Walmart launches its own 'Overpowered' gaming PC line-up

Discussion in 'hardware' started by ronjor, Oct 30, 2018.

  1. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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  2. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    I wish we knew more about the OEM brands used inside. All we know for sure is the processor is made by Intel and the OS by Microsoft. The GPU is by NVIDIA but who makes the card? I note many similar cards come populated with 8GB. This one "only" :rolleyes: 6GB. There is also a more expensive version of that PC that comes with the 1080Ti and red LED lighting, as seen here. There is also a cheaper version too.

    There is no information about the cooling (other than 3 fans in front and 1 in back). But we don't know the sizes. Is the case filtered? Who makes the PSU, how big is it, and is it 80 PLUS certified?

    If we knew those answers and other specs (like if W10 Home or Pro), we might find these PCs are competitively priced.
     
  3. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Lots of no-name Chinese stuff, I bet :)
     
  4. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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  5. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    Is it just me or are the fans suffocating behind acrylic?
     
  6. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    That's hardly fair. Most name brand products are made in China or made of parts made of China. Made in China does not mean poor quality. Some top quality products come from China. What matters is the design, quality control, and the desire of the brand to ensure both are top quality.
    Both. But first, I believe it is tempered glass, not acrylic. And if you look at the 3rd image here, there is a pretty good size gap on the sides of the front glass panel to pull air through. But I think that gap would somewhat suffocate the fans.

    However, on my Fractal Design case, there is a solid front panel with similar side openings and my components stay very nicely cooled. So with good fans, good air flow through the case, and good cable management, not sure it matters
     
  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    That's a common issue with consumer machines.

    Some of my best boxes were designed with no decent airflow from the front. To make them quieter, I guess. So HDDs often overheated, causing lags and crashes. So they tended to get returned.

    So I picked them up cheap. I drilled holes in the front panel, and added a front fan. And sometimes upgraded the PSU. Because I was typically using 4-6 1TB HDDs in RAID10 :) But now, with SSDs, that's much less of an issue.
     
  8. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Sure. But "no-name" Chinese stuff can be damn iffy. Because "no-name" == "no brand"!

    But we'll see :)
     
  9. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    For that price it should be glass. :)
    Yes, but ultimately you need one or a half fan more than with proper holes. It does look cool though. And I would trade my laptop for it anytime. (If that would be free)
     
  10. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Then those are not the best boxes available, are they? A case's primary functions are to protect and cool. Aesthetics comes way down the list.
    Yes, but you are assuming the innards are full of no-name stuff. We don't know that yet. The mobo could easily be ASUS. The RAM Micron. The SSD Samsung or the PSU Seasonic.
     
  11. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    [cynical-mode activated!]
    Judging by experience, big shopping-chains (what's the word?) usually define some specs and then order the cheapest available hardware that will last reasonably long (warranty) and then demand too high prices so that they can lower them later. (While still getting like 50 to 100% profit)
     
  12. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    I looked at Walmart's so called gaming PCs when I was in Walmart a week ago. They only have 2 expansion slots for memory. What a joke! They are way... over priced! The systems I built in 2010 are more valuable than they are.
     
  13. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    To the original owners, they were horrible. But to me, they're great! Because they were inexpensive, having been designed without a ventilation grill on the front :) So they got horrible reviews, and nobody wanted them. But after adding a front ventilation grill, and fan, they were perfectly OK, and kept HDDs very cool. I typically cut/drilled ~1 cm holes in the front wall of the case. Then I cut out an area in the front fairing, and superglued a suitable grille from my junk collection.
     
  14. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    I think that can define the business model of just about every company in every industry. Their goal is always to cut costs and increase profits while maintaining customer satisfaction to ensure repeat buyers and a good reputation. And frankly, that makes sense. Why use a $2 part when a $1 part does the same thing just as reliably. This is why there are entire industries producing generic products like medicines and store-brand/generic foods.

    Cheaper does not always mean inferior.
    Really? That's your criticism? :rolleyes: How many memory slots do gaming notebooks have? How many memory slots do most of the very popular µATX motherboards have? 2.

    The $1900 Walmart comes with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD! This $2,130 MSI Infinite X Gaming PC only has 16GB of RAM and a tiny 256GB SSD. How is that not a joke?
     
  15. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    If you look on New Egg you will see almost all Motherboards that cost over $100 have 4 on average, or more expansion slots for memory. I just looked through ASUS, and every single one I looked at had 4 except for the really cheap ones. There's no way I would buy the gaming systems in Walmart when I can easily build a much.... better one for around the same price.

    I would offer much more info, but I only have one hand to type with right now due to crazy doctor paralyzing my hand. It takes too long to type with one hand.
     
  16. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    "Almost all" being the key phrase there - if even true! Note this $350 :eek: Gigabyte G1 GA-B85M-Gaming 3, this $240 ASUS, and dozens more as seen here all have just 2 slots and all are over $100.

    There's no way I would buy any PC from any source. I always build my own and have for over 25 years.

    I don't claim I can beat Walmart, Alienware/Dell, HP or Acer in price because I cannot promise ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel etc. I will buy 1 million units over the next year. But I can easily build a better PC that is better matched for how the computer will be used.
     
  17. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Buying a motherboard, or PC already built with only 2 memory slots is a mistake. All the systems I have used over the past 15 years except for my laptop, I built myself. I can actually build a much better system than the ones I have seen at Walmart recently for about half the price since I have accumulated additional parts over the years that are far from outdated.

    It all depends on what you intend to use the machine for. I don't game and never intend to, but I run multiple VMs that require a lot memory so the additional memory is a must for me. My current boards have 6 in them. Paying around $2,000 for a machine that can't be upgraded is a mistake if your in the tech business. You can purchased a regular workstation/desktop for far less.

    edited: 11/1/18 @ 6:13
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2018
  18. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    I am not disagreeing with you on that. But not the point. Contrary to your previous claims, many µATX motherboards only come with 2 slots. That's just a fact you have to accept.

    But still, with 16GB sticks, with 2 slots you can still have 32GB of RAM - a massive amount and more than the vast majority of users will ever need.
     
  19. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    All very important questions. Problem is, answering these questions, reveals the corners cut, to increase the margin of profit.
     
  20. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Yes, but that is the same regardless the brand logo on the outside of the case. Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP, etc. don't say who makes their motherboards (typically Foxconn or ASUS, for example) or their PSUs, etc.

    But it would have been nice if that PCGamer author gave us some more insight instead of what the Walmart marketing materials already told us. Hopefully, a reputable review site will be able to disclose more (assuming not bound to some NDA - as often happens :().
     
  21. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    I just read a Youtube comment from someone who works at Walmart. It's very insightful.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 3, 2018
  22. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    (Oh sorry :confused::oops: I forgot that those are video links)
    I just realized he is talking about a "cyberpower". But I think we can agree that the OPs are pretty much identically "bad".
     
  23. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Regardless if "Overpowered" or "CyberPower" or "YouNameItPower", one bad computer does not mean every computer of the same brand and model is bad.
     
  24. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    How do you mean that? One model-line will most likely be made identical. Like the little fan. (except minor revisions) Or are you talking about the white monitor thing? (There's aword "talking about" that works better in this situation, but i cant remember it. :( Please help xD)
     
  25. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    A little fan does not mean the fan was bad - as in faulty. So yes, I was talking about the monitor going white and they had to reboot.

    But to the fan issue, a "tiny" fan does not mean it cannot move enough air to keep the device properly cooled. It is important to remember proper cooling is the responsibility of the case cooling, which must supply an adequate supply of cool air flowing through the case. The CPU cooler need only toss the CPU's heat into that flow so it can be pushed out.
     
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