iBuyPower Revolt System Review: Closing the Boutique and Opening the Store
by Dustin Sklavos on February 16, 2013 12:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Mini ITX
- iBuyPower
- Mini-Tower
Gaming Performance
It's actually a beautiful world we live in these days. With the 600 series, NVIDIA cards now support three simultaneous displays and single-GPU surround. This is practically necessary to get the most mileage out of today's high end GPUs; it takes a Far Cry 3 to really punish a modern GPU.
We'll start with the 1080p benchmarks, but you'll see the Revolt really has no trouble handling these games. For reference, it bears mentioning that the more "entry level" GeForce GTX 660 available in the Revolt is comparable in performance to the GTX 580. So while you can certainly spend up and get a model like our review configuration, the GTX 660 will be absolutely fine for 1080p gaming.
More than anything, what we're seeing here is a combination of the Revolt (and other review systems) being CPU limited and the strides forward NVIDIA has made with their driver updates for the 600 series. There's also a slight stock overclock on the 670 that iBuyPower chose, but note that this is still the least powerful 670 they offer for the Revolt. Since the 670's only deficiency compared to the GTX 680 is fewer shaders (all other specs are essentially equal), it's at times competitive with its senior brother.
Jump to surround and we can't really run Battlefield 3 with anti-aliasing anymore, but everything else is still totally playable.
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Dustin Sklavos - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
The PSU is server size 1U.The GPU is a garden variety card.
The motherboard is mini-ITX.
Space is limited, but they're not using nonstandard parts.
HisDivineOrder - Sunday, February 17, 2013 - link
...seems ill advised. In a few months, a CPU designed from the ground up for this kind of low-power, low-heat, optimal performance is going to come out and make all these power/heat numbers look high.Plus, I HOPE Intel is smart enough with the GT3 configuration that they enable PC's that can run 720p/1080p at good enough to mostly match a GF630/640. At that point, if that were to happen, prices will drop out the bottom of NUC-like devices that incorporate that.
Suddenly, it won't be $1k for a HTPC that can game, it'd be $500. Sure, it won't be high end and it ain't meant to be. It'll be HTPC-level quality with the option to take console ports and put them up on the big screen at acceptable framerates, which is all the nascent HTPC industry needs to shove consoles out of the value picture altogether.
DanNeely - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
I've seen rumors that GT3 will be a mobile only config which might slow the availability a bit; but previous generations of mobile parts have found their way onto miniITX sized boards before.ShieTar - Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - link
Somehow I doubt that the ~15W that Haswell reserves for its GPU will achieve the same performance as a 640 which can draw more than 100W under load.There is a distinct chance that Haswell manages to exceed the current A10-5800K performance, and thus get to call itself "Good enough for certain games".
I think it will be completely sufficient if Haswell can play current Console-Ports on Full-HD, and then only have Broadwell or even Skylake be as capable as the next Gen consoles.
Netscorer - Sunday, February 17, 2013 - link
To call original Xbox 360 tolerable in terms of noise pollution is an understatement of the year. The only way to drown that noise was to play games even louder. If this thing is as noisy, I personally don't want it in my living room.beepboy - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
I think the faceplate could be improved. Matte look, or even interchangeable colors/design will greatly improve the aesthetics. The base doesn't look very stable either.jnemesh - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
I found the Revolt to be an excellent value compared to Alienware, Falcon NW, and other "boutique" shops offering compact gaming systems! I priced out an i7 3770K, Kraken cooling, 8GB Gskill RAM, 240GB Corsair SSD, 2TB storage drive, Nvidia "Signature Edition" GTX680, 500w power supply, and Windows 7 (I'm NEVER running 8!) for just under $2000 (it was about $2100 when I added a wireless "Phantom" keyboard and mouse).I priced similar systems from Falcon NW and Alienware, and ended up paying about $500 more for a similar configuration! I also tried various shops with "standard" mini-tower case configurations, and they always were more expensive.
ibuypower seems to be offering a truly competitive price for the hardware they are including. Yes, I could build it myself and save a couple hundred dollars (with a regular case, mind you), but I doubt I would get the reliability and performance (or the warranty!) that I will get with their product. I am saving up now to buy mine! (probably pull the trigger in April)
unhappyibuypowercustomer - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - link
DO NOT buy from ibuypower.com The absolute worst customer service, hidden clauses not allowing no cost service repairs returns. Rude customer service person on the phone, interruting, called me a liar. Unity did not work out of the box. no shipping damage. They said it went through quality control but many mars scratches, things lose inside, rattling noise. I would spend more money at wal mart if i had to in order to avoid ibuypower.comDrittz121 - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Just do yourself a favor. STAY AWAY from this company. Yes they look good. But when it breaks and it WILL. All they do is give you the run around. They have had my system for over 2 months trying to fix the garbage they sell. Worse company out there for support. DONT BUY