iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme AMD AM573D3 Review

Everyone likes to play newest computer games maxed out with high frames per second. But running latest titles at high settings requires something better than a $399 computer with a integrated graphics card. Thankfully, you don't have to buy a $1500-$2000 gaming computer to play high graphic games, $800-$900 gaming desktops with AMD HD 6850 or Nvidia GTX 460 will do the job fine. Obviously you can't get a brand computer (HP, Dell, Alienware) with HD 6850 or any other fast DirectX 11 card for under $900. This is why I review this iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme AMD AM573D3, which has very decent specifications for a sub-$900 gaming desktop.
Graphics card: This iBUYPOWER uses the powerful 1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6850, its performance is similar to Nvidia's 1GB GTX 460. The AMD HD 6850 is powerful enough for playing most games at max settings. Remember that HD 6850 and HD 6870 are upper mid-range video cards of the Radeon 6000 series, HD 6950 / HD 6970 / HD 6990 are the new high-end.
Processor: CPU is also an important component in a gaming computer, decent gaming PC should at least have a good quad-core processor. Lower clocked AMD six-cores are not really good for gaming. iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme AMD AM573D3 Gaming Desktop Computer - Black has one of the fastest AMD quad-core processors, the 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 965. It is a great processor, but it's much slower than more expensive Intel's Sandy Bridge i5 and i7.
Other specs: The other specifications of this computer are pretty standard for this price range: 4GB of dual channel DDR3 memory, 1TB SATA III HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium.
Conclusion: iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme AMD AM573D3 is a nearly perfect gaming PC that offers great value for money, but there are couple slightly better alternatives.
Alternatives: similar desktop with same price, but with 8GB RAM - Titanium Gamer AMTI9098, minimally slower processor, better video card - Titanium Gamer AMTI7009, more future proof computer with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5-2500K - CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme GXi220.

Pros:

 Very fast graphics card

 Balanced build

 

Cons:

 None 

Specifications:

• 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor
• 4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
• 1TB SATA III hard drive
• 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6850
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium