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Budget Gaming PC Roundup August 18, 2008 Jake Lenin22 Ratner |
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Summary: In this article, Jakes takes a look at three different $1,000 gaming PCs from CyberPower, iBuyPower, and MainGear PC. Each company took a different approach to tackling the $1,000 budget, and one company really stood out with their extraordinary build quality. See how the various PCs fared in our Budget Gaming PC Roundup!
 Custom PC Roundup | Page:: ( 1 / 9 ) |
Today we’re looking at three gaming machines, all priced just below the $1000 mark. They come straight from CyberPower, iBuyPower, and Maingear PC. These manufacturers specialize more in gaming machines than do the mainstream companies like Dell, HP and Acer, but are not household names. Since these companies are much lower volume, the aesthetics, internal build quality, and parts selection should be far improved. This is why there is a very important market for custom machines, where customers can choose the case, lighting, cooling, and of course the internal parts. On top of that, customer care is improved due to the much lower specialist to customer ratio.
CyberPower PC is a private company in Los Angeles. They specialize mostly in gaming desktops, but notebooks, media center PCs and workstations are also offered. iBuyPower is also a private company in Los Angeles. Founded in 2001, they have gone a long way from online order only like most other gaming PC companies or low volume manufacturers. You can find their PCs at many other reseller locations, such as Newegg.com, Microcenter stores, TigerDirect.com, and even non-technologically focused retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco. They don’t offer much more than gaming PCs, desktops, and some workstation machines.
Maingear PC was founded in 2003 and offers gaming desktops and recently, media center and professional machines. They offer no notebooks and less preconfigured machines, but each model is very customizable. Maingear PC machines are at a price range above CyberPower and iBuyPower. Maingear’s PCs start at $800, while the earlier two have desktops priced well below $400. Nonetheless, we have three equally priced machines here at FiringSquad, so we will see who comes out on top, not just in benchmarks, but in built quality and overall satisfaction as well.
Let’s take a look at the three machines we’ve been sent!
| Unit Specifications | Page:: ( 2 / 9 ) |
Here’s a quick comparison of our units:
| Feature Comparison | |||
| CyberPower | iBuyPower | Maingear PC | |
| Processor | AMD Phenom 9550 | AMD Phenom 9850 | Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition |
| Motherboard | MSI K9A2 CF-F | ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe | Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H |
| Memory | 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 | 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 | 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 |
| Video Card | 2x ATI Radeon HD 3870 | 1xATI Radeon HD 3870 | 1xATI Radeon HD 3870 |
| Hard Drive | 500GB SATAII | 500GB SATAII | 250GB SATAII |
| Optical Drive | 1x DVD+/-RW | 1x DVD+/-RW | 1x DVD+/-RW |
| Power Supply | CoolerMaster 600W | Antec Trio 650W | Silverstone 500W |
| OS | Vista Home Premium 64-bit | Vista Home Premium 64-bit | Vista Home Premium 64-bit |
| Other Features | WLAN | WLAN, eSATA | eSATA |
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With only a quick glance, you can see that the CyberPower unit has two video cards, which should reflect very well in our benchmarks. The Silverstone, on the other hand, has only a dual core CPU and half the hard drive capacity of the other machines. Remember, these units cost about the same, which is just under $1000. We will look at them in detail next, to see what makes up each unit beyond the spec sheet.
| CyberPower Design and Build Quality | Page:: ( 3 / 9 ) |
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The CyberPower unit came in a big, well padded box with a company logo and phone number. Upon unwrapping the PC and sitting it upright, we heard loud metal-to-metal contact. As we opened the side panel, the heatsink, only held by the 3 pin power connector, fell out. Considering all the padding in the box, we have our doubts that this happened during shipment. Heatsinks sit very tight and secure no matter what socket. Nonetheless, no hardware was damaged, and we just reapplied some thermal grease and mounted the heatsink. Cabling was done well, although it was still pretty visible all over, even with the case side closed. While this is partly due to the case design, some extra time spent on cabling could have improved this.
One more thing we noticed is that the RAM was not running in dual channel. Each channel is color-coded, one green and the other orange. The CPU-Z program confirmed this. We put both sticks in the green slots so it would run dual channel.
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The Apevia case CyberPower used is very plain, but stylish and functional. It has a large side panel with three 120mm fans and another in the PSU, making airflow very efficient. The front of the case has a temperature display and the CPU fan can be controlled by the knob on the front. A DVD-RW drive and a card reader were both supplied.
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The USB, audio, and FireWire ports were positioned on top of the case. This makes it very convenient for anyone who sits the case on the floor. The power button is still on the front bezel, which will be a reach. The back panel is very standard: 8 channel audio, Ethernet, 4 USB ports, PS/2 and serial legacy connectors.
Where the CyberPower system really stands out is its graphics subsystem. The CyberPower is the only machine to have a dual GPU setup. In this case, there are two ATI Radeon HD 3870 cards running in a Crossfire configuration. We applaud CyberPower for doing what the other two companies couldn’t in a sub $1000 PC. To top that off, CyberPower included a wireless LAN card.
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The accessory bundle with the CyberPower PC is nothing special. There are a bunch of CDs, manuals, cables, 4 DVI adapters, and a mouse.
| iBuyPower Design and Build Quality | Page:: ( 4 / 9 ) |
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The iBuyPower machine came in a plain box too, but it had no company name or logo, so we didn’t know whose unit it was until we completely unboxed it. It all came in an NZXT Lexa Blackline case, which is fairly expensive. We hope that didn’t cause cutbacks on internal components.
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The Lexa is a very stylish case as it is, and CyberPower decided to add on to it with a painted side panel and a company logo, which looks very nice. Cabling is done very well too; all cables are tied down, wrapped, and hidden extremely professionally. So far this unit is just about perfect.
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iBuyPower’s Lexa case is designed to sit on a desk, as the USB, audio, and FireWire ports are at the bottom of the case. If your desk can accommodate the massive size and weight of the case, then you should be fine. The top of the case has an 80mm fan which is accompanied by 120mm side, rear, and power supply fans, providing excellent cooling all over. The back of the case has some ridiculous plastic frame, which seems very unnecessary. It’s not iBuyPower’s fault in any way, we just wanted to point out the obscurity.
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This is probably the most important part of the machine: the internal features. The connections are very varied and plentiful. Along with the 6 USB ports, 8 channel audio, and Ethernet, the iBuyPower machine has many features not available on the CyberPower unit. FireWire is available on the back panel, as well as eSATA, optical and SPDIF outs. Wireless LAN is built into the ASUS motherboard. The Lexa case is water cooling ready with openings cut in the back to accept an external radiator.
As we look at the expansion cards installed, we don’t see much. At the bottom, there is a switch for a red cathode tube. More importantly iBuyPower uses a lone HD3870 card installed. If you recall, the CyberPower machine featured two 3870s. In theory this results in the iBuyPower unit being significantly weaker graphically. Only the numbers will tell. We will see those in a bit. But for now, it is up to you to decide whether an extra video card is worth trading for the cleaner setup with more expensive parts, a slightly faster CPU, and some extra ports. The included bundle is the best of all three units. It contains a copy of the Halo 2 game, a t-shirt, mouse, a messenger bag, as well as the usual CDs and manuals.
| Maingear Design and Build Quality | Page:: ( 5 / 9 ) |
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The Maingear PC we received was far smaller than that of the other two units. You all know what they say about small boxes: small cases. And small it was. The Silverstone case that came with the Maingear PC supports only MicroATX boards, so a multi GPU setup was obviously out of the question. A 500W Silverstone PSU takes up the entire mesh opening of the side panel. In all, the case is plain, but it’s stylish and very light.
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The back of the PC is very eventful. The Gigabyte board features all standard connections: 8 channel audio, USB, gigabit Ethernet, and PS/2 ports. Extra connections include eSATA, FireWire, SPDIF out, DVI and HDMI on the board. The front USB, audio and FireWire ports and a card reader are covered by side opening flaps.
Like the iBuyPower, the Maingear PC has only one ATI Radeon HD 3870 card. It gets worse though. The hard drive capacity is half of the other two machines as you saw on our comparison table, and the CPU is a relatively low end dual core, while the other two machines have quad core CPUs.
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The cabling of the Maingear PC is by far the best of any of the PCs, and the build quality is stellar. All the connections are tucked away neatly, and most areas of the PC are still accessible. Ventilation is great despite the cramped interior. There are two 120mm fans in the front which cover the entire motherboard, and the PSU pulls air from the side panel.
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The included bundle isn’t very significant, however it is different than the other two. Aside from a t-shirt and thin cotton gloves, Maingear includes a binder with all CDs, manuals, and a personalized build itinerary. It includes a checklist used by the actual person who built the unit with step by step notes, their signature, and contact information if any questions arise. There are detailed documents on each part, the setup of the PC, and warranty information. Maingear’s attention to detail really impressed us, but we definitely did sacrifice quite a bit of power for the build quality. Now we’ll see what the numbers have to say. On to testing these beasts!
| Synthetic Benchmarks | Page:: ( 6 / 9 ) |
| Gaming Benchmarks | Page:: ( 7 / 9 ) |
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 8 / 9 ) |
CyberPower
Pros
Value: Our CyberPower unit was the only system with dual video cards. To top that off, it had the same 3870 cards the other two machines had, not two lower-spec cards. Why the other companies didn’t include them, or how CyberPower managed to fit that in under $1000 is beyond us, but we don’t mind one bit.
Performance: This ties in with the above somewhat. With the two HD3870 cards, the CyberPower machine smoked the competition in games except for Call of Juarez, where even the latest drivers didn’t seem to show Crossfire’s benefit.
Cons
Quality Control: Our unit’s heatsink fell out when we unboxed it. Now we understand that can happen by accident. However, the other two units came on the same truck, and heatsinks naturally are mounted extremely tight. The wiring job wasn’t that great either, but that’s not too big of a deal.
Hardware Configuration: While a CrossFire setup is awesome, the 2.2GHz CPU, albeit quad core, isn’t a good match for the video cards. For much cheaper, an X2 6400+ could have been included. That would have alleviated the CPU bottleneck. (Look at the Crysis results).
iBuyPower
Pros
Quality: iBuyPower used very high quality components in our test machine. The ASUS motherboard was high end, along with a relatively expensive case and quality power supply. Cabling was also done well.
Power – While in no way did the iBuyPower unit set any benchmarking records. It did have the second fastest quad core CPU AMD has to offer. For multitasking application like Cinebench, which is a very good example of a rendering application, or other non GPU intensive tasks, the iBuyPower won easily.
Upgradeability: You’ve got a big hard drive, a fast CPU, and a good single video card. The iBuyPower unit gives you room to add more in the future.
Bundle: Not much of an advantage, but it was the best of all three machines’ bundles.
Cons
Value: Aside from the nice quad core CPU, the iBuyPower was matched often by the much lower spec Maingear machine. CyberPower managed to fit in two cards under $1000, and a quad core CPU.
Maingear
Pros
Build Quality: It was simply the most attention to detail we’ve ever seen from a company built machine. There was a log of the entire build which had writing from the tech themselves. There was his signature and contact information. There was detailed information on many components used. Cabling was done incredibly cleanly, especially for such a tiny case.
Components: Since the unit was inevitably a single card setup, Maingear could have used any board. But they used arguably the best AMD microATX board available. They topped that off with a top quality Silverstone case and power supply.
Size: Such a small unit is easy to put anywhere. Plus it weighs less than half of the other units. For some people it isn’t a concern, but it never hurts to have quite a bit more desk/floor space.
Cons
Value: This unit has the lowest parts value of any system. Not only is the CPU only a dual core, but a very low end one as well. Hard disk capacity is half of the other units.
Performance: Niether the Maingear or iBuyPower units were competition for the CyberPower in gaming tests. However, the Maingear lost to the iBuyPower in most gaming benchmarks. While overall performance was good, it’s a definite negative if you’re at the bottom.
Upgradeability: Not only is this unit single card only, but longer cards than the included HD 3870 can’t fit. Plus you wouldn’t want to take that kind of nice wiring job and mess up the airflow and neatness.
| Conclusion | Page:: ( 9 / 9 ) |
CyberPower took the “more for less” approach. The spec sheet alone showed its great advantage over the other two machines for gaming purposes. These are gaming machines aren’t they? CyberPower showed the best example of one. Essentially, when compared to the other two machines, you get an extra video card for free with the CyberPower, and the PC’s price was still lower, be it only a few dollars, then the other two PC’s prices. Gaming performance was outstanding, up to 67% faster than the second best machine. So is that the obvious choice of our three units here? Probably not. Despite the incredible value CyberPower’s machine presents, it compromises quality for quantity. The components themselves were fine, but the overall assembly could have been better. As we mentioned earlier, the heatsink came disassembled and cabling although good, looked like a mess compared to the other machines.
iBuyPower took a slightly different approach. Their setup was only single GPU, but they added both quality and processing power. All components rose in price, and attention to detail rose a little. Although one HD3870 card is a bit lacking for a $1000 rig, we get quality components with very decent performance and a great setup. Plus, the iBuyPower only needed another GPU and maybe some more RAM. All other components for a much more powerful system were already there, even without the need to overclock, which would void the warranty. This PC shined during work-intensive tasks, those that didn’t really require graphics power. Thanks to its Phenom 9850 quad core CPU, workstation, rendering, and encoding applications are ideal for this machine. Even in the latest games, it ran decently at high resolutions.
Maingear’s approach can be seen as a direct opposite to CyberPower’s. On paper, and in the great majority of benchmarking tests, the Maingear unit faired the worst of our three machines here today. This is due the lower spec hardware when compared to the other systems. Where Maingear stands out is their customer service and build quality. A direct line to the individual who built our machine is worth the premium alone. It makes the computer a much more personal buy, unlike a pre-built system from a store or some large volume manufacturer’s website. In addition to that, we got top of the line hardware, excellent build quality and wiring job. In terms of a turn key system, the Maingear is by far the best, having absolutely no issues whatsoever during our testing.
It’s up to you to decide what’s best, as each system is different from one another. If you want the best performance for the money and don’t mind sacrificing a bit of attention to detail, CyberPower can’t be beat. If you want good build quality, high end components, with a reasonable price and good performance, give iBuyPower a try. If you’re looking for the absolute best built system in terms of peace of mind and support as well as initial quality, and don’t mind sacrificing quite a bit of power, Maingear should be your choice. This is why all these small private companies exist, so you can decide for yourselves.