CyberPower Gamer Xtreme XT-K

 

At a hair under $3,000 and the second-least expensive PC in our roundup, the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme XT-K is kind of a bargain, holding its own against the competition. CyberPower used the relatively pint­sized and light Xion Predator 970 case for the Gamer Xtreme XT-K. Like most of the Dream PC submissions this year, the case is plain-Jane black, but this one also features a big, bright touch panel on the front where you can adjust the speeds of each fan (four total) and check temps. You can also toggle between viewing the temperatures in Fahrenheit or in Celsius, if you're into that sort of thing. The case also offers front access to the hard drive bay, so you can access up to two drives behind a small swinging door. The liquid-cooling setup is com­pact with thin tubing, which helps increase airflow and also makes it easier to work inside the case if and when the need arises. despite its diminutive size . the gamer xtreme XT-K packs . in plenty of good components. The Intel Core i7 -875 K is overclocked to a solid 3.84GHz, and the dual Radeon 5970s in CrossFire provide excellent graphics horsepower. CyberPower kept the storage setup simple but strong with a single 80GB Intel X-25M for the as and 1 TB of storage via the Western Digital Caviar Black drive. By including 8GB of Kingston HyperX RAM, Cyber­Power gave the Gamer Xtreme XT-K an extra bit of oomph.   Its benchmark scores certainly hold up to other, more expensive PCs in its tier. even surpassing some of them in several tests including 3DMark Vantage, PCMark Vantage, SiSoft Sandra Memory tests, and Left 4 Dead 2. The system's few weaknesses did emerge in POV-Ray 3.7 Beta, Aliens vs. Predator, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but on the whole it per­formed above its pay grade, so to speak. Although it's a mite strange to say this about a dream PC, the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme XT-K offers nice bang for your buck. Nothing about it is especially pricey or gaudy; CyberPower seems to have chosen high-performing parts for the build without relying on the dou­bling or tripling of components (with the exception of the dual graphics cards). At this price, perhaps this sys­tem is a dream PC that may actu­ally come true for an enthusiast with a few Benjamins to spend on a killer system .