Actually Good: $2400 Starforge Pre-Built Gaming PC Review (Lowkey Fractal Terra ITX)

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This review looks at the Starforge "Lowkey," a limited edition mini-ITX pre-built PC assembled and designed by Starforge Systems, a Texas-based system integrator (SI) that builds gaming PCs. This is part of our prebuilt gaming PC reviews series and gives us a more positive product to look at, following a series of less well-designed products in review recently. We previously reviewed Starforge's Horizon II Ultra gaming PC and found it to be overall good quality, with a few issues on screw torque and attention to detail items. Starforge is owned by streamers who are part of OTK, such as Asmongold, Tips, and others, and started after the collapse of Artesian Builds. You can learn about that story below.

Correction: The chart software truncated the X-axis label for the frequency spectrum plot. The last two frequencies in the range are 10,000 Hz and 20,000 Hz. This has been resolved going forward by expanding the 'buffer' space between the axis label and the axis line itself.


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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Starforge Pre-Built Lowkey Gaming PC Review
03:08 - Who Starforge Is
03:57 - Tear-Down of Starforge PC
10:47 - Tear-Down Inspection Pass
11:11 - Starforge Customer Support for Intel
12:34 - Intel Settings Rant
13:48 - Interesting BIOS Changes
15:12 - Intel Microcode Bug
17:20 - Starforge Thermals (CPU Only)
18:12 - Starforge Fan Curve (CPU Only)
18:35 - Starforge Frequency vs. Temperature
19:04 - Starforge 13600KF vs Intel Default
20:10 - GPU Full Load Thermals
20:43 - Fan Change Test
21:22 - AIRFLOW ANIMATION
23:03 - Noise Levels in Hemi-Anechoic Chamber
23:50 - Acoustic Frequency Spectrum
25:09 - Power Consumption Testing
25:55 - Software & Bloat Inspection
26:52 - Packaging Inspection
28:28 - Conclusion

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Steve Burke: Host, Testing, Writing
Patrick Lathan: Testing, Writing
Vitalii Makhnovets: Video Editing, Camera
Andrew Coleman: 3D Animation
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Note: The chart software truncated the X-axis label for the frequency spectrum plot. The last two frequencies in the range are 10, 000 Hz and 20, 000 Hz. This has been resolved going forward by expanding the 'buffer' space between the axis label and the axis line itself.

GamersNexus
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"Actually good" is probably the highest praise possible from GN

dscarmo
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Starforge winner of GN’s most prestigious awards, including:
“No complaints presently”
“To Starforge’s credit”

And most coveted: “That’s pretty cool as well”

hilerga
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That airflow graphic is the most helpful thing I've ever seen.

rangledangle
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Really glad to hear. Streamer owners aside, knowing that much of the Starforge team were the builders behind Artesian Builds which lost their job because the CEO of Artesian Builds ran his business into the ground trying to become an e-celebrity.

Seeing all these guys given another chance to shine, and then seeing them do so damned well is very heartwarming.

secondleasegamer
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The Intel Settings Rant might just be your finest work yet.

stop_tryharding
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I need to give a shoutout to Starforge's customer service. I own what I guess you would call a modified Voyager edition, that I won as part of a contest sponsored by a couple of gamers and administrated by Vast. Super long story short, when I won, the SI was supposed to have been Artesian, and the money for the build, a 12700kf with a 3080, ended up disappearing with everyone else's when they went tango uniform.

Vast scrambled and a did what it had to (big shout out to them for making it right with their own money when they could have just walked away), and went to SF as a brand new integrator, who in turn built the system and got it shipped out to me. Took awhile because of the totality of the situation, but they eventually got it to me. Because of the time that passed, and the amount of money the build was supposed to be, they upgraded the system to a 13700kf with a 4080...and then allowed me to further upgrade it to a 13900k by paying the difference, which was surprisingly small.

Time has gone on, and I too have run into the 13900k stability issues, feeling pretty sure I was in the group with the oxidation issue considering when I got the CPU. Just 2 weeks ago, while watching a build on stream, I mentioned that I was getting ready to RMA the CPU to Intel, and SF basically Insisted that I use my warranty and let them take care of it. I really didn't feel that they should have to pay for Intel's mistake, but they not only insisted on stream, but SF CS reached out by email a couple of days later as well.

They handled the issue, trusted me when I said I knew what I was doing and cross shipped a CPU for me, without making me send back the entire rig. They kept me up to speed every step of the way as to what was happening, refunded the hold for the cross ship as soon as they got the 13900k back, and it's now up and running, with the new microcode, and stable as can be. Things I had no idea might be related to the CPU are now totally fine (random crashes of Youtube video tabs or Twitch/Kick stream tabs). I even just ran a game that had always crashed with the video memory error, on the first try, while running OBS, overlays and everything else that EA says you need to turn off before running a game as well as 3 browsers with at least 50 tabs open, Teams, Outlook, and Discord, and it came right up and ran perfectly. I'd never run an Unreal Engine game that came up/ran for me without some sort of headache or crash when I tried to start it (especially one from EA) before this RMA was completed.

I've never had a personal prebuilt rig ever, except for this one. I've been building all my own desktops/servers since 1995. Starforge is the only one I'd buy one from now, and who I recommend when someone asks (3 of my employees have now bought systems from them).

cbdemented
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"So we bought a pre-built, and drilled a CPU."
...well, that escalated quickly.

Lishtenbird
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After this video I spent half an hour disassembling my Terra to flip the case fan and got an immediate 4-6º improvement in FFXIV. Thank you.

zanar_fm
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"they didn't include paper and it's missing a fraction of an inch of paint" being the worst actual flaws with a system is, hands down, the most impressive build quality you've ever reviewed.

drackar
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As a guy who constantly builds itx systems, that is beautiful work. Excellent cable management and presentation.

iFaFo_
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Does anyone else feel good finally seeing a positive review? It’s nice to see a competent company actually care for their customers. Thanks, GN!

jeremyf
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The attention to detail in this build is commendable; the BIOS config and the cable management are stellar. It's great to see this from a systems integrator - let's hope they maintain this high quality for a long time.

iainh
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8:39 Thank you Starforge for including proper specs for RAM! I have a huge gripe about this with other SI's and I'm a stickler for good RAM.

robnlarie
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Consistently killing it with the quality journalism.

The content you all have been releasing is outstanding. You literally have not missed on a single video I’ve watched.

Getting a channel milled into a CPU for a more thorough investigation? You must be protected at all costs.

jedimastapeb
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Great animation! This is why GN and their in-depth videos are #1 in all PC-tech on YouTube.

tonderr
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23:02 "Now we'll get into noise testing in this chamber" .. slick use of "this chamber" to mess with that drinking game lol

robbertbobbert
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I love that you are brutally honest with all of your reviews, which would make this one an A++ moment for the people at Starforge.
I can only imagine the extreme anxiety they would have at the beginning of the video and how it would change into a huge celebration at the end.
Great video (as usual).

waynerowlinson
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The long awaited return of agent Beve Sturk going undercover

Creepus_Explodus
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The intro already sounds like this could become another timeless GN classic

chriku