$5k for a PC sounds like so much money to spend on a PC these days.
Then again, my first gaming rig (early 1998) consisted of a 266 MHz Pentium II, 64 MB RAM, nVidia Riva 128 4MB AGP video card, 8GB hard drive. Not to mention the 17" Trinitron monitor, AWE64 sound card and a beefy set of 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers.
Total cost: just south of $4k. The 333 MHz processor was also available and probably would have brought the cost closer to $5k.
Similar to my first machine, although I had a 333MHz Celeron "A", 256MB of RAM, and a 6.4GB hard drive (7200RPM!! ;-) ). It cost around $2k sans monitor.
Another overpriced Hunk-o-Junk, which will be outdated only slightly later than a system built with well-balanced parts, for a third of the cost. It's a mystery to me why anyone would buy this kind of machine. Either it would be an attempt to future-proof, which is pointless, or just to show off - meaning the size of said persons genitalia must be severely lacking. I direct you to a recent episode of South Park for details on this phenomenon.
Anyway, the pleasure of building computers (for me, at least) has always been to see just how much awesome you could squeeze out of any given budget. I've had just as much fun building net-tops and lowpower PC's for friends and family, as I have building powerful rigs for myself and my gaming buddies.
And seriously? What's with the 6x2 GB RAM in a system like this? The least they could do is make it 3x4 to ease the upgrade path...
Excellent review! I'm just wondering if it's better to have an Ibuypower's Erebus system rather than a Level10 case, they cost nearty the same with equal hardware specs.
The Geforce GTX 590 aren't as impressive as the HD 6990 in the benchmarks I've seen. In fact, the 6990 beats the crap out of them in high resolutions with AA activated, due to their higher vRAM size. Plus, 6990 clocks nearly 300 mhz faster, and while Fermi architecture is superior, 300 mhz is, well....a lot of difference.
The SSD is also a bad choice. Intel has never done any SSD comparable to an OCZ Vertex 3 (or an OCZ PCIe-based one, aka VeloDrive). Besides, who the hell needs 2 terabytes of disk space?
I don't know if it's performance-wise or what, but 6x2 GB's modules seems a waste to me. If you want to upgrade (it's "only" 12 gb's of RAM after all), you've to throw away one or more of them.
At least the price seems "correct", but to claim this is the "fastest system ever"...I'm not impressed at all.
I kind of agree with you on the graphics part, but the difference is neglible. The SSD is not a bad choice, though - the Intel 510 is probably the fastest option out there right now, according to benchmarks, and assuming you have an MB that supports 6Gbps. And yes, the RAM configuration is horrendous - a system like this should have absolutely no drawbacks. At that price point, nothing less should be expected. But - there's bound to be a few idiots with enough disposable income. I'm sure CyberPower (hate that name) is betting on it...
The difference between the 6990 CF and GTX 590 SLI is going to seem at least somewhat academic given the results I had with the GTX 590 SLI config. And personally, I'd make the trade-off: the GTX 590 runs much quieter than the 6990 does.
This system was built to sell to people with some, but not a lot, of PC knowledge. Thus Intel drives and Geforce graphics. The 6x2 GB RAM just helps to confirm it. It's cheaper and still says "12GB" on the side of the case. Although it's not the way anyone would build a system for themselves. Add to it a case with aesthetics that set it apart, and the thinking that went into the design seems pretty obvious.
I'm not saying it's a bad design from a business POV. Just the opposite. Well thought out on the marketing teams side.
The price WOULD BE correct if that config is tagged at "$1,565"
If "As configured $5,017" is the full system with the specs we see, then it's pure and absolute crap. If Sandy Bridge-E gets out before October, I'll be able to build a system that kicks it's ass for 500$-1000$ less.
With that power draw, consider the possibility that you will need a dedicated circuit to power it. It's drawing as much power as a microwave (9 amps@110v), and microwaves typically get their own circuit. Most home circuit breakers are 20-amp units (again, US voltage), and you don;'t want to exceed 75% of capacity. Add in the power draw of a pair of 30" monitors and a sound system, and you don't have much room left for anything else on that circuit.
Also consider your line conditioning. At that power draw, the run-of-the-mill 700Va home UPS ain't gonna do it. You'll want to protect your $5000 worth of computers and $2000 worth of multiple 30" monitors (you're not getting this to drive a 24" 1920x1200 display, after all), and to do so at that load you're looking at another kilobuck; your UPS will have to be a low-end data center piece instead of a consumer piece.
Is this worth $5000 to you? The better question is, is it worth $8000? If so, go for it. Just consider all the extra expenses, above and beyond the power bill and the computer itself.
Have to say that I bought a $3K Cyberpower pc last month based on recent reviews here - they sent me a defective machine and have not responded now to three separate emails over the last two weeks requesting support or return information. If that is the service they provide to customers, not quite sure why you are bothering to review their machines.
To better assist us with getting your concerns addressed; please email [email protected] with your Cyberpower PC customer id number and a direct return contact number. Once we have this; we will make every effort to contact you to your concerns address your concerns.
Don't know too much about computers, but I wouldn't mind playing this impressive material with Crysis 2. Hope I'm the one to win if they have a giveaway.
This machine looks like it was put together with extreme superficiality, and with an obvious lack of passion. Custom built, boutique computer systems are supposed to be about mods and customizations. Just the cable management is horrendously impractical. If the tech at CyberPowerPC would spend 5 minutes at any Home Depot he could come up with a half way decent cable management solution. When it comes to custom built computer systems, and this price range, everything matters, every little detail. Specs don't matter as much as quality. And I'm addressing this to CyberPower: people don't buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini just for the specs, they also buy them for the status symbol that they get, for the quality and for the level of service. Otherwise everyone could buy a $20000 to $60000 sports car (like a Corvette) and be done with it. I'm not saying that a Corvette is a bad car, I'm just saying that it's not a Ferrari, just like a Alienware will never be a Falcon-NW.
My point is that I will never spend this kind of money on a CyberPowerPC or any kind of half-assed-boutique computer system. For $5000 I can get a Mac Pro, an Apple monitor and have money left over for a Macbook. Or I can get a decent PC built by any number of manufacturers that will turn more heads and perform way better.
Bottom line: put some soul in your computers for Christ Sake do some real custom work on them, otherwise your computer systems are just expensive hunks of junks. Most people can twist cables and install boards these days.
For $5000 they really should have managed all of those cables.
It looks like they just through the cables in and loosely zip tied them together.
A quality build would have cut and spliced those cables to exact lengths, added sleaves, and changed the plugs to a build enhancing color scheme.
Theres absolutely nothing custom about this build. Everything is stock parts that a customer could very easily purchase from Newegg and as Anand pointed out they could probably save $500 by doing so.
I love how people on this site cry about how overpriced this rig is, how the hardware is so outdated.. yet they would take it in a heartbeat. All you budget gamers need not apply. Anyways, anyone with this much money willing to spend on a rig with this much hardware... should NEVER EVER buy from CyberpowerPC or Ibuypower. These two companies have HORRIBLE reviews, just go read their forums. There are way better boutique builders than cyberpowerpc, and ibuypower.
I love how my password never works more than once. I'm sick of registering to post comments.
Anyone else think it was interesting that every hot new SSD is a 240 GB, yet they put 120's in this monster? If anyone could justify 240's it'd be this, right?
Or maybe there really isn't anyone who thinks a big SSD is worth the $$$.
Actually, it wouldn't matter much for performance, given the Marvel controller. You would get a lot more bang for buck for this rigg if you got a decent RAID card (like LSI 92xx or Areca 1680/1880) and put up 4-8x 64GB or 128GB SSDs in RAID-0. Your PCmark vantage scores would easily hit 30-35K, IOPS would pass 100K, and bandwidth around 1500-2000MB/s. If you got one of the Arecas with 4GB RAM, the read-ahead and intelligent cache would also make a visible dent in loading times and burst speed. I would go for a decent RAID card with good SSDs over SLI 590 any day. If you're not going ultra details with 3 27/30" monitors you don't need it anyway. Single 580 or SLI 560/570 sounds better. I'd also get a water block for the GPU(s) and add another 240/480 radiator (depending on 1 or 2 GPUs), outside the case if needed.
The PCmark Vantage score is way below what you'd expect for a $5K system in Q2 2011. In 2008, Nizzen scored 24740 (just 700 points below this) on a system costing about the same, which was his main system on it's 24/7 clock. This time last year he was in the mid 30K's with a build refresh with 980x also at 24/7 clock.
I suspect the reason for the underperforming score is the Marvel RAID controller used on the motherboard for the SSD RAID, and intel 510 SSDs being used. I would love to see full PCMark Vantage HDD suite scores to confirm or rule out this. RAM clock also seems bad, unless running really tight timings.
...for a i7-2600K, (changing all compatible parts accordingly) drop the 590s (quad-core, right?) and try something close to 3-slot SLI /CF models/setup, with unencumbered multipliers on the graphics cards and on the CPU, add more water cooling, drop more fans, and see what happens to bang-for-buck and idling power. Most oldish games still enjoy poor coding and like faster cores instead of MORE cores, like SC2.
And really, for that dosh all the cabling should be custom-fit.
"Now admittedly I was running the Gamer Xtreme FTW with the sliding glass door open when the outside weather was less than 60F, but we can probably all agree these are excellent thermals, especially when you take into account the reason why I tested this tower with that door open."
So you tested with the sliding glass open because your ambient temp was cool. How does that have any resemblance to normal operating conditions? All the dust, increased noise, not to mention very likely giving a VERY rosy picture to the thermals. It doesn't matter if the problem is the Thermaltake Level 10 GT as you allude to without giving specifics, Cyberpower CHOSE this case for this build. If they made the wrong case choice, that IS on them.
Dustin, I normally like your reviews and writing style, but this one smacks of bias or poor decision making.
My last pc purchase was a boutique machine of $5000. Rated tops and "quiet" to boot. Be careful what you buy. Their idea of "quiet" was 8 fans running as fast as they could run (screem) and a water pump placed in the front of the case for more added noise. I ended up re-piping the fluid, moving the pump, replacing the noisey fans, eliminating 4 of the fans, removing the overclock, and enabling the Q fan control. I now have a very decent machine. But, I wasted that $1000 you mention. A lesson learned...
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Souka - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I think AT should do a giveaway for this unit...If so, first entry post! 8-O
Souka - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
OMG the wattage this thing draws at idle is more than my current setup draws at load.With this unit under load I'd have to get a AC unit for my computer room (except during winter)...yikes!!!!
cknobman - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Im in for a giveaway!!!!!!!!Sardius - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
$5k for a PC sounds like so much money to spend on a PC these days.Then again, my first gaming rig (early 1998) consisted of a 266 MHz Pentium II, 64 MB RAM, nVidia Riva 128 4MB AGP video card, 8GB hard drive. Not to mention the 17" Trinitron monitor, AWE64 sound card and a beefy set of 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers.
Total cost: just south of $4k. The 333 MHz processor was also available and probably would have brought the cost closer to $5k.
Makes me want to go play some (GL) Quake!
Spivonious - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Similar to my first machine, although I had a 333MHz Celeron "A", 256MB of RAM, and a 6.4GB hard drive (7200RPM!! ;-) ). It cost around $2k sans monitor.Souka - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
From about 1979 to late-90's a decent home computer setup cost almost $2,000I saw a nice graph showing "avg. home computer cost"
szimm - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Another overpriced Hunk-o-Junk, which will be outdated only slightly later than a system built with well-balanced parts, for a third of the cost. It's a mystery to me why anyone would buy this kind of machine. Either it would be an attempt to future-proof, which is pointless, or just to show off - meaning the size of said persons genitalia must be severely lacking. I direct you to a recent episode of South Park for details on this phenomenon.Anyway, the pleasure of building computers (for me, at least) has always been to see just how much awesome you could squeeze out of any given budget. I've had just as much fun building net-tops and lowpower PC's for friends and family, as I have building powerful rigs for myself and my gaming buddies.
And seriously? What's with the 6x2 GB RAM in a system like this? The least they could do is make it 3x4 to ease the upgrade path...
Alchemy69 - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
That five grand amounts to a stupidity tax.Lazlo Panaflex - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Good Lawd, that case is absolutely fugly...wth were they thinking?tpurves - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Maybe the ugliest computer I have ever seen.Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I'll admit I'm not a huge fan of the case's aesthetics, but the thermals are stellar. It gets the job done.nuker - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Can we have the noise levels please?Excellent review! I'm just wondering if it's better to have an Ibuypower's Erebus system rather than a Level10 case, they cost nearty the same with equal hardware specs.
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I can try getting an Erebus in for review, but in the meantime I'll also be reviewing the Level 10 GT on its own sometime soon.IdioticLoginSystem - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
It's me or it's not SO impressive as it seems?The Geforce GTX 590 aren't as impressive as the HD 6990 in the benchmarks I've seen. In fact, the 6990 beats the crap out of them in high resolutions with AA activated, due to their higher vRAM size. Plus, 6990 clocks nearly 300 mhz faster, and while Fermi architecture is superior, 300 mhz is, well....a lot of difference.
The SSD is also a bad choice. Intel has never done any SSD comparable to an OCZ Vertex 3 (or an OCZ PCIe-based one, aka VeloDrive). Besides, who the hell needs 2 terabytes of disk space?
I don't know if it's performance-wise or what, but 6x2 GB's modules seems a waste to me. If you want to upgrade (it's "only" 12 gb's of RAM after all), you've to throw away one or more of them.
At least the price seems "correct", but to claim this is the "fastest system ever"...I'm not impressed at all.
szimm - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
I kind of agree with you on the graphics part, but the difference is neglible. The SSD is not a bad choice, though - the Intel 510 is probably the fastest option out there right now, according to benchmarks, and assuming you have an MB that supports 6Gbps. And yes, the RAM configuration is horrendous - a system like this should have absolutely no drawbacks. At that price point, nothing less should be expected. But - there's bound to be a few idiots with enough disposable income. I'm sure CyberPower (hate that name) is betting on it...Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
The difference between the 6990 CF and GTX 590 SLI is going to seem at least somewhat academic given the results I had with the GTX 590 SLI config. And personally, I'd make the trade-off: the GTX 590 runs much quieter than the 6990 does.3DVagabond - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
This system was built to sell to people with some, but not a lot, of PC knowledge. Thus Intel drives and Geforce graphics. The 6x2 GB RAM just helps to confirm it. It's cheaper and still says "12GB" on the side of the case. Although it's not the way anyone would build a system for themselves. Add to it a case with aesthetics that set it apart, and the thinking that went into the design seems pretty obvious.I'm not saying it's a bad design from a business POV. Just the opposite. Well thought out on the marketing teams side.
IdioticLoginSystem - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
The price WOULD BE correct if that config is tagged at "$1,565"If "As configured $5,017" is the full system with the specs we see, then it's pure and absolute crap. If Sandy Bridge-E gets out before October, I'll be able to build a system that kicks it's ass for 500$-1000$ less.
Spazweasel - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
With that power draw, consider the possibility that you will need a dedicated circuit to power it. It's drawing as much power as a microwave (9 amps@110v), and microwaves typically get their own circuit. Most home circuit breakers are 20-amp units (again, US voltage), and you don;'t want to exceed 75% of capacity. Add in the power draw of a pair of 30" monitors and a sound system, and you don't have much room left for anything else on that circuit.Also consider your line conditioning. At that power draw, the run-of-the-mill 700Va home UPS ain't gonna do it. You'll want to protect your $5000 worth of computers and $2000 worth of multiple 30" monitors (you're not getting this to drive a 24" 1920x1200 display, after all), and to do so at that load you're looking at another kilobuck; your UPS will have to be a low-end data center piece instead of a consumer piece.
Is this worth $5000 to you? The better question is, is it worth $8000? If so, go for it. Just consider all the extra expenses, above and beyond the power bill and the computer itself.
meshugge - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Have to say that I bought a $3K Cyberpower pc last month based on recent reviews here - they sent me a defective machine and have not responded now to three separate emails over the last two weeks requesting support or return information. If that is the service they provide to customers, not quite sure why you are bothering to review their machines.CyberHD - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
Meshugge,To better assist us with getting your concerns addressed; please email [email protected] with your Cyberpower PC customer id number and a direct return contact number. Once we have this; we will make every effort to contact you to your concerns address your concerns.
Regards
Cyberpower PC
Browngamer93 - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
Don't know too much about computers, but I wouldn't mind playing this impressive material with Crysis 2. Hope I'm the one to win if they have a giveaway.wolfman3k5 - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - link
This machine looks like it was put together with extreme superficiality, and with an obvious lack of passion. Custom built, boutique computer systems are supposed to be about mods and customizations. Just the cable management is horrendously impractical. If the tech at CyberPowerPC would spend 5 minutes at any Home Depot he could come up with a half way decent cable management solution. When it comes to custom built computer systems, and this price range, everything matters, every little detail. Specs don't matter as much as quality. And I'm addressing this to CyberPower: people don't buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini just for the specs, they also buy them for the status symbol that they get, for the quality and for the level of service. Otherwise everyone could buy a $20000 to $60000 sports car (like a Corvette) and be done with it. I'm not saying that a Corvette is a bad car, I'm just saying that it's not a Ferrari, just like a Alienware will never be a Falcon-NW.My point is that I will never spend this kind of money on a CyberPowerPC or any kind of half-assed-boutique computer system. For $5000 I can get a Mac Pro, an Apple monitor and have money left over for a Macbook. Or I can get a decent PC built by any number of manufacturers that will turn more heads and perform way better.
Bottom line: put some soul in your computers for Christ Sake do some real custom work on them, otherwise your computer systems are just expensive hunks of junks. Most people can twist cables and install boards these days.
EpsilonZero - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
For $5000 they really should have managed all of those cables.It looks like they just through the cables in and loosely zip tied them together.
A quality build would have cut and spliced those cables to exact lengths, added sleaves, and changed the plugs to a build enhancing color scheme.
Theres absolutely nothing custom about this build. Everything is stock parts that a customer could very easily purchase from Newegg and as Anand pointed out they could probably save $500 by doing so.
CyberPower you got a long way to go.
ironmb1 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I love how people on this site cry about how overpriced this rig is, how the hardware is so outdated.. yet they would take it in a heartbeat. All you budget gamers need not apply. Anyways, anyone with this much money willing to spend on a rig with this much hardware... should NEVER EVER buy from CyberpowerPC or Ibuypower. These two companies have HORRIBLE reviews, just go read their forums. There are way better boutique builders than cyberpowerpc, and ibuypower.I love how my password never works more than once. I'm sick of registering to post comments.
MilwaukeeMike - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Anyone else think it was interesting that every hot new SSD is a 240 GB, yet they put 120's in this monster? If anyone could justify 240's it'd be this, right?Or maybe there really isn't anyone who thinks a big SSD is worth the $$$.
GullLars - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Actually, it wouldn't matter much for performance, given the Marvel controller.You would get a lot more bang for buck for this rigg if you got a decent RAID card (like LSI 92xx or Areca 1680/1880) and put up 4-8x 64GB or 128GB SSDs in RAID-0. Your PCmark vantage scores would easily hit 30-35K, IOPS would pass 100K, and bandwidth around 1500-2000MB/s. If you got one of the Arecas with 4GB RAM, the read-ahead and intelligent cache would also make a visible dent in loading times and burst speed.
I would go for a decent RAID card with good SSDs over SLI 590 any day. If you're not going ultra details with 3 27/30" monitors you don't need it anyway.
Single 580 or SLI 560/570 sounds better. I'd also get a water block for the GPU(s) and add another 240/480 radiator (depending on 1 or 2 GPUs), outside the case if needed.
GullLars - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
The PCmark Vantage score is way below what you'd expect for a $5K system in Q2 2011.In 2008, Nizzen scored 24740 (just 700 points below this) on a system costing about the same, which was his main system on it's 24/7 clock. This time last year he was in the mid 30K's with a build refresh with 980x also at 24/7 clock.
I suspect the reason for the underperforming score is the Marvel RAID controller used on the motherboard for the SSD RAID, and intel 510 SSDs being used.
I would love to see full PCMark Vantage HDD suite scores to confirm or rule out this.
RAM clock also seems bad, unless running really tight timings.
Gonemad - Friday, June 3, 2011 - link
...for a i7-2600K, (changing all compatible parts accordingly) drop the 590s (quad-core, right?) and try something close to 3-slot SLI /CF models/setup, with unencumbered multipliers on the graphics cards and on the CPU, add more water cooling, drop more fans, and see what happens to bang-for-buck and idling power. Most oldish games still enjoy poor coding and like faster cores instead of MORE cores, like SC2.And really, for that dosh all the cabling should be custom-fit.
7Enigma - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
What the heck does this mean:"Now admittedly I was running the Gamer Xtreme FTW with the sliding glass door open when the outside weather was less than 60F, but we can probably all agree these are excellent thermals, especially when you take into account the reason why I tested this tower with that door open."
So you tested with the sliding glass open because your ambient temp was cool. How does that have any resemblance to normal operating conditions? All the dust, increased noise, not to mention very likely giving a VERY rosy picture to the thermals. It doesn't matter if the problem is the Thermaltake Level 10 GT as you allude to without giving specifics, Cyberpower CHOSE this case for this build. If they made the wrong case choice, that IS on them.
Dustin, I normally like your reviews and writing style, but this one smacks of bias or poor decision making.
Grandpa - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
My last pc purchase was a boutique machine of $5000. Rated tops and "quiet" to boot. Be careful what you buy. Their idea of "quiet" was 8 fans running as fast as they could run (screem) and a water pump placed in the front of the case for more added noise. I ended up re-piping the fluid, moving the pump, replacing the noisey fans, eliminating 4 of the fans, removing the overclock, and enabling the Q fan control. I now have a very decent machine. But, I wasted that $1000 you mention. A lesson learned...Grandpa - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
I noticed in the picture a case full of holes. How good can that be for noise control? I've never seen a hole that didn't allow noise to pass through......sorry, I hate computer noise.