Let me inform you a narrative: Back in 2020 the world shut down, and a confluence of provide and demand points, a chip scarcity, surging cryptocurrencies and a world pandemic made a variety of tech-related merchandise tough to unattainable to purchase. Flash ahead to in the present day and issues are nonetheless form of that means–no less than in the case of graphics playing cards.
These ongoing points proceed to drive the gross sales of pre-built programs, together with these on our listing of one of the best gaming PCs. With the launch of Intel’s twelfth Gen “Alder Lake” chips, that are notably spectacular in the case of gaming, iBuypower has launched its “iBuypower Intel 12th Gen Z690 i7 DDR4 Gaming” PC. The identify is certainly a mouthful, however it’s extra of a configurator for quite a few Intel-based PCs than anything. And there’s a good bit to love in the case of efficiency.
The iBuypower mannequin we reviewed sports activities an Intel Core i7-12700K, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 and one among iBuypower’s personal instances. And in our testing, it held up in opposition to and/or surpassed final yr’s fashions, although there may be some room for enchancment.
Design of the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 i7 Gaming PC
This PC was inbuilt iBuypower’s personal Slate Hako MR case, which is a reasonably customary case with a touch of perspective.
It’s exhausting to not discover the very entrance of the case, which is a bit uncommon. It’s tempered glass, which reveals off three 240 mm case followers of their RGB glory. It’s a darkish glass, nonetheless, which makes it extremely reflective and solely reveals probably the most lit-up elements. If you do not have numerous RGB, you will not be capable of see your elements nicely. Whether or not that is a professional or a con is a matter of non-public style.
There’s a little bit of venting on the proper facet of the case to let in some air, however there’s additionally some smack dab in the course of the entrance. The impact type of appears to be like like a lightning bolt, however with an area within the center to permit for a little bit of airflow. Both edges of the bolt overlap to create a layered impact. Between the lightning and the sample, my spouse referred to it as “very David Bowie,” which I’m advised was a praise. But if you happen to don’t just like the look, iBuypower presents a staggering 19 different choices, though some add considerably to the worth of the system.
The left facet of the desktop options extra tempered glass, letting you see into the case. For our evaluation unit, that featured a smattering of RGB on the 4 case followers and on the pump for the CPU cooler. I’m of the opinion that this can be a tasteful quantity of lights. The proper facet panel, like on many instances, is an aluminum door that slides off.
There are just a few mud filters across the case, together with on the high over the radiator, which will be eliminated by taking out a thumb screw and separating a bit of the highest of the case to scrub it. There are additionally filters in entrance of the three consumption followers and on the backside, the place the facility provide sits. That final one is the best to take away, and is held in with a set of clips. I want iBuypower would have gone with magnetic, easy-to-remove filters for quicker, easier cleansing.
For cooling, there’s room for 3 120 mm followers within the entrance and one other within the again. Ours used a 240 mm all-in-one water cooler mounted on high, however it may be configured with bigger 280 mm or 360 mm AIOs as nicely.
Out of the field, the RGB lighting was caught on a delicate blue and purple mixture. I really fairly preferred it, however was stunned to see no software program had been put in to regulate it (not even a distant within the field!). I went to the motive force and utilities web page for the Asus Prime Z690-P D4 motherboard and obtained the most recent model of Aura Sync, which gave me extra management over the lighting on the followers and cooler pump. If you may have a motherboard from a distinct vendor, like MSI or Gigabyte, you will have completely different software program, so verify accordingly.
The mod-tower ATX case measures 19.3 x 18.8 x 8.66 inches (491 x 478 x 220 mm), which I may match on my desk, although I believe many will need to place it on their flooring. It’s a bit larger than another desktops we reviewed previously yr, just like the NZXT Streaming Plus (18.11 x 16.85 x 8.27 inches), MSI Aegis RS eleventh (17.72 x 16.93 x 8.46 inches) and Zotac Mek Hero (a comparably small 17.4 x 16.2 x 8.7 inches.)
iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC Specifications
| Processor | Intel Core i7-12700KF |
| Motherboard | Asus Prime Z690-P D4 |
| Memory | 16GB TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4-3200 |
| Graphics | MSI RTX 3070 Ventus 3X LHR (8GB GDDR6) |
| Storage | 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe Internal SSD |
| Networking | RealTek 2.5Gb Ethernet |
| Front Ports | 2x USB 3 Type-A ports, headphone jack, microphone jack |
| Rear Ports (Motherboard) | 2x USB 2.0 ports, DisplayPort, HDMI, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, 2x. USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, Ethernet, 5x audio jacks, Optical S/PDIF out |
| Video Output (GPU) | 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, HDMI |
| Power Supply | 700W High Power HP1-J700GD-F12S 80 Plus Gold |
| Cooling | iBuypower 240 mm Addressable RGB liquid cooler, 4x 240 mm case followers |
| Case | iBuypower Slate Hako MR |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Dimensions | 19.3 x 18.8 x 8.66 inches / 491 x 478 x 220 mm |
| Price as Configured | ~ $2,452 |
Ports and Upgradeability on the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC
iBuypower’s port choice is fairly customary. On the highest of the case, there are two USB 3 Type-A ports alongside separate headphone and microphone jacks. This is a reasonably widespread setup, however I’d prefer to see iBuypower add a USB Type-C port to the case for the growing variety of exterior drives and different peripherals which can be switching to the newer port.
The remainder of the ports are going to rely totally on the motherboard and GPU you get. In our case, the Asus Prime Z690-P D4 motherboard has a further six USB ports (two USB 2.0 Type-A, a pair of of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and a single USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C), in addition to DisplayPort and HDMI in case your CPU has built-in graphics (ours didn’t), an Ethernet jack, S/PDIF out and 5 audio jacks. Our GPU, the MSII RTX 3070 Ventus 3X, has three ShowPorts and an HDMI output.
Getting inside is simple and requires no instruments. The tempered glass left facet panel is held in by two thumb screws and will be rigorously slid from the chassis, providing you with entry to many of the elements, together with the motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD and cooler. There’s room add two SATA SSDs in the primary case compartment.
The proper facet panel comes off similarly, with two thumb screws. From there, you may see the facility provide, which is beneath a shroud, in addition to an RGB controller. There’s room so as to add much more storage within the again, together with exhausting drives in a caddy subsequent to the facility provide, in addition to two SATA drives that may be vertically mounted on a panel and wired to the PSU and motherboard.
The cable administration within the rear is ok. It’s not the nicest I’ve ever seen, however it’s about pretty much as good as I may do with a non-modular energy provide, which provides pointless cable mess to any PC. The case has loads of passthroughs between the back and front, and I can already see which of them I might use if I added extra storage.
Gaming and Graphics on the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC
Intel’s newest, within the type of the Core i7-12700KF, paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 in our iBuypower evaluation configuration, proved to be a robust mixture for mainstream gaming.
I took the iBuypower via its paces by taking part in Deathloop, one among my favourite video games from final yr. The RTX 3070 did not have sufficient VRAM to play at 4K on medium or excessive settings with out throwing up warning flags, so I settled for 1440p on extremely settings, which was nonetheless fairly nice. As I performed as Colt, buying and selling hearth with Eternalists within the Karl’s Bay space, I discovered that the sport sometimes ran between 75 and 84 frames per second on these settings, although I did see it get as excessive as 92 fps just a few instances.
On Shadow of the Tomb Raider‘s benchmark (very excessive settings), the iBuypower system ran at 119 fps at 1080p and 40 fps at 4K. That’s in placing distance of each the NZXT Streaming Plus PC and Zotac Mek Hero, which differed by simply a few frames. But the MSI Aegis RS eleventh with a extra highly effective RTX 3080, unsurprisingly outperformed the remainder with 147 fps at FHD and 57 fps for 4K.
There was the same development for Grand Theft Auto V (very excessive settings), the place iBuypower’s rig ran at 119 fps at 1080p and 40 fps at 4K. The NZXT was nearly tied and the Zotac edged a pair frames increased, however it was the Aegis, once more, with the efficiency edge, at 147 fps at 1080p and 57 fps at 4K.
On Far Cry New Dawn (extremely settings) the iBuypower was one of the best of the group in 1080p at 128 fps, even beating the Aegis (134 fps). The Zotac was the subsequent closest at 111 fps at full HD. Meanwhile, at 4K, the iBuypower reached 74 fps, tying with the NZXT however falling 40 frames behind the MSI.
The iBuypower ran the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark (medium settings) at 88 fps at 1080p and 36 fps at 4K. It was barely forward of the NZXT and Zotac (82 and 80 fps, respectively), however behind the MSI (113 fps). At 4K, the iBuypower hit 36 fps, near its RTX 3070-based opponents however behind the MSI’s 50 fps.
The three RTX 3070 machines successfully held fingers and crossed the end line collectively on the Borderlands 3 benchmark (badass settings). At 1080p, each the iBuypower and Zotac Mek Hero hit 108 fps (the NZXT reached 106 fps) and all three of them averaged 44 fps at 4K. The MSI Aegis RS eleventh ran at 136 fps at 1080p and 58 fps at 4K.
We additionally ran the iBuypower PC via our gaming stress take a look at, through which we ran the Metro Exodus benchmark 15 instances at RTX settings, simulating roughly half an hour of gaming. The sport ran at a median of 84.33 fps throughout the runs and was fairly secure all through.
During the take a look at, the CPU’s efficiency cores measured a median of 4.49 GHz, whereas the effectivity cores measured a median of three.41 GHz. The CPU package deal measured a median of 59.11 levels Celsius (120.39 levels Fahrenheit). On the GPU facet of issues, the RTX 3070 ran at a median clock pace of 1.65 GHz and measured 63.4 levels Celsius (146.12 levels Fahrenheit).
Productivity Performance on the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC
Between Intel’s Core i7-12700KF, with eight efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores, in addition to 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, this gaming desktop is primed to do some severe workplace work on the facet. Its greatest weak spot, within the configuration we examined, was an entry-level SSD that fell behind quicker, dearer choices.
On Geekbench 5, an general efficiency take a look at, the iBuypower notched a single-core rating of 1,955 and a multi-core rating of three,502. That handily defeated the opponents operating final yr’s chips, one of the best of which was the MSI Aegis RS eleventh with 1,676/10,102 with an Intel Core i7-11700K. The Mek Hero and NZXT Streaming Plus, with Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X processors respectively, trailed additional behind.
The script was flipped in our subsequent take a look at, the place the iBuypower PC transferred 25GB of recordsdata at a price of 474.06 MBps. That was behind the NZXT (712.67 MBps) Zotac Mek Hero (700 MBps) and MSI Aegis (635.3 MBPs).
On Handbrake, through which now we have computer systems transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the iBuypower wanted 3 minutes and 57 seconds to finish the duty. That’s far forward of the subsequent closest, the MSI AEgis (5:19), in addition to the Zotac Mek Hero (5:32) and the NZXT Streaming Plus (6:33).
Software and Warranty on the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC
iBuypower delivers a reasonably clear construct of Windows 11 with its PC’s. Our unit got here with an set up of Windows 11 Home that was mild on bloatware, minus a number of the typical Microsoft Store bloat like Amazon Prime, tikTok, Spotify and Disney Plus.
In truth, iBuypower’s solely addition is a hyperlink to a web site detailing Chimera Core, its neighborhood on Discord. This hyperlink is pinned to the taskbar, within the Start Menu and likewise bookmarked within the Edge browser.
The default iBuypower guarantee is three years of service and one yr of elements. The configurator clarifies that the Three Year Standard Warranty “…protects the system and its elements in opposition to defects in supplies or workmanship for 3 years labor and one yr elements from the unique date of bill. During this era, we’ll substitute or restore any faulty elements with out cost to you.”
For some, that is simpler as a result of if one half fails, it is all lined beneath guarantee, although I’m positive there are some preferring managing their very own warranties, particularly for long-term warranties on sure energy provides.
iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 Gaming PC Configurations
We examined the iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 i7 DDR4 Gaming PC with an Intel Core i7-12700KF processor, 16GB of TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z RAM, an MSI RTX 3070 Ventus 3X GPU and a 1TB WD Blue SN50 NVMe SSD. An Asus Prime Z690-P D4 motherboard ties all of it collectively. As of press time, this particular configuration wasn’t obtainable, however the closest choices would run you $2,452.
Because iBuypower is not at present providing this mix of elements as one among its “RDY” ready-to-ship builds, because of this our evaluation unit is basically simply one among many permutations that might come out of iBuypower’s configurator.
You can config this method can with processors from a Core i3-12100F as much as a Core i9-12900K, with AIO water coolers as much as 360mm. RAM goes as much as 64GB DDR5 3600 or 16GB DDR4-4000 (dependant in your motherboard selection), and you’ll choose from a variety of manufacturers together with Corsair, G.Skill, Adata and extra.
GPUs, too, embody all the newest from AMD and Nvidia, from price range choices (even an Nvidia GeForce GT 1030) as much as a GeForce RTX 3090 or Radeon RX 6900 XT.
There are additionally decisions for motherboards, energy provides and a number of other completely different instances. If you get one among these, it could possibly be a completely completely different pc from what we noticed. As of this writing, the motherboard we examined the PC with is not obtainable, possible a casualty of element shortages and different provide chain points.
At its least expensive, you may get a really entry-level construct for simply over $1,300, however that would come with a mechanical exhausting drive and different main steps down from what we examined.
Bottom Line
It is 2022, and it is nonetheless exhausting to get all the elements you need, not to mention at a good value. For higher or worse, shopping for a prebuilt gaming PC is a reasonably surefire means of getting them.
The iBuypower twelfth Gen Z690 i7 DDR4 Gaming places a sequence of competent elements collectively in a chassis. That’s a broad assertion, however with so many configuration choices to select from, yours may come out completely completely different from our evaluation unit.
There are solely a handful of twelfth Gen Intel prebuilts out now, with extra absolutely to come back quickly, particularly because the chipmaker introduced a slew of recent processors at CES. But the brand new silicon definitely presents a bump over eleventh Gen Intel processors and AMD’s present chips.
If you are wanting to have the ability to purchase a set system in a retailer, this could be a bit a lot for you. But for individuals who need to choose each half, iBuypower’s twelfth Gen Z690 i7 DDR4 Gaming is certainly an possibility while you’re seeking to get the elements you need however cannot discover them on their very own.
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