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
Conclusion: An Important Release, But With Caveats
The iBuyPower Revolt is almost difficult to evaluate due to what it essentially represents, so we need to split our evaluation in two directions: what the Revolt signifies for the future of iBuyPower, and how the Revolt competes with the current bumper crop of smaller gaming desktops seemingly destined for the living room.
Addressing the former, the Revolt represents the first step in iBuyPower establishing itself not as another boutique, but as a full on vendor competing with the big boys. Obviously the major signal here is iBuyPower's claim that the motherboard is their own kit. In evaluating and analyzing the Revolt, there's...some truth to that claim. The board has iBuyPower's own silkscreen, and you can't buy one exactly like it. What it is, though, is a custom revision of ASRock's Z77E-ITX. The UEFI is laid out identically to ASRock's own UEFI but with an iBuyPower "theme" to it, and the board itself is just the Z77E-ITX without Virtu or display outputs. The ASRock branding on the chipset heatsink is also gone; the heatsink itself is replaced with a generic one. So while my first instinct is to go "gotcha!", the reality is a lot more mundane, because this isn't actually that much different than anything the big boys use. The Revolt continues to be valid as a demonstration of iBuyPower as a potential major player, especially as their presence in retail continues to grow.
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As for the Revolt's competitive fitness, it's really going to come down to price. iBuyPower does have a history of almost attacking prices in the time-honored tradition of Billy Mays and Mr. Popeil, with the difference being that this product is a sound one. If iBuyPower can hit $1,199 with this review configuration, they're pretty bulletproof. Their $899 model is embarrassingly skint on RAM and wastes the i5-3570K at its core with a stock cooler, but otherwise it's pretty fantastic and definitely competitive. Amusingly, if you want the most bang for your buck, going with their $649 model and then bumping the GPU to a GTX 660, the RAM to 8GB, and the PSU up to 350W results in an $819 price tag, and that's something Alienware just can't offer. If iBuyPower could offer that configuration at $799 or even $749, forget it, competition's over.
With that said, the two models on NewEgg right now are really underwhelming. The $999 model is unimpressive compared to what you can do on iBuyPower's site, and the $639 model's GeForce GT 630 (featuring a comically large 4GB of DDR3 video memory) is an embarrassment that actually undermines iBuyPower's credibility. I don't like seeing companies using sticker amounts like 4GB on crappy video cards to sucker in rubes who don't know any better, and I think it hurts iBuyPower in the long run to resort to a gimmick like that to sell units instead of just letting the product stand on its own.
So ultimately while I'm not over the moon with iBuyPower's stock configurations and think they could produce much more compelling options, and the uncertainty of our unit's price tag paints a bit of a dark cloud over the review, the Revolt is nonetheless a pretty stellar product. Anything that democratizes gaming hardware is a good thing, and iBuyPower is continuing to make gaming PCs more and more accessible. I want to see the Revolt on store shelves because it obsoletes more half-baked attempts like HP's Phoenix as well as making people who came for the Alienware X51 do a double take.
It's not going to be available until the beginning of March, but if you want to game for a good price, the Revolt is tough to beat. Just don't buy it stock.
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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.