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
Build Quality
You'll either love or hate the way the iBuyPower Revolt looks, but at least it's incredibly distinctive. While the Alienware X51's design securely fits into their lineup, iBuyPower is essentially fashioning a particular look with the Revolt. It's a functional design, though, and a step up from the somewhat chaotic one that DigitalStorm uses on their Bolt. Opening the Revolt involves removing two screws and then sliding off the side panel; when you do so you're greeted with this:
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Everything is held into place with Phillips head screws, but the stacking order is pretty clean. The radiator for the CPU sits under the optical drive; the power supply sits above the right-angled PCIe x16 slot. I'm loathe to see how a stock CPU cooler would fare in this enclosure, though, which was clearly designed with the radiator in mind. All of the side ventilation on the case is very specifically positioned to keep the components cool.
What's worth mentioning, though, is that the Revolt is definitely bigger than the Alienware X51 and more similar in size to DigitalStorm's Bolt. This can't really be helped; the X51 moved the power supply out of the chassis and uses an external PSU, which in turn places a hard limit on the GPU at 150W and precludes overclocking the CPU.
Noise and Heat
The best way I can describe the noise character of the iBuyPower Revolt is this: Xbox 360. The aesthetic of the Revolt does remind me of the first generation white Xbox 360s, and the system sounds basically identical to the 360 under heavy load. That means it's audible, but not aggravatingly so. What the Revolt doesn't have in common with the poorly engineered first generation 360 is this:
While the 360 was busy cooking its chips off, the Revolt was able to keep fairly cool. CPU thermals are appreciably low (though admittedly running at stock clocks), although the GTX 670 does run just a hair on the warm side. That's worth bringing up because Kepler's boost clocks are actually thermally controlled. It shouldn't be a huge issue, but I wouldn't expect to get a whole lot of extra oomph out of the 670 in the Revolt.
Power Consumption
The combination of Ivy Bridge and Kepler in the iBuyPower Revolt should yield precious few surprises, and sure enough that's exactly what you'll get. In addition to looking and sounding like Microsoft's first generation game console, the Revolt draws about as much power under load.
It's hard for thermals to be spectacularly poor when the system is among the most frugal with power that I've ever tested. Like I said, Ivy Bridge and Kepler are a pretty unbeatable combination, and that's proven again here.
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mariush - Saturday, February 16, 2013 - link
Too bad you're not actually posting some pictures of the actual motherboard and case internals.You say it's custom but it would be nice to see who exactly makes it or what model of motherboard is the base this motherboard was customized from.
Surely it's not a 100% custom design.
RDO CA - Saturday, February 16, 2013 - link
Sooooo when do you read the article?secretmanofagent - Saturday, February 16, 2013 - link
Too bad I'm not putting together words that represent a thoughtful contribution.You say it's custom, and then you go into detail exactly what it is in the conclusion.
Surely I should have read the article 100% before bitching.
arnavvdesai - Saturday, February 16, 2013 - link
I was hoping the author can answer some of the following questions1) Is there space for one more 3.5" HDD?
2) Is there space for one 2.5" SSD and one 3.5" HDD?
While I understand that most of the system is accessible by removing a phillips screws, can I at some point change the Video Card personally when a new one comes out or is it in some way fixed permanently with the system when I purchase one.
I am really interested in the system size and the MB they provide and would like to get something this small, so is there something case/MB wise that I can get to put below my TV? The mITX cases I have seen so far on NewEgg or Amazon all seem to be towers and largish (roughly the size of a large AV reciever).
Is there an option to get a BD drive instead of a DVD drive?
DanNeely - Sunday, February 17, 2013 - link
You can configure it with an SSD and an HDD. The wizard won't let you pick 2 HDDs (throws an error message) so the second bay is almost certainly only 2.5". Surprisingly it doesn't have an option for two SSDs; since in the past I've read that butiques were claiming it was a customer demanded config when they sent raid 0 SSD review systems out.jnemesh - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
It has one 3.5" bay, one 2.5" bay, and one mSATA slot. It would not let me configure all three filled, but you should be able to have 3 drives internal if one is a SSD using mSATA.tipoo - Saturday, February 16, 2013 - link
Shame they killed it rather than continuing to upgrade it. They were early to this segment and instead of capitalizing on their lead they let it die off. Sounds familiar for them.Earthmonger - Sunday, February 17, 2013 - link
Not interested much, but I did read it. Thanks for the work Dustin. Kept me occupied for fifteen minutes on this boring Sunday, and I appreciate that.This isn't for PC Gaming enthusiasts; they would want the security of an upgradable machine.
This is just for console gamers who'd like to expand their options to PC games. With a disposable machine.
I keep wondering why they want to shrink these "living room boxes". You could accomplish so much more in something the size of a HT subwoofer enclosure without grossly scandalizing the living room.
I'd like to agree with the earlier comment complaining about the MS Office inclusion. It should be the consumer's option to receive the product with a completely blank drive, if they wish it. These back-office deals have always PO'd me, I don't need a bloated, ghost'ed drive. But in this case I have to remember the demographic this was built for, which isn't me. Can't deduct for that.
The case design is hideous. I've seen it before, on an $8 plastic clothes hamper at Wal*Mart. Reminiscent of something the new Johnny Hou would draw up.
Dustin Sklavos - Sunday, February 17, 2013 - link
Uh...this is upgradable.Earthmonger - Monday, February 18, 2013 - link
Is it? Swap out the PSU, GPU, toss in an AMD CPU, motherboard? Hmm. I was under the impression that space was limited, and PSU/GPU length and mainboard config would be an issue.