A Closer Look

The front of the chassis features a tempered glass panel, which allows a good look at the ARGB fans. It also goes without saying, but the iBUYPOWER logo can be seen at the top, and thankfully, it blends in well with the design, which is nice. Moving on to the left side panel, we find more tempered glass for a good view of the components inside the system. Just ignore the nasty "Tempered Glass" sticker on the top left that is courtesy of Thermaltake; why companies insist on doing that is still beyond me. The least they could do is place it on the protective film, so I don't have to scrape it off and clean the glass first thing.


The back of the system shows the chassis remains a fully traditional mid-tower design with seven expansion slots and a 120 mm exhaust fan. When it comes to the right side, we see some additional venting, which makes for improved airflow and a more versatile design as it allows for a radiator to be mounted in that position on the inside of the chassis.


The top of the case is where the power button and various I/O are located. Also present is a large opening for airflow and radiator mounting with a magnetic dust filter for good measure. Flipping the case over, we find another vent with a dust filter, this time for the power supply. It is also worth noting that the case has fairly large feet, but other than that, there is not much else to see.


Motherboard I/O at the back consists of 1x PS/2 Combo Port, 1x DisplayPort out (1.2), 1x HDMI out (1.4), 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, 1x LAN RJ45, 5x Audio jacks, and 1x Optical S/PDIF out. Other than the 1x HDMI and 1x DisplayPort on the motherboard, the MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super Ventus OC comes with 3x DisplayPort and 1x HDMI for video output. As for front-panel connectivity, a closer shots shows that the case offers 2x audio jacks, 2x USB 3.0 ports, and 1x button for RGB control, along with the power button, under others.


RGB effects are nice, with the color and brightness just right. Now, I will say I do not hate ARGB lighting; in some situations, it can add a tasteful element to a PC. However, the lack of control on an ARGB product in a system where everything else can be controlled is a problem, and it is a pitfall of the iBUYPOWER Gaming RDY L20IRG201 as well. While I know first hand that it can be difficult to get the various ARGB and RGB lighting systems working well together due to proprietary designs or voltage differences, it should still be an all or nothing setup that is ready out of the box when buying a ready to go pre-configured system.

The iBUYPOWER Gaming RDY L20IRG201 has the lighting to wow consumers, and it certainly looks pretty, but once I dug in to see how it all works, I found that the software that should have been installed for controlling the LEDs on the system memory was missing. With it installed, everything worked fine in that regard, but a new issue arose with changing the lighting on the fans for the case or the liquid cooler and CPU block. Essentially, the ARGB fans can be controlled via a button on the case. However, the CPU block is stuck in rainbow mode. While you can then make the memory and fans match, the CPU block will always be a dazzling rainbow, which is rather infuriating.

That said, iBUYPOWER is working on the issues and notified me that the fans and memory should be controlled via software, and the problem is currently being addressed in shipping systems. The same goes for the CPU block on the liquid cooler, which is not compatible with the motherboard, which is a shame, but they are also looking into it. It is worth noting that iBUYPOWER is willing to replace the coolers in the future if the system is still under warranty. Considering they offer a three-year warranty, I don't see that being an issue. Regardless of the teething issues when it comes to RGB lighting, the company will hopefully take a slower, more methodical approach in the future to iron out problems like this before the system ship.