I’ve been in the market for a gaming computer for a little while and headed down to micro center yesterday. I had one of the employees spec out a couple builds, but then another one (who was super helpful) recommended this prebuilt. He said it was cheaper than what I could put together myself. I went ahead and bought it knowing that there’s a 15 day return policy if it doesn’t work out. I also picked up an LG Ultra Wide Monitor (LG34UC88). I played WoW last night and wow. What a difference compared to my 2013 MacBook Pro.
Here’s some of the specs. It cost $1,300.
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
Motherboard: ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/AX
Computer Case: PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Z490
CPU Summary: Intel Core i7 10700 (2.9GHz)
Total Memory: 32GB
Memory Speed: DDR4-3200
SSD Interface: PCIe NVMe M.2
SSD Capacity: 1TB
GPU Type: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Video Memory: 8GB GDDR6
Power Supply: 600 Watt
i’d price it at consumer-cost:
Mobo: $140
Case: $70
CPU: $320
RAM: $120
SSD: $110
GPU: $380
PSU: $80
Windows 10: $130
$1350
Presuming the PSU is decent, I would say it’s not a bad deal, if you were going to pay for a Windows license anyway. Even if you weren’t, it’s $1220 + you get a warranty and didn’t have to assemble it yourself.
Some things to check:
- That it’s two 16gb sticks in the right slots (or 4x8)
- That XMP is enabled.
- Find out what kind of cooler is included. If it’s the stock Intel one, I would spend another $50-100 for something better, like a Scythe Ninja 5. Skip AIOs, IMO.
- Look at how the fans are configured. Ensure it has ample exhaust (rear, and top) and some intake as well. If not, get a couple fans to make sure you get enough flow.
I believe the salesman wasn’t lying to you, that is cheaper than you can assemble the same parts yourself. Just check these things.
and 5. If cooling is sufficient, or you upgrade it, remove power limits on the CPU - you can’t overclock that model (well, kinda, but BCLK OC can cause problems with NVME drives) but you can make it boost higher longer.
It’s the PowerSpec G358 from Microcenter and goes for $1,300. The PSU is their in house brand (Andyson or Sirfa off the top of my head). The SSD is also their inhouse brand - inland. Overall that PC will play WoW at the highest setting with no issue. Personally I would go with some different things like a better PSU and OC 10600k CPU but that’s me.
According to the PowerSpec site, the PSU is a Masterwatt 600 on the G358:
http://www.powerspec.com/systems/system_components.phtml?component=2640&selection=G358
that’s the name of their in house brands, inland and powerspec. The name of the company that makes that power supply (OEM) is called sirfa but also goes by the name HighPower and Sirtec. They made a lot of the OCZ power supplies back in the day.
MasterWatt is trademarked by Cooler Master.
Not that it really matters OP. I have a PowerSpec and am very pleased with it.
As Sal pointed out, you got a good deal. 
I don’t have anything negative to say about it - in fact if you don’t want to hassle too much I think it’s a good purchase. It’s probably better than the stuff ibuypower and cyberpower PC does, and since it’s local if you have any problems you get it fixed by them immediatley.
I think it will serve you well for years to come. Maybe look at my laundry list of things to consider when you get a chance.
Otherwise, game on my dude.
If this is indeed the PSU, then per this list, it’s “okay”
LTT does tend to be a bit elitest with their recommendations, so it’s probably not as bad as it is made out to be.
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1116640-psucultists-psu-tier-list/
It probably will work fine without any problems, especially with a locked chip.
I think it has more to do with how CM has the “W” capital in MasterWatt. Regardless the master watt series is made by enhance (master watt lite) and HEC (master watt bronze). Like virtually every other PC brand company, cooler master does not make its own products. If you want something to compare to the powerspec PSU it would be the rosewill Hive series (same sirtec platform). Rosewill being the inhouse brand for newegg.
I’ve actually talked to him about his list on other forums. The list itself is fine for the most part but many PSU forums (like JG) despise tier lists.
inb4
But it’s Intel?
The debate between AMD and Intel is a tad overblown for something like WoW. If you can get a solid system and not sacrifice your first born for it… More power to you.
That said, I think you could have done equally well with a R5 3600x on a Tomahawk B450 Max, G.Skill 32gb (DDR4-3200), and a Gigabyte 2060 Super for a tad cheaper (to be fair… we are talking less than $50 cheaper depending on the vendor).
All told, not a terrible deal you got there, sir/mam.
Although I might disagree about how a trademark attorney might respond to that, I don’t have a horse in this race and don’t see the benefit of splitting hairs about the PSU. All I was trying to do was share the information from the PowerSpec site.
Edit: As I suspected, if you look it up in TESS on the USPTO site, it’s a Word Mark, so the capitalization is a non factor.
The bottom line is the OP purchased this computer and seems happy with it and just wants to make sure the rep didn’t lie to him. As Sal pointed out, it does not appear that he did.
Enjoy the rig OP!!
And BTW, Intel has some solid offerings. You’ll love playing on it.
Haha yeah, they are a bit full of themselves. Instead of using it to help users, it’s generally misused as a means to shame people.
These tier lists can be problematic sometimes, because it gives users a false sense of security to blinding follow what others say about items.
For example, I saw that my Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 850w (2017 models) were on the Tier list at one point as A units. I didn’t go solely on this recommendation, however, because I mainly based my purchase choices on JohnnyGuru’s review.
A few months later they got kicked into the “potentially dangerous” territory and trash units…because some of the units got shipped with bad cables. I was shamed on a few accounts for my PSU purchases with the list being used as evidence why I was stupid…despite the list being (one of) the reasons I chose these units.
Same goes for the motherboard list…I chose a Gigabyte B450 Aorus M as it was in the B range when I had to replace my Gigabyte AX-370 Gaming when it died…now it’s trash tier.
There’s so much more nuance to it all, but in regards to most users, it’s not a bad reference so they don’t put some really trash units in their builds, or for motherboards, completely mismatched feature/power sets.
1 Like
Out of curiosity, what made you stay with GB as opposed to going with MSI? From a functionality standpoint, the lack of solid OC support built into the x50 GB boards became a turn off to me.
the seasonic focus gold is an excellent unit (i have one in my collection of PSUs) that had issues with certain Nvidia GTX970’s from asus. Seasonic would send out an adapter cable to solve the issue. My issue with most tier list is that they show favoritism to certain OEMs and brands. I won’t hi-jack the OP thread any more with PSU talk…but how did an Intel vs AMD discussion break out???
1 Like
I like Gigabyte, but moreover, it was at the time the cheapest “not trash” tier board in stock on Amazon.
If I were to do it all over again, I’d have waited for Tomahawk boards to come back in stock.
Gigabyte OC functions on my Intel boards was pretty solid (Z370 Aorus Gaming 5, Z390M Gaming), but the BIOS on the B450 Aorus M is legit terrible. No fixed vcore, offset more than +.2 triggers the 15.5x multiplier bug, etc. etc.
Somehow I managed to get it to work on 3200mhz RAM, which was like a gift from god on my 1600AE.
1 Like
the x70’s aren’t generally the issue though. it’s pretty mainstream for those to have solid, if not excellent assembly. My issue is and has been, specifically, with GB’s x50 boards.
Another reason to look at specific units, not the brand or lines, I guess.
For example, ASUS GPUs have been terrible, and even a lot of their B550 boards perform horribly in VRM thermals, but their X570 TUF Gaming has been a great board.
But I concur the B450 from gigabyte has been a pretty “meh” experience.
If/when I “upgrade” to Zen 3, I don’t know which way I’ll go. MSI B550 boards, specifically the Mortar, looks like it is pretty solid this time for the price.
1 Like
Great! I’m glad to hear it. I’m at work currently, but I will check on those things when I get back.
Do you think this computer is “overkill” for WoW or just right? I’ll admit that it is quite nice being able to maintain 100 fps at 10/10 settings on an ultrawide monitor, but I’m not sure if I went overboard with this computer.
Also a tech question for you. If Im getting 100 fps, but my monitor is only 60 hz does that mean that 40 frames “aren’t being registered” or something like that? I’m new to computer stuff and I’m kind of learning as I go.