Building an All-Intel Gaming PC: A Micro Center Bundle Review
Hello and welcome to our wonderful sponsors Micro Center, where I have a simple question: Is it a good idea to build an all-Intel gaming PC? Starting out with, we have our CPU. Whoa, look at that, the Core i7-12700K. One of the nice things about doing this all-Intel PC build here at Micro Center is that they have some really good bundles going on right now.
So, pairing the i7-12700K CPU with this ASUS Prime Z690-P WiFi board and 16 gigabytes of G.Skill Flare DDR5 memory is only $350, a smooth $420 discount over MSRP. I will however be adding onto the 16 gigabytes of RAM to come with the bundle, with one additional DIMM, which I think makes a lot of sense if you are going to be utilizing DDR5. What's the point of that extra speed if you don't got those dual DIMMs to take advantage of it? The real star of the show here though are these Intel Arc GPUs.
Now, I will be honest with you, I have not built a gaming PC with an Arc GPU. I want to go with the reference A750 at $250. It's easy to forget that Intel only released this first generation of their consumer GPUs alittle over a year ago, and in that time span, they have made huge strides, optimizing not only for new titles, but they've even made some pretty big steps on older games as well.
Next up, let's choose our SSD. For this one, we're going to keep it very straightforward. So, we're gonna go with the WD BLACK SN770. The power supply, we're gonna go with this, the 650 watt PowerSpec. We've used these in a ton of builds before, they're semi-modular, and importantly for this system, because we're going for a little bit of the white and blue, clean aesthetic, this will fit in nicely.
So, with our i7-12700K, it is a quite good gaming CPU, but it also is fairly power hungry, which is part of the reason why of course it does not come with a stock cooler in the box. There are some of the larger coolers, but I actually think we could save a little bit of money and get a little bit of a smaller cooler, like the DeepCool AG400. For our case, we do have just enough budget to get something that's relatively nice.
So, this is the MONTECH SKY TWO. Part of the reason why I wanna try this, is because it comes in Morocco Blue, which if you're looking for an all-Intel build, there are not exactly an enormous amount of blue case options. Which if you look at it, it's actually a pretty nice-looking case. And let's be real, who doesn't love the color blue? Now, I will admit, I'm slightly partial to the system now that it's actually built and it looks all cool and everything, but let's put this all-Intel gaming PC build to the test.
So, while we're about to do some gaming, one thing I do wanna try is the encoding on this Arc GPU. Because for $250, this is a big deal if you are a streamer or if you work with large video files like we do. So right now, I've loaded up a 50-gigabyte, 14-minute ProRes 4K file, and I am now compressing it with the AV1 encoding and HandBrake, specifically using our Arc GPU. And I'm currently doing this video at 60 FPS.
I'm going to, just for the sake of comparison, do the exact same thing on my MacBook. My God, look at that. On the MacBook, I'm getting six FPS, on the Arc GPU, I'm getting 60. That is wild. And keep in mind, that while this is a laptop, this is a $3,000 MacBook. Mind you, if I was using a different codec, like H.265, it would be significantly faster.
So for context, we start out with a 53-gigabyte file, and I was able to compress it down to 374 megabytes in double real time. That is surprisingly good. Look at that quality. All right, enough of this video encoding. Why don't we play some games? So, we have loaded up several of the most popular games on Steam.
The post build process had been quite smooth with no errors being reported during installation. The all-Intel configuration brings out a unique balance between power and efficiency, making for an incredibly responsive system that was perfect for gaming.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hello and welcome to ourwonderful sponsors Micro Center,where I have a simple question.Is it a good ideato build an all-Intel gaming PC?Starting out with, we have our CPU.Whoa, look at that, the Core i7-12700K.One of the nice things about doing thisall-Intel PC build here at Micro Center,is that they have some really good bundlesgoing on right now.So, pairing the i7-12700K CPUwith this ASUS Prime Z690-P WiFi board,and 16 gigabytes ofG.Skill Flare DDR5 memoryis only 350 bucks,a smooth $420 discount over MSRP.I will however be adding ontothe 16 gigabytes of RAMto come with the bundle,with one additional DIMM,which I think makes a lot of senseif you are going to be utilizing DDR5.What's the point of that extra speedif you don't got those dual DIMMsto take advantage of it?- Dims dale, dima, dima, dima, dima.- The real star of the show here thoughare these Intel Arc GPUs.Now, I will be honest with you,I have not built a gamingPC with an Arc GPU.I want to go with thereference A750 at 250 bucks.It's easy to forgetthat Intel only releasedthis first generationof their consumer GPUs alittle over a year ago.And in that time span, theyhave made huge strides,optimizing not only for new titles,but they've even madesome pretty big stepson older games as well.Next up, let's choose our SSD.For this one, we're gonnakeep it very straightforward.So we're gonna go with the WD BLACK SN770.For the power supply,we're gonna go with this,the 650 watt PowerSpec.We've used these in aton of builds before,they're semi-modular,and importantly for thissystem, because we're goingfor a little bit of the whiteand blue, clean aesthetic,this will fit in nicely.So with our i7-12700K, itis a quite good gaming CPU,but it also is fairly power hungry,which is part of the reason why of courseit does not come with astock cooler in the box.There are some of the larger coolers,but I actually think we couldsave a little bit of money,and get a little bit of a smaller cooler,like the DeepCool AG400.For our case, we dohave just enough budgetto get something that's relatively nice.So this is the MONTECH SKY TWO.Part of the reason why I wanna try this,is because it comes in Morocco Blue,which if you're lookingfor an all-Intel build,there are not exactly an enormous amountof blue case options, whichif you look at it on the site,it actually looks kind of cool.It's not like the super-traditional,very saturated blue,and for a 110 bucks, it'sgot the four ARGB fans.It should work pretty well.Last but not least, we'regonna pick up a copyof ESET Gamer edition, and we'll be readyto build ourselves an all Intel gaming pc.Now, unlike most builds, whereI go into much more depth,I'm gonna fast forward to this,because honestly,you've probably seen mebuild a bunch of PCs.The main thing I wanna checkout first and foremost,is the Arc A750, 'cause I'll be honest,I have actually never seenone of these in person.I have seen photos of them.These stock coolersactually look kind of neat,but I actually wanna seewhat this thing looks like.So we have Arc A750 Limited Edition.You don't buy a GPU for thelooks, most of the time.Oh, we got a little sticker,Intel, you know what they love?They love stickers.Something else I wanna do,is take a look at our case.Okay, I think this was a good call.That's a nice shade of blue.Please lay the case down,when removing the glass side panel.What's the worst that could happen?Okay, not gonna lay it down, what happens?What, that's fine, they're...Okay mom, I'll put theside of the panel down.But the most important question we have,we have to use it as ournorth star for today's video.Should you build an all-Intel gaming pc?And if you do, what is thatexperience actually like?Cut to the building montage.(upbeat music)MOARC baby, that my friends,is an Intel Arc-powered gaming PC.So, we've done some cable management.I'll say it actuallylooks relatively good,just a couple of these white cablesI don't really know what to do with,but for the most part, I actually thinkthat this is a prettysolid-looking system.Oh wait, I've got a Core i7 badge too.Where should I put the Core i7 badge?MOARCCORE.There you have it my friends,MOARC, MOCORE, more power baby.- And more power baby.- Now I will admit, I'm slightly partialto the system now thatit's actually built,and it looks all cool and everything,but let's put this all-Intelgaming PC build to the test.So while we're about to do some gaming,one thing I do wanna try,is the encoding on this Arc GPU,because for 250 bucks, this is a big dealif you are a streamer,or if you work with largevideo files like we do.So right now, I've loaded upa 50-gigabyte, 14-minute ProRes 4K file,and I am now compressing itwith the AV1 encoding and HandBrake,specifically using our Arc GPU.So I'm currently doingthis video at 60 FPS.I'm going to, just forthe sake of comparison,do the exact same thing on my MacBook.My God, look at that.On the MacBook, I'm getting six FPS,on the Arc GPU, I'm getting 60.That is wild.And keep in mind, thatwhile this is a laptop,this is a $3,000 MacBook.Mind you, if I wasusing a different codec,like H.265, it would besignificantly faster.So for context, we startout with a 53-gigabyte file,and I was able to compress,(Austin blows raspberries)I was able to compressthat 53-gig file downto 374 megabytes, in double real time.That is surprisingly good.Look at that quality.All right, enough of this video encoding.Why don't we play some games?So we have loaded up severalof the most popular games on Steam.So let's start out with \"CS:GO\"which is the most popular game on Steam,and yeah 284, 304.This is nice.This is good.(Austin laughs)I'm gonna say, thumbs-up to \"CS:GO.\"Next up, we have \"Dota 2,\"the second most popular game on Steam.Now, this while notquite as old as \"CS:GO,\"I believe this is a DX11 game,I'm assuming that thishas been well optimized.Rendering, how about Ijust do Best Looking,I want maximum look.Maxed out settings,we're currently looking at about 120 FPS.In fact, I actually, I thinkwe're capped at 120 FPS.Next up, let's try \"Apex Legends,\"a little bit more of a modern title,which while not massively demanding,I think it's probably a prettygood match for this system.So video, yeah, 720P.How about 1080?Thank you.Even though, this is not themost powerful GPU in the world,we paid a $1000 for this gaming PC,I'd better be able toplay games 1080P max.We're the CHAMPION SQUAD.Oh no, why am I alwaysin the CHAMPION SQUAD?So, before we drop, we'relooking at about a 100 FPS.I will say that if we cankeep this performance up,as we actually jump around,I will be quite content.So, even here down on the ground,the lowest I'm seeing is it'sdipping to about a 100 FPS.So next up, we're gonna do \"GTA V,\"which is admittedly quite anold game, but still a gamethat can be somewhat taxingwhen you crank everything up.All right, so \"GTA V,\" we've got DX11.I'm going to basically just crank this up,'cause there's no reason why I wouldn't.Yeah, wow, look at that.We're dipping out 35, 34, 31.Let's take a look at oursettings in \"Warzone.\"So I'm gonna try quality,full screen, yada yada, yada.So, \"Modern Warfare II\" and\"Warzone\" are new enough,that they should be really well optimized.Oh yeah, look at that.I mean, dropping in, we're above 60 FPS,which is definitely a good sign.First impressions.I think we actually might be good here.I'm looking at solid 70,80 FPS on quality settings.So I'm gonna try from, oh no, no, no,don't fall, don't fall, no, he's above me.How do I get up?(gun popping)How did I look, how many times of, what?It was like seven shots in the back, man.Next, let's try \"Cyberpunk,\"which is going to bethe most demanding game,well, one of the mostdemanding games, period,but certainly the most demanding gamethat I'm gonna try on this system.Now, the thing with\"Cyberpunk\" is, this is a gamethat should have beenoptimized for the Arc GPUs,but also it's a game thatcan actually take advantageof some of the Arc's specific features.So, technically while I wouldn'tnecessarily recommend it,this GPU does support ray tracing.So, oh my God,Quick Preset, Ray Tracing Ultra.Mm, I mean it did defaultto Ray Tracing Ultra.Look, I'm not gonna do that, right?Yeah okay, I'm gonna do it.All right.It thinks we can do RayTracing Ultra, um, no, no,you know what we could do?Let's do Ray Tracing Low.I think if we could do RayTracing Low, I'd be very happy.Texture Quality, High.We do have Intel XeSS,much like DLSS, and sortof like a FidelityFX,it's Intel's upscaling method,where it's going to worktogether at the gameto run the at a lower resolution,and upscale it in a waythat will keep the image quality clean.When it works well, it's aslight hit to your image quality,but a fairly substantialimprovement to your performance.So, ON, ON, ON, High, ON.I am surprised, \"Cyberpunk,\"we're on High Ultra almost everything.There's a couple of settingswe're not like on Extreme.And Ray Tracing again is on Low,which I think is probably the right move.I don't think this is gonna work.I think that this is tooambitious, but let's give it a try.With Ray tracing on, I thinkyou're gonna be like 30 FPS.Oh, 70 FPS,yo, so even as we run through it,I'm not seeing anything below 60.And keep in mind 1080P, pretty much highin Ultra settings acrossthe board, the defaults.The only thing I did,was I turned the Ray Tracing down to Low,which you get, a little bit of ray tracingcan make a pretty big difference.That is impressive.And you look at this comparedto something like \"GTA V,\"this is so much more visually impressive.This I think is probably the best exampleof the theoreticalperformance of this GPU,because let's not forget, this Intel GPU,it is a big physical chip,and if it has the proper optimization,you should expect someseriously solid performance,well above that $250 price point.That is terrific.I'm legitimately impressed.This is the best thingthat we've done so far.If this is what these ArcGPUs are actually capable of,we're barely touching 60 FPSin some of the more demanding scenes,with ray tracing enabled,man, last time I tried ray tracingon a slightly lower end card,I was getting like six FPS.Mind you, it was asignificantly lower card.But average FPS, 71, minimum,50, that is freaking awesome.Buying an Intel GPU andgoing for an all-Intel systemis a little bit of a gamble, right?'Cause you are betting thatIntel are going to continueto improve this tech.But, so far they've hada sterling track recordof constantly making improvements,and where their technologyis at right now,it's pretty good for 250 bucks, man,as is, the fine dealsthat our wonderful sponsor Micro Center.If you're a new customer to Micro Center,if you go in-store, youcan get yourself $25off of a processor, and on top of that,you can get yourself afree 128-gig flash drive,with the opening of the brandnew Indianapolis Micro Center,which I may or may notbe going to very shortly.It's the first time they'veopened a Micro Centerin eight years.Last but not least, they alsohave a ton of laptop dealsgoing on this month,which of course you can find at the linksin the description.Thank you very much to Micro Centerfor sponsoring this video.And until next time, my friends,(case thudding)I'm pretty happy with this one,not gonna lie, pretty happy.\n"
