CyberPowerPC Zeus Thunder 2500 SE Gaming PC Review

by Seth Colaner — Tuesday, June 05, 2012, 11:45 AM EDT

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Introduction and Specifications

A few months ago, CyberPowerPC unveiled a new line of custom gaming PCs under the “Zeus” moniker that promised impressive specs and features at a relatively low price. As it turns out, there are plenty of Zeus models available (nine at present, by our count), which provides a plethora of starting price points. For $1,125, you can nab a basic Zeus Thunder 1000, but a top-of-the-heap Zeus Thunder Max starts at $3,735.

Right smack dab in the middle of the Zeus family price ladder is the Zeus Thunder 2500 SE, a $1,899 rig that CyberPowerPC sent us to play with. Granted, there are plenty of nice systems out there in the $1,000-$2,000 range, but there’s often a feature or two you have to live without. Perhaps the CPU or GPU is a generation old, or you forego liquid cooling in favor of traditional air-cooling. There are no such concessions with the Zeus Thunder 2500 SE, unless you consider rocking a GeForce GTX 680 instead of a 690 or an Intel Core i7-3770K instead of perhaps a 3960X compromising.

CyberPowerPC Zeus Thunder 2500 SE

Specifications & Features

Model:

CPU:

Memory:

Graphics:

Motherboard:

Storage:

Optical:

Cooling System:

Operating System:

Internet:

Front Panel Ports:

Rear Panel Ports:

Sound:
Power Supply:
Weight:

Keyboard / Mouse:
Dimensions:

Warranty:

Price:

ZEUS Thunder 2500 SE

Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge), 3.5GHz
with liquid cooling

16GB DDR3-1600 (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (2GB)

ASUS P8Z77-V

Corsair 120GB Force GT SSD (SATA III)
Hitachi 1TB HDS721010DLE630 (7200RPM)

LG UH12LS28K 12X Blu-Ray Player/DVD-RW Combo Drive

Asetek 570LX 240mm water cooler

Windows 7 Home Premium x64

10/100/1000 Ethernet
Built-in WiFi

2 x USB 2.0; 2 x USB 3.0; Memory card reader; headphone and mic

2 x USB 2.0; 4 x USB 3.0; GbE LAN; DisplayPort, HDMI, optical S/PDIF,
DVI-D, D-sub, PS/2; 6 x audio

Integrated 7.1 surround sound
850W Corsair CMPSU-850TX V2
42 lbs

Not included
235 x 595 x 585 mm (WxHxD)

3 years labor, 1 year parts

$1,899 MSRP (as configured)

Indeed, this CPU and GPU pairing is a fine starting point for a high-performing system, and the overclocked CPU (4.7GHz) is cooled by an Asetek 570LX 240mm water cooler. CyberPowerPC opted for an ASUS P8Z77-V motherboard upon which to build the system and slotted in 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 (4x4GB).

On the storage side, there’s a speedy Corsair 120GB Force GT SSD paired with a 1TB Hitachi (7200RPM) bulk storage drive, and the optical drive is an LG 12x Blu-ray player/DVD-RW combo.

We were glad to see that the Zeus Thunder 2500 SE had no bloatware at all; when we first started it up, all we got was the default Windows desktop background. Most custom builders these days seem to be ditching pre-installed junk, and that's a most welcome trend. Nothing's more annoying that dropping big money on a custom PC only to spend your first hours with it uninstalling a bunch of unwanted junk-ware.

What we have here is a nice list of components, but let’s dig in to see what kind of system the CyberPowerPC folks built from it.