This PC is incredible. It's the best money I've ever spent on a PC, hands down.
Main take away: This pre-built PC is cheaper than all the parts bought separately, and it comes built for you. A must-have for people like me who don't want to mess around with building their own PC.
Breakdown by parts and performance:
-Operating System: Windows 8.1: I upgraded from an old Windows Vista system to this, and despite a lot of online negativity, I am surprised to say I love Windows 8. If you've used Windows 7, it's not a lot different than that. The main difference is the start menu looking like a tablet, but there's still a normal desktop with icons like Windows has had since 95. It's easy to use and I love being able to "pin" my most used programs to the start menu for easy access. The operating system came pre-loaded with the activation code taped to the side of the tower. Set-up took about 5 minutes.
-Tower Case: The case is very visually appealing. It's all-black with the left side clear so you can see all the components inside. The case has 5 ports for fans, one on the front bottom (where a fan comes preinstalled running intake), one on the back, two on the top, and one on the clear side. Based on reviewers' notes about overheating problems, I bought a second fan and attached it to the back. I have not experienced any overheating issues.
One thing to note about the tower is that it is very large. Easily 30% bigger than my old computer, which was a standard-size HP desktop. This is actually a plus in my opinion since it means there is more room for expansion and easy airflow. There are 2 empty harddrive bays and 2 empty disk drive bays.
-Processor: The AMD FX-6100 Six-Core 3.3ghz is amazing. It handles everything very well, and I've been able to run Spotify, Chrome, a game, and a download in the background with no slowdown. It is capable of being overclocked but I have not done this as there is no need. It isn't as fast as an i7 but what is.
-16 gb RAM - More than enough ram for the average person into the next couple years. As an added bonus, the ram comes on 2 8gb sticks as opposed to the more common 4 4gb sticks configuration. This is a bonus because, if you want to expand the motherboard in the future, you won't have to throw out any ram to do so. 8gb per stick is as high as ram goes.
-AMD 760G Motherboard - This motherboard is the only weakness in the system, honestly. It is a cheaper motherboard that only has USB 2.0 and only supports 16gb of ram. In fact it only has two memory slots, so if you ever want to expand the memory, you'll need to replace the motherboard. The 2 8gb sticks are a plus in this situation since you won't have to throw them out on the new motherboard.
-NVIDIA Geforce GT 640 2GB Graphics Card - This graphics card is very good for the price. It was rated Best Entry Level Graphics Card by Tomshardware.com, which is a ringing endorsement in the tech world. It is not the most powerful graphics card in the world and any real gamer will upgrade this before anything else. I've tested it out and it is able to play Skyrim on High with no noticeable dip in framerate. Based on what I've read online, it will not be able to do BF4 or Far Cry 3 on high, but that's to be expected from an older, cheaper GPU like this. I'm planning on swapping this with a GTX 750Ti as soon as possible, which should make this rig capable of doing BF4 on high settings with no lag. For those who don't plan on doing any serious high end gaming, this graphics card can handle anything below Skyrim with no lag.
-450W Power Supply - This power supply is huge for a PC this cheap. Most pre-built PCs come with 300W standard, which doesn't leave any room for upgrades. 450W leaves room for some upgrades, although any real high-end equipment will need something above 650W at least.
-DVD±RW 24X DL DVD+/-RW Drive - Just a standard DVD drive, but most PCs in this price range don't include one at all. A nice bonus.
-1 TB 7200rpm SATA III Hard Drive - Standard hard drive. Enough space to do for a long time, plus there are two more ports to expand from. I plan on adding a SSD when I get the chance to increase boot time (although it currently boots in under a minute on this hard drive).
-USB Keyboard and USB Mouse - Both are standard, nothing special. They work for me, but are inferior to most gaming peripherals.
Overall: Five Full Stars. For anyone looking to get into PC gaming, this is the system to get. The big tower case allows for a lot of expansion, and the PC comes ready to handle Skyrim on High.
| Processor | 3.3 GHz amd_fx |
|---|---|
| RAM | 16 GB DDR3 |
| Hard Drive | 1 TB SATA |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 |
| Chipset Brand | AMD |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 2 GB |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 6 |
