Introducing the iBUYPOWER Erebus GT

Boutique gaming desktops are nothing new around here; while enthusiasts may readily dismiss them, it's easy to forget they do serve a purpose and a market beyond the do-it-yourself crowd. There are certain things even a lot of enthusiasts, myself included, aren't able to do that boutiques can; specifically, assembling custom liquid cooling loops. The last one of these we saw was Puget Systems' Deluge, a behemoth of a machine that retailed for more than seven grand.

Today iBUYPOWER is making available a system with many of those same perks at a fraction of the cost. The Erebus GT uses an entirely custom enclosure, has a laser-etched panel window with white LED lighting, and most importantly includes a custom liquid loop attached to a massive top-mounted radiator that cools the CPU and GPU. Can iBUYPOWER deliver a truly compelling boutique build at a reasonable price without cutting any corners?

At first glance it certainly looks that way. When you check out the specs below you'll undoubtedly see a system that could be built and air-cooled at two-thirds of the price from the same vendor, but the hardware used for the liquid cooling loop can be pricey on its own.

For this build, iBUYPOWER opted to stick with Sandy Bridge instead of Sandy Bridge-E. This is undoubtedly going to be a source of some contention; Sandy Bridge-E is a fantastic workstation processor (at least the hex-core variants are) but is generally excessive for gaming systems, substantially raising both the cost to purchase and the cost to run it (by way of your power bill) for benefits within gaming that are negligible at best. The i7-2700K remains essentially the fastest quad-core processor available, and iBUYPOWER has overclocked it from 3.5GHz all the way to 4.6GHz.

The Erebus GT is also equipped with what's presently the fastest single-GPU video card available, the AMD Radeon HD 7970. Despite the liquid cooling loop that includes the HD 7970, though, iBUYPOWER opts not to overclock the card, leaving its 2048 shader cores clocked at the stock 925MHz despite reports that the card is very overclockable. It's a mild disappointment, but we have yet to see a system come in from a boutique with the graphics card overclocked (e.g. beyond what the video card manufacturer might provide).

Thankfully they didn't skimp on quality kit for the rest of the build, either. The Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 is based on Intel's Z68 chipset and is a fine motherboard that sports all the trimmings, while iBUYPOWER has also outfitted the system with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 in four DIMMs running at 1.5v. Arguably the only place you could say they cut a corner was by opting for an A-Data SSD instead of one from Intel or another vendor, but SSD reliability is still a relative unknown, and the A-Data part is still a second-generation SandForce drive with a decent amount of storage. A-Data may not update their firmware quite as fast as some other SSD vendors, but otherwise performance and reliability should be the same as any other (non-Intel) SF-2281 SSD.

If we breaking down the pricing compared to rolling your own at Newegg, let's start with the basics. You can get all of the core components and put them in an Antec Twelve Hundred case for around $1850. However, that doesn't give you a factory overclock (covered by the warranty), and it doesn't include any form of liquid cooling. That's where assaying the price of the build becomes a bit more difficult. FrozenCPU has this EK 7970 cooler and backplate that will add $155 to the cost of the system. A similar LGA 1155/1156 CPU cooler and backplate will tack on another $90 or so, and a 3x140mm radator would add another $108. That doesn't even include a water pump or reservoir, which could add anywhere from $50 to $100 for basic components, and you still need to add fittings and tubes! If you want to go higher-end on the liquid cooling parts, you could spend two or three times as much depending on what you purchase.

Put it all together and iBUYPOWER's $2500 sticker price actually doesn't seem that bad—provided of course that you really want a liquid cooled system. Also, let me put in a quick disclaimer that the above parts were selected based purely on availability and roughly similar features to the cooling setup used in the Erebus GT. I make no promises on the quality of any of those parts; they're there simply to illustrate roughly how much you might pay should you want to take the plunge into a liquid cooled PC.

Let's hold off on any further analysis until we've actually put the Erebus GT through our benchmark suite. Yes, $2500 is a lot of money to spend on a gaming system, but we've certainly seen more exotic and costly systems over the years. How does this unit compare to other high-end gaming systems from the past year or so?

Application and Futuremark Performance

Intel's Core i7-2700K is a relatively known quantity, as we've reviewed systems with overclocked Sandy Bridge processors in them many times before. Suffice it to say, the iBUYPOWER Erebus GT should prove to be plenty fast where the CPU is concerned. As mentioned previously, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is also the fastest single-GPU card currently available, giving the Erebus GT a substantial amount of graphics horsepower without the potential headaches of a multi-GPU solution. Finally, the SandForce-based SSD should carry the Erebus GT the rest of the way in our PCMark benches (though 240GB SF-2281 SSDs would benchmark slightly faster thanks to the additional NAND die).

All of the results line up pretty much exactly where you'd expect. The Erebus GT's 4.6GHz overclock on the i7-2700K allows it to hang with AVADirect's system, while benchmarks that benefit from more than four cores (and eight threads) allow Gulftown and Sandy Bridge-E to shine. The PCMarks continue to dance around the differences between SSDs, but the Erebus GT is still in the ballpark, right where it should be. Just about any of the above systems will prove to be plenty fast for most applications.

3DMark06 remains essentially CPU-limited while the multi-GPU solutions beat AMD's single-GPU Radeon HD 7970 once the workload shifts to the graphics subsystem. While we would never judge a GPU solely by 3DMark scores, the 7970 still proves its worth by placing well ahead of the GTX 580, a pattern which repeats itself when we get to the gaming benchmarks proper.

Gaming Performance

We've already established the AMD Radeon HD 7970 at the heart of the Erebus GT is the fastest single-GPU graphics card currently available, though iBUYPOWER didn't opt to exploit the liquid cooling loop to coax more performance out of it. Given these figures, that performance may not be entirely needed until you start running games in surround resolutions.

Note that a couple results are missing from Civilization V and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim due to separate issues. As mentioned in our review of the HP Phoenix, Civilization V (or more accurately, the Acer HN274H) has a bug wherein the maximum resolution of the monitor isn't correctly detected by the benchmark, so we don't have results from AVADirect's system in that game. Likewise, AVADirect's Skyrim benchmark was run before Patch 1.4 and the high resolution texture pack, so those results have been omitted.

With that out of the way, iBUYPOWER's system demonstrates a healthy lead on the competing systems. HP is unfortunately not planning to make the 7970 available in the Phoenix, opting for a more lateral move to the Radeon HD 7950 from the GeForce GTX 580 in our review unit. The result is that while the HP Phoenix can be had for less than the Erebus GT, it's also never going to approach iBUYPOWER's system in terms of raw gaming performance. We've also gone ahead and run our surround gaming tests (for the first time on our new suite) with the Erebus GT:

Because the AMD Radeon HD 7970 supports running three displays off of a single card, we're able to include surround gaming testing results that really stress the system. It's not surprising that Battlefield 3 turns in an unplayable result; the game is incredibly stressful on its own before asking a single GPU to handle it at a 6.9 megapixel resolution with 4xMSAA. Civilization V also continues to be quirky by refusing to benchmark in surround mode, but the game is actually playable at the 5760x1200 resolution with no problems.

We'll have to wait for additional systems to see where a single 7970 (and the iBUYPOWER system) stack up relative to other offerings, but considering the punishing requirements of our gaming suite it's safe to say that the only way you'll get a better triple-head gaming system is by using multiple GPUs (or waiting to see what NVIDIA's Kepler brings to the table).

Build Quality

For the Erebus GT, iBUYPOWER is using a custom chassis that appears to be based on an NZXT design. The framework, front hot-swap bay, card reader, and switchable LEDs that light up the port cluster and expansion slots in the back of the enclosure are all holdovers from the Switch 810, but the radiator assembly at the top of the enclosure seems to be entirely a custom solution as does the steel material used for the majority of the case itself.

The custom liquid cooling loop uses what appears to be a 420mm radiator in the top of the enclosure along with an additional 140mm radiator in the rear. Fluid can be poured in/replaced using a twist off cap on the top of the enclosure, but this area is also the seat of the Erebus GT's woes. When the system shipped, the cap seems to either have not been completely secured or came loose in shipping (not unreasonable given the system itself weighs in the neighborhood of fifty pounds), and there was minor spillage of radiator fluid. Thankfully none of it made it inside the enclosure, but iBUYPOWER also uses a nonconductive fluid for the loop as a safeguard.

The attractive internal lighting job also didn't survive the journey in quite as good a shape as I'd have liked: the hooks keeping the lighting strand affixed to the bottom of the enclosure came loose either in shipment or when the internal packing material was removed, and wouldn't stay reaffixed.

Despite these minor setbacks, the build quality proper of the Erebus GT is generally excellent, though the cabling job behind the motherboard tray could stand to be a bit neater. There's a small window for the coolant reservoir in the front of the enclosure that lets you check your coolant level, and the white lighting scheme coupled with the frosty laser-etched logo and design on the left side panel is evocative of the very coldest depths of Hell. I personally find the look of the system along with the stylistic and artistic flourishes to be flavorful and tasteful without being over-the-top or gaudy as hardware targeted towards gamers can often be.

With all that said, there were problems that I ran into in the operation and testing of the system that we'll address on the next page.

Heat, Noise, and Power Consumption

Where the Erebus GT does largely succeed is in its management of heat and power consumption. Given the custom liquid cooling loop, it's not surprising that the system doesn't have any trouble dissipating heat, but the real surprise was in how frugal it is with power consumption.

Idle power consumption ranks among the best systems we've tested, especially when you consider the fact that the Erebus GT has to power a water pump alongside the fans attached to the radiators. The success here is owed to two things: the reasonably frugal Radeon HD 7970, and the decision by iBUYPOWER's engineers to manually set a reasonably low offset voltage on the CPU overclock rather than just pump a load of voltage into the chip and call it a day. Offset voltage is something I had a chance to discuss with their representative at CES 2012 and something I always take boutiques to task about, so I'm happy to see that problem addressed here.

Heat is largely kept in check, and the Radeon HD 7970 runs spectacularly cool: there's definitely room for improvement there. Unfortunately, iBUYPOWER's system does suffer from one issue: noise. It isn't the loudest system I've ever tested and the noise is at least a low-pitched hum that's not too obtrusive, but 43dBA is loud enough to be noticeable and there don't seem to be any fan controls in place to keep the noise levels down when the system is idle. Noise is consistent regardless of how hard you push the Erebus GT.

Testing Issues and a Statement from iBUYPOWER

I mentioned the problems that surfaced during shipment of the iBUYPOWER Erebus GT on the previous page (a minor coolant leak due to the reservoir cap not being completely fastened, and a loose lighting strep), but there were also issues with stability.

Speaking frankly if anecdotally, the idea of a desktop (especially a heavily overclocked desktop) that can actually enter and exit sleep mode properly is practically mythical in nature. I've never owned or serviced a desktop that could do it without locking up or getting stuck in a power cycle when I tried to wake it up. My experiences there are fraught. [Ed: I have a couple old Core 2 Quad systems that manage this feat, as well as a couple Bloomfield systems that can sleep and resume, but I do admit that the overclocks are relatively tame by comparison to the Erebus GT.] That said, when you buy a system from a vendor, be they large or small, you want the system to work perfectly.

During setup, I left the Erebus GT for a couple of hours and it idled to sleep on its own. Unfortunately it wouldn't wake up, and when powered off and then restarted it wouldn't POST. I had to clear CMOS to get the system to POST again, and then manually re-enter the overclocking settings. After that the system ran smoothly (though I disabled sleep in Windows), with just one hiccup where it locked up during PCMark 7. This isn't entirely unheard of; I have a notebook from a major vendor I'm reviewing right now that locked up during a run of PCMark 7, but like the Erebus GT the system ran smoothly before and since.

Acknowledging that there were problems with our review unit, though, we asked iBUYPOWER for a statement which is provided below:

We apologize for the issues you have had setting up the system. It is our number one priority to make sure that our customers’ systems function properly as expected when it arrives and throughout the product’s lifespan. Our customers obviously expect the same from the moment they hit the customize button to configure their system. That’s why every system we ship is tested to be fully functional under harsher conditions than they are typically ever used in. In addition, we put a lot of time into engineering safeguards and redundancies into our products, like our unique Erebus line, to prevent major mishaps and limit possible damage. For example, we use Koolance compression fittings, instead of much cheaper alternatives, to prevent coolant leaks and we use specially formulated non-conductive coolant, in case there is a leak.

Unfortunately, when you deal with massive customizability on a large scale, it is impossible to anticipate every situation. There are a lot of things that can happen after the system leaves our factory floor. That’s why we have policies in place to protect our customers, like a 30-day money-back guarantee with no restocking fee (for the worst-case scenarios). Obviously, before we get to that level, we always try to work out the problems with the system. Ultimately, what everyone wants is for the system to work.

Our technicians and customer service representatives are based right here in the USA, and are very experienced and have each worked with hundreds, possibly thousands of unique systems and customers. With customers who are more comfortable with technology, we will work with them to get the system running. For those who are not comfortable with tinkering, we will have the system shipped back to us for repair. Sometimes, the problem is simple, like a SATA cable that came loose in shipping, or an oddly misbehaving BIOS. Other times, fixes are more difficult, like physical damage due to the box being dropped by a shipping carrier. Either way, our representatives have the experience, the knowledge, and, most importantly, the authority necessary to remedy any issue that may arise.

Again, we apologize for the issues you have had setting up your system, and I am pleased to hear that you were able to get the system running with the assistance of one of our technicians. We want to assure you and your readers that we stand by our products, and will do anything necessary to ensure our products operate and perform at a level at or above expectations.

The 30-day money-back guarantee is a nice safety net, but there's certainly a concern with long-term stability with a hefty overclock. We had two minor issues that we experienced; one couldn't be reproduced in our limited and may have just been one of those random issues that sometimes crop up, but more likely is that the overclock might be just a bit too high or too close to the edge on one of the settings. I'd expect more problems to manifest over an extended period of time, and unfortunately evaluating long-term customer support for a product like this (e.g. over a year of use) is beyond the scope of what we can test.

The other problem (inability to resume from sleep) is unfortunately relatively common for significant overclocks. There's a simple workaround (don't put the computer to sleep and disable the sleep option in Windows), but it's not an elegant solution. The cause of such problems usually goes back to the motherboard and BIOS, but regardless it's a quirk you need to be willing to live with (or willing to troubleshoot) if you choose to purchase a heavily overclocked PC. Not every overclocked PC will experience this problem—not even PCs with the same components and same overclock—but often there's no real fix other than backing down on the overclock or disabling sleep mode. YMMV.

Conclusion: Worthy of Enthusiast Attention

Before getting into the problems we had in testing, it bears stating that the iBUYPOWER Erebus GT is fundamentally an excellent product. Boutiques need to find ways to distinguish themselves both from competing boutiques and from larger vendors like Dell or HP, and iBUYPOWER has managed to do exactly that. Shallow though it may be, it's important to establish a brand and aesthetic with your hardware. The Erebus GT isn't just an excellent performer, it's a distinctive-looking piece of hardware to boot.

While the iBUYPOWER representative's response to our testing problems does play a bit like the usual PR, it's also the best and probably most honest we can get or expect. I don't have to tell any of you just how complex computers are at a fundamental level, and I've never owned a piece of hardware that didn't have at least one or two small idiosyncracies or the occasional glitch. It's hardly surprising to me that something didn't gel 100% by the time I was done testing it, but there wasn't anything here that struck me as a major quality control issue, and iBUYPOWER's representatives certainly seem game to help out the end user.

It's unfortunate that as a reviewer it's difficult to see what consumers are going to have to deal with; we typically get one system that we test and write about, and a sample size of one isn't particularly meaningful. We also generally expect our samples to get a bit of extra TLC from the vendor, so when we have any issues—even minor ones—you have to wonder about the "regular customers" experience. If we have a problem with any hardware, we can't even accurately gauge customer service (since our system order would clearly point to the review unit status). Ultimately, all we can say for certain is that our particular sample wasn't 100% stable, but there weren't any show stoppers and iBUYPOWER does have a 30-day money-back guarantee should things really get messy. Is that enough? For an enthusiast capable of doing some troubleshooting, yes, it probably is; for your mom or dad? I'd likely stick with a less extreme system—and it's not like most non-enthusiasts would really be looking at HD 7970 cards anyway.

Ultimately $2499 is still a pretty penny to pay for a gaming machine, but I think value is on iBUYPOWER's side here. To recap our earlier pricing summary, a quick jaunt to NewEgg puts the pricetag on the individual components at $1668, but that's before getting the waterblocks for the CPU and graphics card, the radiators, the coolant, the tubing, the seals, and the large steel custom enclosure that in my time reviewing cases I would expect to see go for somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 at least. It's also before the time and labor spent working on the system.

If you're looking for a custom gaming system or know someone who is, and they're willing to spend up for power and quality, the iBUYPOWER Erebus GT offers a reasonably strong value proposition and I would be willing to recommend it. You may need to disable the sleep mode (or be willing to do some back and forth with tech support), and I'd still like some option of taming the noise levels. I'm also not entirely convinced liquid cooling is something I need or want, but for those that are the Erebus GT can give you most of the perks of liquid cooling without the elbow grease. Then again, most of the liquid cooling crowd seems to think that's part of the fun.