CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A5 Review – Another Recommended Buy

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A5 Review – Another Recommended Buy

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Update: This post reviews an older version of CyberpowerPCs GXiVR8060 series of prebuilt Gamer Xtreme VR ready PCs. For the latest version, check out our GXiVR8060A10 review here.

The GXiVR8060A5 delivers amazing value for money in terms of hardware performance, making it easy to recommend to gamers shopping at this price point.

Name: GXiVR8060A5 Desktop Gaming PC (Intel i5-8400, 8GB DDR4, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, 120GB SSD+1TB HDD, WiFi, Win10 Home 64-Bit)
Date First Available: October 2017 (From Amazon)
Category: Gaming/General Purpose
Price: View on Amazon

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXIVR8060A5 Desktop Computer Overview

The GXiVR8060A5 is one of the latest version options in their very popular Gamer Xtreme VR model series, and is one of our favorites so far. We’ll take an in-depth look at the hardware, target user, and upgrade options in this review.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme GXiVR8060A5 At A Glance
9/10

PCBA's Rating

At around the $800 mark (currently on Amazon), CyberpowerPC’s GXiVR8060A5 Gamer Xtreme desktop PC is a great purchase for any gamers who want to get the most bang for their buck. ⊕ Powerful GTX 1060 3GB graphics card ⊕ Latest generation 6-core Intel processor ⊕ Great looking case, VR Ready ⊖ No optical drive ⊖ Possible low-quality PSU ⊖ May run hot during heavy gaming sessions Gamers of all levels should be excited about the GXiVR8060A5, which offers amazingly smooth gameplay experiences in Full HD gaming even with gameplay settings cranked up to the max. The airflow through the case is not the best and some components may be lower quality parts, but overall this desktop delivers excellent gaming performance for the price.

GFX

GeForce GTX1060 3GB

 

CPU

Intel i5-8400

 

RAM

8GB DDR4

 

STORAGE

120GB SSD | 1TB HDD

 

  • Windows 10 Home
  • WiFi included
  • Comes with keyboard & mouse
  • 1 year warranty
  • Free lifetime tech support
  • Upgradeable
  • VR Ready
  • RGB customizable fan lighting/transparent case

Read more >>

Introduction

Packaged up in a showy RGB LED-lit case, the GXiVR8060A5 is a prebuilt desktop tower specifically aimed at gamers, and comes complete with a mouse/keyboard, inbuilt wireless adapter, and Windows 10 operating system. CyberpowerPC has kept this latest version in the GXiVR8060 series current by fitting it out with the latest 8th Generation Coffee Lake Intel processor, and it still comes with the GTX 1060 3GB graphics card that its predecessor the GXIVR8060A4 had.

In this review, we’ll take a look at the individual hardware components in this PC, who it will and won’t suit, and also touch on some possible upgrade pathways with this computer.

Contents (Click to View Contents)

Pros

  • Powerful graphics card – GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
  • Complete package with keyboard/mouse, wireless connectivity, and Windows 10 install included
  • Great looking case complete with 4 customizable RGB LED case fans
  • Upgradeable
  • 1 year warranty and free lifetime technical support

Cons

  • Not overclockable
  • Lower quality mouse and keyboard
  • Case may run a bit hot
  • Unknown brand of power supply (may be low quality)
  • Component brands may vary depending on availability

Who Is It For?

The GXiVR8060A5 is built for gamers in mind, and its recent-model hardware makes it an excellent choice for people wanting a pre-built gaming PC that is powerful enough to handle both more demanding game titles as well as recent game releases. While it’s not overclockable in its current state, there are still options for upgrading it in the future to get even more performance out of it, and it’s also advertised as VR ready for those who might want to venture into virtual reality gaming or applications.

Everyday tasks such as web browsing, media viewing (photos, videos, including online streaming such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu etc.), and using office applications are easily handled by this PC, making it an excellent all-rounder.

Basically, the GXiVR8060A5 is a great entry-mid level gaming desktop that will suit nearly all gamers from casual through to the more serious. The amount of gaming you do may impact how much you might be willing to spend on getting the great graphics processing power that the GXiVR8060A5 offers.

Who Isn’t It For?

If you don’t play many computer games, or alternatively are looking for a PC that can mainly handle other specific computing-intensive tasks (for example, processing algorithms, large file conversions or heavy video editing), then its possible that other prebuilt options may get you a better-suited computer for your money.

For those who don’t really plan on playing any games and are more after a PC that will still breeze through everyday tasks like doing office tasks, browsing the web, and viewing photos/video, then something like the  Acer Aspire TC-885-UR14 Desktop or similar Acer Aspire TC-885-ACCFLi5 Desktop may be a better fit, as you won’t be overspending on graphics performance that you won’t really need.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a PC primarily for completing specialist tasks requiring a lot of processing power, you might be better off with a machine that optimizes more CPU processing power and RAM instead of the graphics power offered by the GXiVR8060A5.

For gamers who want to play games at 4K resolutions while still having gameplay settings on maximum, it’s possible that you might start to push against the upper limits of this PCs hardware.  If this is your main routine, be aware that you might see some framerate loss when playing at 4K due to the lower memory version of the graphics card (3GB version rather than the 6GB). For higher framerates, you may need to either lower the quality settings or play at a lower resolution.

GXiVR8060A5-full-package

What You Get

Hardware

CyberpowerPC have chosen some great hardware for this price range that optimizes gaming performance from the GXiVR8060A5, so let’s take a closer look.

 
 
 
 
Hardware Summary
GFX GTX 1060 3GB
CPU Intel i5-8400
RAM 8GB DDR4
Storage 1TB HDD | 120GB SSD
MBU Intel B360 Series
PSU Unspecified (reported as 500W)

Processor (CPU)

GXiVR8060A5 uses the Intel i5-8400, a relatively recent processor which was released in Quarter 4 of 2017. This CPU is a great choice for gaming, since it is one of the most recent CPU releases that also offers excellent performance power for the price. This 6-core 2.8GHz processor is able to boost up to 4.00 GHz in Turbo mode and in our opinion, is one of the best options for a gaming computer in this price range. Any faster processors would probably be considered as overkill for PCs with a single graphics card setup (the only exception might be if you’re into really high resolution gaming).

Graphics

The graphics card is the most important part of a gaming build, and CyberpowerPC have made a great choice in the GXIVR8060A5 by including the August 2016-release GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card – this is a higher-end performer that will give you great gaming performance with high frame rates across nearly all gaming titles.

The video below has benchmarks and FPS readings playing 15 different games using the same CPU (i5-8400) and GTX 1060 3GB card.

Although it would have been nice to see a GTX 1060 with higher VRAM in the GXiVR8060A5, it seems like CyberpowerPC just couldn’t squeeze that in. The difference between the two card variants is not a dealbreaker though – to give you an idea, we’ve seen reports that the GTX 1060 6GB card offers about 10% of a performance boost on framerates and can handle things like higher texture settings compared to the 3GB version of the card that comes in the GXiVR8060A5.

Click to view list of games tested in the video below
Battlefield 1 Multiplayer (00:18), Far Cry 5 (02:07), PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) (04:32), Fortnite Battle Royale (06:15), GTA 5 (08:01), GTA 5 – ‘softest’ shadows (09:36), Assassin’s Creed Origins (10:28), Rainbow Six Siege (13:11), Forza Horizon 3 (15:32), Just Cause 3 (17:35), Rise of the Tomb Raider (19:00), The Witcher 3 (20:29), Hitman (21:52), CS GO (22:50), CS GO Avg (24:29), Fallout 4 (24:39), Batman Arkham Knight (26:05), Conclusion (27:31)

Video credit: Santiago Santiago. –  Click here to view directly on YouTube

Motherboard (MBU)

As seems customary in many prebuilt PC offerings, the exact make and model of the motherboard is unspecified (CyberpowerPC usually advise that specific models of hardware parts may vary between different systems due to availability of parts at the time it is built).

The motherboard is however specified as having an Intel B360 chipset, which does give an idea of some features you can expect. The B360 chipset is a step up from the most basic H310 set, but it’s also no top-end Z370 series that will allow overclocking.

For most people buying a prebuilt gaming PC at this price range, the B360 is adequate – while it doesn’t allow overclocking, it does have dual memory channels allowing 2 RAM slots per channel for a total of 4 sticks (allowing for future RAM upgrades).

If you’re considering this PC, but knowing the details of the specific motherboard are important to you, we recommend confirming the specific details with CyberpowerPC’s tech team prior to purchasing, which may be an option for those who are really interested in knowing exactly what they’re getting for their money.

Memory (RAM)

This PC comes with a total of 8GB of DDR4 RAM, however it’s unclear if this comes as a 1 x 8GB stick or as a 2 x 4GB configuration.

8GB RAM is a fairly standard amount to have these days and won’t typically hold you back in any games apart from a few select titles where in intensive situations you may notice some stuttering as the RAM limits start to be pushed. A RAM upgrade can solve this if it happens to be a problem, but for most, it won’t be.

The brand, speed and latency of the included RAM is unspecified by CyberpowerPC, so we again would recommend confirming specifics with the manufacturer prior to purchase if you are particular about these kind of details.

Storage

We love that CyberpowerPC have included a 120GB solid state drive (SSD) in this build, which in our opinion makes it superior to the GXiVR8020A5 which only has a hard disk drive (HDD).

SSDs are very noticeably faster than traditional hard disk drives, which you will see as faster boot loading times (assuming CyberpowerPC have installed Windows on the SSD) and faster operation in general when accessing stored files.

Since 120GB is kind of small, there is also a 7,200rpm, 1TB HDD included. For best use, locate your most often-used files and programs on the SSD (as these can be accessed faster due to the drive technology), reserving the HDD for storage type media where accessing speeds aren’t as important.

The brand of HDD and SSD are both unspecified.

Power Supply (PSU)

Although the brand and model of the power supply unit is not specified, we have seen previous reports that buyers have received units which include PSUs rated at 500W.

Be aware that CyberpowerPC have a reputation of using cheaper power supply units (some of which may have the potential to fail catastrophically which can then damage other hardware in your system). If you purchase this desktop, we would recommend researching the brand of PSU that it comes with and possibly replacing it if you see many reports of the units failing catastrophically.

Other Inclusions

WIFI and Connectivity
The system specs list an 802.11AC PCI-e WiFi Adapter is included, which will be a small card that is plugged into the motherboard PCI-e slot, so won’t require a USB port.

A gigabit ethernet (LAN) port will be available on the motherboard.

Optical Drive
This PC doesn’t come with an optical drive (which is pretty common for recent prebuilt gaming PCs). The case of the GXiVR8060A5 doesn’t look like it can support an optical drive in the front panel, so an option for those who need a disc drive would be something like this USB portable optical drive.

Operating System 
The GXiVR8060A5 comes with a fully licensed version of Windows 10 Home edition preinstalled.

Other
The Gamer Xtreme PC is advertised as Virtual Reality (VR) ready, which means it will have enough USB ports available for VR controllers to be connected, and that the graphics card is powerful enough to support VR applications.

Case
The case includes 4 RGB LED case fans and a transparent viewing side panel which allows you to see hardware inside the case.

A few users have reported that the case doesn’t have great airflow and despite the number of cooling fans, components can sometimes run hot during more intense gaming sessions. We’d recommend monitoring temperatures with hardware monitoring software if you are concerned.

The fans are fully addressable RGB LED and come with a remote control to change the color of them. The front panel of the case that sits over the 3 front fans is able to be removed and can allow for better airflow, however this may draw dust into the rest of the case.

The case dimensions are 7.9″ x 17.9″ x 18.5″ (W x D x H).

GXiVR8060A5-case

Peripherals/Accessories
A wired USB gaming mouse and keyboard are included with this PC. The gaming mouse is 7 color RGB LED and has multiple buttons which can be assigned to in-game controls.

Support/Warranties
CyberpowerPC has a 1 year warranty on parts and labor, complete with lifetime technical support on all of their products.

Performance

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the GXiVR8060A5’s performance.

Usage

As with previous versions of this model desktop, this package represents an amazing amount of performance value for the price paid, which makes it a great pick that will suit any gamer. The six-core Intel i5-8400 processor has plenty of power to ensure that even demanding games run smoothly.

Most importantly, the graphics card in this build is a respectable, recent-release pick which has excellent performance. The GTX 1060 packs plenty of graphics processing power which will allow you to play nearly any game you want and still get decent frame rates even with quality settings up high. The 8GB of RAM supplied is a fairly standard amount for a gaming PC. While it is fairly unlikely to cause any issues, if it does just so happen to bottleneck gaming titles that you frequent, the RAM can always be upgraded.

With these kind of specifications, everyday computing tasks are also a cakewalk for the GXiVR8060A5.

 

Where it excels:
  • Gaming – all recent or older gaming titles even at high resolutions on high settings
  • Web browsing
  • Home & Office applications (Microsoft Office, PDF readers, Accounting tools etc)
  • Watching videos, organizing/editing photos
  • Netflix streaming
  • General multitasking
It’s also capable of:
  • Video editing / touch ups
  • Graphics-intensive applications (3D modelling, video conversions etc)
  • Virtual Reality applications and gaming
May struggle with:
  • Very high quality/texture gaming at very high resolutions such as 4K (While this PC could handle it, the 6GB GTX 1060 would provide a slightly better experience due to more on-board memory)

<Click here to view the GXiVR8060A5 Reviews on Amazon>

What Games Can It Play?

Due to the great performance of the GTX 1060 graphics card, this PC can pretty much handle any games you want to play on high or ultra high settings while still delivering great framerates. However, it is worth remembering that the GXiVR8060A5 uses the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 (instead of the higher 6GB version) so only has half the on-board memory.

This means that you might get a slightly lower performance compared to people who have the GTX 1060 6GB card. Expect roughly 10% less FPS and not being able to handle a lot of textures/details as well as the 6GB variant. Honestly though, we’re really being picky here as the GTX 1060 3GB card will still run any game you throw at it.

If you’re into VR, the GXiVR8060A5 can also be used to play virtual reality games with any VR headset like occulus rift or vive, and being VR ready, it should have ample USB ports to support the connection of these controllers.

GXiVR8060A5-front

Upgradeability

The GXiVR8060A5 is a complete solution which is perfect for people who just want a gaming PC that is literally plug-and-play, but like most computers it is able to be upgraded if you so choose. At the price point it’s offered at, this system already gives amazing performance value for money, but if you find yourself wanting to get that little bit more performance (either immediately, or in the future), here are a few ideas.

Recommended Upgrades (Short Term/Immediate)

We already mentioned that CyberpowerPC have been known to use lower quality power supplies in their prebuilt PCs, so one of the first things we’d recommend doing once you get this PC is to check the PSU which it came with and do a bit of research into the model number. If it looks a little questionable or there are many reports on them blowing up or failing, then it might be worth replacing it with a more reputable brand unit.

  • Power Supply Replacement/Upgrade
    A  catastrophic power supply failure has the potential to cause damage to other hardware parts in your system, so if you have any doubt about your PSU, we’d recommend replacing it with a quality unit that is complete with several years of warranty, like this EVGA 500W supply If you can see yourself upgrading other hardware components in the future, you might want to install a unit that has a larger Wattage to give capacity for future upgrades like more powerful or multiple graphics cards.
  • Memory (RAM) Upgrade
    Putting in more RAM is one of the easiest DIY upgrades that anyone can do, however it’s only worthwhile doing if you can clearly see that your current RAM is causing a bottleneck (which may result in effects such as stuttering). To monitor your RAM usage, you can use a benchmarking application or even the inbuilt Windows task manager. The GXiVR8060A5 comes with 8GB RAM but could easily be upgraded to 16GB or more total.

Other Upgrade Considerations

If you’re spending a decent amount of money on a prebuilt computer, its always a good idea to think about how long you plan on keeping it. Because of the great and recent hardware that comes in the GXiVR8060A5, the good news is that you can expect it to keep performing well for at least 5 years or more. At that time, if you notice that it starts to struggle with newly released games, then you might want to start considering a graphics card or processor upgrade depending on what’s available at the time. Other things you might want to consider as well as the upgrades already mentioned might be:

  • Cooling or Case Upgrade
    Some people have suggested that this PC can sometimes run a little hot during intense gaming sessions. Despite the large number of fans, the front case panel can restrict airflow which might cause components inside to get warm (which if left unchecked may affect the lifespan of components). If this concerns you, be sure to keep an eye on this using monitoring software like HW monitor which reports on hardware temperatures. While a simple solution is to remove the front panel (be sure to look into some kind of mesh replacement to filter dust from entering the case), you might also consider a full case replacement if this seems to be an issue.

Pricing/Value

At the time we’re writing this review, the GXiVR8060A5 is selling for just around the $800 mark (click here to view the current price on Amazon). For a fully complete computer with these hardware specs, not to mention a preinstalled version of Windows 10 and a keyboard and mouse, this is quite a good price especially if you’d rather not have to worry about doing a DIY build.

In fact, our $800 gaming computer build uses similar hardware to the GXiVR8060A5, but we managed to squeeze in the 6GB version of the GTX 1060. That being said, our budget doesn’t include the cost of an Operating System, so if you don’t have a copy of Windows, the GXiVR8060A5 does definitely represent good value for money.

Alternative Products

If you’re interested in other pre-built gaming PCs in this price range then check out the GXiVR8020A5 as well. It’s a slightly cheaper, similar gaming PC which doesn’t have an SSD and uses the similarly-performing AMD RX 580 graphics card instead of the GTX 1060.

You might also want to take a look at our $800 gaming build if you’re keen to try your hand at building your own computer from parts.

Summary/Overall Impressions

CyberpowerPCs GXiVR8060A5 is a great pick for a gaming desktop that will allow you to play at Full HD resolutions with maximum/high settings and still get great framerates, and is fully VR ready. The powerful graphics card and processor will stay relevant for many years to come and the whole system together gives excellent performance value for money. Although heavy gaming at 4K resolutions may push its limits and the case’s airflow is not the best, this GXiVR8060A5 looks great and is a solid choice in this price bracket for gamers of any level.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A5 Review – Another Recommended Buy

<Click here to view the GXiVR8060A5 on Amazon>

Reference: Other Specifications

Show details
Full name: CyberpowerPC GXiVR8060A5

Main Specifications:  Intel i5-8400 6 Core Processor, B360 Chipset motherboard, GTX 1060 3GB, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 120GB SSD, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, WiFi, Win 10 Home 64-bit

Other: VR Ready, USB Gaming Keyboard and RGB LED Mouse, Customizable RGB LED Fans with remote controller

Dimensions: 18.5″(h) x 7.9″ (w) x 17.9″ (d)

Weight: 27.4 lbs.

More details: View on Amazon here

 

4 Comments

  1. Hi! I was wondering if you could do a review on the “Skytech Archangel”, “Skytech Shadow” and the “Skytech Venus” pc’s? They all look like they have the same components but listed differently so I wanted to know the difference between them, thanks!

  2. I just have a question about monitor compatibility. I’ve never bought a desktop pc before (only laptops) so I’m not quite sure how this works;; So in short, I was just wondering if there’s a specific monitor that I have to purchase for it to be compatible with this desktop? Or does it not matter? Sorry this is such a stupid question aha;; Thank you in advance.

    • Hey Petsurou,

      Not a stupid question at all – better to be well informed then get something that doesn’t do what you need!
      Compatibility between PCs/monitors is not really a thing, as long as you have the same port on the monitor and computer that you’re plugging it in to, you’ll be OK. (It’s also worth noting that sometimes where they don’t match up, you can use cable adapters to solve the problem.)

      For example, if the computer only has Display Port and HDMI input ports for a monitor, then you’ll need to get a monitor that also has one of those types of ports in order to connect the two.
      This matching of connector ports essentially always happens by default as pretty much all monitors on the market these days will have the major connector ports available: HDMI, Display Port (DP), DVI, (and maybe rarely the older VGA connector). Computers these days will likewise have the same ports on their graphics card output which match up to monitors (HDMI, DP, and/or DVI).

      From there you can just get yourself a single cable (whether it be a DP cable or a HDMI cable, etc) to connect the two together. Choose whichever is more convenient for you as they will both work.

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