes well.Can't fault HP for windows stuff.But 4 stars for needed to install bloatware to shut of an LED.

★★★★☆ Looks good so far.Windows 11 came with the overall update.There is a place to seat a backup hard drive.I upgraded with network card to wifi 6, added a 16gb RAM card, and added in a secondary hard drive.

★★★★★ This computis is good for gaming and cad