Gamers Nexus | $2000 Starforge Pre-Built Gaming PC Review: Horizon II Ultra Benchmarks @GamersNexus | Uploaded January 2024 | Updated October 2024, 6 days ago.
Get the LIMITED 2023 Disappointment Shirt in Cotton: store.gamersnexus.net/products/disappointment-pc-2023-cotton Or in Heather Charcoal! store.gamersnexus.net/products/disappointment-pc-2023-heather These are IN STOCK & SHIPPING NOW and sell out very fast every year, so if you want one, order soon!
This review and benchmark tests the Starforge Horizon II Ultra pre-built gaming PC. We spent around $2,000 on this computer and ran testing during November, finalizing benchmarks and the tear-down in December, so we have a little over a month of total usage time on the computer to go into the review. Testing includes thermals, acoustics, power and PSU choice, and a tear-down, plus our usual inspection of packaging, shipping, and BIOS/Windows that we have in each pre-built review. Overall, the Starforge machine had a few key points of improvement -- especially in assembly -- but was generally well-built and lands on our shortlist of acceptable pre-builts we’ve reviewed recently.
If you’re not familiar with Starforge, it is owned by streamer group “OTK,” which consists of familiar names like Asmongold, Emiru, Esfand, and other top streamers. Moist Critical (penguinz0) is another co-owner of Starforge. The company’s management and some of its build staff are former Artesian Builds members.
Learn about the origins that pre-date Starforge in our Artesian Collapse video: youtube.com/watch?v=L2xMi7inB28
Pre-built reviews playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=wZC1PEe-bdM&list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM
RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]
If a pre-built isn’t your speed, build your own computer using some of the parts below:
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D on Newegg: howl.me/cllaalhBBgZ
AMD R7 7800X3D on Amazon: geni.us/bah9
NVIDIA RTX 4070 on Amazon: geni.us/iQ4d
AMD RX 7900 XT on Newegg: howl.me/clk984JJPpe
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Starforge Undercover Review
01:48 - Backstory of Starforge: OTK & Former Artesian
03:57 - Tear-Down & Build Quality
06:29 - Case Airflow Discussion & Screws
12:30 - CPU Socket Inspection & M.2 SSD
13:14 - Recapping the Tear-Down
14:50 - SSD Temperatures
15:27 - Acoustic Testing Methodology
17:43 - Noise Levels & Fan Ramp
18:18 - Frequency Spectrum Analysis
19:00 - Analyzing Streamer Frequency Spectrum
20:56 - Thermal Benchmarks: CPU & GPU
23:10 - Power Consumption
24:44 - BIOS Inspection
25:56 - Windows & Software Setup
26:42 - Packaging Inspection
28:23 - Accessories
28:57 - Conclusion
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: patreon.com/gamersnexus
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: gamersnexus.net
Host, Testing, Writing, Editing: Steve Burke
Testing, Camera, Editing: Mike Gaglione
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Video Editing: Vitalii Makhnovets
Video Editing: Tim Phetdara
Get the LIMITED 2023 Disappointment Shirt in Cotton: store.gamersnexus.net/products/disappointment-pc-2023-cotton Or in Heather Charcoal! store.gamersnexus.net/products/disappointment-pc-2023-heather These are IN STOCK & SHIPPING NOW and sell out very fast every year, so if you want one, order soon!
This review and benchmark tests the Starforge Horizon II Ultra pre-built gaming PC. We spent around $2,000 on this computer and ran testing during November, finalizing benchmarks and the tear-down in December, so we have a little over a month of total usage time on the computer to go into the review. Testing includes thermals, acoustics, power and PSU choice, and a tear-down, plus our usual inspection of packaging, shipping, and BIOS/Windows that we have in each pre-built review. Overall, the Starforge machine had a few key points of improvement -- especially in assembly -- but was generally well-built and lands on our shortlist of acceptable pre-builts we’ve reviewed recently.
If you’re not familiar with Starforge, it is owned by streamer group “OTK,” which consists of familiar names like Asmongold, Emiru, Esfand, and other top streamers. Moist Critical (penguinz0) is another co-owner of Starforge. The company’s management and some of its build staff are former Artesian Builds members.
Learn about the origins that pre-date Starforge in our Artesian Collapse video: youtube.com/watch?v=L2xMi7inB28
Pre-built reviews playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=wZC1PEe-bdM&list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM
RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]
If a pre-built isn’t your speed, build your own computer using some of the parts below:
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D on Newegg: howl.me/cllaalhBBgZ
AMD R7 7800X3D on Amazon: geni.us/bah9
NVIDIA RTX 4070 on Amazon: geni.us/iQ4d
AMD RX 7900 XT on Newegg: howl.me/clk984JJPpe
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Starforge Undercover Review
01:48 - Backstory of Starforge: OTK & Former Artesian
03:57 - Tear-Down & Build Quality
06:29 - Case Airflow Discussion & Screws
12:30 - CPU Socket Inspection & M.2 SSD
13:14 - Recapping the Tear-Down
14:50 - SSD Temperatures
15:27 - Acoustic Testing Methodology
17:43 - Noise Levels & Fan Ramp
18:18 - Frequency Spectrum Analysis
19:00 - Analyzing Streamer Frequency Spectrum
20:56 - Thermal Benchmarks: CPU & GPU
23:10 - Power Consumption
24:44 - BIOS Inspection
25:56 - Windows & Software Setup
26:42 - Packaging Inspection
28:23 - Accessories
28:57 - Conclusion
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: patreon.com/gamersnexus
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: gamersnexus.net
Host, Testing, Writing, Editing: Steve Burke
Testing, Camera, Editing: Mike Gaglione
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Video Editing: Vitalii Makhnovets
Video Editing: Tim Phetdara
