iBuyPower Trace X Review: The Fishbowl Gaming PC You Want to Swim In

"A river of RGB light runs through the iBuyPower Trace X case, piercing up from the bottom of the gamer PC tower's side panel through the top exhaust vents. Through the looking glass, shrouded in glow, this jumble of glass, aluminum, and silicon is like a fish tank swimming with light. This variety of elegant fishbowl PC cases has become popular these past few years."

"Then, you open up the side panel, expose the RGB light strips underneath, and find it nearly impossible to access the power supply cables underneath. That's not to knock iBuyPower's latest tower too hard. It's likely the most appealing of its 2026 Gen 10 prebuilt gaming desktops and a solid PC in its own right. It's just a reminder that the Trace X is made to be ogled first and fiddled with second."

"With the supplied components, including a top-end AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D gaming CPU, 32GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, the iBuyPower Trace X (RGB R01) would cost $3,450 as of early May 2026. Who knows if the cost of RAM will push the price of this PC even further. Just half a year ago, you could have built a similar PC for less."

"When I put the same components into BuildCores, I come out with a PC that costs about the same. The end result is that preconfigured PCs are now not only easier on the end user; they may also save you money as well as time. That's the kind of statement that seems anathema to the entire notion of PC gaming, but that's where we're at."

A prebuilt iBuyPower Trace X gaming desktop features RGB lighting that runs through the case, creating a glowing, fish-tank-like look. The side panel reveals RGB strips, but accessing power supply cables underneath is difficult. The system is positioned as visually impressive first and easier to admire than to tinker with. Supplied components include an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU, 32GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. The listed price is $3,450 as of early May 2026, and similar component builds can come out around the same cost when priced through a builder tool. Preconfigured PCs can therefore save time and may not always cost more than DIY.

Read at gizmodo.com