PCSpecialist Onyx Desktop Review (i5-14400F/4070)

1. Introduction2. Thermals, Noise & Power3. Game Benchmarks4. Synthetic Benchmarks5. Final Thoughts6. View All Pages

PCSpecialist has reduced the price of the Onyx prebuilt gaming desktop to £1249 until the 21st of April! The system features an Intel Core i5-14400F processor, a Zotac Twin Edge Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card, 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory and a 1TB Solidigm P41+ SSD. Today we run it through our benchmarks to find out how much bang you get for your buck…

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
00:37 Key specs and pricing
01:31 Processor and mobo
02:36 Graphics card / DDR5 memory / SSD
03:45 Power supply + CPU cooler + case
05:36 Build quality
07:05 ASUS Performance Enhancement – on or off?
09:30 CPU + System benchmarks
11:13 Gaming benchmarks
14:44 Thermals, noise, power
16:06 Mat’s closing thoughts

Specification

• Case – FRACTAL FOCUS 2 ARGB GAMING CASE (BLACK)
• Processor (CPU) – Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-14400F (Up to 4.7GHz) 20MB Cache
• Motherboard – ASUS® PRIME B760M-A WIFI (mATX, LGA1700, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
• Memory (RAM) – 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)
• Graphics Card – 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 – HDMI, DP, LHR
• SSD Drive – 1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
• Power Supply – CORSAIR 650W CX SERIES™ CX-650 POWER SUPPLY
• Processor Cooling – PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
• Operating System – Windows 11 Home 64 Bit – inc. Single Licence
• Warranty – 3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

The core specs are confirmed in the following CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots:

Power consumption was measured at 30W when idle, rising to 59W when running a sustained Cinebench multicore benchmark and peaking at 125W during a 30 minute Cyberpunk 2077 gaming stress test.

CPU temperature was understandably highest during that same Cinebench benchmark, peaking at 67 degrees. Gaming saw the CPU reach 59 degrees, while idle temperatures were measures at 37 degrees Celsius.

GPU temperatures were recorded during a 30 minute gaming stress test using Cyberpunk 2077, running at maximum settings and 1440p resolution. The GPU reached a peak temperature of 70 degrees, whilst the Hotspot and Memory Junction readings were 83 and 76 degrees Celsius respectively.

Finally, system noise only changed marginally across our 3 different test scenarios. Reaching a peak of 40dB during a prolonged gaming test in Cyberpunk 2077.

On average the Onyx desktop recorded 1440p FPS results of 96 with a 1% low average figure of 73. Performance understandably dips when increasing the resolution to 4K.

Performance charts have been added below for a selection of the games we tested on the system. For full details from all 10 of the titles that were tested, check out our full video review over on YouTube.

Out of the box, the ASUS Performance Enhancement 3.0 setting is disabled in BIOS. This applies default stock Intel power limits of 65W PL1 and 145W PL2.

This setting makes a noticeable difference to the results when running a Cinebench Multicore benchmark. Enabling this setting and therefore removing the very cautious power limits saw the score increase by roughly 2400 points.

Moving through the remaining tests, the system was returned to its ‘out of the box' state to better reflect the performance any potential buyer would encounter. This saw the i5-14400F land at the bottom of the pile in Cinebench single-core when compared to various other Intel processors.

Comparing the Onyx desktop to some previously reviewed PCSpecialist machines in 3DMark Time Spy also sees the system come up at the bottom of the pile, though it is very close indeed. For full details, specs and pricing of these systems, check our full review over on YouTube.

The DDR5 memory in the Onyx desktop performed quite well during our AIDA64 benchmark. Read speeds were 76923MB/s and write speeds came in at 72740MB/s.

Finally, in PC Mark 10 the Onyx shows a clear strong point in the content creation category – thanks no doubt in part to the RTX 4070 graphics hardware.

The PCSpecialist Onyx desktop offers decent performance when gaming at 1440p. Pushing the resolution up to 4K does lead to sub 30fps performance in some of the titles that we tested, which was to be expected when considering the RTX 4070 GPU.

Overall performance, out of the box, is held back by the restrictive power limits applied by having ASUS Performance Enhancement 3.0 disabled by default. Turning this setting on and allowing the CPU to use more power saw greatly improved performance during a Cinebench multicore benchmark.

This setting is disabled by PCSpecialist to help prevent overheating issues on system with high end processors. However, we feel the combination of the Core i5-14400F CPU and PCS FrostFlow 100 CPU cooler do not need this cautious approach and it does reduce performance. Any potential customer who purchases a machine that is setup in this way may not know to enable the setting and will have to settle for a rough 10-15% reduction in all-core CPU performance.

On a more positive note, the system has been put together well and care has been taken with cable management. The non-modular Corsair CX650 power supply doesn't allow for the tidiest of builds overall, but PCSpecialist have done a good job on presenting this system well. The pairing of the mATX ASUS PRIME B760M-A WIFI motherboard and Fractal Design Focus 2 case leaves quite a lot of empty space – which may look strange but provides plenty of space for airflow and any future upgrades.

It is good to see 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200 memory, however. 16GB was a standard in mid-range gaming systems for a long time so to see the total amount of system memory sitting at 32GB was a nice surprise. Then add on to that the fact that the system is running on a DDR5 platform only sweetens the deal.

The offer pricing of £1249 (until 21/04/24) makes this a relatively affordable way to get your hands on the latest generation of GPU, CPU and memory.

You can purchase the Onyx desktop directly from PCSpecialist for £1249 until the 21/04/24 HERE.

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Pros:

• Well priced.
• Tidy build and cable management.
• 3 year warranty as standard.
• DDR5 board and memory.
• Capable for 1440p and even some 4K gaming.

Cons:

• Only 1TB of storage.
• CPU performance hindered by stock BIOS settings.
• mATX board looks out of place in the Fractal Focus 2 case.

KitGuru says: The Onyx is a decent mid range PC featuring the latest generation hardware, though it could run faster with some tinkering in the BIOS.

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