AVADirect’s Mini Cube Gaming PC: Good Looks, Price, And Performance
Boutique builders employ an endless array of customizations to win over customers who don’t have the time or desire to piece together a PC. But enthusiasts in the know still want to feel like they're getting a fair deal. Can AVADirect demonstrate value?
Results: Productivity
Our productivity-oriented tests are dominated by titles optimized to take advantage of as many cores as possible, which is why the Sandy Bridge-E-based processors win out over the more modern quad-core designs. The losses aren't severe, but we shouldn't be surprised to see Haswell beaten.
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Someone Somewhere Page four. The ASRock system has an i7-4770K. How is the CPU cooler an 'AMD Boxed Cooler"?Reply
Also, many of those seem somewhat unbalanced, especially for a gaming system.
EDIT: Toss an R9 290X or 780 in the M8 and drop to a 4670K, and you'd have a real value winner. -
Crashman
Thanks for catching the pasting errors, it helped me fix two articles :) As for the rest of the ASRock build, I used what was available. Remember that A WHOPPING 1/3 of the benchmark set does benefit from the i7's added cache and/or HT, and that ONLY 1/3 of the benchmarks benefit from a higher-model graphics card :p12209289 said:Page four. The ASRock system has an i7-4770K. How is the CPU cooler an 'AMD Boxed Cooler"?
Also, many of those seem somewhat unbalanced, especially for a gaming system.
EDIT: Toss an R9 290X or 780 in the M8 and drop to a 4670K, and you'd have a real value winner.
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bemused_fred 12209289 said:Page four. The ASRock system has an i7-4770K. How is the CPU cooler an 'AMD Boxed Cooler"?
Also, many of those seem somewhat unbalanced, especially for a gaming system.
EDIT: Toss an R9 290X or 780 in the M8 and drop to a 4670K, and you'd have a real value winner.
A 290-X in a mini-ITX case?!? He wants a P.C., not a space heater! -
Menigmand "Good looks" are highly subjective... I would say that case is not pretty. If the AVA sticker can be removed, and there's an option without the optical drive, then it would be better.Reply -
vaughn2k We'll.. this is another good example of implementing modular cables. But I really don't like the idea of blocking the inside of the computer with a power supply, unless it is designed the way like Thermaltake Elite 120 does...Reply -
vertexx Nice article. I'm not for the fake chrome vinyl wrap look, and I would question how long that would last.Reply
Overall though, it's good to see these guys putting together a nice compact, high performing PC. -
vertexx The same parts plus OS can be purchased for ~$1,900. Still, for someone who doesn't want to mess with building a system, it looks like a decent value.Reply -
MooseMuffin These guys seem pretty price competitive actually. I just ran through their configurator with a system I put together for myself recently and it came within $150. Not bad considering you get the warranty, and that every other boutique seems to mark up way more with fewer part options.Reply -
g-unit1111 Love that case. The polished aluminum look should be on all high end builds regardless of chassis size, in my opinion.Reply