iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 Review
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 configuration in this review is an excellent, midrange gaming machine that looks goods and feels great in-game.
- Solid 1080p gaming performance
- Appealing, tool-less design
- Highly upgradable
- Storage capacity is loW
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 is one of the best gaming PCs for enthusiast gamers who want to spend under one grand without sacrificing much in the way of power. Packing an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card, this rig can run mainstream games at high settings and handle your VR headset hassle-free.
Better yet, the Trace 4 9310 is spacious and easy to open up, making it a great starting point for gamers who need to eventually upgrade to more powerful parts in future.
What You Get
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 doesn’t’ exactly come very well concealed so be weary of porch pirates if you order this one, find out if you can request a signature for delivery or have something in place to protect your order. But the box does a good job of giving you an idea of what the case looks like, ignore the components shown or else you might be disappointed when you open the box. There is a nice label that shows the specifications of the build right on the box.
Inside you’ll be first greeted by an easy-to-read and color-coded setup guide in case you’re new around here and aren’t sure where to start. Or that’s a good thing for those folks who have asked you to build them a computer to check before they call you to ask what a USB Port is. The computer is well protected with soft cell foam padding that protects the computer while in transit from hard bumps. No extra padding inside the PC was needed due to the lightweight of the components used.
You’ll find an iBUYPOWER Ares M2 mouse and keyboard in the box. While they’re not the high-end gaming peripherals esports gamers are out to get they are quite solid and full of RGB flair for those who care about those things. You won’t be throwing these in the trash immediately and will likely get a good bit of use out of them, consider them a value add rather than a selling point.
The Trace 4 case is lightweight but solid, it made the trip free of damage and still has a fairly good feel to it. The front I/O consists of two USB 3.0 ports, a power switch, and mic/headphone jacks. The front panel is solid with two large RGB light strips and while it’s not going to allow for ANY airflow the incoming air is handled by the triple 120mm RGB intake fans on the side that are filtered with cutouts in the side panel. The rear of the case has a nice label letting you know exactly what ports to use for video, however, it’s made of paper and left a nasty residue after tearing as we removed it. Come on guys, find a better sticker to use as the idea is great the execution is not.
Inside the case is surprisingly well managed. Most prebuilt, especially high volume ones, are literally slapped together with the cables stuffed away haphazardly. And while I’m sure you or I could do better this execution is better than most budget systems you’ll find. The backside of the motherboard tray makes for easy access to the intake fan filter and to see where the SSD is mounted.
Most of the component selection here is quite solid. Let’s run the parts and see just what you’re getting, there will be a table of components in the next section but this is part of the rundown. The CPU is rock solid, the Ryzen 5 3600 is one of the best all-around gaming CPUs to come to market in the past few years. This means you’ll not be dealing with a simple quad-core but rocking a 6 core 12 thread 7nm Zen 2 based CPU and that should hold you down for years to come. But clearly, it’s a tray binned CPU since it has a simple clip-on Deep Cool cooler rather than the wonderful Wraith Stealth that ships standard with the retail version of the CPU.
The motherboard however I can’t say the same for. It’s adequate in the sense that you won’t lose any performance of the CPU or any components installed but it is an ASROCK A320M/ac meaning you get zero overclocking support nor will you get PCIe Gen 4 support that the CPU and GPU both have. Speaking of the GPU, we’re greeted with a modern offering here as well. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB is a great 1080p and delivers that performance with lower power draw and temperatures than the previous generation RX 500 Series.
Memory and storage are really the Achilles heel of this build but both are easily and cheaply upgraded if you so wish. The memory that is included is an 8GB DIMM from ADATA and rated for 2666, which would fine for an Intel build (and don’t get me wrong it’s fine here too) but the Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs have native support for DDR4 3200, something the motherboard should support but it is what it is. You’ll notice it’s a single-channel configuration which is less than ideal but we’ll discuss that more later. As far as storage goes we’ve got a single ADATA SU630 240GB SATA SSD, a solid offering but still somewhat small. Thankfully there’s room on the back to add another 2.5″ drive AND an open NVMe slot if you wanted to go that route too.
The included power supply is from the company High Power and rated for 500W giving you some headroom on GPU upgrade if you so desired down the road. Typically I would rail on the included PSU but the High Power PSU is 80+ Bronze rated and carries a single rail 12v system so it’s much better than expected
Gaming PC 101
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iBUYPOWER Gaming PC Computer Desktop Trace 4 9310 (AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 240GB SSD, WiFi Ready, Windows 10 Home) (Trace49310)
Pros: Worked amazingly and was able to stream and play games while it worked!
Cons: Unplugged a keyboard now it doesn’t work.
Overall Review: Worked for about a month and a half then I unplugged the keyboard. Yep, I guess a keyboard is an integral component. Then it froze, the screen then went black, and not though the pc will turn on it does not send video to the monitor anymore. Very unfortunate, was very pleased with the pc up until this point.
iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 Gaming PC Desktop Review
Presenting the iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310! This machine rocks the AMD Ryzen 5 3600, a perfect deal for the CPU performance, helping to operate every triple AAA at fast frame rates. Booting up next to the Ryzen 5 3600 is the AMD Radeon RX 5500XT. This GPU is not a slouch, but instead, it’s a fantastic workhorse to support you get the FPS you like in all games out now.
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 is one of the best gaming PCs for gamers who want to invest under one grand without losing much in the way of power. Packing the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor and the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics module, this rig will operate mainstream games at high settings and control your VR headset trouble-free. Best still, Trace 4 9310 is spacious and simple to open, making it a perfect starting point for gamers who may inevitably need to move to more efficient parts in the future.
The iBUYPOWER line of gaming desktop PCs has long been a favored top-of-the-line boutique designer, and with a good cause. In addition to delivering high-performance gaming systems and low starting costs, computers are soft and reliable. With the iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310, you get a pretty elegant and flashy build, complete with a pair of RGB lit strips on the front, a translucent side panel, and RGB fans inside the shell.
Customize the colors and configure them to your taste by installing the RGB app from your motherboard manufacturer’s website. Unique custom side panel design to allow efficient airflow within the device to keep the components cold.
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 gaming PC comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 clocked at a 3.6GHz frequency (4.2GHz Peak Turbo). This gaming desktop has 8 GB DDR4 RAM for multitasking and 240 GB SSD for storage and faster data transfer. It comes with a Genuine Windows 10 64-bit Home pre-installed.
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4 GB Dedicated Graphics Card VR Ready View Connectors: HDMI, DisplayPort
4 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 Audio: 7.1 Line
Unique Add-Ons: Tempered Glass RGB Game Case 802.11AC Wi-Fi Included 16 Color RGB Lighting Case Free iBuyPower Game Keyboard and RGB Gaming Mouse No Bloatware
The iBUYPOWER Trace 4 9310 gaming PC comes with 1 Year Parts and Labor warranty + Free Lifetime US Tech Assistance. This desktop PC is assembled in the USA.
