With the launch of Coffee Lake and Z370, Intel is looking to stand firm against a peppery Ryzen architecture. Intel’s 8th generation parts ramp up the core count, led by the six cores and twelve threads of the Core-i7 8700 and 8700K. Further down the CPU table, Coffee Lake’s Core-i3 CPUs are now affordable quad-cores. These could be perfect for budget conscious, punchy, gaming systems. PC Specialist thinks so, and has kitted out its Enigma Pro with Coffee Lake’s Core i3-8100 and a GTX 1070 for added spice. At just under £900, this system is immediately enchanting. PC Specialist has put together a really attractive package in the Enigma Pro, and at this price we’ve high hopes of a strong showing. Everything inside this system hints at a PC which can handle most things and – importantly – provide good gaming performance. Let’s see what this Core-i3 8100 powered system can do. Specification: Intel Core i3-8100 PCS FrostFlow 100 Series CPU Cooler ASUS PRIME Z370-P motherboard 8GB (2x 4GB) Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 3.5" SSHD CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 Corsair Carbide Spec-04 (black/red) case 50cm White LED Strip Windows 10 Home 64-bit 3YR standard warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) As we expect from PC Specialist, the Enigma Pro arrives effectively packaged; the system joined only by the standard builder branded welcome pack. The pack contains component manuals, cables and spares bits and bobs, and of course the Windows 10 disc. No motherboard or graphics boxes here, and they needn’t be. Out of the box, we get a first look at the system, which is encased in the Corsair’s Carbide Spec-04. It’s a sensible choice for an affordable gaming system and makes a good first impression. It’s smart, has a dash of colour to draw the eye, and a slightly geometric front panel seemingly devoid of I/O or ports. In fact, the I/O is at the top of the front-right edge, and populated by 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, headset jacks and a reset button. The Spec-04 has a perspex window, which is fine for casual glances but naturally we want a closer look. Behind the side-panel our first impressions are that of neatness. This case lacks any soft or subtle cable management, so PC Specialist has internal structure and good old cable ties to work with. It’s done well with both, and the cabling is as effective as this case allows for. On aesthetics PC Specialist has largely eschewed the Spec-04’s red detail, sticking to monochrome parts in a PRIME Z370-P motherboard – although the silver detailing of the motherboard is reminiscent of the Spec-04’s front panel. The PCS FrostFlow 100 Series CPU cooler sports a 120mm fan with red corners which is a nice nod to case continuity. Elsewhere the cooling is limited. A solitary front-fan comes pre-fitted in the Spec-04, and although a tower cooler and one front fan should do the job for the65W Core i3-8100, the we have a GTX 1070 with a single fan. A look around the other components finds 8GB (2x 4GB) of Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4. The Core-i3 8100 supports DDR4-2400, but the RAM here is specced at 2133. PC Specialist doesn’t appear to provide DDR4-2400 DIMMS, so you may prefer to add more 2133 or swap out for DDR4-2666 modules. Below the RAM sits the understated Geforce GTX 1070 – another component true to the smart monochrome interior. Below the graphics card, Corsair’s VS-550. This power supply is 80 Plus white rated – the entry rating – for efficiency. Still, without serious expansion, system draw won’t be an issue for this cost-effective power supply. In the drive bays is a single 3.5” drive, a 1TB Seagate Firecuda SSHD. This hybrid may not have the speed of an SSHD, but it does offer ample storage for an OS, applications and games as well. Finally, when powered on, some white illumination comes from an LED strip running at the foot of the case – a little bit of light to lift the system’s appeal. On booting the system, we go straight for the details, particularly to see how the Core-i3 8100 presents itself. As you can see, this 65W processor is clocked and locked at 3.6GHz, doesn’t boost and doesn’t support hyper-threading. Yet it is a quad-core Core-i3, something we’re quite excited about. The GTX 1070 we have in the system is from Zotac, although supply can dictate the brand. Nonetheless, any GTX 1070 should simply excel at 1080p, even at the 1070 base specs of 1506MHz and 1683MHz (boost) respectfully. In terms of storage space, we needn’t be concerned. Even with a slew of benchmarking software and games installed, we were left with around 800GB of free space. That should be plenty for most gamers. Comparison systems The Core-i3 8100 is a direct competitor to the Ryzen 3 range and specifically the Ryzen 3 1300X. We’ve yet to see a Ryzen 3 1300X-based system so we’ve little to directly compare to. Instead, we’ll primarily focus on performance for price and the gains Coffee Lake is offering. Test Software SiSoft Sandra Cinebench R15 CrystalDiskMark 3DMark VRMark GPU-Z AIDA64 Extreme Test Games Ashes of the singularity Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Rise of the Tomb Raider SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software. Sandra is a (girls’) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting. It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, but it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc. The arithmetic scores here are truly impressive. We’re looking at a Coffee Lake Core-i3 deliver below – but not that far below - a Kaby Lake Core-i5 style performance. It’s a step or two off (we’d expect 70s and low-150s), but it’s a strong showing and perhaps our furst hint at this system’s capabilities. For memory bandwidth, we’re looking at 8GB of 2133MHz RAM, which places exactly where we’d expect it to. CINEBENCH R15 is a cross-platform testing suite that measures hardware performance and is the de facto standard benchmarking tool for leading companies and trade journals for conducting real-world hardware performance tests. With the new Release 15, systems with up to 256 threads can be tested. CINEBENCH is available for both Windows and OS X and is used by almost all hardware manufacturers and trade journals for comparing CPUs and graphics cards. It’s a strong outing in Cinebench too. A Core-i3 breaking the 600-point barrier is a fine achievement. The Frames per second score is a nod to the handy graphics support we have in the Enigma Pro. Here we see the Enigma Pro’s storage performance in CrystalDiskMark 5.1.1. The Seagate Firecuda SSHD performs well. It’s clearly not SSD speed, but it does offer a boost over HDD and a good amount of storage. 3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads. The Enigma Pro scores low for a GTX 1070 system, but that’s hardly surprising being that a 1070 is normally partnered with a higher-powered processor. Actually, the real takeaway is that it’s a very high score for a Core-i3 build. The hint is that this is a capable gaming system. 3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance. Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good. To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.” In 3D Mark Fire Strike the 3D Mark 11 score is backed up. The Enigma Pro with its Coffee Lake Core-i3 8100, backed by a GTX 1070, delivers impressive scores – enough to suggest some solid credentials. 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.’ The performance of the Enigma Pro in VR Mark is solid. The system scores ‘outstanding’ on the Orange Room benchmark, but finds it harder going on the more demanding Blue Room test. Regardless, the Enigma Pro could handle a VR headset. Ashes of the singularity is a good gauge of 1080p gaming performance in DX12, and offers a sense of where a system may perform at its best. That the Enigma Pro breezes the High benchmark setting is reassuring; a good showing in the Crazy test proves this system is on the right path. The Enigma Pro found Rise of The Tomb Raider harder going than Ashes of the Singularity. The system’s good average and playable minimum scores suggests that in some games a High 1080p setting is where this system will find its peak performance. In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the Enigma Pro gets a shot in the arm. On 1080p High, rock solid and smooth average and minimum frame rates were achieved. Bumping things up to Ultra, the minimum frame rate dropped only to a still impressive 50fps. To measure idle temperatures, a reading was taken having left the system running for 30 minutes. For peak temperatures, a reading was taken after ten minutes of stress testing on AIDA64 Extreme. There’s no heat to fear here. Given than the Spec-04 comes with only an single intake fan, and PCS has added no extra the Enigma Pro’s thermal profile is fine. The Core-i3 8100 is a 65W part which can’t be overclocked, so a ceiling of 66c isn’t an issue. The GTX 1070 in this system did reach 73c, but again it’s no cause for alarm. A single-fan 1070 iteration such as the one installed is likely to reach such levels, but is nowhere near danger. Acoustics Three fans in total (1x front, 1x CPU 1x GPU), and all of them pretty quiet, make the Enigma Pro an acoustically subtle system even under load. No fan has to strain, so noise is kept at a low whir. Installed in this system is a Corsair VS-550, so the load power draw of 227W is easily handled. There’s room for expansion here too. For a system which should stack up to around £1,000, finding it at £899 feels a bit of a bargain with the Enigma Pro. This well-built machine comes in the functional and smart budget Spec-04 case, but PC Specialist has made an effort to add some sparkle. The added white LED strip lifts an understated interior, which is necessarily more function than full-throttle design. In all its hard to pick at a system which is a hit on the price-performance ratio, and in truth the only criticisms are of decision which have been taken with cost in mind. An SSD would be nice, but it would increase the cost; so too some higher specced (or more) RAM would be a bonus. But, yes, that would increase the cost too. So, what of that cost? In terms of components we can nod our heads understandingly at what PC Specialist has done here – taken the new Z370 platform and a new Coffee Lake processor and build the most balanced and best performing entry level gaming system possible. Does it achieve it? We think so. We believe the quad-core Core i3-8100 should outperform any Ryzen 3 in most tests, and creep up to near Core-i5 Kaby Lake levels. That’s certainly nothing to be sniffed it, yet paired with a GTX 1070, sizeable storage and capable memory there’s actually a rather pleasant, money-saving, aroma in the air. In the end, the PC Specialist Enigma Pro is a commendable entry-level gaming system, capable of strong 1080p frame rates. We’d suggest at 1440p we’d find good speeds too, but that isn’t necessarily where this system is pitched. Get this system from PC Specialist HERE. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros GTX 1070 is good for 1080p and 1440p gaming Core-i3 8100 edges stock Ryzen 3 1300X Tidy build Quiet under load Cons Higher specced RAM would be nice Limited design charm KitGuru says: PC Specialist has delivered a system to a budget and done well. This is an affordable gaming PC featuring a Coffee Lake CPU capable of besting a stock Ryzen 3 1300X - and at a tempting price.
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