iBUYPOWER LAN Warrior II: NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 590 in a Small Shell
by Dustin Sklavos on March 29, 2011 3:00 PM ESTApplication and Futuremark Performance
The overclock of the Intel Core i7-2600K in the LAN Warrior II review system is comparatively mild. While a quad-core processor at 4GHz is nothing to sneeze at, Sandy Bridge tends to sail right on by that speed when overclocking. Unfortunately this is about the best our engineering sample with locked multiplier can do, and scores will reflect that accordingly.
PCMark's bias towards SSDs makes itself painfully obvious here, but at least there's a takeaway: a good SATA 6Gbps SSD is going to produce noticeably better performance and happily there are a few of those en route. Still, it's hard to say if the A-DATA drive the LAN Warrior II will ship with is going to compare to the Crucial RealSSD C300 in the review unit, so we can look at the other results and make a healthy determination of overall CPU performance from those. And sure enough, the 4GHz i7-2600K blows by all of the last generation processors as well as the stock-clocked Core i5-2500K in the Puget Serenity. Meanwhile, the 4.4GHz i7-2600K in CyberPower's Gamer Xtreme 4000 remains more representative of the kinds of overclocks we can expect to see from boutique builders, and maintains a healthy lead on the LAN Warrior II.
It's hard not to argue that 3DMark is getting long in the tooth (even with 3DMark11 running around), and 05 and 06 are both heavily CPU-limited. Still, it's not surprising to see the GeForce GTX 590 placing near or at the top of the heap every time. That the single GTX 570 in the CyberPower scores higher in several of the 3DMark versions is nothing to worry about, as the games will tell the real story.
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warisz00r - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
lol niceoverzealot - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
Looks like it might be a sealed unit, in that case:Very, depending on the kit.
Never.
Not if manufactured correctly.
Not if manufactured correctly.
No.
If it dies or any of the above occurs, you replace the unit. Preferable under warranty.
Penti - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
Just to add, water pumps are impeller based, theres no mechanics that's dry and needs lubrication, they don't need lubrication and there's no bearings that need it too, the o-rings can dry out after many years but that's it.IdBuRnS - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
Everyone I know who has bought an ibuypower computer has eventually returned it due to complete system instability, constant BSODs and piss-poor technical support.I literally do not know a single person who has bought one of their computers and has been happy. I've also browsed through their forums and they are full of unanswered support requests.
It's too bad you guys don't rate the actual customer experience.
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
Unfortunately that's not something we can really review. Stuff like this can be tough to gauge, too, but this particular build seemed to use largely reliable parts from name brands. That's about the best we can hope for, although seeing the overclock on the BCLK instead of the multiplier alarmed me a little.IdBuRnS - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
I can't comment on components for every bad build that I've heard of but the few that I know the specific component breakdowns the customers chose name-brand parts. I know the one that I built for my dad was composed of "good" parts from the major component manufacturers (ASUS, EVGA, etc) and the computer was completely unusable. Constant BSODs, they sent replacement RAM, no fix, he sent the computer back and the tech on the phone said they would replace the complete computer. After 3 weeks the computer showed backup and it was the exact same one, down the same serial numbers on parts. The computer was still BSOD'ing constantly and the next tech claimed that they never say they will replace computers...My dad finally had to force them to give him a refund and got a Dell XPS instead. What a headache.
kevenc - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
ldBuRnS you say that the ibuypower computers pretty much suck; do you have any recommendations for other builders of watercooled overclocked PCs? Is Cyberpower any good?IdBuRnS - Friday, April 1, 2011 - link
I have my own suspicions that ibuypower and cyberpower are actually owned by the same people...To be honest I really don't have any other first-hand experience with other OEMs- it's really hard for me personally to justify buying a pre-built system from a Digital Storm or Falcon or others when I can literally build the same computer for less. Don't get me wrong, I've certainly wanted to and there are times when it would be a lot more convenient to be able to just pick up a phone and get some tech support, but my wallet has kept me from doing it so far.
I wish I could be more help- maybe someone else will see your question and have some good recommendations.
high5me - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
Not a bad review, only reason why Digital Storm pulls ahead, is because of the x2 580 sli.. I've bought two systems from them (digital storm) and both have failed prematurely before their 30 day window. They're way too overpriced.Other than that, i enjoyed the review.
wwswimming - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - link
I won't charge you anything to store it at my place.