CyberpowerPC Gamer SLC8260A6 Review

CyberpowerPC’s Gamer SLC8260A5 mid-tower gaming desktop won an Editors’ choice award last year and is an even better value in the Nvidia RTX 3060 configuration we’re reviewing today. Our review unit, the Gamer SLC8260A6, boasts an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 for comfortably smooth 1440p gaming and runs on the latest Windows 11 Home operating system.

Its 16GB of memory is enough for productivity tasks, too, and can be easily upgraded later. An aggressive RGB-lit case tops it off, making the CyberpowerPC Gamer SLC8260A6 impressive for the price. The machine earns another Editors’ Choice among midrange custom-built gaming towers.

CyberpowerPC Gamer SLC8260A6 Specs

Design and Features

Like its predecessor, the liquid-cooled Gamer SLC8260A6 looks sleek, with a trio of LED-lit circles on the front panels as well as on the fans on the inside. However, its tempered glass front sets it apart from the mainstream midrange gaming towers from the likes of HP and Lenovo.

Combined with a tempered, transparent glass left panel and robust interior RGB lighting, the Gamer Supreme Liquid Cool puts off a quality modern vibe.

Tiny honeycomb cutouts around the rear of the top panel provide airflow to the 120mm Cooler Master RGB fan showcased within. These light sources and interior lighting are individually customizable, and they resonate well with the game being played.

A large tempered-glass panel shows the SLC8260A6’s neat interior, and the CPU’s liquid cooling radiator and fan look exquisite, the same way they appear in HP’s Omen 30L gaming desktop.

Moving outside, the Gamer SLC8260A6’s minimal top port selection includes two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports (supporting 5Gbps transfers) and an audio combo jack (headphone and microphone in one). Around the back, you have four USB-A ports, two retro USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, and an audio/microphone combo. A media card reader would have been better, but it’s missing here – even major brands like HP and Acer are phasing out card readers on their desktops.

Gaming and Graphics Performance

Though late-2021 graphics card supply shortages and pricing swings have made pricing comparisons difficult, I could still determine that the Gamer SLC8260A6 is priced competitively. That said, it doesn’t make sense that you’re paying almost $200 more to get Windows 11 pre-installed since the new model has the same feature set as its predecessor.

In short, if you’re not excited with the new operating system, you’re safe with the Gamer SLC8260A5, and the extra money can get you a good gaming monitor. Still, with liquid cooling, an 8-core Ryzen 7 3800X processor, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB), the SLC8260A6 is destined for butter-smooth 1080p and 1440p gaming performance at impressive frame rates.

For instance, Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs at 153 fps at 1080p on the SLC8260A6 and 56 fps at 4K. The former ties with the Dell G5, and the latter tails the HP Omen 30L, by a wide margin, but understandable considering it packs the high-end Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card and Intel’s Core i9-10850K processor.

Far Cry New Dawn leverages the MSI Aegis but pulls ahead at 1080p by 11 fps, scoring 108 fps, which drops to 65 fps in 4K. Borderlands 3 (high settings) at the exact resolution achieves 117 fps, which is impressive. And at 4K, the CyberpowerPC Gamer’s 39 fps is once again a few frames behind the MSI and Alienware systems with the same GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards.

Productivity Performance

The Gamer Supreme SLC8260A6 in this review includes an AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (3.9GHz) processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 12GB, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, is Wi-Fi ready, and Windows 11 Home pre-installed.

This is a decent feature-set for a PC that costs just under two grand, especially when compared with the HP Omen 25L, which costs a few hundred dollars more, but packs just a 6GB GeForce RTX 2060 Super graphics card, even the Dell G5 with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10700K processor costs more. Even the boutique-built SkyTech Shadow 3.0 will set you back a little more, despite packing the same Ryzen 7 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, and 1TB storage.

All these make the Supreme SLC8260A6 better value, capable in productivity and workstation tasks as it is playing games. Its feature set suggests that it’s perfectly capable of handling tasks that require significant processing muscle. Naturally, an eight-core chip should fare better, but getting one of those in a gaming tower gives you immeasurable value for your buck.

Bottom Line

The CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme is a compelling midrange gaming desktop, especially for first-time purchasers. The Gamer SLC8260A6 model we’ve reviewed provides much more stable 11080p and 1440p gaming performance, thanks to its 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD storage, than similarly-priced desktops with 6-core CPUs and 8GB graphics cards.

Decent gaming and productivity performance, a clean design, and custom RGB lighting clinch the Gamer SLC8260A6 an Editors’ Choice award among midrange custom-built gaming towers.