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?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could build your own PC with a few clicks of your mouse, with near-perfect precision? Tom’s Hardware's editorial team, made up of enthusiasts, spends most of its time writing stories for the do-it-yourself power user crowd. Sometimes we forget that a great many of our readers want to pick the parts for their next machine, but don't necessarily have the time or will to piece everything together. Shoot, I even know a professional IT guy who accidentally messes up several systems a month as a result of Intel's delicate LGA interface.
If you're looking for customization without the challenge, risk, or inconvenience of setting everything up on your own, than a boutique builder is probably your best bet. They're the folks who apply skilled hands to one-off configurations. And among those companies, AVADirect offers a vast array of top-end hardware and an extremely talented staff. But the company decided to go even further to prove that its custom-built machines could challenge both the quality and the value of our own efforts.

So confident is AVADirect in its quality and value that it even applied a chrome-like finish to the chassis holding the system we're reviewing today—that's a $99 AVADirect-exclusive option that doesn’t even show up in performance-to-price calculations—in addition to providing three years of parts and labor coverage and lifetime technical support.
| AVADirect (Custom Order) Mini "Cube" Gaming PC | |
|---|---|
| Configurable Components | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K (Haswell): 3.5 to 3.9 GHz, Four Cores, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache |
| DRAM | Kingston KHX16C9T3K2/16X, DDR3-1600 C9, 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) |
| Graphics | Asus GTX780-DC2OC-3GD5, GeForce GTX 780 3 GB GDDR5 |
| System Drive | 2 x Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD, RAID 0* |
| Storage Drive | Western Digital Black WD2002FAEX 2 TB, 7200 RPM Hard Drive* |
| Optical Drive | LG BH16NS40 Black 16x/16x/48x BD/DVD/CD Burner |
| Motherboard | MSI Z87I, LGA 1150, Z87 Express, mini-ITX with Wi-Fi |
| Chassis | Lian Li PC-Q28B mini-ITX Tower |
| Custom Finish | Custom "brushed metal" vinyl wrap |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Seidon 120M closed-loop cooler* |
| Power Supply | Seasonic SS-760XP2 80 PLUS Platinum Full-Modular 760 W |
| Chassis Features | |
| Expansion Slots | Two |
| Internal Bays | 4 x 3.5" / 2 x 2.5" Trays (Shared) |
| Power Bay | PS/2, Top Mounted on Rear Panel |
| External Bay | 1 x 5.25" |
| Front Panel I/O | 2 x USB 3.0, Headphone, Microphone, all on right-front edge |
| Fans | 1 x 140 mm Intake (front), 1 x 120 mm Exhaust (top) |
| Motherboard Features | |
| External Peripheral | 1 x PS/2, 4 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, |
| External Audio | 6 x Analog, Digital Optical |
| External Video | HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI-I |
| Internal Ports | 4 x SATA 6Gb/s, 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0 |
| Internal Slots | 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x mini-PCIe (Filled) |
| Maximum Memory | 2 x DDR3-800 to DDR3-2933 (all standard capacities) |
| Gigabit Ethernet | Dual Realtek RTL8111G PCIe, with teaming |
| Wireless Network | Intel 2230 PCIe 802.11n Single-Band, 300 Mb/s, + Bluetooth |
| Audio Controller | Realtek ALC892 DAC, 7.1+ 2 channels rear/front audio |
| Other Features | |
| Dimensions | 12.1" (H), 8.9" (W), 14.1" (D), 21.2 Pounds |
| Warranty | Three Years Limited Parts/Labor |
| Software | Windows 7 Home Premium, CyberLink Media Suite 10 |
| Price | $2470 |
| *Call AVADirect for availability | |
The PC we received was extra-custom, sporting three internal drives. That's notable, since AVADirect's online configuration tool only lets you pick two; you need to call in to add the third. At first, that 2 TB Western Digital Black repository didn't even appear on our parts list. Including it plus the two SSDs is what got us up to $2470. But we needed all of that hardware to make this setup comparable with the two machines we're using as competition today.
We also had to calculate the price using a different cooler of similar value, since the Seidon 120M in our sample wasn't yet available through AVADirect's online configurator. We used the slightly-more-expensive Noctua NH-L12, so the price of this specific configuration could drop a bit in your own shopping cart. Again, though, both configuration exceptions can be solved by calling AVADirect and ordering that way.
- Pick Your Own Parts...And Have Someone Else Build For You
- The Hardware: Inside AVADirect's Mini Gaming PC
- AVADirect Does Overclocking
- Test Systems And Benchmark Configurations
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Battlefield 3
- Results: Far Cry 3
- Results: F1 2012
- Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- AVADirect's Mini Cube Gaming PC Offers Objective Value
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.
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.
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!
Overall though, it's good to see these guys putting together a nice compact, high performing PC.
Ugly things don't sell well. PC makers, and case makers need to make attractive designs instead of wanting people to put these eyesores in their houses. Efficiency is great, but it's secondary to appearance.
How many people go to the car dealership and base their decision mainly on the aerodynamics of the car? Next to none? Appearance? Lots, even if they refuse to admit it? Efficiency in a case matters even less, but they keep making these ugly monstrosities that we're supposed to pollute our workspace with.
Ugly things don't sell well. PC makers, and case makers need to make attractive designs instead of wanting people to put these eyesores in their houses. Efficiency is great, but it's secondary to appearance.
How many people go to the car dealership and base their decision mainly on the aerodynamics of the car? Next to none? Appearance? Lots, even if they refuse to admit it? Efficiency in a case matters even less, but they keep making these ugly monstrosities that we're supposed to pollute our workspace with.
See thats the thing about opinions, everyones got them. I quite like the case. Also I couldn't care less what my PC looks like as long as it runs. How often do you even look at your PC? Maybe once or twice a day when you turn it on and off.
And this is why the choice of looks in cases is so varied.
And this is why the choice of looks in cases is so varied.
What's that saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure"?
Yeh, it's a PITA to copy a configuration on their site, you just start out with the "LGA 1150 Mini Cube" or whatever they're calling it that day, pick the black version of the case and if you want the simulated chrome you add that, etc.