CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 Review

CyberPowerPC has been famous for its entry-level gaming PCs producing some of our favorite budget gaming PCs in the past. The CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A6 from 2018 is a good example of CyberPowerPC’s performance beast in an attractive case. It earned our Editor’s choice for being a budget prebuilt system with the power to play any title smoothly.

Also, we loved it for its relatively compact build, expandable chassis, powerful high-end features, and a generally beautiful exterior. With that CyberPowerPC set the pace for other new desktops. Today we review their latest version of gaming PC; the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7, a brilliant innovation with a somewhat traditional form.

This powerful gaming desktop comes packed with an Intel Core i5-9400F processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card, 8GB of RAM, and a 120GB SSD + 1TB hard drive. In this review, we slice the Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 finding its strengths versus faults. But most importantly how it stacks up against other gaming desktops in its price range.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 Specs

Processor	2.9 GHz Intel Core i5-9400F
RAM	8GB DDR4 (2400MHz)
Storage	1TB HDD 120GB SSD
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 6GB
Operating System	Windows 10 Home
Dimensions	18.5 x 7.9 x 17.9 inches
Weight	27.3 pounds
Ports	6 x USB 3.1 | 2 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | 802.11AC Wi-Fi | Audio: 7.1 Channel
Optical drive	None

Unboxing

This gaming PC comes in a pretty basic cardboard box. Inside it, you’ll find your desktop, wireless gaming keyboard, and a smaller box. The smaller box contains the RGB lighting remote control, a power cable, two Wi-Fi antennas, a wireless gaming mouse, and a DVD with drivers. 

You don’t need a Wi-Fi card or USB to connect this PC to Wi-Fi, which is quite considerate of CyberPowerPC. There’s a range of colors you can select for the lighting, speed up the effects or change the brightness levels, all using the remote control.

On the top and front part of the case are two USB 3.0 ports for quick file transfers. Use a full-sized HDMI port on the back to connect your display, since this machine doesn’t have an old school VGA port.

Open up the side panel, and you can immediately see the three fans on the front side, and one on the back, each flanked by LED lighting. After a quick inspection of the cables inside, you can fire up the machine.

Design and Features

Much of the design of the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 design remains similar to its predecessors – the Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A6 and CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A5. All of these units share a playful polygonal-shaped steel box with front and side tempered glass panels and a host of LED lights at the front and inside the case (on the motherboard).

The front panel has an almost trademark trio of LED circles which is the highlight of the desktop and most probably the focal piece on any desk.

There are lots of preconfigured light settings, which you can change using a battery-powered remote control. Cable management is great in this model, so the cables won’t be an eyesore when you turn on the lights inside the clear case.

At 18.5 x 7.9 x 17.9 inches and 27.3 pounds, the Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 also shares dimensions with its predecessors. Compared to other PCs, it is slightly more compact than the iBUYPOWER Elite Slate2 084i, but fairly bigger than the HP Omen 880-020. The construction is metallic and plastic in both with the plastic enshrouding the metal frame that is the PC. The structure is compact adding durability to the PC.

One aspect that also makes the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 stand out is the near tool-less access to the internals. There are four side panels that hold the side panel only needing to be unscrewed when trying to gain access to the internals. Generally, the design while colorful is a bit tame compared to other gaming rigs we’ve come across. It notably has no muscle lines, obtrusive vents, aggressive grills, and/or Sci-Fi angles.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 Review: Ports

As far as the port system goes, CyberPowerPC stayed clear of front-facing ports just as is with most CyberPowerPC desktops, including the predecessor CYBERPOWERPC GAMER XTREME GXIVR8060A6 desktop. Instead of front-facing ports, in its standard layout, ports are located on the upper panel towards the front. The front panel stays clear of any ports or optical drives, unlike other desktops we’ve reviewed.

The front ports include two USB-A 3.0 ports, audio and headphone jacks, and a power button. The rear houses a richer set of ports including 4 USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, two legacy PS/2 ports (USB 2.0s for your mouse and keyboard connections), audio and headphone jacks, and video output ports, including DisplayPort and HDMI connections.

On the flips side, the one wrinkle that ails this PC is the lack of a futuristic port (USB Type-C). Fortunately, the GTX 1660 delivers enough power to power Virtual Reality headsets which means it’s not entirely worthless.

Performance

Our iteration unit comes packed with an Intel Core i5-9400F processor, Intel’s new (released in 2019) processor and arguably the best value CPU in the market. The processor is Intel’s 9^th Gen processor with 6 cores and 6 threads (not hyper-threaded). It sports a base clock speed of 2.9 GHz and can turbo to highs of 5.0GHz. Admittedly, there’s more to this CPU; It brags of 9MB L3 cache, but most importantly, is way cheaper than its competition.

Moving on, if you haven’t noticed, the processor name ends with an F. That’s a somewhat new way of naming this Intel chips and definitely different from the K we’re used to. According to Intel, the K stands for overclockable CPU while F means the processor lacks an integrated graphics card.

However, the lack thereof is kind of the catch because it means the Intel Core i5-9400F processor is cheaper than other processors with integrated graphics cards. If the lack bothers you, the iBuyPower Pro Trace 9240 packs the higher-end Intel Core i9-9900K processor with integrated graphics cards.

A reliable CPU for daily tasks

CyberPowerPC markets the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 as a gaming desktop, but thanks to its powerful processor, it can handle more than just gaming. Users looking for a productivity desktop for their small businesses and home users can get a reliable PC that can muscle through their daily tasks.

Compared to other processors, the Core i5-9400F is an upgraded version of last year’s Intel Core i5-8400 processor. That goes to say it has a better performance which means better web browsing, moderate photo-editing, and multitasking. Compared to Ryzen processors such as the Ryzen 5 2600, the green team surges ahead because of faster multi-core speeds.

Memory and storage

Other features included in our unit are an 8GB DDR4 memory, 1TB mechanical hard drive, and 120GB solid-state drive. As far as memory goes, the 8GB available is decent and should provide sufficient room for multitasking. For the most part, 8GB is considered the “sweet spot” for memory. It should allow you to handle office productivity (large document work, heavy multitasking), and web browsing (heavy 30 tabs open).

Also, it should have you covered on media streaming, basic photo editing (1-10 photos) and some light gaming. The bright side for both the memory and storage is they can be upgraded at any time.

We loved the storage too. The 1TB hard disk is plenty for storing data, games, multimedia, and programs. You can expect better boot times to thanks to the 120GB solid-state drive storage available as well. The SSD should also come in handy in loading programs and software and for fast data retrieval.

Gaming

Like we mentioned in the intro, CyberPowerPC did a few tweaks on this new desktop to make it stand out. And as it turns out, yes they did, so you can put on your shocked faces now. The CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 GPU; a recently released Turing architecture graphics card after the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti card.

To better explain just where it fits in the CPU hierarchy, the card nuzzles itself between the GTX 1660 Ti, RX 590 and RX 580. That’s mostly in terms of price and performance.

Speaking of price, Nvidia made a few cuts to this new graphics card to make it more affordable. In terms of memory designs, Nvidia used the readily available GDDR5 memory. That is instead of the GDDR6 memory available for the rest Turing graphics card family. That means a switch from 12Gbps to 8Gbps, and a 33% drop in memory bandwidth, from 288.1GB/s to 192.1GB/s.

That won’t make a massive difference in terms of overall gaming performance. But it affects the amount of material used and ultimately is a significant cash saving. Also, the number of CUDA cores was affected so the results are exactly what you guessed: slightly slower but more affordable GPU for mainstream PCs.

Overall Great Gaming Performance

In real-world gaming, the minor omission and changes to the card affect its overall performance (both negatively and positively). Compared Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, the latter is faster thanks to its GDDR6 memory and more CUDA cores. But in retrospect, the GTX 1660 is better than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (at least 12% faster). It’s 35% faster than the GTX 970 and over twice as fast as the GTX 1050. That also means 11% faster than the RX 580 8GB and 25% faster than the RX 570 4GB.

Overall, because of its pricing, the GTX 1660 takes over as the new sweet spot for mainstream GPUs. While it might not get you any race pink slips, it should deliver a great 1080p gaming experience. Some of the impressive frame rates on 1080p gaming runs include Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey which played at 65 fps. Others include The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt (57 fps, 54 fps, 48 fps) and Warframe (170 fps, 151 fps, 152 fps), respectively.

Software

This powerful machine comes with a genuine 64-bit Windows 10 Home right out of the box. Boot times are incredibly fast since the operating system runs on the SSD drive. 

It’s nice that CyberPowerPC elected not to have any bloatware installed with your copy of windows, no weird software you will never need. It’s a clean copy, so you don’t waste any RAM with unnecessary programs running in the background.

Bios on this PC is quite intuitive and offers numerous functionalities to tweak your system.

Motherboard

CyberPowerPC usually uses different components, according to what is in the market at the time. Therefore, you can’t definitively say that the motherboard you have when buying this PC is the same as another. Still, performance in this model isn’t influenced in any way due to slight differences in motherboard’s materials, even if they were years apart in manufacturing.

If, by any chance, you run into a problem within a year, don’t fret too much since the manufacturer offers a 1-year warranty for labor and parts within that time. You can rely on lifetime tech support if you ever need to consult on fixing or upgrading the machine later on.

Value for Money

This PC does everything you’d want it to. It handles every task easily- like a hot knife through butter. One thing is for sure, had you purchased all its different components to make a machine with the same specs, you’d end up spending a lot more. In essence, this machine has outstanding specifications for the price.

Also, you’ll save valuable time having this assembled and fully functional desktop. It’s plug and play, so you can start working with it in no time. You can use this machine as a gaming PC or a workstation.

Conclusion: An-all around Winner

Thanks to its powerful components (Intel Core i5-9400F processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and 120GB SSD), the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 provides an excellent entry-level gaming performance. It’s also safe to say that it can comfortably handle other tasks you might throw at it. Be it multitasking, video editing, coding or just simple multimedia or office tasks, the GXiVR8060A7 handles with aplomb.

The 8GB DDR4 memory does a good job multitasking but you can always upgrade it for better handling.

Bottom line, you will enjoy this system more than any other CyberPowerPC rig out there. With better graphics, overall performance, complimentary keyboard and mouse the GXiVR8060A7 is ahead of other PCs. The wickedly cool design and lighting are additional features set to bring you a smile. Plus the prices are very competitive so you won’t break the bank.