YouTube Ads Told Us to Buy This: Redux Gaming PC Review

This review of the Redux "Good" Tier system benchmarks a $1300 build from a company that spends a lot on YouTube advertising. Today, we're testing if it's any good.

This review tests the Redux Good tier PC, talks about customer support and response time, value of the computer, build quality and assembly competence, and more. It's a comprehensive review of a pre-built gaming PC in the $1300 price range, competing with a dense section of the market that is fiercely crowded with competition. That means comparing the Redux PC to the likes of iBUYPOWER, Cyberpower, ABS, Skytech, HP, and Dell, among others.


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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Build Redux Pre-Built Review
05:59 - Tear-Down & Build Quality
09:05 - Overkill Cooling, Weird Fan Hub, & PSU
14:09 - Gaming Benchmarks - Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p
15:38 - Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p
16:52 - Rainbow Six: Siege at 1080p & 1440p
18:12 - Thermals of Redux Prebuilt PC
19:14 - Noise
19:43 - Fan Control Weirdness
21:14 - Power
21:30 - Setup & Instructions
23:14 - BIOS & Software
25:14 - Conclusion

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Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing, Writing: Patrick Lathan
Video: Andrew Coleman & Keegan Gallick

[sarcophegus]

Adding the Liquid Cooler was purely a marketing choice. In my experience as a system builder, ALOT of customers prefer a gaming PC with a Liquid Cooler because they generally see it as "powerful" or "cool", and if you try and convince them to save money and use a standard air cooler instead they just brush it off or think you are trying to cheat them by using cheaper parts...don't underestimate the naivety of many people...

[larrykowalsky]

When Beve Sturke asks where his order is at you better respond in a timely fashion

[tomatus]

"It's Not E-waste" Award! Not sure if that's better or worse than "Better than Dell".

[Delfite]

Note: After visiting Redux's website they have improved the default part selection for all 3 options which is certainly a step up from what was shown in this video

[eldibs]

"Built fairly competently" is incredibly high praise for a pre-built, even if the specs are awful for the price.

[johnvvoorthuijzen]

A prebuilt with 2 sticks of ram! Someone warn Dawid, he needs to see this

[philtkaswahl]

"Connect your keyboard and mouse to the P."

Now normally I wouldn't kinkshame, but given the price tag for this I think a little shaming is in order.

[thetalesofdaneandco]

5:53 That moment when Steve gives so much money to Redux, he has to change his shirt.

[hajimesajto]

Checking the offer 5months later and the same build now contains a corsair air cooler and a 2060, the power supply is now a 600w gold. rest seems the same but for 1379$. I am assuming the performance is now way closer to other prebuilds tested and who knows, maybe just because of your review. Keep your good work up.

[chiquilloneal]

Sounds like they took your advice to heart. They dropped the liquid cooler from their "Good" tier and replaced the GPU with a 2060. Unfortunately the GPU's market value is over $600. I didn't actually buy from them but was strongly considering it since I have a working 2080 so it's actually great that you can build the PC without a GPU and their website even prompts you with a question "what GPU will you be installing?" This tells me they're mindful of the fact that they will have the correct PSU leads for whatever GPU you decide to install when it arrives. Overall, this could save people a ton of money, especially someone who doesn't want to build a PC from scratch.

That being said, I ultimately built my computer from the ground up as I found some really good deals on a 12th gen i9 and corresponding mobo.

[JakeStz]

Microcenter's in house prebuilts "Powerspec" are pretty good. Some questionable hardware decisions, but pretty good price for what they provide.

[sereth]

My Girlfriend's comments on the coasters: "They look cool." This is an official seal of approval you need on the website.

This comment has been edited - correct apostrophe location applied.

[TheJoel]

As of October 22, the "Good" build now has a Ryzen 5 5600x w/ a B550 motherboard, the AIO was dropped for a Hyper 212 air cooler and the GPU was downgraded back to a GTX 1650.

[imamalox]

Literally in the first three seconds when he said 'GTX 1650' and I saw the AIO tubes I knew this PC was gonna be an epic failure lmao

[SeraStaplz]

What I like about this one is that there's actually a lot of good room for upgrading, even compared to the other SI systems. The case and power supply could last you into an entirely new build in 4-5 years, or you could spread the cost out over time to upgrade one part at a time. The CPU cooler can also be kept into a new build(s) as long as you have the right mounting hardware. You won't have to buy another fan unless 3 of them break. No such thing as good value right now, but this wouldn't be a bad start if you wanted to learn to DIY into your future.

[rougenaxela]

So, I suppose the summary is... "Sufficiently competent assembly, component costs not too far from to retail, questionable component selection that kills the value."

[autarchprinceps]

A LOT of people I know start their journey into PCs and gaming with Acer. They often have what at least seem to be the most price effective option. Would love to see one of theirs disected by you guys in this series, to see whether they actually know what they are doing, or pull of the same crap Dell & HP did.

[tk]

This would be a decent pre-built if it was at a sub-$800 price. It has really good upgrade potential at least.

[rbaile]

Looking at their site, they offer builds with 3070s and 3080 Ti’s that are well below scalper levels so I am actually really impressed. The 3080 Ti they are charging $1350 for and you can’t get one for MSRP at that price unless its a FE version so that’s actually really good.

[billsmith]

it's bin a little while since you did this review. That said, I purchased a higher tier Redux PC in the beginning of the year. I purchased it with an R7 3700 CPU and a RTX 3070 graphics card. At the time, I did the math and I felt that the Redux price was reasonable compared to the available parts at the time. I did not want to buy a prebuilt, but given the GPU availability at the time it seemed like a decent choice. That said, I agree with your assessment that the PC that you purchased was not exactly the right choice for the parts specified. Given that I have the same exact case, with the same exact cooling solution. I would love it if you purchased a higher performance PC from Redux and did a new review. just to see how it compares. Another thing I did different was I did not have them install the OS, since you can purchase Windows 10 & 11 for much cheaper after market. I do love your reviews. Please keep up the good work!