CyberPowerPC's RTX 3060 Ti gaming PC Black Friday deal could be more 'xtreme' with better cooling
We're in Black Friday season and the prebuilt gaming PC deals keep tumbling in. This CyberPowerPC equipped with an Intel Core i7 11700F, 16GB of RAM, and an RTX 3060 Ti is $200 off its normal price at Best Buy, where it's $1,399.99. It's a strong deal if you're hungry for a 30-series Nvidia card, but it comes with a caveat: a shortcoming with its CPU cooler.
The CPU is an Intel Core i7 11700F. It's not an Alder Lake CPU, but I also don't think that's a reasonable expectation given the scarce availability of Intel's newest line of processors—which we absolutely love, by the way. This is a step down in performance but not a large one, especially if you're not trying to push a 4K resolution. The 11700F's 8 core/16 threads with a 2.5GHz core clock and 4.9GHz boost clock is still competent for many games and applications.
The problem with the i7 11700F in this prebuilt is the amount of reports in the user reviews about the CPU cooler failing to put up with how hot the processor runs. Several users report gaming CPU temps at 70C to 90C, which is way too hot for sustained periods of time. If you pick this PC up, you should consider one of our recommended CPU coolers to keep your processor healthy in the long run.
CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme Desktop | i7 11700F | 16GB RAM | RTX 3060 Ti | 1TB HDD, 500GB SSD|
$1,599.99 $1,399.99 at Best Buy (save $200)
This prebuilt PC packs in a lot of great specs for the price, like its i7 11700F and its 3060 Ti. Several users report high temps with its poor CPU cooler, so you might need to upgrade it. If it's hard drive and SSD storage is enough, it's a solid build.
This PC also comes with a 1TB hard drive and a 500GB SSD. That might not be quite enough storage if you plan to use this for a lot of gaming and other tasks. Games take up a lot of space and there are plenty of titles that benefit from being stored on an SSD. A 500GB SSD is a small amount of space when you factor in a Windows install and any other applications you use frequently. If it bothers you, you can pick up a good SSD for cheap, or stick with what this comes with.
If you are diligent about what you install, this PC is a great deal. The 3060 Ti in it will run a ton of modern games at high settings at 1080p and 1440p. It's not quite a 3070, but it's the closest thing. Given the GPU shortage, it's a solid choice.
Best Buy offers an extended holiday return period if you buy before January 2. You can return it at any point until January 16. Otherwise, this PC comes with a one-year warranty.