Dell, HP, and iBuyPower Back-to-School PC Roundup
iBuyPower Gamer Power BTS11 Configuration and First Impression
Last up is iBuyPower's Gamer Power BTS11, the tall man on campus in this back-to-school roundup. Unlike the other two contenders, iBuyPower is a boutique system builder that uses off-the-shelf components, hence why the BTS11 brings a showy NZXT Phantom case to class.
The first thing that stands out is the price tag. At $1,000, this is the least expensive machine in our roundup, a tradeoff that comes at the expense of a Blu-ray drive or larger hard drive. It's also the only machine to employ liquid cooling, which along with the unlocked Core i5 2500K processor seems to suggest iBuyPower expects users to at least entertain the idea of overclocking. iBuyPower also separates itself from the pack by being the only one to bring an Nvidia GPU to class, whereas both Dell and HP went with AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards.
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Model
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Gamer Power BTS11 |
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CPU
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Intel Core i5 2500K with liquid cooling |
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Memory
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8GB DDR3 1333MHz |
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Graphics
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Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti |
| Storage |
Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB (6Gbps, 7200 RPM) |
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Optical
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Lite-On 24X DVD Burner |
| Operating System |
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 |
| Internet |
10/100/1000 Ethernet |
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Front Panel Ports
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2 x USB 2.0; eSATA; Mic/headphone |
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Rear Panel Ports
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4 x USB 2.0; 2 x USB 3.0; GbE LAN; Optical SPDIF; Audio inputs, Serial |
| Sound | Integrated 7.1 surround sound |
| Power Supply | Xion 700W |
| Keyboard / Mouse | HP wireless keyboard and mouse |
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Dimensions
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8.74" x 24.26" x 21.29" (WxDxH) |
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Warranty
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1 Year Limited |
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Price
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$1,000 (as configured) |
The first thing that stands out is the price tag. At $1,000, this is the least expensive machine in our roundup, a tradeoff that comes at the expense of a Blu-ray drive or larger hard drive. It's also the only machine to employ liquid cooling, which along with the unlocked Core i5 2500K processor seems to suggest iBuyPower expects users to at least entertain the idea of overclocking. iBuyPower also separates itself from the pack by being the only one to bring an Nvidia GPU to class, whereas both Dell and HP went with AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards.
Contents
- iBuyPower keyboard
- iBuyPower mouse
- Quick Start Guide and related documentation
- Windows Reinstallation DVD
- Gigabyte Motherboard Manual
;)
Getting back to iBuyPower's status as a boutique system builder, we were greeted to a squeaky clean desktop completely devoid of any third-party cruft. The upshot is you don't have to spend the first 15 minutes or so uninstalling junk software, though that also means you won't find any proprietary utilities or special overlays that can sometimes add to the Windows experience. That's fine by us, as we typically prefer to customize our setups on our own.
