Cyberpower PC Gamer Xtreme 1046 Performance Gamer Desktop PC

Jun 7 2010 - Cyberpower's Gamer Xtreme 10460 does an excellent job of balancing features to make a very solid system for computer gaming. While it doesn't have the fastest processor or the latest graphics card, it can still keep pace with the latest and greatest PC games at resolutions up to 2560x1600. The system does have some issues though including an inconsistent build quality that may make those unfamiliar with a PC interior to think twice before buying.

Jun 7 2010 - While there are new unlocked Core processors from Intel, most games these days are more limited by the graphics system than the processor. Because of this, the selection of the Core i7-860 quad core processor is not necessarily a bad one by Cyberpower for the Gamer Xtreme 1046. It will still perform well enough for games for some time. The 4GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory will help the system run smoothly for now but it would have been nice to see a bit more to allow for a greater level of multitasking or dealing with memory intensive applications.

Gamer's typical don't require a large amount of hard drive space. Instead, they are more concerned about the speed when loading them. The 1TB hard drive provides plenty of space for games and media files. Performance is decent but falls short of systems using a mixed of SSDs and hard drives or a RAID setup. Of course, most systems with those do cost more. On the bright side, Cyberpower has packed the system with a very popular LG branded Blu-ray combo drive that supports playback of Blu-ray movies and reading or recording CDs and DVDs.

The Gamer Xtreme 1046 is built for gaming and it certainly delivers this with the high powered ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. While the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 may have an advantage at times, the Radeon provides a solid gaming experience up to 2560x1600 in most titles and can run high levels of filters at lower resolutions without drawing too much power or making a whole lot of noise. The 800W power supply should be sufficient for adding a second card in a CrossFire setup if you need additional power but it might push things a bit too far and cause some system instability.

Before buyer's plug in their machine and start it up, they need to open up the system and make sure things are installed properly. In the case of my test machine, the video card was not fully set in which would have given it a black screen had it powered up. There are reports of others buying the machine having similar problems. Some of these issues may have been from the installers but I suspect some are a result of shipping as well. Just be warned to check over the machine thoroughly for any loose connections.

If you don't mind having to check to make sure everything is seated properly, the Gamer Xtreme 1046 makes for a very solid gaming system for those that may not want to take the time to build their own system. Be warned that there are more affordable gaming system than the $1399 system but many will sacrifice the video performance.