Crazy Bad ASUS Pre-Built Gaming PC for $2500 (G22CH-DH978 Review)

Summary

The Asus G22 CH-DH 978 pre-built desktop receives harsh criticism for its poor performance, excessive bloatware, and lack of value. Despite a cool design and compact form factor, the system suffers from severe downclocking, rendering its high-end Intel CPU underwhelming. Thermal performance is adequate, but fan noise is intrusive, resembling the hum of a mini-fridge. With outdated drivers and subpar build quality, the system fails to justify its $2,500 price tag. Ultimately, this pre-built is considered the worst the reviewer has tested, offering minimal performance benefits for its steep cost.

Takeaways

• 😀 The system came with significant bloatware, including McAfee, Asus Armory Crate, and outdated drivers, leading to a poor out-of-the-box experience.
• 🔥 The Nvidia GPU driver was 14 months out-of-date, risking compatibility issues and missing crucial performance optimizations and security fixes.
• 🌡️ Despite underclocking the CPU to low frequencies, the system maintained relatively low temperatures, with CPU temperature peaking at 68–69°C.
• 💨 The mesh panel offered slightly better cooling for both the CPU and SSD compared to the solid Plexiglass side panel, but neither option allowed the system to reach full performance potential.
• 📉 The system's fan noise produced an annoying low hum, comparable to a mini-fridge, which impacted the overall acoustic quality despite low dBA levels (31.9 dBA).
• ⚡ The CPU (Intel i7-13700K) was intentionally downclocked to lower frequencies, limiting its performance to that of much cheaper processors and making the system less valuable.
• ❌ The configuration of the motherboard was suboptimal, and it should have been standardized to ITX or MicroATX to improve compatibility and upgradeability.
• 💰 At a price of $2,500, the system was considered overpriced, especially given its performance limitations and subpar build quality.
• 🔧 The system's cooling was hampered by the motherboard's VRM limitations, which restricted power delivery and overall performance under load.
• 🚫 This pre-built desktop was described as the worst the reviewer had tested, mainly due to the deliberate throttling of performance, poor thermal design, and overpricing.
• 🤔 While the compact design had potential, the overall performance and thermal constraints made it unsuitable for serious users seeking value from a premium system.

Q & A

What is the primary issue with the Asus G22CH-DH978 desktop system according to the review?

The primary issue with the Asus G22CH-DH978 is its poor configuration, particularly the intentional underclocking of the CPU, which leads to significantly reduced performance, despite the high-end Intel 13700K CPU being used.

How does the system's thermal performance compare when using the mesh versus the Plexi glass side panel?

The system showed slightly better thermal performance with the mesh side panel, with temperatures being around 1°C lower across both the CPU and SSD. However, the overall cooling was still limited due to the underclocking of the system.

What specific issue did the reviewer encounter with the pre-installed drivers on the Asus G22CH-DH978?

The system came with an outdated Nvidia GPU driver from June 2023, which was 14 months old at the time of purchase. This could lead to game compatibility issues, performance problems, and lack of optimization updates.

Why was the system’s noise considered problematic by the reviewer?

The system emitted a low hum at idle, described as reminiscent of a mini-fridge. While the overall noise level was not excessively high (31.9 dBA), the quality of the noise was unpleasant, detracting from the user experience.

What was the issue with the advertised materials for the side panel of the Asus G22CH-DH978?

The retail listing for the Asus G22CH-DH978 described the side panel as being made of tempered glass, but in reality, it was made of plastic, which was misleading and added to the frustration with the system.

How did the reviewer assess the price-to-performance ratio of the Asus G22CH-DH978?

The reviewer found the price-to-performance ratio to be extremely poor. At $2,500, the system was underperforming, with the Intel 13700K being intentionally underclocked, leading to performance equivalent to lower-spec parts.

What did the reviewer suggest would have been a better CPU choice for the system?

The reviewer suggested that an AMD CPU would have been a better choice for this system, as AMD chips tend to have lower power requirements and could be adequately cooled in this small form factor without the performance sacrifices associated with the Intel CPU.

How does the cooling solution in the Asus G22CH-DH978 perform under load?

The cooling solution in the Asus G22CH-DH978 is adequate for handling moderate loads, dissipating at least 125 watts of heat with around 20°C of headroom. However, this cooling solution is only effective because the system is downclocked, preventing the components from reaching their full power potential.

What does the reviewer think about the design of the Asus G22CH-DH978 system?

While the reviewer finds the compact sandwich layout and the custom liquid cooling system to be promising, they criticize the overall design for failing to deliver on performance, as it sacrifices functionality for aesthetic appeal.

Why does the reviewer describe the Asus G22CH-DH978 as the worst pre-built system they have reviewed?

The reviewer describes the Asus G22CH-DH978 as the worst pre-built system due to its combination of high price, poor performance (due to intentional underclocking), misleading advertising (plastic side panel instead of tempered glass), and overall poor value for money.