WEBVTT 00:00:10.559 --> 00:00:17.600 Well, Lilock, you've done it again. I don't think the PCB will be troubling us 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:21.520 anytime soon. Quite indeed, Plen. Quite indeedly. But just tell me, how did you 00:00:19.840 --> 00:00:25.279 manage to crack the case? Miss Katesson's got her shawl back, and 00:00:23.680 --> 00:00:30.240 you've managed to determine which of our pre-built gaming computers is the best. 00:00:27.119 --> 00:00:31.920 Well, it was quite elementary. Elijah 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:35.520 just paid for a pizza. He never ordered because I bought his info online to 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:39.840 prank him. But while sponsor me, you can stop can stop stuff like that. What's 00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:45.200 that? What? Wait a tick. That's not how I remember 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:48.000 it. You see, it was near the end when 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:53.520 Scotland Yard examined our preconfigured computing 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:56.399 machines. Ah, Dell, we meet again. And 00:00:53.520 --> 00:01:01.600 this time you're very similar to last year. The XPS 8960 still requires a 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:06.799 screwdriver to access the side panel, but is otherwise mostly toolless. You 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:10.799 get two fans, front and rear, with space for a third, along with decent cable 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:14.960 management, including pre-run cables for adding a hard drive, as well as a GPU 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.759 brace that could probably survive an earthquake. The proprietary Z690 00:01:18.080 --> 00:01:22.880 motherboard will cause some headaches if you want to upgrade the power supply 00:01:21.119 --> 00:01:28.799 later, which you may very well want to do, but is well featured with two M.2 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.479 slots and onboard Wi-Fi. The only major 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:37.119 quality complaint that I have here is the cheapo flowerype CPU cooler. There's 00:01:33.520 --> 00:01:39.200 a Core i7 14700 nonK under this thing. 00:01:37.119 --> 00:01:44.000 And that would live a happier, cooler life with even a basic tower heat sink, 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:49.600 like oh, I don't know, the one that they give you if you order the K variant of 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:51.520 that same CPU. Otherwise, the specs are 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:57.759 about what we would expect at this price, except for the 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:59.600 460W bronze efficiency power supply. At 00:01:57.759 --> 00:02:03.200 least Dell's system arrived fully intact, though. I don't know what 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:07.759 happened to our IBY power system in shipping, but aside from the thumb screw 00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:12.640 that was lodged in the IO, upon closer inspection, we found that nearly all of 00:02:09.920 --> 00:02:17.520 our motherboard screws were loose, and two of the ones that weren't were 00:02:14.920 --> 00:02:22.319 crossthreaded. As for the case, it's not particularly toolless, but it's also not 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:27.520 difficult to work in. And we got four 120 mm ARGB fans, though they use a 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:31.520 proprietary connector, which is a bit of a downer. And for some reason, were not 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:36.959 configured to sync with our motherboard or even to each other. Cable management 00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:40.800 is decent with nothing loose or hanging around. And this time, we got a much 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:46.319 better CPU heat sink with what looks like an I by PowerBadged Hyper22 ARGB 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:51.280 tower cooler. You guys were so close, you just had to screw down the 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:56.000 motherboard. Oh well. As for specs, we got a strong CPU, dual channel memory, 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:01.200 and ample storage. Too bad there was a little mixup with iby's unauthorized 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:08.000 reseller on Amazon, and we didn't get the 4060 Ti that was supposed to be in 00:03:04.959 --> 00:03:11.040 this system. Moving on to Main Gear, the 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.920 MG1 case is largely unchanged since our 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:19.040 previous secret shopping spree, and if it is not broken, then nay, it need not 00:03:16.720 --> 00:03:24.000 be fixed. With that said, a filter behind the removable face plate would be 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:27.920 a nice touch. Cable management was a strong point, though, with no shortage 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:31.120 of zip ties, though that might be a pain point when you're upgrading later and 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:36.000 you have to start cutting them off. And we got a beefy RGB fan controller 00:03:33.519 --> 00:03:41.280 requiring two SATA power connectors that supports six fans and up to eight ARGB 00:03:39.440 --> 00:03:46.400 headers for extra lighting strips or effects. It also appears our case power 00:03:43.519 --> 00:03:51.200 switch is routed to it as well. curious. Another odd choice was the anti-seg GPU 00:03:49.040 --> 00:03:54.560 bracket. It was a nice touch to have it in there, but the way it's mounted made 00:03:53.040 --> 00:04:00.080 replacing the graphics card in the system a bit of a pain, so be prepared. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:04.959 Main Gear is our first competitor to go AMD for the CPU, which we all know is 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:09.280 good for gaming, but the chip that they chose has 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:13.519 literally as many processing cores as the last two systems we looked at. And 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:18.000 while Main Gear chose some of the highest clocked memory in this round, 00:04:15.519 --> 00:04:22.320 the high rated latency means they might not get as much performance benefit from 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:27.520 it. As for the rest of the specs, the main standout was Main Gear selection of 00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:30.040 an SSD with a DRAM cache. Generally, 00:04:27.520 --> 00:04:36.320 these drives perform better and last longer. As for cooling, we got four 120 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:40.320 mm fans and what looks like a Hyper212 Black Edition, so you probably won't 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:43.360 need to change any of that out anytime soon. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:48.560 Speaking of change, I'm happy to report that Star Forge has gone through quite a 00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:50.880 bit of change. Gone is the Deep Cool CG 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:56.639 650 from last time. And in its place, we have the beautiful Fantex XT View, a 00:04:54.160 --> 00:05:01.280 gorgeous and mostly toolless case that's easy to work in. By the way, those of 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:05.040 you who suspected that Star Forge's fans were all set to exhaust were 00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:10.400 hoodwinkedked by their use of reverse blade intakes. There is an additional 00:05:08.080 --> 00:05:14.160 120 mm fan that is exhausting out the rear, but the rest of them are all daisy 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:19.680 chained together for some positive pressure goodness. Curiously, this case 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:24.240 does include an RGB controller, but Star Forge opted to plug into the motherboard 00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:28.720 for control instead. Another thing they didn't use was the case's included 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:32.880 mounting hardware. They clearly used something to assemble the computer, but 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:37.840 we were left with the full set of screws and zip ties. Not that we'll need them 00:05:35.039 --> 00:05:42.479 since the cable management was solid. I'm still not a fan of this uncapped 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.240 ARGB cable that could short out on something and some of these SATA cables 00:05:44.479 --> 00:05:50.639 could be tucked away a little nicer, but it's not bad at all. We need to talk 00:05:48.479 --> 00:05:55.440 about the CPU cooler, though. The contact frame that's included with their 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:59.280 Arctic cooler is a nice touch. But Star Forge, you might want to let your techs 00:05:57.520 --> 00:06:05.360 know that you don't need the full tube of thermal paste. And ours, while secure 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:09.680 enough, was actually not torqued down all the way. As for the heat sink, some 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:13.520 of you noticed that it was a skew after I ripped out the packing foam, but I'm 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:18.400 happy to report that while it looks a tad wonky, it didn't seem to affect 00:06:16.039 --> 00:06:24.080 performance. Under our cooler, we find our most pedestrian CPU yet, mounted to 00:06:21.520 --> 00:06:29.520 the most bulk of motherboards we've seen yet, along with some other kind of 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:32.039 mediocre stuff. Except for the GPU, our 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:38.639 only Radeon card this round is an RX6650 XT8 gig from three years ago. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:44.240 We'll also be exploring the performance of this system with the 7700 XT upgrade 00:06:42.080 --> 00:06:48.880 that we would have gotten for the $300 we had left in our budget, but our value 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:54.960 calculation will be based on the system that they sold us. Next up is HP with a 00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.039 new case that sports these nifty stealthy Wi-Fi antennas and a perforated 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:06.240 front panel for better air flow for our dual 140 mm intake fans. We've got a 120 00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:10.240 mm exhaust in the rear. And all three fans are wired directly to our 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:15.120 motherboard headers instead of into the perfectly good RGB fan hub where they 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:20.080 did decide to route the RGB cables for the fans. Cable management on the back 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:25.039 isn't terrible, but on the front, come on, HP. Either use a nicer case with the 00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:30.479 power supply shroud, you know, like the one you sent us last time, or just take 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:33.440 a little bit more time to tidy this up. 00:07:30.479 --> 00:07:37.680 On the plus side, unlike Dell, HP has basically no proprietary weirdness going 00:07:36.080 --> 00:07:42.639 on that would prevent you from changing parts or upgrading in the future. And 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:49.039 upgrade in the future, you shall. On paper, this is our weakest system yet 00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:51.599 pretty much across the board. Okay, I 00:07:49.039 --> 00:07:57.039 guess the slightly less basic CPU cooler and the 500 W power supply are 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.759 technically ahead of Dell, but not by 00:07:57.039 --> 00:08:04.000 much. Cyberpowers case is designed by Cooler Master and resembles a Masterbox 00:08:02.080 --> 00:08:09.440 5 light, but with some better ventilation at the front. It includes 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:12.720 four 120 mm RGB fans, though 00:08:09.440 --> 00:08:15.440 surprisingly no RGB fan hub. Cable 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:20.319 management is mediocre. No thanks to the board or the case. But at least they 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:24.720 tried. Other than this unholy chain of four pin Molex connectors for those 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:30.400 fans. Where they could have tried harder is the specs. Decent CPU. And 00:08:27.599 --> 00:08:36.000 surprisingly, this 600 W Avia power supply didn't fail our testing. More on 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:42.159 that later. But a single 16 gig stick of memory in 2025 and this subpar flower 00:08:39.839 --> 00:08:46.680 cooler. We didn't do formal acoustic testing, but I can tell you this one 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:50.959 gets pretty loud. Almost as loud as the Dell. Wrapping up our physical 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:56.480 evaluation. In third place, we've got Cyber Power, though I wouldn't mind some 00:08:53.839 --> 00:09:02.399 more amenities, especially front USB type-C. As for the win, I've got to give 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:04.560 it to Main Gear. Overall, Star Forge did 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:09.200 a great job with cable management, and packing in the Fantex hardware was a 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:12.920 nice touch, but Main Gear looked ever so slightly cleaner. Not to mention, they 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:17.279 didn't go overboard on the thermal compound. Of course, everything we've 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:22.320 talked about just now, including the overlication of thermal compound, is 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:24.240 just looks. I've got a feeling that the 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:29.360 beauty of these machines might be only skin deep, and the order might change 00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:33.440 when we look at performance and value. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:35.480 But first, software. Well, Dell, how up 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:40.480 to date and gaming ready are you this year? According to my report, the BIOS 00:09:38.640 --> 00:09:46.640 and Windows versions were both from November of 2024, so just a few months 00:09:43.680 --> 00:09:53.920 before our ship date. However, our GPU drivers were from July, like of 00:09:50.680 --> 00:09:56.560 2024. Resizable bar, an important 00:09:53.920 --> 00:10:01.800 feature for modern GPUs, was enabled, but we found no trace of XMP memory 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:06.959 overclocking in our antiquated looking BIOS. With that said, our memory was 00:10:04.880 --> 00:10:12.560 running at its maximum rated speed of 5600 megat transfers per second. So, I 00:10:09.920 --> 00:10:16.800 guess that's fine. Our recovery environment and ability to refresh the 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:20.640 PC were both configured properly. And while there were some Dell applications 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:25.040 pre-installed, they were for the most part not configured to start up without 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:30.880 permission. So we only had to remove McAfee during our debloating step. Let's 00:10:28.079 --> 00:10:36.000 move on to IBY Power. For those who missed part two, this is the kind of 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:40.720 weird PC that Miss Katesson accidentally bought from an unauthorized third-party 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:46.000 seller on Amazon when I by Power directed her to get the system from 00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:48.880 Amazon rather from them directly. And 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:54.800 this is an odd one. Our BIOS isn't too old. It's from September of 2024. But 00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:59.120 our Windows install is ancient. I'm 00:10:54.800 --> 00:11:00.959 talking a 22H2 build from a year ago. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:08.000 So, I mean, it's been getting security updates since the latter half of 2022. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:10.399 But come on, 23H2 has been out for kind 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:15.839 of a minute now. And our Intel management and GPU drivers are both 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:20.800 similarly out of date. Looks like someone hasn't been updating their prep 00:11:17.959 --> 00:11:24.079 image. Thankfully, not only does the recovery environment work, an 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:29.200 improvement over last time for I by Power, but there was zero bloatware and 00:11:26.880 --> 00:11:36.240 no odd folder remnants on our drive. Both of which are nice to see. But wait 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:39.920 a tick. What's this? Oh, I by power. How 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:43.120 could you? XMPP is disabled out of the 00:11:39.920 --> 00:11:48.000 box and our CPU cooler tuning is set to 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:49.440 a lowly 65 watts. Rebar may be on, but 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:55.120 you guys aren't getting any points for that since this MSI board enables it by 00:11:51.920 --> 00:11:57.440 default. What a mixed bag this has been. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:04.160 Let's see if Main Gear can do any better. Considering their BIOS, Windows, 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:06.000 and driver versions are all from 2025, 00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:11.040 most from the very same month that we ordered the machine, I'd say they have. 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:15.600 Expo memory tuning and rebar are both enabled. There's no antivirus or 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:20.959 additional bloat to remove and no random leftover prep folders. 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:24.000 Magnificent. But it's not all good news. 00:12:20.959 --> 00:12:26.320 Our system had a little tiny overclock 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.040 that was pre-applied. Nothing major, just a PBO boost of 100 MHz and our 00:12:28.959 --> 00:12:36.800 curve optimizer set to all cores with a minus15 offset, which sounds fine. It's 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:41.120 just that it didn't work. We did try a few adjustments, but our system outright 00:12:39.040 --> 00:12:46.120 refused to boot with these settings enabled, so we ended up turning them 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:50.560 off, keeping only Expo enabled for our testing. Sorry, Main Gear. While I do 00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:55.360 believe you that it probably worked during QC, alas, tragedy must have 00:12:53.760 --> 00:13:00.880 struck this system somewhere along the journey, which highlights the pitfalls 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:03.760 of factory overclocking systems. What 00:13:00.880 --> 00:13:08.560 about Star Forge, though? Well, it appears they've done the opposite of 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:10.639 Main Gear and updated very little. Our 00:13:08.560 --> 00:13:15.320 BIOS and GPU driver versions are from late 2024, and Windows hasn't been 00:13:13.040 --> 00:13:20.279 updated since late 2023. Oh my goodness. And the Intel 00:13:17.839 --> 00:13:26.160 Management Engine driver is older still. Pity. They also left a slew of 00:13:24.079 --> 00:13:31.519 leftovers on the system like wallpapers and animations. But on the bright side, 00:13:29.040 --> 00:13:36.320 look, outdated Windows and drivers can be dealt with by the user, and there's 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:41.360 very little bloat otherwise, and XMP and Rebar were both enabled. Moving right 00:13:39.680 --> 00:13:46.880 along, let's talk about the system that almost didn't get here. HP is an odd 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:51.680 duck this year. The BIOS version of our machine, F.08, isn't available from 00:13:49.760 --> 00:13:56.399 their website, so we're not sure when it's from, but we appear to be just one 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.600 revision behind F-09, which released earlier this year. So, it's probably 00:13:58.800 --> 00:14:06.800 from 2024, like our Windows version, chipset, and GPU drivers. But if you 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:12.240 look closely at HP's website, you'll notice that we're on the latest versions 00:14:08.959 --> 00:14:15.519 of some of these. HP, are you suggesting 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:18.399 that AMD's most recent chipset drivers 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:23.480 after multiple new CPU launches are several months old? 00:14:20.839 --> 00:14:28.240 Inconceivable? No, though, actually inconceivable. What this means is that 00:14:25.680 --> 00:14:32.399 HP is not only not updating the images that they use to install their systems, 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:39.279 but they aren't updating their own driver database and website. For shame. 00:14:36.560 --> 00:14:44.079 Also, while rebar was enabled, our recovery environment works and they've 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:49.040 left no CIS prep traces, they failed to enable XMP and had a bunch of unwanted 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:56.480 software installed like Dropbox promotion, my HP, Omen audio control, 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:58.480 and gaming hub and McAfee. We removed 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:04.320 McAfee before testing, by the way, per our standardized process. Finally, 00:15:01.199 --> 00:15:07.199 there's Cyberpower. Their BIOS is fairly 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:11.519 recent. XMP and Rebar were both enabled. Their recovery environment works, and 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:16.240 system prep was nice and clean, which puts Main Gear on top, and CyberPower in 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:21.600 a clear second place when it comes to system prep with Dell making a surprise 00:15:19.199 --> 00:15:29.120 podium appearance thanks to their non- ancient software. But who will win the 00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:29.120 allimportant gaming performance carriage 00:15:29.160 --> 00:15:33.560 race? This is it. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:41.000 This can't be right. Do mine eyes 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:44.480 deceive me? Dell 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:54.920 wins. I mean, I know that a 4060 Ti is better 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:57.839 than a 4060, but look at this margin of 00:15:54.920 --> 00:16:04.399 victory. And what a fantastic writing instrument. Get yours today at 00:16:01.079 --> 00:16:07.639 ltstore.com. At 1080p, it's nearly a 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:11.199 clean sweep. Red Dead Redemption 2, 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:13.360 F-124, Cyberpunk, Allen Wake, Dell 00:16:11.199 --> 00:16:19.680 demolishes the competition when it comes to pure gaming performance. It's not 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:22.000 even really close. They do suffer one 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:27.600 loss in Dota 2 where Main Gear's choice of a Ryzen processor, one that is cooled 00:16:24.959 --> 00:16:32.720 properly, not to mention quieter, helps them out in this CPUbound game. And I by 00:16:30.560 --> 00:16:37.839 Power manages to pull ahead simply by again properly powering and cooling that 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:45.440 same CPU Dell is using. But the rest of them, hey, a W's a W and they're all 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:47.440 W's. As for our clear losers, Star Forge 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:52.720 lands at the bottom of the list more often than not with HP, Main Gear, and 00:16:50.079 --> 00:16:57.040 CyberPower trading places for second and third worst. What's particularly 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:02.560 interesting is the ray tracing testing we did. Yep, that's the RT performance 00:17:00.079 --> 00:17:08.640 that you can expect out of a 6650 XT. All right, it was a modern card at one 00:17:05.280 --> 00:17:12.079 point, but AMD's newer cards are a lot 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:14.240 better in this regard. At 1440p, it's 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:18.880 more of the same. Dell loses to Main Gear and I by Power in Dota and then 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:25.039 crushes them along with everyone else in every other game. That 4060 Ti is 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:28.960 putting in the work. It's a real shame that our I by Power system didn't come 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:33.440 with one, especially when it was supposed to. Whether the blame lies with 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:38.000 I by Power or with Amazon's crummy marketplace model, it has clearly hurt 00:17:35.520 --> 00:17:43.440 them here. As you'll see when we do our what could have been analysis 00:17:40.760 --> 00:17:47.440 later. Of course, raw performance doesn't tell the whole story. There's 00:17:45.360 --> 00:17:53.600 also the question of value. And here, Dell's victory is still a victory, but 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:59.840 not as clearly so. In Alan Wake 2, Cyberpower dethrones Dell. In Cyberpunk 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:01.760 2077, Dell wins by less than a dime. I 00:17:59.840 --> 00:18:07.600 by Power and Main Gear come out ahead in Dota 2 and then Dell wins by about a 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:10.880 dollar in F124 and by about a quarter in 00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:14.240 Red Dead Redemption 2. Still though, 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:16.720 what an upset. These results are really 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:20.799 going to make the overall pick a tough call this 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:24.559 year. Now, while Miss Katesson did specify that the system was for gaming, 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:30.080 we thought we'd take a quick look at productivity performance. In our most 00:18:27.280 --> 00:18:36.000 GPUintensive test, Blender, Star Forge is way down at the bottom thanks to 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:38.240 their lack of HIP RT capabilities. HIPP 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:42.559 is just AMD's version of CUDA rendering and HIP RT is the latest version of it 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:48.640 that utilizes ray tracing. But I digress. Dell is the clear winner here 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:54.240 again. But that is their only win in productivity. In Cinebench 24, I by 00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:59.039 Power is on top in multi-core and tied with Dell in single core. while Star 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:04.400 Forge hangs out at the bottom. And in AV1 CPU encoding with Handbreak, Dell 00:19:01.679 --> 00:19:09.200 performs admirably, but loses to I by Power with Starge on the bottom again. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:14.480 My detective skills are intuiting a pattern here, and X264 encoding tells us 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:18.320 the same story, as does Puget Bench's Premiere and Da Vinci Resolve 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:22.160 benchmarks. Main Gear manages to take second place in Photoshop, but other 00:19:20.320 --> 00:19:28.440 than that, their performance wasn't much to write home about. Yet, if we examine 00:19:25.360 --> 00:19:31.120 the cost of our systems, curiouser and 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:36.160 curiouser, I by power once again looks like a solid value proposition, winning 00:19:33.679 --> 00:19:42.000 multiple rounds here. As for the worst value of the pack, HP, I'm sorry, but 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:46.320 it's very clearly you. You are consistently at the bottom of every 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:51.280 chart we're flipping through right now. Overall, then, as surprising as it might 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:55.360 be, Dell looks like the top pick. Whether you're looking at pure 00:19:52.320 --> 00:19:58.000 performance or performance per dollar, 00:19:55.360 --> 00:20:02.240 but value and performance aren't always number one in people's hearts. Some of 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:07.120 you out there care about thermals or care about whether or not your power 00:20:03.840 --> 00:20:08.880 supply is reliable. To test our GPU 00:20:07.120 --> 00:20:13.840 thermal performance, we stressed our graphics cards with 4K F-124. And I'm 00:20:11.919 --> 00:20:19.120 happy to report that across the board, our system builders chose cases that do 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:23.600 offer sufficient airflow, at least for the weak GPUs that we ended up with this 00:20:21.360 --> 00:20:29.919 round. Out of the whole bunch, Star Forge performed the worst with still a 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:32.400 totally adequate 75° C average and a max 00:20:29.919 --> 00:20:36.960 of 78. As for the rest of our builds, they stayed under 70° on average with 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:43.760 our coolest systems being the Dell and Cyber Power at just 63 degrees average. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:46.080 though they were by far the loudest. As 00:20:43.760 --> 00:20:50.400 for CPU temperatures, things aren't quite as rosy for some of our 00:20:47.840 --> 00:20:56.640 competitors. Dell even managed to hit about 70° C average during 4K gaming, 00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:01.480 which is a scenario that tends to be less demanding on the CPU. So, what 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:06.520 happens when we run Cinebench on these machines? Well, as it turns out, the 00:21:04.080 --> 00:21:11.840 boards really try to juice these processors, at least at first. I by 00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:16.720 Power and Dell were the only systems to reach over 200 watts of power 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:20.240 consumption during their Cinebench run, but they quickly realized that they 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:26.240 can't handle that and throttle down to some pretty unimpressive speeds. I mean, 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:29.120 yes, 3 GHz is higher than the advertised 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:34.080 base frequency of this chip, but boy is it ever a lot slower than the maximum 00:21:31.520 --> 00:21:39.120 turbo. And Dell's average is even worse at just 2.88 GHz. 00:21:37.280 --> 00:21:43.280 For those of you buying an I by Power system, there's clearly thermal headroom 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:46.960 here based on our average temperatures. And you can adjust the power limits to 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:51.200 get a little bit of extra performance out of your purchase. Though that will 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:54.880 take some tinkering in the BIOS, which you, the typical LT viewer, might be 00:21:53.120 --> 00:22:00.240 inclined to do, but the average purchaser probably won't. As for our 00:21:57.760 --> 00:22:07.760 hottest system, it ended up being Main Gear at a sweltering 92° C average. But 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:15.840 to be fair to Main Gear, that CPU is pinned at over 5.1 GHz for the whole 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:19.200 test. And like it or not, 92° is below 00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:21.200 AMD's TJ Maxx. So, I don't know about 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:25.840 you guys, but I would rather have the hotter, more consistent running system 00:22:23.760 --> 00:22:30.559 over the one that's running cooler, but not living up to its potential. Either 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:34.720 way, I think the win here has to go to Star Forge. Whether it was their 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:40.080 abundance of thermal paste, the contact frame on that Arctic cooler, or it just 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:41.919 being an older CPU, it was only 700 MHz 00:22:40.080 --> 00:22:47.280 from the max boost on average while sticking to around 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:49.880 51°. So, this mediocre performing system 00:22:47.280 --> 00:22:55.039 will at least last you a really long time. Something else that might last you 00:22:52.080 --> 00:22:59.679 a long time is this 460W platinum power supply from Dell. Don't get me wrong, 00:22:57.280 --> 00:23:03.120 it's only 460 Ws and the proprietary connections means you can't build 00:23:01.120 --> 00:23:07.280 another computer with it. But when we ran through the light version of our PSU 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:11.919 tester, we confirmed that it is highly efficient with 115 volt and 230 volt. We 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:15.960 were so convinced that the results weren't correct that we went digging for 00:23:13.679 --> 00:23:21.640 the 80 plus test that confirms our findings. Incredible. I by Power used a 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:26.559 high power HP1 J600GD 00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:29.200 F12S600 watt. Very cool. This one tested 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:33.200 poorly at 2% load efficiency, but this was otherwise a solid contender and 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:36.799 mirrors our MSI and Cooler Master units for the rest of our load points. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:42.720 Speaking of which, Main Gear and Star Forge both use the same power supply, 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:44.480 the MAG A650GL from MSI. These were the 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.919 best power supplies out of the bunch, featuring good load regulation, 00:23:46.159 --> 00:23:53.280 efficiency rating, and low voltage ripple or noise. Excellent selection. HP 00:23:51.600 --> 00:23:58.640 also chose well with their Cooler Master PSU. It matches the 80 plus gold rating 00:23:55.919 --> 00:24:02.400 and has mostly average voltage ripple and voltage regulation. A little high on 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:07.840 the 3.3 volt, but nothing to be concerned about. Which leaves us with 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:09.360 cyber power in the Avivia ATX PR600 00:24:07.840 --> 00:24:13.120 watt. We didn't have a lot of faith in this one. And while it didn't explode, 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:18.400 we were right to doubt it. It's not efficient and doesn't stay above 80% 00:24:15.840 --> 00:24:22.320 efficiency at 100% load. We're not sure if this is just one bad unit or maybe 80 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:26.480 Plus was sent a golden sample when they validated it for their rating, but it's 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:30.720 not great. It's a clear tie here between Main Gear and Star Forge with HP as a 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:34.240 runner up and I buy Power with the honorable mention. If you buy from them, 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:38.240 it looks like you'll get quality power supplies that should last you for years 00:24:35.919 --> 00:24:42.799 to come. And while the Aevia unit in the Cyber Power system isn't great, at least 00:24:40.320 --> 00:24:47.279 it uses standard parts. I'll take that over the low wattage proprietary Dell 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:51.919 concoction any day of the week, even if it is quite efficient in need. Which 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:57.679 leads us finally to a section we're calling alternate 00:24:53.880 --> 00:25:00.880 reality. No, not VR performance testing. 00:24:57.679 --> 00:25:03.120 VR hasn't been invented yet in my time. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:07.679 I'm talking about the timeline where we accept Main Gear's offer, get the right 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:13.679 PC from I by Power, don't have our order canceled with CyberPower, and spend our 00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:15.440 full budget with Star Forge. Well, as 00:25:13.679 --> 00:25:20.000 you can see here, our productivity results don't change much. We mostly see 00:25:18.080 --> 00:25:25.279 the Cyberpower PC make some great strides thanks to its stronger CPU, but 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:31.360 these gaming results are something else entirely. It turns out that Star Forge 00:25:28.159 --> 00:25:35.039 is the beneficiary of having a yes much 00:25:31.360 --> 00:25:37.960 much better GPU than the RTX 4060Ti, 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:42.720 allowing them to win in almost every test. With that said, when it comes to 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:48.240 ray tracing, which is becoming more and more important, it's astonishing just 00:25:45.520 --> 00:25:55.520 how much better those third gen RT cores are in NVIDIA's 40 series GPUs. In 00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:59.520 Cyberpunk 2077 1080p RTON, our Star 00:25:55.520 --> 00:26:02.400 Forge 7700 XT alternate reality system 00:25:59.520 --> 00:26:08.400 still manages to lose to our unchanged Dell XPS. And while the 4060 Ti upgrade 00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:14.880 on some of our other systems certainly helps here, our Dell still manages to 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:17.840 stay on top when it comes to pure value. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:22.080 Also, while we don't have the same 120 millimeter AIO that you would expect 00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:27.440 with the upgraded CyberPower, take a look at these thermal results and please 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:31.760 do yourselves a favor and avoid them. Unless you're buying a lower-end CPU and 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:37.120 trying to fit everything into a smaller case, these single fan AIO's are never 00:26:35.520 --> 00:26:41.279 worth buying thanks to their poor performance. you're better off either 00:26:39.600 --> 00:26:47.200 just strapping on a proficient air cooler or stepping up to a version with 00:26:43.600 --> 00:26:48.799 a 240mm radiator. With that segment out 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:53.200 of the way, then it's time to declare the winner, which will not be based on 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:59.200 alternate reality, but only based on what we actually received. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:06.799 Well, Lilock, who was it? You may not like it, and I may not like it, but this 00:27:03.600 --> 00:27:09.679 is what peak performance looks like. No, 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:14.240 Dell came first in gaming performance, both in raw performance and in value. 00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:20.159 And they also won in our productivity suite. And while performance isn't 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:22.240 everything, it is a lot. The customer 00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:27.279 support could have been better as well as the ordering experience. But those 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:33.200 are hopefully one-time events that you can suffer through one time. I would say 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:37.360 the main knock against our little XPS that could here, and it is a big one, is 00:27:35.600 --> 00:27:42.159 that if you want something that not only looks like a gaming computer, but can be 00:27:39.600 --> 00:27:46.720 easily altered and upgraded and tinkered with like a gaming computer, good luck 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:52.720 doing anything with this proprietary board, weird CPU cooler mounting, and 00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:54.880 460W power supply that, frankly, we were 00:27:52.720 --> 00:28:00.559 amazed didn't blow up when Constable Lucas was testing it. With all of that 00:27:57.600 --> 00:28:06.480 said, as a set and forget gaming box, darn it, I just can't argue with the 00:28:03.399 --> 00:28:08.960 evidence. For a runnerup and system that 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:14.480 I would be more likely to pick, it's a tough call. If we'd received the right 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:19.640 system for my by Power directly, they'd probably take the silver medal. But that 00:28:16.399 --> 00:28:22.559 loose motherboard and the dodgy purchase 00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:26.399 experience. As for Star Forge, if we'd gotten the 7700 XT, there's a solid 00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:32.000 chance they would have won the whole thing. But based on what we actually got 00:28:29.679 --> 00:28:35.600 this year, I think second place has to go to 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:41.279 Cyberpower. Purchasing from them sucked. What are you calling for? What are you 00:28:38.320 --> 00:28:46.279 calling for? I want to buy the computer. But customer support wasn't bad, even if 00:28:43.679 --> 00:28:50.720 they just directed us to a video. And at $1,100, it's really hard to beat this 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:55.440 machine. I guess you're right. But I have to say that this year just didn't 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:59.760 excite me as much as it normally does. These new fangled computer gadgets seem 00:28:57.360 --> 00:29:05.919 to cost more and more each year, and these 60 class cards seem to go less and 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:11.520 less far each year. What do you say next year or 2 years we up the ante? Up it. 00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:16.159 Let's butter our bacon and buy some $2,000 gaming doohickeys. Excellent. 00:29:13.919 --> 00:29:20.080 We'll need a sponsor though. Maybe like a sponsor delete me want me to show you 00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:24.080 how scary it could be if anyone could easily buy your data online. Within a 00:29:22.320 --> 00:29:28.080 couple clicks, I found Elijah's info from one of the data brokers and I'm 00:29:25.919 --> 00:29:33.440 going to make him pay for pizza that he never ordered. Hello. Hi. Is this uh 00:29:31.120 --> 00:29:36.480 Elijah speaking? I'm just up front today here with your delivery. I'll be there 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:42.320 in a second. I didn't order anything, which is why I'm super confused. I have 00:29:39.840 --> 00:29:47.919 this here. If you already paid 139, it says, but then the balance only is like 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:51.760 the 16. Who ordered this? It shows um 00:29:47.919 --> 00:29:55.039 Elijah. I didn't order this. 00:29:51.760 --> 00:29:57.520 See you Elijah. 00:29:55.039 --> 00:30:00.640 What the is this? Who did this? You know, you probably should use delete me 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:05.760 to remove your personal data online so people don't prank you. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:11.039 This you I was pissed. I was pissed. All you 00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:15.440 have to do is sign up. Delete me will do the work for you. You can get detailed 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:19.600 reports within 7 days and then the removal process starts. Use code LT for 00:30:18.159 --> 00:30:23.440 20% off at Delete Me. We'll have a link in the description. 00:30:21.760 --> 00:30:26.720 Thank you all so much for watching. If you want more Secret Shopper, check out 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:30.880 the last time we did I can't believe Dell won this year. It's first time for 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:33.840 everything. But that it's first time for everything. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:37.600 I don't know. I don't know how they did it. He walked into my office for script 00:30:35.679 --> 00:30:44.600 review. Okay. And he goes, "You're not going to believe who won. How many guesses did it take me? Four or five? At 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:44.600 least four.