Pure Incompetence: $5,000 Pre-Built Gaming PC Filled with Mistakes (Skytech Mark 9)

We're hugely disappointed in Skytech for not only dropping the ball, but also failing to recognize what went wrong when the answer was right in their faces. Skytech has done well in the past, but after this experience, it's clear that the company needs some more SOPs and quality control internally for their staff. This was a $5,000 computer after shipping, making it one of the most expensive we've ever reviewed, and it's arguably worse even than Alienware's R13 efforts. The Skytech Mark 9 had backwards fans, was tested with the fans installed that way at the production line, has a bent cooler, some bloatware, and other issues. XMP isn't even on and BIOS isn't configured right.



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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - YES, THERE'S A PROBLEM
01:34 - One of the Most Disappointing Builds
02:52 - Tearing it Down
04:03 - Excellent Customer Support
04:50 - More of the Internals
08:07 - The Cooler is Also Bent
09:55 - Gluing Cables
11:47 - Loose Screws
14:10 - Thermal Testing
15:30 - GPU Thermals & Utilization
16:14 - Frequency Loss & "Certification"
19:03 - VERY LOUD
20:24 - Power Consumption Testing
21:30 - Setup, Software, & Installation
22:57 - Incorrect BIOS Settings!
24:30 - Conclusion

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Host, Writing, Test Lead: Steve Burke
Testing, Writing: Patrick Lathan
Video Editing, Camera: Andrew Coleman
Video Editing: Mike Gaglione

[GamersNexus]

LIVE STREAM ALERT! On Sunday 10/23 at 1:30PM Eastern, we will be live overclocking the RTX 4090 on liquid nitrogen with special guest Bearded Hardware (cameo in this video). Check back for it!

[SkytechGamingPC]

Skytech Gaming would like to thank you for the constructive criticism. While painful, we've earned it. This will only further motivate us to improve and better serve our community going forward. While we have not been thorough enough in our training and QC on custom builds, we have taken this feedback to heart, and are diligently working to address these issues. We welcome further feedback and advice as we strive to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

[gamerjorts]

Absolutely embarrassing showing, and the email from the "Chief Technology Officer" was the icing on the cake.

[crowjax]

An interesting video idea would be to build what you guys think a $5 000 prebuilt *should* be. Going through the part selection, the build process, and finally the software loading. I'd watch that.

[liquid_shadow]

Man I’m glad i learned how to build a pc. The joy of saving money and doing it properly is second to none.

[OrcCorp]

"Is there a problem with the system?"
- Chief Technology Officer
One for the history books 🤦🏻‍♂️

[bgDerek]

Steve is getting very good at his comedic timing. I love these pre-built pc reviews!

[joshwilliams]

My favourite part of this is that, if Steve rips you apart for something, he'll give you 5 different ways to fix the problem. That sort of attitude (especially on YouTube) needs to be celebrated more. Good work on the review, and I hope SkyTech reaches out to you with a humble response.

[kingknossosthebull]

I bought a Skytech for around $4, 400 from Amazon about 6 months ago with a 3090. Immediately got 10+ blue screens per day. I spent around 2 hours on the phone with them, and they were very nice, however, 2 hours of having me install programs to test things and then getting off the phone, only to have it bluescreen again. Repeat and rinse several 2 more times. After that I thought to myself do I really want to spend $4, 400 that doesn't properly from day 1? I returned it and went with Digital Storm. I love my Digital Storm. It was a couple of hundred extra dollars but the case is much larger, no heat trouble at all, and not a single problem since day 1.

[Cloud.Strife]

The kind of incompetence that makes you believe in yourself more.

[annihilatorg]

I certainly hope you do a "fixing the Mark 9" video where you can show the delta in performance in an appropriately cooled device.

[xinceras-]

Good video. Please keep reviewing prebuilts.

We desperately need media to keep hammering these companies until they start selling products that aren't terrible.

[ggamer]

Seeing their professional cable management has made me feel better about my own 👌🏻

[kylestewart]

Imagine going back in time and telling people that in 10 years, high end consumer graphics cards would be selling on eBay for $2, 500 and SI’s would be selling $5, 000 PC’s outfitted with a $100 air cooler.

[MafiaboysWorld]

Finally, we get another installment to the "It's better than Dell" series. 🥳👍

[_PsychoFish_]

I love that Steve doesn't call the technicians or qc staff stupid but addresses the issue on a company level with "someone has to teach them". GN are just THE best pc hardware reviewer imo! Big ups!

[exzylek]

I would like to see how this system performs if everything was done right. Perhaps Steve & Co. could incorporate something similar, where they're like "Ok, we put the fans on correctly, we tightened everything down, now let's see what happens" and post the results. Plus it'll let viewers see how something that could be considered a minor change could mean major performance increases.

[karroq]

Man, I missed these. I love the prebuilt teardowns where Steve just gets more and more amazed as he goes through it

If you do another one that's gonna be pricey, go with one of the boutique manufacturers like Digital Storm or Origin PC. I'd be super curious to know how that would go.

[henryperkins]

Skytech offered to replace the PC. It would be educational to see if you got a Monday-with-hangover effort the first time, and the replacement is competently built.

[wallywest]

"They got a couple loose screws"

Yeah, seems to sum it up.

I work in QC, for a different industry, but Steve's comments on how to address and fix this issue were spot on. Just throwing someone in a QC role and giving them five minutes of training doesn't cut it. You have to give them the resources to know why they're checking all the things on the list, and then of course have the list itself be complete and well thought out. My company has similar issues. I have a TON of paperwork and various boxes I have to check to do my job, which is fine if there's a point to it and it's not just redundant nonsense. (Guess which way it usually goes). Meanwhile I've been doing the job for over a year and have yet to receive ANY training from the lead QC guy that was promised on day 1. There are still things I'm looking at and checking off that I don't actually know much about. Sadly this is not unusual.