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I get a little twinge of glee whenever I see a gaming PC like this one for $1,500 at Newegg go on sale: 'yes, yes... a glass cannon.' It's not entirely a glass cannon, of course, because the Ryzen 5 chip here is far from the worst. But equally, it's far from a productivity powerhouse, especially when paired with just 16 GB of RAM.
So what is this rig good for? Well, gaming, of course—provided you don't mind keeping that background system usage low while you do so. That's because the RX 9070 XT is plenty powerful and most games are plenty GPU-bound.
In other words, if you're looking to get some high-end gaming performance for a cheap cost and are happy accepting some caveats—namely, a middling CPU, not enough RAM for lots of multitasking or productivity work, and only 1 TB of storage—this one's for you.
Judging from the pictures, the build at least seems to be sporting dual-channel RAM. I've noticed some PC builders have started to sneak in single-channel RAM to cut costs, which isn't the worst thing in the world when it comes to gaming frame rates, but can definitely throttle things a little in productivity terms. Not here, though, thankfully, as I spy two distinct sticks sitting in that motherboard.
Frame rate (fps)
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| RTX 5070 | 68 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS |
| RTX 5070 Ti | 84 Avg FPS, 74 1% Low FPS |
| RTX 5080 | 95 Avg FPS, 83 1% Low FPS |
| RX 9070 | 73 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS |
| RX 9070 XT | 82 Avg FPS, 73 1% Low FPS |
Another benefit to this rig that you might overlook is it's running a decent platform. That AM5 socket should mean you'll easily be able upgrade to a fast AM5 chip down the line, though you'll probably want a new cooler for that. And you shouldn't have any problems upgrading to a 32 GB DDR5 kit, either, once the global memory shortage eventually (eventually...) settles down.
You're even getting a pretty nice fish tank chassis, to boot. Though I wouldn't cross my fingers for the absolute coolest temps given just two intakes and one exhaust fan.
Hey, I did say it was a bit of a glass cannon, did I not? If something a little more well-rounded is up your alley and you don't mind spending a bit extra, iBuyPower has what I reckon could end up being the best high-end rig throughout this Prime Day for just $1,749 at Walmart right now. And if you want to go even cheaper, Thermaltake has you covered for just $1,400 at Newegg, though you will be losing some gaming performance there with the RTX 5070.
👉 Check out all of Newegg's gaming PC deals 👈
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