Purchasing an iBUYPOWER - power supply concerns? Alternatives?

[jwl12345]

So I'm looking to pick up a small-form-factor gaming PC, and I honestly don't have the time nor the heart to build it myself. So I'm looking at the iBUYPOWER Revolt.

These are the core components I picked out: http://i.imgur.com/rr7mUXp.png

Now the issue is this - I've heard issues regarding iBUYPOWER using their own PSUs and Graphics Cards. Is this something I should really be concerned about, or is this overblown by the "build your own PC, noob" elitists?

If it is an issue, what other options do I have? I'm not building my own PC (don't ask), and I need good performance in a small form factor like this Revolt. I'm not looking to pay much more than the $1250 that this configuration comes out to, either. Do I even have any other options? Do any other PC builders offer small form factor PCs with this level price/performance?

Thanks in advance, guys.

 

[KKAW]

So I'm looking to pick up a small-form-factor gaming PC, and I honestly don't have the time nor the heart to build it myself. So I'm looking at the iBUYPOWER Revolt.

These are the core components I picked out: http://i.imgur.com/rr7mUXp.png

Now the issue is this - I've heard issues regarding iBUYPOWER using their own PSUs and Graphics Cards. Is this something I should really be concerned about, or is this overblown by the "build your own PC, noob" elitists?

If it is an issue, what other options do I have? I'm not building my own PC (don't ask), and I need good performance in a small form factor like this Revolt. I'm not looking to pay much more than the $1250 that this configuration comes out to, either. Do I even have any other options? Do any other PC builders offer small form factor PCs with this level price/performance?

Thanks in advance, guys.

If you are not building your own PC you don't really have a choice, almost all prebuilt's especially in the low - mid ranges will have poor quality PSU's however you can't really do anything about it. Besides if the PSU burns or blows you can use your warranty.

 

[jwl12345]

Right. That's what I was thinking - no other reasonable options would leave me with just buying this, hoping it's fine and using my warranty if it's not, especially considering return post for a year is only $10 more.

Thanks for the answer.

 

[rowdymoody]

There are plenty of other options to browse.

Asus ROG G20 - http://www.asus.com/Tower-PCs/ROG-series-Products/
Syber Vapor 1 - http://www.sybergaming.com/products/vapor-one.aspx
Alienware X51 - http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-x51-r2/pd.aspx?ndlvid=27d2-80aab
CyberPower Zeus mini - https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/LandingPages/ZeusMini/
Origin Chronos - https://www.originpc.com/configurator/d/d1.aspx?SYSTEMID=6

There are tons of options available for prebuilt small form factor PCs. As long as you are okay with the fact that for the money you spent on one, you could have built yourself a much better PC (even small form factor) but I am sure you have heard this a ton already.

 

[jwl12345]

Hey rowdymoody, thanks for the reply. I know it looks like I haven't done any research of my own, but I managed to miss all of those except for the G20 and the X51 when I was looking myself.

The G20 is much more expensive and it doesn't specify specific model of power supply either. Probably not an option.

Same with the X51 - similar configuration, similar price, but no liquid cooling, and more importantly, no SSD (!). Just a 2TB HDD, but at least you get Dell Premium Support, which is nice. SSD is probably a dealbreaker though.

The Origin is obscenely expensive.

The Syber Vapor 1 is an intriguing one. In order to bring it down to about the same price range, I have to sacrifice the liquid cooling (which is concerning for such a small form factor), upgraded motherboard (down to ASRock H81m-ITX), and OCed RAM. It would come with a [450 Watts - SilverStone ST45SF-G SFX12V 80 PLUS GOLD ACTIVE PFC Power Supply]. Would it be worth it to sacrifice the cooling in such a small box, and the other stuff that I had to cut in order to have this power supply? Also, CyberPowerPC (the only place to customize these) has bad reviews, and I have a friend with a bad previous experience with them. Concerning.

The Zeus mini seems perfect. No more no name power supply:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790 3.60 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1150 [+190]
FAN: Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate - Extreme Cooling Performance [+36] (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
HDD: 240GB Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 450MB/s Read and 450MB/s Write [+58] (Single Drive)
HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+88] (Single Drive)
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory (ADATA XPG V3)
MOTHERBOARD: MSI H81I mITX w/ GbLAN, 1 PCIe x16 Motherboard [-13]
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts - EVGA 600B 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply [-6]
VIDEO: EVGA Superclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 (Maxwell) [+78] (Single Card)

Again, though, the previously mentioned CyberPowerPC issues are a concern. I might just get SquareTrade to cover it, though.

It's more expensive than IBUYPOWER, has worse reviews as a company, only has an H81 motherboard, and doesn't offer $10 RMA shipping. However, it has an EVGA power supply and that Superclocked 960. What do you think?

EDIT: Also, how exactly does 2133Mhz RAM work with an H81 motherboard? Should I just go with 1600 for the same price?

 

[rowdymoody]

I cannot really offer any input on the quality of any of these companies as I have never had any first hand experience with them, aside from ASUS (excellent quality) and dell (never experienced alienware dells, only office machines). A friend of mine has had the alienware x51 as well as a ROG G20, and never had a problem with either.

I have heard horror stories of Cyberpower, but I have also heard similar stories regarding Ibuypower. There is always a chance you may get a lemon no matter the company. For every unhappy customer for every company, I am sure there are a hundred happy customers.

If you are going to lose sleep over your temps, then I would definitely go with an option that can utilize a liquid cooling solution. However, even with the machines being in such a small case the temps should stay within a perfectly acceptable range. Intel CPUS can handle a lot of heat and not have issues.

I would personally go for the zeus mini for superclocked 960 and knowing that you are getting a quality name brand PSU. In regards to the motherboard, the h81 will be just fine for the system, you won't be doing any overclocking or anything anyways so there is really no need for a fancy motherboard, the only real benefit I see to the Z97 is that the RAM will run at it's full frequency of 2133MHz. If you have the 2133MHz ram on the H81 it will work just fine, the RAM will just downclock itself to the speed the motherboard can handle.