It takes some effort to build your own gaming desktop, so what if you are lazy and want a plug and play solution? Assembled desktop is your choice then. One of the popular choices these days is CyberpowerPC, a company who builds affordable gaming computers. Particularly one of their models, the Cyberpowerpc Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2, has gained some great popularity in the recent months. Let’s see what is the reason for this, whether you should buy this for your gaming needs or not!
Gaming performance
CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2 is first and foremost a gaming desktop. Installed inside is Radeon RX 480 graphics card with 4GB video memory. The card in question is very similar to GTX 970 in terms of performance. In real life, this manifests as suitability for Full HD gaming. Some examples you might be interested are The Witcher 3 that would get ~50 and Doom with ~75 frames per second on ultra settings and Full HD resolution. Those are rather demanding games; if you’re playing titles that are easier on the system, expect FPS shoot through the roof.
If you are not happy with the graphics card here, remember that you can always upgrade it to a better one.
General performance
The performance is adequate for games and for software, trust me. The processor is a new one, the 7th generation Intel Core i5-7400. Being released to the market in early 2017, the quad-core chip is based on Kaby Lake architecture. Decent performance is promised by the 3.0GHz clock speed which ups to 3.5GHz with turbo. With the ~7500 points CPU Mark gives this i5-7400 processor, also power users will find it sufficient.
A proper amount of DDR4 2400MHz RAM is provided, eight gigabytes with two 4GB sticks. I would say this amount suffices for any kind of use; however, if you think you need more, upgrading is easy. The mainboard has four slots in total of which two are open. The most memory you can put in this machine is 64 gigabytes. I would recommend perhaps 16 gigabytes if you’re concerned about multitasking performance and such.
CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2 contains plenty of storage with the 1TB 7200RPM hard drive. Of course, the huge space for your files comes at the expense of performance. A solid-state drive would easily dump hard drive in terms of transfer rates. Fortunately, the case has open slot for SSD – you’re welcome to install it if you think the desktop needs some enhancement!
Ports and interfaces
You will find a set of USB ports on CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2. Two are USB 2.0, I suggest to disregard them and favor the six faster USB 3.0 ports on the computer. It’s eight USB connectors in total which should be adequate for all the devices you might have.
The video card has one HDMI 2.0 output and at least three DisplayPort 1.4s. It’s a lot to choose from and will accommodate a dual monitor set-up.
You are good to use the Gigabit Ethernet for networking. The desktop also comes with a WiFi adapter, although I’m fairly positive it’s USB dongle. So you’ll plug in to the desktop’s USB 3.0 port and all is set.
Still a norm in desktops, also this CyberpowerPC is equipped with an optical drive.
Miscellaneous benefits
There’s keyboard and mouse included with this purchase. Unfortunately, you must get monitor separately which might mean extra costs.
The operating system, Windows 10 Home (64-bit), is pre-loaded on the hard drive as far as I know.
The case has LEDs as you can very well see from the photos. If you think they are annoying, I got good news for you: the lights can be turned off.
Why should you buy it?
CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2 does not have problems with running games on 1080p resolution. If you are fine with that you’ll also be happy with the desktop’s gaming performance.
Due to fast processor the computer is also suitable for other, non-gaming related stuff. People can use the CyberpowerPC for image editing or programming purposes without issues.
Considering you’re getting a full blown gaming desktop the price is not bad at all.
Why should you not buy it?
If you are interested in building your own gaming desktop there are several advantages. You might get a bit better components for the same money, and anyway you get to choose the exact components you want to use. The downside is of course the hassle and assembly itself.
Verdict
It’s hard not to recommend CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8020A2, for the simple fact it offers everything a gamer needs: proper graphics performance and tolerable price. The Radeon RX480 is very decent for Full HD gaming, being able to keep smooth frame rates no matter the title. Continuing the thought, you are also welcome to use this desktop if you have some resource-intensive work in mind thanks to high-end components the computer has!
