With the home PC industry reeling due to over-inflated GPU pricing and the scarcity of some other components, System Integrators have been held up as an essential alternative avenue for assembling your dream gaming system, preferably without the premium. On the evidence of today we may need to start looking for another messiah.
Cyberpower PC’s ICUE Infinity is an exceptionally well put together system range, peppered with RGB lighting and held together with the glue that is CORSAIR’s iCUE software. Components operate in harmony and Cyberpower PC's overall ICUE Infinity category of systems may well be more tempting if the range is updated to Intel’s 11th Gen. Rocket Lake-S series of CPUs later this Spring. Match these aesthetics with cutting-edge hardware and you’ll certainly have a package to be reckoned with.
However, there is an elephant in the room, and he’s no Dumbo. The premium you’re paying here, for some mixture of assembly, delivery, warranty and the GPU, is substantial. Where previously Cyberpower’s assembled systems offered excellent value for money, asking £700 for this combination in addition to the £1000 for every other component on the list is excessive under market norms prior to the last three months. Recommending that anyone barring the most desperate purchase this is just not something we can do.
And to our frustration we cannot simply lay the blame at Cyberpower PC’s door. Demand for GPUs is as great as it ever has been, the price Cyberpower are asking is close to today’s market prices, and clearly reflects what they expect to pay for GPUs once the system is assembled and shipped. Calling on them to charge MSRP when they’re sourcing at a up to a 50% mark-up is deeply unrealistic.
In fairness they also seem to be getting GPU shipments in regularly. Lead time for this system is 3 weeks at the time of publication, and it’s not infeasible that you’d be waiting a lot longer for a RTX 3060 on retailer pre-order lists. In today’s market a customised but pre-built system still seems like the most reliable way to source a GPU for a new gaming PC, much as we might wish for that not to be the case.
In other respects the ICUE Infinity hit the right notes. Assembly is clean, presentation is excellent, the part selection (and those available through the customiser) can allow for a very attractive setup even if they are available off the shelf. The time taken and skill required to put the system together and ship securely isn’t trivial, no matter how snooty enthusiasts can be about pre-builts.
To conclude - your Princess is in another castle, Mario. Cyberpower PC’s iCUE Infinity may cut a striking figure but the components inside and £1750 price you pay is eye-watering for a rig configured for 1080p gaming. Should you need a full system in a month this might be a valid proposition but, if you have any sort of GPU to borrow or re-use near to this performance bracket, then you will be better served purchasing each other part individually and assembling yourself.
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Cyberpower PC’s ICUE Infinity is an exceptionally well put together system range, peppered with RGB lighting and held together with the glue that is CORSAIR’s iCUE software. Components operate in harmony and Cyberpower PC's overall ICUE Infinity category of systems may well be more tempting if the range is updated to Intel’s 11th Gen. Rocket Lake-S series of CPUs later this Spring. Match these aesthetics with cutting-edge hardware and you’ll certainly have a package to be reckoned with.
However, there is an elephant in the room, and he’s no Dumbo. The premium you’re paying here, for some mixture of assembly, delivery, warranty and the GPU, is substantial. Where previously Cyberpower’s assembled systems offered excellent value for money, asking £700 for this combination in addition to the £1000 for every other component on the list is excessive under market norms prior to the last three months. Recommending that anyone barring the most desperate purchase this is just not something we can do.
And to our frustration we cannot simply lay the blame at Cyberpower PC’s door. Demand for GPUs is as great as it ever has been, the price Cyberpower are asking is close to today’s market prices, and clearly reflects what they expect to pay for GPUs once the system is assembled and shipped. Calling on them to charge MSRP when they’re sourcing at a up to a 50% mark-up is deeply unrealistic.
In fairness they also seem to be getting GPU shipments in regularly. Lead time for this system is 3 weeks at the time of publication, and it’s not infeasible that you’d be waiting a lot longer for a RTX 3060 on retailer pre-order lists. In today’s market a customised but pre-built system still seems like the most reliable way to source a GPU for a new gaming PC, much as we might wish for that not to be the case.
In other respects the ICUE Infinity hit the right notes. Assembly is clean, presentation is excellent, the part selection (and those available through the customiser) can allow for a very attractive setup even if they are available off the shelf. The time taken and skill required to put the system together and ship securely isn’t trivial, no matter how snooty enthusiasts can be about pre-builts.
To conclude - your Princess is in another castle, Mario. Cyberpower PC’s iCUE Infinity may cut a striking figure but the components inside and £1750 price you pay is eye-watering for a rig configured for 1080p gaming. Should you need a full system in a month this might be a valid proposition but, if you have any sort of GPU to borrow or re-use near to this performance bracket, then you will be better served purchasing each other part individually and assembling yourself.
Pros
+ Attractive system thanks chiefly to the iCUE 4000X Chassis
+ Customisable Linked Lighting (Corsair iCUE)
+ Exceptional build quality
+ Best way to reliably source an RTX 30-series GPU
Cons
- Price
- Almost obsolete Intel 10th Gen CPU and Z490 motherboard
- Estimated 3 weeks from order to shipping lead time
- 1080p performance for 1440p money
- Not for critics of CORSAIR components or iCUE software
- Oh crikey, the price
+ Attractive system thanks chiefly to the iCUE 4000X Chassis
+ Customisable Linked Lighting (Corsair iCUE)
+ Exceptional build quality
+ Best way to reliably source an RTX 30-series GPU
Cons
- Price
- Almost obsolete Intel 10th Gen CPU and Z490 motherboard
- Estimated 3 weeks from order to shipping lead time
- 1080p performance for 1440p money
- Not for critics of CORSAIR components or iCUE software
- Oh crikey, the price
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
Stay connected with the Vortez Social Media pages:
Join in with the discussions on Discord
