CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC, Intel i5-10400F 2.9GHz, GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 500GB NVMe SSD, WiFi Ready & Win 10 Home…

I think I got someone else’s return that was just recycled without being fixed and sent to me instead. When it came the box was pretty janky but everything seemed in place. Plugged everything in and booted it up and the graphics card had obviously gone bad. Artifacts everywhere. I know it’s not my monitor and stuff because I’m typing this now from the very same monitor hooked back up to my old PC. The computer would only show default microsoft screen resolution (look how huge the mouse cursor is in the screenshot omg) and the graphics device said the nvidia card was disabled with an error 43. I tried literally every troubleshooting method you can find on google for HOURS and nothing worked. The only time the artifacts would disappear was when the card was well and truly disabled/uninstalled and it was using the windows basic graphics driver or whatever it is.

I ended up asking 3 of my friends who work in IT what their opinion was and they separately but unanimously said the graphics card was probably fried and to send it back, so that’s what I’m doing instead of wasting my time more. I packed everything (including the mouse, keyboard, etc.) back up like I found it as best I could including putting the packaging stuff back in the case, but now the box is even more beat-up. So if anyone out there is reading this and suddenly gets notified this PC is available and being shipped to them, if the box is beat up, it’s probably the same one that was returned and recycled to me and then sent back a second time. Good luck getting it to work.

I’ve used pre-built PCs for all my past computers and they’ve worked fine. So I’m going to assume in this case it’s the company and just buy my next PC somewhere else. A shame, but if I’m spending that much money I want something that’s not broken.

I’m going to be very honest with this review.
ignore the glowing reviews, CyberPowerPC offers you a gift card for giving them a positive review, I even considered taking that offer until I realized I didn’t want others to feel the same regret I felt when I bought it.

this is the first time I have ever reviewed an item but this is something I feel everyone needs to see.

first off, this PC is great! it came in pristine and the RGB inside was very nice. it played single-player games well enough at about medium to high settings at around 90-120 FPS. it’s serviceable.
but this is where the good things end.

now let me be clear the parts in this pc are pretty good, it came with an Intel core i5-10400f and an MSI GTX 1660 Super, and a 600 Watt Thermaltake smart series PSU.
but there’s one COLOSSAL issue, it comes with a locked motherboard.
this means its upgradability is essentially non-existent. in the future, if you ever decide to upgrade the CPU and need a BIOS update, or change out something/upgrade a different part, your options are severally limited. (they didn’t even have to do this. it’s just a big “f u” to their paying customers really).

You’ll end up buying a whole new PC for a ton of money sooner than you think when you could have just bought 1 part and watched a guide on youtube for how to install it. that’s all it is in the end, it’s a manual and a youtube video away.

another big compromise i didn’t like is that it uses an outdated wifi 4 card, which means multiplayer games or downloading anything remotely big will take ages, it seriously bummed me out, this could have been the perfect buy if it wasn’t for these 2 things.

now I understand most people wouldn’t upgrade something because they don’t know how to. but PLEASE understand it’s the fact that you would have the option that’s so important.
like I said above, each part that looks so confusing to install is literally a video away, it’s 1-2 click sounds and a wire away and boom, installed.

I ended up returning this, I wasn’t willing to live with these compromises especially for what I’ve been through to get the money to afford a pc like this.

I built my own pc for just a bit more money than this. and I can safely say this new pc is a night and day difference. it’s a Ryzen 5 5600x, an RTX 2060, 16 GB RAM, and a wifi 6 card that literally annihilates downloads, I can download 100 GB games in like 10 minutes. my computer is literally too fast for me now, I easily max out my 165 Hz monitor in every game at around high to ultra settings. (170-300 fps)

trust me guys, I had the same thought process of not wanting to build a pc because i “didn’t know how to” when I bought this. and now that I built one? it’s disrespectfully easy to do it.

P.S. I checked every CyberPowerPC prebuilt, they all have non-standard motherboards, I’m sorry.

Good deal for the price. Even better i got it on sale with no apr financing. Runs quiet, almost too quiet. Never ran any checks (edit intel stock cooler isn’t optimal), but you barely know its there when running a game like cyberpunk which I thought would make it explode. Makes me wonder if its cooking quietly begging for mercy.

The concerns. Its a great pc if you want to get into the hobby. With this tower it will be a hobby. Keep in mind its a great intro pc at decent intro price but you will want upgrades. While it can compete with next gen consoles it struggles to do so (edit more ram helped). The 500gb ssd is zippy fast but eventually your going to need to expand (edit low end brand, missing shield plate over m.2). The i5 it has will play most games. I stated I played cyberpunk, but its running at 100% gpu and 90-100% cpu. Makes me uncomfortable as the gpu is supposed to relieve the cpu and this game maxes both ( edit more ram dropped cpu usage to 60% on this demanding game). The video card is best if you keep graphics at medium. While this does look beautiful, you can get screen tearing and fluctuating fps (edit again more ram). I can live with that cause an upgrade for that cost half of the pc. The i5 is suitable for gaming but should not be pushed to do anything else while doing so. recommend beefier cooler.. It works but again, upgrade.

This pc is best if you want one now and want to develop it later. Its graphics card is a good portion of the cost and if you go better you run into the 2020/2021 tech scalpers with outrageous cost. This system does not support raytracing. If you want top of the line I suggest building one ground up because the high end ones are way overpriced. Do LOTS of research of you go that route.
Closing: This is more than an office pc on roids that can keep up with next gen consoles (edit no raytracing, so maybe not?) but your not getting E3 title premiere style performance. If you dont know computers and want to learn this is definitely a good start.

Edit: after upgrading ram I learn intel has all 10th gen non z series cpu locked at 2666 memory speed which is ridiculous and also there are parts missing from the mobo. They may have been removed during installation but still its not there. And the proprietary rbg remote control from the case manufacturer is also ridiculous and will be worked around as it doesent have any kind of sync. After learning what parts are used idk anymore about this thing. Considering a Microsoft key would push a ground up build over this ones cost, I can live with it. On to the ram. The brand they use was an xpc 8gb and I wonder if it was part of a 2x8gb set and they split them. Its recommended when you upgrade to 2x8gb get them at the same time or they may have problems. This means you can’t use your upgrade with the stock in this build, and also don’t waste money on above 2666mhz cause intel has it locked.

To be transparent: I’ve had the PC for about 24 hours and will be getting a $10 amazon card for reviewing but I’m going to be honest about this. I’ll also say this is my first PC so I’m not coming from an experienced perspective. The last PC I used was in my parent’s family room in the 90’s.

I’ll start with the pros/cons, then go into more detail.

PROS:
-No proprietary parts, which means the system can be upgraded by the user over time. This is something you don’t get with prebuilts from companies like HP, Dell, etc.
-Large case means future upgrading will be easier.
-Shipped quickly, and was packaged well within the box.
-Looks pretty slick.
-Decent ventilation.

CONS:
-Single channel RAM out of the box and only 8gb.
-Stock intel CPU fan is kind of a joke, especially considering how many reviews mention problems with temps.
-Case fans are 3 pin and are connected directly to the power supply, meaning they go full speed 100% of the time which creates a lot of unnecessary noise and can shorten the lifespan of the fans. On start up, this PC was as load as my laptop under a heavy load in a warm room. On the upside, its a nice white noise machine if you’re into that kind of thing.
-Cable management was very tight in some areas and put extra tension of several connections. This was solved by pulling some slack from the basement so not really a huge deal but still a pain.

In summary: I like this PC- I think its a pretty solid starter PC with some decent-mid range specs/hardware and plenty of potential for upgrades. I think $950 is a bit overpriced and I’m pretty sure this PC used to be only $750 (with the GPU market what it is right now, I guess price increases are to be expected). Based on my research, I decided to immediately swap some components to extend the lifespan of my PC. I think with those changes I’ll have a reliable machine for some time. HOWEVER, I don’t think you should need to make part swaps OUT OF THE BOX when you pay almost $1k for a PC. Get it cheaper if you can, and spend that extra money on new RAM and a CPU cooler. If you pay what I did, accept that you’re paying that price to have it NOW.

Also, this is a small thing but the thumb screws for the side panels were WAY over tightened, which killed a bit of the initial unboxing joy.

Once I rechecked all the connections, swapped the parts I planned to swap, and rechecked connections again, I booted it up. It started up and jumped into Windows set up immediately with zero problems. I installed Steam and MSI Afterburner and played some games (DOOM 2016, Horizon Zero Dawn, both of which my laptop struggled with). It wasn’t an extended gaming session but temps stayed reasonable and games looked great compared to my laptop which had an MX150. I’m looking forward to a good few years with this PC. I’m thinking I’ll eventually upgrade the GPU, CPU, and motherboard down the line. Which I can do, because there are no proprietary parts!

More nitty gritty stuff that I would have like to see in a review while doing my research.
-This CPU/motherboard combo (i5) is capped at 2666hz so keep that in mind when getting replacement RAM.
-The side panel is glass (I was expecting acrylic).
-It looks like they made some improvements to this case based on my research. The front panel is mesh and has 3 intake fans. It apparently used to just have slits for intake, so I’m glad they made this change. There’s also open mesh on the top with a magnetic dust filter and non-magnetic mech on the bottom for the power supply.
-This product is not in a discreet box, try to be home when its supposed to be delivered so no one snatches it.
-A lot of reviews say their PCs just up and died a few months after they got it. My guess is that this could be in part due to overheating. I’m not an expert, so take it with a grain of salt but given how many teardown videos mention horrible temps, and how many people don’t change the stock fans or even a review by a person who used their PC when the fans weren’t working (?!), I think it could be a connection. My replacement CPU fan cost $30 and I think that’s worth the peace of mind. I’ve never done anything more than a RAM swap before (in a laptop no less), so I was nervous about replacing the CPU cooler but it was pretty simple. I got a Cooler Master Hyper 212 and was able to put it in it without having to remove the motherboard from the case. Watch a youtube video or two and you’ll be fine.
-There isn’t an obvious spot to anchor an additional SSD. There seems to be a bay in the basement, but no sleds. I have mine sitting loose in the basement right now, but I’m hoping I can find a better solution. There are two included SATA data cables in the box, which was nice.
-The GPU was an MSI but it looks like that may change based on what’s available.
-I reseated the GPU before booting up after reading several review that had issues with it on start up and to make it easier to move around the case while replacing the CPU cooler. It is anchored by a screw on the chassis, so be sure to remove that first.

BUILD
MB : MSI B460M PRO-VDH WIFI
CPU : Intel Core i5-10400f
GPU : Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB dual fan
SSD : WD Blue SN550 500 Go NVMe
RAM : Ballistix 3000mhz CL15 8GB DDR4
PSU : Apevia 600w 80+ Gold
OS : Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CASE: i thnik the case its cyberpower made but it look the same as Cooler Master MasterBox MB511
* I remove 8go ram and i add 32g (16*2) XPG TUF dual chanal (16g will be ok for gaming) and for storage i add 2tb HHD Seagate.

+Pros:
+shipping and packaging were good
+4 RGB fan with remote control
+Plays all games high setting in 1080p
+quality build
+great cases for airflow
+perfect cable management
+free keyboard and mouse (not good for gaming but it free)
+a box with all accessories of motherboard and case

-Cons:
-dual chanel ram 8g
-no usb c port
-noisy fans

++ after all its great value and i’m really satisfied with this buy ++

I was nervous about buying a pre-built gaming PC after a witnessing the poor quality of an Asus ROG Strix GL-10DH purchased from a warehouse club (returned the next day). I’ve built a half dozen PCs over the years, and am very picky about components. This CyberPowerPC (GXiVR8060A10) completely changed my perspective. Almost everything about this PC impressed me. Just. Wow.
1. The case and amount of ventilation: 4 120MM CoolerMaster fans and ample case airflow
2. Next up – the motherboard wasn’t some no-name bottom shelf garbage, it is an MSI B460M PRO-VDH WiFi, with dual M.2 NVMe slots both easily accessible, 4 DIMM slots, and several heatsinks over parts like the VRM and chipset. Very solidly mounted as well – no flex on the motherboard when removing and installing DIMMs
3. GPU – another legit component – Gigabyte Gv-N1660SOC 1660 Super with 2 “windforce” fans, 6GB. In Q4 2020 it’s nearly impossible to buy even a good budget GPU, sold out with people reselling at inflated prices.
4. Even the DDR-4 DIMM was decent and had a heat sink. Don’t care much about the fact that it was a single 8GB DIMM – ADATA XPG, I upgraded that anyway. While an Intel i5 10th gen like this I5-10400f may not be as sensitive (performance wise) to having 2 DIMMs in dual channel config as a Ryzen 3000 or 5000 series, I’d prefer that CyberPowerPC installed their 8GB as 2x4GB in dual channel config. That’s about my only minor complaint
5. Even the 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD was at least a decent model – WD Blue SN550 (you can’t expect a Samsung EVO 970 in a sub $1k build)
6. Price. Part of the reason my expectations were low was the ridiculously low price black Friday price I paid for this. I even called a friend and told them “Buy this NOW”. The current ~$800 price is still impressive given the quality of components and overall build quality. Did I mention that even the cabling was done very neatly, zip-tied out of sight and not blocking airflow?