CyberPower Syber Vapor PC Gaming Console Review
Inside the Syber Vapor
You never know what you're going to get with a mini ITX build, or even a micro ATX system for that matter. Working on a small form factor PC is a different experience than mucking around inside a mid-tower or full-tower system. To get inside the the Syber Vapor, there's a plastic clip that needs to be removed from the top panel -- it's towards the back and sits in the center. Underneath the clip is a screw. Remove it and and top panel will slide forward and off with relative ease.
Holy cramped Bat cave, Batman! There's not a lot of elbow room inside the Syber Vapor, and quite frankly, we don't envy the system builders at CyberPower who have to assemble these things. If you've ever worked in a tiny case before, you know the frustration that comes with it, so kudos to CyberPower for a clean looking build.
At the same time, we have to deduct geek points from CyberPower for quality control issues. We ran into two issues with the Syber Vapor right off the bat. The first is that the system arrived DOA. No matter how loudly we cursed or passionately we pleaded, it just wouldn't boot.
Turns out the main 24-pin ATX power connector wasn't plugged in. Sounds simple, but due to the cramped confines, it took a bit of investigating to narrow down the culprit. And once we did, plugging it back in required removing the Zalman CNSP8900 cooler. It's not back breaking labor, but when you're paying for a pre-built system, you don't expect to take components out and reassemble prior to booting up for the first time.
We also discovered a chewed up cable with a few metal wires exposed, as shown above. What you're looking at is the front USB 3.0 header. A little more slack in the cable probably would have prevented this from happening. It didn't affect performance, though it's not something we like to see in a $1,500 build (or any price system).
Turns out the main 24-pin ATX power connector wasn't plugged in. Sounds simple, but due to the cramped confines, it took a bit of investigating to narrow down the culprit. And once we did, plugging it back in required removing the Zalman CNSP8900 cooler. It's not back breaking labor, but when you're paying for a pre-built system, you don't expect to take components out and reassemble prior to booting up for the first time.
We also discovered a chewed up cable with a few metal wires exposed, as shown above. What you're looking at is the front USB 3.0 header. A little more slack in the cable probably would have prevented this from happening. It didn't affect performance, though it's not something we like to see in a $1,500 build (or any price system).
CyberPower will install up to two storage devices inside the Syber Vapor. You have a range of options from 500GB to 2TB hard drives and 64GB to 1TB solid state drives from various manufacturers. Note there are no optical drive options available, though you can add an external USB DVD burner for $38.
Our review system came with a Samsung 850 Evo Series 250GB SSD for the OS and a 1TB 2.5" hard disk drive for storage.
Upgrades can be a bit tricky inside the Syber Vapor for inexperienced builders, though with a little patience, you'll find that getting to certain components is easier than it looks. For example. to reach the graphics card, you to unscrew the metal plate that holds the storage drive and detach the power and SATA cables. Once you do that, you can lift the metal plate and spy the GPU.
To be able and cram a full size graphics card in such a compact enclosure, Syber opted for a riser extension cable, which allows the card to sit parallel to the motherboard rather than perpendicular like most cases.
Our review system came with a Samsung 850 Evo Series 250GB SSD for the OS and a 1TB 2.5" hard disk drive for storage.
Upgrades can be a bit tricky inside the Syber Vapor for inexperienced builders, though with a little patience, you'll find that getting to certain components is easier than it looks. For example. to reach the graphics card, you to unscrew the metal plate that holds the storage drive and detach the power and SATA cables. Once you do that, you can lift the metal plate and spy the GPU.
To be able and cram a full size graphics card in such a compact enclosure, Syber opted for a riser extension cable, which allows the card to sit parallel to the motherboard rather than perpendicular like most cases.
The Zalman CNPS8900 cooler is an optional upgrade. You can stick with the stock cooler if you want, though the benefit of upgrading is better cooling performance that runs quieter than stock, so it's a double win.
Next to the cooler is the Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W power supply. This is an 80 Plus Gold certified unit and second highest wattage available in the Syber Vapor -- there's also a 600W option.
Next to the cooler is the Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W power supply. This is an 80 Plus Gold certified unit and second highest wattage available in the Syber Vapor -- there's also a 600W option.
