I've had a Cyberpower PC for about 7 years and it never let me down. In 2023 I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 on high settings even with a mere Nvidia GTX 1060 (3 GB) and that machine's now-ancient Intel i7-7700. But I felt it was time to upgrade and after a good week or two of comparisons I decided on this machine.
What you should know right away is that this is a great computer if you're gaming at 1080 (which many sources agree is the best ratio for gaming, things get trickier at 4K and above). I ran a performance test from Cpu User Benchmark and the computer's results were "UFO" in all categories, the site's highest possible grade. This unit comes with an Intel i7-13700F, a 16GB Nvidia RTX 4060 ti, and 16 GB of DDR5 ram. The motherboard is an MSI Pro B760 VC wi-fi, a solid board from a reliable brand (though the parts in this computer may differ from user to user depending on what's available when it's built). This is a solid, solid machine. It might not be the same as an ultra-insane $5,000 supercomputer but if you have that kind of cash lying around you're better off sailing on your yacht anyway.
There was much talk of the RTX 4600 being an awful video card so if you're aware of that you may be reluctant to go for this build. The problem wasn't that the card itself was bad though, only that it wasn't seen as enough of a performance jump over the previous generation of cards to warrant the price. Even so, this card is specifically the 4060 *ti*, a better version of the card, and one that also has 16 GB of video ram rather than the 8 GB on the standard 4060, an amount that may soon be insufficient for gaming. This card is VERY good for gaming. In the aforementioned Cyberpunk, for example, my previous 1060 build ran the game at about 60-70 FPS with settings high and ray-tracing, a notorious FPS hog, turned off. On this new machine I ran the same game with ray tracing turned ON and every setting at maximum and averaged a fantastic 110 FPS. With ray tracing turned back off it reached as high as 145. Cyberpunk is regularly featured in tests of the most demanding modern games, so if this computer runs it that well I'm confident about its overall performance. The solid state drive also loads the game incredibly fast, about 8 seconds from clicking "continue game" to actually playing it, a massive jump from the 30 or so seconds it took for my previous hard drive. I'm satisfied that this computer will keep me gaming for years.
One thing that needs to be noted is the computer's CPU fan, which several users have said is inadequate. While the computer does come with just a simple air cooler, my temperatures have so far been perfectly fine. At idle (desktop, internet, etc.) I'm getting an excellent 32-35 degree average. During gameplay my average was about 70-80, with a peak at about 85. Some may think that this is overly hot but my previous build was averaging 45 at idle and about 90 for gaming and it ran for years. All the same I do understand the desire to have the best cooling to ensure the proper lifespan. Some people have said that the i7-13700 runs hot, so you may want to invest in a stronger cooler. Other reviewers mentioned getting a "Peerless Assassin" so I did the same. It was around $30, very affordable if you want that extra piece of mind.
Setting up the computer was incredibly easy. I wondered how this would work being that the machine does not come with a dvd drive, the only way I've ever installed Windows in the past. I was quite surprised (and intrigued) by the fact that the installer comes in the form of a little paperboard USB stick. You simply snap the stick from the "card" that it's mounted to (don't throw it away when you open the box!), plug it into a USB slot, and turn the computer on. That's it. Windows will install, and you don't even need to mess with the BIOS or install drivers to get the computer to recognize the mouse and keyboard (which I've had to do when reformatting other computers in the past). Once running, the computer ran a program to get the drivers it needed. I didn't even have to install any Windows runtimes, something that's normally required before you can play games. Everything in this computer was just ready, plain and simple. After having gone through a month-long headache of messing with replacement parts on an unrelated computer, this was very much appreciated. Speaking of mouse and keyboard this computer comes with very nice ones, which I'll keep for backup for when my current ones break down.
I don't have much more to say, really. The RGB lights are beautiful, adjustable and come with a simple remote control. The device supports wifi and is apparently bluetooth enabled. Anything I've plugged into it, from a USB headset to an Xbox1 controller, works immediately. My gaming test delivered excellent results. The computer's performance test gave back the highest rating on CPU User Benchmark. The parts are modern and the machine was incredibly easy to set up. So far I can't think of anything I don't like about this machine, and if it holds up as well as my previous Cyberpower unit I'll be happy with it for years to come.
Should anything major change I'll come back and update this review. As it stands, I am more than pleased with my purchase.
EDIT 12-8-23: I've received and installed the Peerless Assassin 120 cooler that I mentioned in my review and it's definitely made a significant difference in temperatures. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 with the computer's standard cooler yielded temps between about 75-95 degrees on average. With the PA cooler I'm playing the same game at an average of about 55-60, no higher (so far) than 70, and I've gained about 10 FPS in the process. If you'd like to extend the lifespan of your CPU I can now recommend replacing the stock fan with the PA 120 or another highly-reviewed cooler.
| Standing screen display size | 0.1 |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Processor | 2.1 GHz core_i7 |
| RAM | 16 DDR5 |
| Hard Drive | 1 SSD |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 16 GB |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 2 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 6 |
