Why You Can Trust CNET iBuyPower Value 640 review: iBuyPower Value 640
The Vista-based iBuyPower 640 is a good bet for PC enthusiasts on a shoestring budget who are looking to add a PC to their home theater and don't mind (or look forward to) tweaking and upgrading the system as they go.
At 14.6 inches wide, 5.8 inches tall, and 18.1 inches deep, the iBuyPower Value 640 is nearly twice as tall as the compact Shuttle XPC X200M and much wider and longer. Whereas the Shuttle is the size of a slim DVD player, the iBuyPower is closer in size to a big A/V receiver. The $1,149 XPC X200M is the more complete system, with a TV tuner and a wireless card inside, but Shuttle restricts access to the case--crack open the Shuttle's case, and you void the warranty. Only two thumbscrews separate you from getting inside the iBuyPower Value 640, and you won't void the warranty if you do pry inside. The NZXT Duet case provides easy access to the motherboard; the power supply and the DVD burner sit in the front of the case, leaving the motherboard completely unobstructed.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
On the MSI P965 Neo board, there are two x1 PCI Express slots, three PCI slots, and two open DIMM slots. A wireless 802.11g card should have occupied one of the PCI slots--it's a standard feature on the Value 640--but iBuyPower forgot to include it on our review unit. This type of oversight makes us question the level of quality put into each PC that leaves iBuyPower's factory. If the company can't correctly assemble a system it is submitting for an in-depth review, how careful is it when building custom orders from its customers?
Also, while iBuyPower binds most of the cables to keep the interior somewhat neat, the small power cord for the fan on the CPU heat sink is not bound and coils a bit too close to the side-panel cooling fan; we could envision that cord eventually nudging the fan and creating an annoying racket if left as is.
On the case's exterior, a small, flip-down panel under the power button hides two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, and headphone and mic jacks. Behind a larger panel that takes up the right side of the front panel, you'll find the system's DVD burner, a free 5.25-inch drive bay, and a media card reader. iBuyPower told us the Blu-ray and HD DVD drives are still in tight supply, and the company didn't know when it would begin offering next-gen HD optical drives.
Overall, the NZXT Duet chassis is inoffensive and it's better looking than what we saw last year with the
To connect the Value 640 to your television, you have your choice among VGA, DVI, and S-Video, all courtesy of the system's 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS card. The integrated Realtek audio chip provides 7.1 surround sound, though iBuyPower offers a number of Sound Blaster cards. Likewise, there's a long list of graphics cards from which to choose, though the 7600 GS strikes a good balance for the Value 640 intended purpose as a living-room PC. You'll need to add a TV tuner if you want to record your shows to the Value 640's hard drive; iBuyPower sells a handful of internal TV tuner cards and an external box on the Value 640's online configuration tool. If you plan to record and archive TV shows, we'd recommend choosing a larger hard drive than our review unit's 320GB unit, particularly if you plan to record over-the-air HD content, which will result in very large video files.
Included in our review unit's price is a 17-inch KDS LCD, tiny stereo speakers, and a wired keyboard and mouse set from Apevia. You'll save $141 if you don't need the LCD and you expect to integrate the Value 640 into your home theater. If that's the plan, we recommend upgrading the keyboard and mouse to a wireless set.
With what amounts to mainstream specs these days--Core 2 Duo E6400 processor, 1GB of memory, and the aforementioned midrange GeForce card--the iBuyPower Value 640 ran Vista Home Premium with nary a hiccup. It carried out standard Windows tasks and Media Center tasks without a pause. Thanks to its desktop CPU, it clearly outpaced the other two Vista-based PCs we've reviewed, the
The iBuyPower trailed XP-based
The Vista-based
iBuyPower backs the Value 640 with its standard warranty, which covers labor for an impressive three years and parts for one year. Onsite service is offered for the first year. Online FAQs and drivers are nonexistent, although iBuyPower does provide a list of manufacturer links for those in search of a driver update. Toll-free telephone support--available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT--is offered for the lifetime of the system.
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System configurations:
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.6GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+; 2,048MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro HyperMemory graphics card; 320GB Western Digital 7,200rpm hard drive
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600; Intel P965 Express chipset; 1,024MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7900 GT; (2) 250GB Hitachi 7,200rpm hard drives
Windows Vista Home Premium; 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-51; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7600 Go; 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6400; Intel P965 Express chipset; 1,024MB 677MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS; 320GB Seagate 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Windows Vista Home Premium; 1.66GHz Intel T2300 Core 2 Duo; 1,024MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB (shared) Intel 950 GMA graphics chip; 250GB 7,200rpm Seagate Barracuda hard drive