iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 Review – Solid Gaming PC

The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 is one of the few gaming PCs that are fall in the category of the right price and right specs. There are gaming PCs that are perfect but cost way too much. There are affordable gaming PCs that do way too little. The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 gaming PC finds the right balance.

In this iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 review, we discuss the best and the worst (if there’s any) points of this mid-range gaming computer. The PC is mainly aimed at gamers who want to game but without spending an arm or leg. With modest pricing in place, how well does this PC perform? Let’s find out.

Design

If you are used to the usual tower design from Dell and other manufacturers, then this design will be a refreshing change. The front face of the tower comes with a couple of LED fins that look way better than the dull, flat surfaces.

If transparent panels amuse you on desktops, then this one will make you feel the same. The tempered glass panel comes with 16 color RGB lighting which gives you a pleasant visual experience when gaming. You can even see that the indoor cables have LED lighting which adds to the experience.

One of the main design components of this desktop is the cooling process. The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 is liquid cooled. Liquid cooling is excellent for gaming as it prevents any machine from performance throttling. Here, iBUYPOWER has done a pretty good job.

Performance

The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 comes with abundant power, thanks to the Intel Core i7 8700K. This Intel chip is a 6-core processor that comes with a base clock speed of 3.7GHz. You will be able to clock it to a maximum of 4.7GHz, thanks to the turbo boost functionality.

If we are talking raw power, then this processor would beat everything out there. Your everyday applications like browsers, office applications, social media apps, and others will fly, thanks to the sheer power of this beast.

With the 16GB DDR4 memory installed, the processor-RAM combo is a solid combination for enhanced productivity. You can run multiple applications simultaneously without worrying about lags.

If you are a heavy user who works on video creation and photo editing, then this desktop is a perfect fit for you as it has the sheer power to get things done for you.

Another critical component that improves performance on the iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 is the solid-state drive. There is a 240GB solid-state drive that is perfect for this computer. This SSD will boot the operating system in a flash, and the same is true for other applications as well. In case you need more storage, there is also a traditional hard drive with a capacity of 1TB.

Gaming Performance

The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 comes equipped with Nvidia’s latest RTX 2070 GPU. The graphics card comes with Turing GPU architecture and has a dedicated video memory of 8 gigs which is pretty sweet. This new generation of Nvidia GPUs comes with improvements up to 6X when compared with their previous generations. You also get additional stuff like real-time ray tracing and AI which is pretty new to games.

This is a gaming PC, and you expect to play some heavy lifters. The graphics card allows you to do just that and much more. You can play some of the graphically intense games with high settings and still get very good frame rates.

Games like Fallout 76, Shadows of the Tomb Raider, and Battlefield V ran at high settings with reasonable frame rates. If you are interested in playing games like WoW and LoL, the GPU performs like a boss in those cases as well.

Connectivity

The first thing you notice in most desktops is the optical drive tray, and that is missing here. Since most of us don’t use DVDs anymore, this may not be a big concern. We are just downloading most games anyway. On the top, you get a couple of USB 3.1 ports which are super easy to access. There is also a mic and a headphone jack along with a reset button.

What’s on the back? There is a couple of USB 3.1 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, and also an audio 7.1 channel. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card comes with an HDMI port and also a couple of display ports 1.4 which is pretty slick in our opinion.

The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 gaming PC also comes with built-in 802.11ac WiFi connectivity. If you are someone looking to remove cords altogether, then this can help you connect to the internet wirelessly. The desktop also has support for Bluetooth which can be handy when you need to establish a connection with external devices.

iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 Gaming PC Review – Our Verdict

The iBUYPOWER Trace 9220 is an excellent gaming PC that is ready to go and will give you an optimum gaming performance without emptying your wallets. The processor and memory combo is great for performance and will undoubtedly improve your productivity. The SSD makes the whole thing operate smoothly without any hiccups.

The main hero of this gaming PC is the graphics card, and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 is a perfect candidate for mid-range gaming machines like this one. It allows you to enjoy gaming without worrying about anything else.

Is this a machine without flaws? Absolutely not. There are minor cons here and there. But the pros easily overthrow them, and that’s what makes this a wholesome gaming PC for anyone who wants to play their heart out without giving up an arm or leg.