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PC Specialist has begun 2020 with an exclusive deal to supply gaming PCs to Fnatic, a leading Esports organisation based here in the UK. These PCs have an AMD theme for both CPU and GPU and use hardware from top notch brands including Asus, Corsair and Samsung. The Official Fnatic PC will be available across Europe from PC Specialist’s store and also on the UK high street at Currys PC World.
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Specification
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
CPU cooler PC Specialist 120mm Frostflow RGB
Motherboard Asus ROG Strix B450-F Gaming
Graphics AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4-3200MHz (2x8GB)
SSD 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe
Storage 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7,200rpm HDD
Case Corsair Crystal 465X
Power supply Corsair 650W TX650M 80 Plus Gold
OS Windows 10 Home
After we had unpacked the PC Specialist Fnatic PC we checked out the features and found the quality was pleasingly high. Every part is a properly branded component with the case, DDR4 memory and power supply coming from Corsair, the motherboard from Asus and the SSD from Samsung. We had a few question marks over the 120mm All In One CPU cooler, the reference AMD RX 5700 XT graphics card and the fact the Asus motherboards uses a B450 chipset.
PC Specialist assured us their 120mm AIO would do a decent job on the Ryzen 7 3700X CPU and as you will see from our testing they were quite correct. When it comes to the B450 chipset we had mixed views as the obvious match for a Ryzen 3000 CPU is an X570 model. You pay a significant premium for X570 and the only feature you definitely miss with B450 is the absence of PCI Express Gen 4. On the other hand with B450 you don’t need a noisy active cooler on the chipset so on balance we are fine with PC Specialist saving money and choosing the Asus B450 motherboard.
Build quality is very tidy and passed our critical eye without problem. One change we suggest is that the assembly people use side cutters on the cable ties to avoid nasty sharp ends, but that is a fairly minor point.
Testing and Performance
In our testing we used Blender and Cinebench to check the components were working correctly and to stress the cooling system fully however the results we publish below are all about gaming. This is, after all, a review of the Fnatic Gaming PC but if you want to learn more about the CPU we suggest you check out Luke’s launch review of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X.
To give you the correct context, the PC Specialist Fnatic ran at a sustained 4.15GHz on all cores and delivered a score of 2,062 in Cinebench R15 so we are confident the PC on test here is exactly comparable with Luke’s extensive testing.
For gaming and graphics testing I plugged the Fnatic scores into some of Dominic’s previous test results which might cause some minor confusion. Dominic’s test system for graphics cards uses:
- Intel Core i7-8700K at 5.0GHz
- Asus ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming
- 16GB Team Group Dark Hawk DDR4-3200MHz dual channel
If you check back to my own review of the Sapphire RX 5700 XT Nitro+ you will see I used a different system built around:
- Intel Core i7-7820X at 4.6GHz
- Gigabyte X299 Aorus Master
- 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4-3200Mhz quad channel
That is quite a variety of hardware but you will see from our results that the performance of each of the graphics cards is consistent from one platform to another, once you make allowances for the variation in graphics drivers.
In the synthetic 3D Mark tests the reference RX 5700 XT graphics card delivers solid performance that bodes well for our games testing.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided shows the Fnatic PC can game very successfully at both 1080p and 1440p however 4K is probably pushing the hardware beyond its limits.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands is interesting as the results suggest the relatively slow clock speed of the Ryzen 7 3700X hurts performance compared to the faster Intel CPUs. Even so, 1080p works well and 1440p is perfectly acceptable although you might want to reduce IQ settings. 4K gaming really won't suit this PC in Ghost Recon.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War demonstrates, again, the Fnatic PC is perfectly suited to 1080p and can manage 1440p however 4K is too stern a test.
In Far Cry 5 the Fnatic PC sits at the bottom of the charts however the frame rates show that 1080p and 1440p both work well and 4K is within reach if you are prepared to make compromises.
There is very little to separate the graphics cards in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Once again 1080p and 1440p play very nicely while 4K is pushing the limits.
Performance overview
The message here is crystal clear; PC Specialist’s Fnatic PC can storm through games at 1080p and should be able to manage 1440p without problem. If it can also play your chosen game at 4K then you should consider that as a bonus.
Cooling Performance
Cooling Performance Overview
Under extreme load using AIDA64 we saw the CPU run at 76 degrees in AIDA 64 with 82W CPU package power, which demonstrates the 120mm AIO cooler was working satisfactorily well.
The reference RX 5700 XT graphics card hit a temperature of 74 degrees in Time Spy and 79 degrees in AIDA64 which is acceptable, however we can expect temperatures around ten degrees cooler when the graphics card is made by a company such as Sapphire. This would be a significant upgrade by PC Specialist and we urge them to make the change.
Noise Levels
Under load you can clearly hear the six Corsair LL120 fans working hard. If you use a headset this won't be an issue but you can expect to annoy anyone who is sitting near you when you have a gaming session.
We fully expect the PC Specialist Official Fnatic PC will win sales from followers of Fnatic and also from the more casual gamer who happens to step into Currys PC World. By contrast we doubt a percentage of KitGuru readers will rush out to spend their cash as they are more likely to build the PC themselves, which also gives them the opportunity to install a graphics card with a better cooler or perhaps to choose faster DDR4 or a higher capacity SSD.
It will be clear to any PC enthusiast the points that make this PC a Fnatic system are the choice of the particular orange colour for the RGB lighting and the name on the tempered glass window. Those are minor points that matter very little however when you dig in you will see the underlying PC is a decent piece of kit with hardware that can easily manage 1080p gaming and should be good for 1440p in pretty much any circumstances.
The ticket price of the Official Fnatic PC is fairly high but if you think in terms of £15 a week and a life of two years we reckon it looks like good value for money.
You can buy the PC Specialist Official Fnatic PC for £1,599 HERE.
Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.
Pros:
- Strong 1440p gaming performance.
- Powerful 8-core Ryzen 3000 CPU.
- Case has good airflow.
- Smart, clean looks.
Cons:
- Significantly more expensive than a console
- Reference RX 5700 XT has a poor cooler
- The noise levels get high when the PC works hard
KitGuru Says: PCSpecialists official Fnatic PC is a well built system that performs well at 1080p and 1440p – it successfully targets a wide audience of gamers who don't have the ability, or time to build their own in 2020.
