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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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