Walmart has
iBUYPOWER Element Pro Gaming Desktop (EPBA7N5701) for
$1199.
Shipping is free.
Note: Availability for shipping may vary by location.
Thanks to Community Member
N3RD_01 for finding this deal.
Specs:- AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-cores, 16-threads (4.2GHz Base / 5.0GHz Boost) Processor
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 12GB Graphics
- 32GB DDR5-5200MHz RGB RAM
- 1TB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drive
- 750W 80 PLUS Gold PSU
- iBUYPOWER AW4 360mm ARGB Liquid Cooler
- iBUYPOWER Element 9 PRO Gaming Case
- Windows 11 Home
Top Comments
Packed well in foam. Seems to be good quality case and hardware, wiring is tidy.
Only problem I had was I got into a windows boot/repair loop. I reinstalled windows via a usb drive, all good now.
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80 Comments
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My 2014 PC was under $500 with the GTX 1060 being $200 of that. Now I'm looking at $1000-$1200 for anything halfway decent in prebuilt. I haven't investigated if these cheap mobos have extra NVMe or x1 slots for SATA expansions since I like to add my own HDs. By the time I do enough research this will be OOS if it's a good deal.
I've never bought a prebuilt PC, so if a part dies, I assume I'm not allowed to fix it and I have to pay shipping back to somewhere (China?). How does the warranty work? Am I allowed to add memory or hard drives without voiding the warranty?
I'm not in a huge hurry and can wait until Black Friday if prices/systems would be better. I want to stay under $1200. I read some comments about companies trying to get rid of old inventory so they can have "super" graphics cards available for the holidays (I don't know what "super" means in that context). That sounds like prices might go up for BF compared to these prices.
Money is tight for me. I'm stuck with the decision I don't know enough to answer: should I buy 1 of these iBuyPower deals now or wait until Black Friday? And which of the numerous deals is the best bang for the buck because I intend this to be solely a gaming machine and it would be nice if I could run BF6 well on it. My 2014 system can't run BF2042 at the lowest settings and lowest 16x9 resolution in a playable manner.
Any advice if I should wait until BF or buy now and which system to buy? There are at least 3 other recent iBuyPower threads that have gone OOS, and I assume those were all better deals than this one.
Regardless, back in its day the GTX 1060 was a midrange card with a $200 MSRP. Now, the RTX 5060 is pretty much an entry level gaming card with a $400 MSRP. But here, you are looking at a higher end configuration still, with a more powerful GPU and probably more RAM (relative to the base/standard) than you likely had back then. My guess is, this is a higher-end PC, relatively speaking, than the one you had back then.
Regardless, back in its day the GTX 1060 was a midrange card with a $200 MSRP. Now, the RTX 5060 is pretty much an entry level gaming card with a $400 MSRP. But here, you are looking at a higher end configuration still, with a more powerful GPU and probably more RAM (relative to the base/standard) than you likely had back then. My guess is, this is a higher-end PC, relatively speaking, than the one you had back then.
Almost anything is better than what I had before. I want something that will run all the games I want to play for 5-10 years before I have to upgrade again. Is this the one for me or should I have gotten one of the OOS deals below or do you think I'm safe waiting a bit longer? (basically does anyone believe prices are going to increase before year end) Thanks.
https://slickdeals.net/f/18557542-ibuypower-slate-gaming-pc-desktop-intel-core-i5-14400f-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-12gb-16gb-ddr5-rgb-ram-1tb-nvme-ssd-sbi5n5701-1099
https://slickdeals.net/f/18625663-ibuypower-element-pro-gaming-desktop-ryzen-7-7800x3d-rtx-5070-32gb-ddr5-1tb-ssd-1299
Since this is still in stock, I finally spent a couple hours researching this and similar prebuilt PC deals using Google/AI. First, I've never heard of iBuyPower but (paraphrasing the AI) they have been around for a while and are known for buying name brand CPUs and graphics cards and what some people call cheap junk for the rest of the parts, so some people get OK systems and others have their PCs die early due to poor QC.
I found many concerning things:
I haven't been able to figure out what brand the mobo is or what slots/connectors it has (such as SATA) because the pictures are too dark. I can't tell how many internal 3.5" HD slots it has, if any. I hope there's room for at least 1 or 2. I hate bright LEDs in a dark room, so I hope the LEDs can be turned off via sofware rather than taping dark paper all over the case. In another thread an iBuyPower 750W PSU was called underpowered for this CPU and GPU combination. Is it true if we play a demanding game the PSU could just give out or overheat even with the water cooling?
In 1 of the iBuyPower threads someone said they were forced to ship the entire PC for warranty service which could cost $50-$100. I would expect the generic 750W power supply to be the most likely component to die, and my guess is they wouldn't let someone swap that out on their own. I think Allstate (Squaretrade) has their own repair place which I think also requires shipping the whole PC to them. AI said you can add the 3 year warranty at a Walmart store within 30 days. With certain VISAs you can get a free extra year of warranty, but I'd still be dealing with iBuyPower.
It is true this and other iBuyPower deals are basically the same cost as buying the separate parts except the latter method gives you control over brands. Hopefully the mobo, PSU, and RAM aren't junk quality as I fear. I've never had water cooling before. I hope even the cheapest of those never leak and fry your PC. Do people check their PC for water leaks before turning it on?
With several rave posts, such as yours, in the iBuyPower threads I wonder if people don't know about the reports of low quality generic components in their PCs or underpowered PSUs, or are those reports exaggerated (as in people who have problems post more negative reviews than those without problems)? Spec-wise this one seems pretty decent according to AI and comparisons I did.
Next week is some Walmart+ week, and Black Friday in a few months. I assume we have to return and rebuy if there's a better deal within 30 days. I would wait except do people expect BF deals to be better than current prices which are near the cost of the parts?
Sure we can return within 30 days to a Walmart store which is good and supports the "buy now, think later". However, I always worry about big returns being rejected or causing a store to ban you.
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Packed well in foam. Seems to be good quality case and hardware, wiring is tidy.
Only problem I had was I got into a windows boot/repair loop. I reinstalled windows via a usb drive, all good now.
Packed well in foam. Seems to be good quality case and hardware, wiring is tidy.
Only problem I had was I got into a windows boot/repair loop. I reinstalled windows via a usb drive, all good now.
Why do you say that?Since this is still in stock, I finally spent a couple hours researching this and similar prebuilt PC deals using Google/AI. First, I've never heard of iBuyPower but (paraphrasing the AI) they have been around for a while and are known for buying name brand CPUs and graphics cards and what some people call cheap junk for the rest of the parts, so some people get OK systems and others have their PCs die early due to poor QC.I found many concerning things:I haven't been able to figure out what brand the mobo is or what slots/connectors it has (such as SATA) because the pictures are too dark. I can't tell how many internal 3.5" HD slots it has, if any. I hope there's room for at least 1 or 2. I hate bright LEDs in a dark room, so I hope the LEDs can be turned off via sofware rather than taping dark paper all over the case. In another thread an iBuyPower 750W PSU was called underpowered for this CPU and GPU combination. Is it true if we play a demanding game the PSU could just give out or overheat even with the water cooling?In 1 of the iBuyPower threads someone said they were forced to ship the entire PC for warranty service which could cost $50-$100. I would expect the generic 750W power supply to be the most likely component to die, and my guess is they wouldn't let someone swap that out on their own. I think Allstate (Squaretrade) has their own repair place which I think also requires shipping the whole PC to them. AI said you can add the 3 year warranty at a Walmart store within 30 days. With certain VISAs you can get a free extra year of warranty, but I'd still be dealing with iBuyPower.It is true this and other iBuyPower deals are basically the same cost as buying the separate parts except the latter method gives you control over brands. Hopefully the mobo, PSU, and RAM aren't junk quality as I fear. I've never had water cooling before. I hope even the cheapest of those never leak and fry your PC. Do people check their PC for water leaks before turning it on?With several rave posts, such as yours, in the iBuyPower threads I wonder if people don't know about the reports of low quality generic components in their PCs or underpowered PSUs, or are those reports exaggerated (as in people who have problems post more negative reviews than those without problems)? Spec-wise this one seems pretty decent according to AI and comparisons I did.Next week is some Walmart+ week, and Black Friday in a few months. I assume we have to return and rebuy if there's a better deal within 30 days. I would wait except do people expect BF deals to be better than current prices which are near the cost of the parts?Sure we can return within 30 days to a Walmart store which is good and supports the "buy now, think later". However, I always worry about big returns being rejected or causing a store to ban you.
You have never heard of IBuyPower?
I have also been eyeing 9800x3d with 5070Ti from AI or cost plus. But those are pushing you in a 2300 dollar range. This is a very very solid deal. I seriously doubt there will be anything beating this on Black Friday.
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Packed well in foam. Seems to be good quality case and hardware, wiring is tidy.
Only problem I had was I got into a windows boot/repair loop. I reinstalled windows via a usb drive, all good now.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B650-VC-WIFI
It didn't come with any SATA cables and in a funny moment I was confused where the 6x SATA ports were as I couldn't find them just looking at the board but thats because they are mostly hidden behind the behemoth of a video card the 5070
The case says space for 2x 3.5 drives but I only saw a bay for one.
I'm impressed with this machine. I like the case design and installing parts from my previous machine was a breeze.
Its also a lot quieter than I expected as well.
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