 We bought them. Do you have roosters around you? We unboxed them. They have extra... Oh, why? We trialed their tech support. I managed to pull it out all the way. And now in our final act, we're benchmarking all six of our systems to see which PC integrator offered us the most bang for the buck when it comes to gaming and streaming performance. But as regular viewers of this series have probably come to expect by now, there's a lot more here than meets the eye. Like thanking dbrand for sponsoring this series. They're cool and you're not. More on that later. Ah, Alienware. I mean Dell. After a wholly unimpressive sales and support experience, our Dell surprisingly at least came with the latest version of Windows, the latest Windows update and video drivers, and also the usual slew of Dell support software, including everyone's favorite, Macafé Antivirus, which we promptly uninstalled... wait a minute, 12 months subscription. What? Did they actually end up charging us for that after we said not to? No way. Well, not exactly. Dell seems to include a one year subscription to Macafé on their G5 desktops for free, so that's alright I guess. But here's the problem. First of all, any mention of a discount disappeared from our order entirely. And if you load up a G5 on Dell's website, spec it out with the appropriate hardware, fun fact, you can actually choose a dual channel memory kit for no added cost. You end up with a system that costs just over $1600 Canadian, not anywhere near the $2000 we spent. Oh, and remember the warranties they tried to sell us, which we actively declined multiple times? So that's the reason we are suggesting you to take the warranty? Oh no! No that's alright. Well, they're still on the invoice, just under much more obscure names. So I thought, did we actually get them? And I went to check our warranty status. And sure enough, it has 4 years of extended on-site warranty and 4 years of premium support. Which, if you add both to the online configurator, would bring the total to just $2 off what we spent. So they straight up charged us for something we told them we didn't want? It gets better. For the icing on the cake, on Dell's site you can't even select both of the warranty packages that rep included at the same time. It only lets you order one. So, in summary then, not only did the Dell sales rep straight up scam Agent Sarah, and by extension me, out of over 300 Canadian rubles on services that we said we didn't want, they managed to deliver a system with the worst expandability, the least resilient packing material, zero upgradeability for either the power supply or motherboard, thanks to the proprietary case, and nearly the worst performance of the bunch. More on that later. They even failed to help with a routine tech support problem over the phone. I am straight up furious. Like Dell, you guys told us that Secret Shopper 2018 was going to be part of a service and support overhaul. But it obviously didn't happen. And while many of our viewers have been quick to blame the representatives that we spoke with, I believe this is actually a systemic problem. It is no secret that forcing employees to rely on selling services like financing to make their commissions creates this kind of negative customer experience. Honestly, it felt like shopping at a We Finance All used CarLot and it sucked. Dell, you came in dead last. Way to go, losers. Based on the ordering and tech support experience and the actual spec of our system, our other tier one HP, on the other hand, looked very promising. But both Windows and the Nvidia drivers were nearly a year out of date from the time of ordering. I mean, I get it. They were probably clearing old ninth-gen stock after the launch of their 10th-gen Omen desktops. But it's not the best experience to spend an hour updating your brand new system. In terms of build quality, it was great to see a mostly non-proprietary setup from HP, though. And there were no apparent restrictions in terms of swapping in off-the-shelf components. The secondary front storage bay came with both power and SATA data already run to it for an easy storage upgrade. And the 750-watt 80-plus Platinum power supply is standard ATX. Continuing with the trend last time around, HP's Omen command center still does basically nothing. I mean, you do at least get some control over the included chassis RGB. But aside from the utterly useless network optimizer, there's nothing really to command in there. The rest of the pre-installed software is the usual complement of HP support stuff, along with a 30-day McAfee trial, which we uninstalled. As for the BIOS, it's limited to a basic HP support setup with only system tests and information pages available until you open up the Advanced menu, which isn't that advanced, adding only some basic power, I.O., and boot options. The main issue we had last time around with HP's config was the heavily limited boost clocks on the CPU. And unfortunately, these same issues are still present. I mean, how is that even possible? Stressing the CPU with Y-Cruncher, a Pi calculation tool, we started at around 4,300 MHz. All right. But then our temps immediately climbed into the high 80-degree range, which is, I guess, okay. And then after a few seconds, with no appreciable spin-up in the CPU fan, our clocks would drop to around 3,700 MHz, and the CPU would draw exactly and exactly 65 watts of power, which happens to be the rated TDP of this chip. Now, we thought that it might be some kind of power virus mitigation, so we loaded up the Blender BMW test, and unfortunately, it exhibited the same behavior. As for the GPU, with FirmArch running, HP's stock configuration for this system had the GPU's blower fan spinning at just 60% speed, with temperatures hovering in the high 80s and the card clocking down below its base speed. We tried manually tweaking the fan curve in Afterburner, and while it did yield better temperatures, the clocks remained the same due to power limitations. Now, you can bypass these, but it's just confusing, right? Like, why is HP intentionally handicapping both the CPU and GPU in a gaming-branded system? For noise? I mean, like, okay, but HP, there are other ways to solve this. Maybe, just maybe, a single 92-millimeter exhaust fan isn't enough for a powerful gaming rig. With how well HP performed during the rest of the purchasing experience, and with how good the system was on paper, this was kind of a letdown, but we'll let the performance numbers make the final call. On to iBuyPower. This system also came with Windows 1909 from late last year, but their Nvidia drivers weren't quite as bad as HP at only five months or so old. On the inside, you'll probably notice this, like the rest of our remaining systems, was pieced together strictly with off-the-shelf components, so there's nothing proprietary like we found in, particularly, the Dell. It also seems like this is the one manufacturer so far that listened to our criticism from last time around. You might remember that we were disappointed in the complete lack of cable management from iBuyPower in 2018. Well, this year, the cables behind the motherboard tray were managed about as well as you can expect from a pre-built, and for bonus points, the fans were plugged into the correct ports this time. That's sarcasm, by the way. You don't get bonus points for not screwing up. It's also the first of our systems to come with a Ryzen CPU, specifically the 8-core 3700X. During our Y-Cruncher stress test, the iBuyPower machine maintained a consistent all-core boost of 4.1 GHz at just over 70 degrees. Not quite the 4.5 GHz max boost that AMD advertises, but this is about what we would expect on an all-core synthetic load like this on Ryzen. The GPU, an MSI RTX 2070 Super with a decent dual-fan cooler, managed to maintain clock speeds higher than base in our Firmware test, and temps were in the low 80s, as you'd expect on an Nvidia card with GPU boost. This system also featured dual-channel memory, and it's worth noting that while none of our tech support agents instructed us to re-enable XMP profiles after our phone calls, we did go ahead and do this for this system and the rest of them that allowed it so that every system was putting its best foot forward, and we even set our power plans and windows to high performance. Back to the BIOS though, on the included Asus X570P, it was two revisions or about four months old as of ordering it, which would be unlikely to make much of a difference in performance, especially this late in Ryzen 3000's lifecycle, but BIOS updates usually do improve system stability and compatibility, especially with the higher speed memory that Ryzen loves. So it's one of those things that's just a nice touch and would make us think, wow, you know, these guys really care. Overall, a very solid job so far at iBuyPower, and assuming that you didn't somehow handicap your gaming performance, it seems like this is your race to lose. CyberPower PC. Oh boy. Well, for the second season in a row, they effectively didn't provide us with any guidance on the ordering experience. I really don't know what you need or what you do not need. Oh! There we go! But we did at least manage to get a system from them. As we noted in the unboxing experience, this machine did experience some minor shipping trauma, but CyberPower did at least chip over replacement panels at our request for no extra cost. So I'm gonna put a little gold star right there. For the record though, CyberPower, you need to make sure that you test your packing material because you were probably a good two inches on the backside from being thick enough, if you know what I mean. Software wise, this system also shipped with a near year old Windows 10 build, but with AMD graphics drivers that were only three months old. Not terrible, still not great. Oddly enough though, we struggled to find any indication that the system came from CyberPower in the operating system. They didn't even bother to set a branded wallpaper. The only clue that we did end up finding was their support information listed in the about your PC section of control panel. Aside from the external shipping damage though, the overall build quality is on par with the iBuy power system we just looked at, and CyberPower spent the extra time to clean up the back of the motherboard tray and overall present a pretty decent looking rig. Our only recommendations here would be to opt for a power supply with all black cables, some better color coordination on the memory, and to go for an NVMe SSD. That last one is the biggest, especially in a system that costs $1,400. The Intel 10700K boosted nicely between 4.6 and 4.7 gigahertz under full synthetic load, while maintaining a cool 68 degrees. And on the flip side, during our Firmarck stress test, the ASRock RX 5700 XT, which was the only AMD GPU in our lineup, reached a smoldering 87 degrees while hovering slightly below its advertised base clock. On the plus side though, the BIOS version was at least the latest available as of the order date, so that's cool. Now are y'all ready to see the slowest PC out of the bunch? Whether it's the fact that their cheapest system barely fit into our budget in the first place, or the fact that they have to spec a lower than default case to make it work, it's no secret that Origin doesn't cater to peasants who only have $1,500 US dollars to spend on a gaming system. It shipped with the latest major build of Windows 10, and the most up-to-date Nvidia drivers we've seen yet, just over a month old, dang, with the only shortcoming being the BIOS, which was one revision old. Again, not expecting any performance issues, it's just a little disappointing when you're paying this much for a system to be set up properly. They were, however, the only company to save a pre-configured BIOS profile, which included both XMP settings, as well as some tweaks to the fan curves. Like everyone else in this competition though, they failed to instruct Agent Sarah to enable their profile after our RAM receding debacles, so... oopsie. Cable management up front is the best that we've seen so far, and it better be, but around back, while it was on par with the other systems, it didn't wow me, you know, something that I was hoping for at this kind of markup on assembly. The 10400 processor that came in our system stayed super cool at just 62 degrees, with the excessive included AIO water cooler, and maintained a respectable 4 gigahertz on all cores, just like what Origin has listed on their site. And while running FurMark, the 1660 Ti managed reasonable temps and a small bump over base clocks, which, well, is unsurprising for this size of a cooler on a GPU that draws this little power. It comes down to this then. Origin, if you're gonna sell systems in this price bracket, you should at least try to offer some sort of reasonable value. It doesn't need to ship in a wooden crate, I don't need a $50 Visa card, and I don't need the mouse pad and t-shirt. That is easily $100 to $150 in value that I would have rather you guys just put towards, well, a better computer. Or just be expensive and own it like Voodoo used to. If I click on the $1500 system, you should just have a little pop-up that says, so I'm sorry, you must have taken a wrong turn. Last but not least, main gear. The first time around on Secret Shopper, we struggled to find anything wrong with the build quality of the system they sent us. And again, that seems to be the case. Cable management is solid, the cooling layout makes sense, and they even zip tied the extra slack on the CPU fan. Nice. Speaking of the CPU fan, underneath it, as you might've guessed, is another Ryzen CPU, specifically a 3600X 6-core. Under our Y-cruncher synthetic load, it maintained a reasonable 80 degrees with all core boost clocks around 4.1 gigahertz, just like the 3700X in the iBuy power system, and that is right about what we'd expect. In Furmark, the not factory overclocked GPU boosted about 100 megahertz over base with temps in the 80 degree range. What's interesting here though, is that while the actual margin that main gear charged us, that is to say the price over the parts cost, is nearly the same as Origin, they managed to deliver a better overall spec system by quite a lot, which should theoretically perform noticeably better. I do wish they adopted for an NVMe SSD for a system in this price range, but other than that, it's a pretty nice build if you can swallow what basically boils down to a $350 build and service fee. So in summary, this video is pretty long already, so if you wanna see all the specs, hit pause now. The main highlights for me are HP and iBuy powers inclusion of an RTX 2070 super GPU and NVMe boot SSD, and that's all without making crippling compromises to the config elsewhere. Another standout was main gear and iBuy powers use of AMD processors to deliver better bang for the buck. Remember guys, the motherboards are also typically more affordable at a given feature set, if you go Team Red. Many of our manufacturers ended up wasting money on things that I wouldn't consider necessary, like liquid cooling on non-overclockable CPUs or Origins inclusion of an overclocking capable motherboard with a locked CPU. Surprisingly though, RGB didn't end up being an obvious value killer, with iBuy power managing to include as much or more RGB than anyone else, while also shipping the best spec machine. Specs are cool and all, how do they perform? To no one's surprise, iBuy powers superior config offered the greatest performance overall, with the HP and cyber power systems trailing slightly behind depending on the game. We can easily see the benefit that AMD cards have in F1 2020 as cyber powers 5700 XT managed to outperform even the 2070 super equipped machines and then was on par in modern warfare. So if you don't care about game streaming or features like RTX voice, it's a pretty solid option. It's also clear that HP's power limitations did hurt them here, even in real world applications because we would expect it to perform on par with the iBuy power system or even better considering it's Intel CPU, but it didn't. As for our main gear system, it held a respectable lead over both the Dell and Origin who, no surprises here, both hovered near the bottom. As for streaming though, to test the CPU encoding capacity of each system, we set up every machine to encode a six megabit, 10 ADP, 60 FPS X264 stream of the F1 2020 benchmark. Then one by one increased the encoding quality until the encoding process started to drop frames. Unsurprisingly, our cyber power, iBuy power and Dell systems were all able to record with the X264 slow preset without any hitches while our main gear system pulled out a reasonable max preset of medium. As you might've predicted, based on the issues we had with power throttling on the HP, it couldn't push anything past the default very fast preset, yikes. Oh, and the Origin system capped out at fast, which makes sense given it's piddly Core i5-10400. Now it's time to crown a winner. For the second time in a row, iBuy power is taking home the prize. When we last secret shopped them, their tech support was a bit of a nightmare and it's definitely improved. They technically didn't get our system booted during the call, but they at least diagnosed the problems and they offered us an RMA to get them fixed. And just like last time, it's very hard to find fault with their recommended config for the money. In second place, I expected to have HP, but due to the severe power limitations that crippled our system's performance, even in gaming, that crown instead goes to cyber power. I still think these guys have a lot to learn when it comes to their pre-sales experience, but for a company that seems to sell predominantly through other retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, I can kind of see why it might not be a priority for them. During our tech support calls, they provided video tutorials, which was nice, but their technician's refusal to stay on the line to guide agent Sarah is honestly unacceptable in my book. And also, what is this cooling layout? Who designed this thing? It's just weird. I mean, I guess the computer stayed cool enough, but it's going to be a dust nightmare in the long run. In third place, we've got Mangear. Their ordering experience was great, as long as you can accept the fact that you're buying a more boutique system and paying a premium for it. Their customer service experience was second to none. Their build quality was excellent. And while they clearly can't compete with a high volume manufacturer like iBuyPower on price, if you like a quality product with great support, a Mangear might still be right for you. In fourth place, we've got HP. Seriously, guys, you were so close to awesome. The tech support was solid, the ordering experience was solid, but you done goofed the part that actually matters. Performance, please, HP. Figure out what it is that is limiting the power delivery or I don't know what it is. Fix it, fix it for good. In fifth place, Origin PC. Their ordering and customer service experience was flippin' awesome. It's just that it's only natural for the worst performing system out of the entire competition to end up near the bottom. Yeah, it's well built and it does come with 24 seven customer service. So I guess if you decide to set up your new rig at three in the morning and RAM sticks need receding, that might be useful. So like Mangear then, if you want tech support reps that sound like they really do enjoy talking to you, Origin could be a great choice, but you have to understand that you are not getting the best bang for your buck, even among the boutique builders. At least not in this price bracket. Last and definitely least, Dell. You guys straight up scammed me out of several hundred dollars by selling agent Sarah warranties she explicitly denied wanting multiple times. I would, it's at the point now where I would strongly recommend that anyone that's bought a prebuilt from Dell in the last little while, double check your invoice to make sure that they didn't tack something on there that you didn't know about it because I am still f***ing livid about what happened here. Dell, you suck. And you know what else sucks? You for missing out on the LTTX D brand special edition sticker bomb and Linus face drop. Do better next time. Yep, I am literally advertising a D brand product right now that you can't buy. And they've asked me to rub your face in it. So there you go. You can't have it anymore. This. What a weird sponsor those guys are, right? So that's it. We've wrapped Secret Shopper 2. Thank you guys so much for watching. I sincerely hope it won't be two years again before the next one, but these things are honestly absolute butt ton of work. So I'm not gonna make any promises. Make sure you're subscribed though, just in case we do it. Oh, if you guys are looking for something else to watch now, go check out the previous Secret Shopper. It was great.