AWD-IT Phoenix (w/ R7 1700X) System Review

VRMark is a benchmark designed specifically with virtual reality gaming in mind. Futuremark say: ‘the performance requirements for VR games are much higher than for typical PC games. So if you’re thinking about buying an HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift, wouldn’t it be good to know that your PC is ready for VR? VRMark includes two VR benchmark tests that run on your monitor, no headset required, or on a connected HMD. At the end of each test, you’ll see whether your PC is VR ready, and if not, how far it falls short.’

A new addition to our benchmarking suite, VRMark looks like one of the few valid ways of testing the VR capabilities of a PC. Consisting of two ‘rooms’, or benchmark tests, the Orange Room is the standard test, while the Blue Room is much more demanding.

Interestingly, the Phoenix struggles with the Orange Room, proving unable to beat the two GTX 1070-based systems I have compared it to. This is likely because of the stock-clocked 1700X – both of the faster GTX 1070 systems featured overclocked CPUs which would have helped significantly.

However, in the Blue Room, the Phoenix does beat-out all the other systems. This is most likely because the Blue Room renders using a much higher resolution (5120 × 2880) than the Orange Room (2264 × 1348), so graphics horsepower runs out well before we encounter any CPU bottlenecking.

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