Fierce PC | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:53:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Fierce PC | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Dream Machines P960RN Laptop Review (9750H & 2080 Max-Q) https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/notebook/dominic-moass/dream-machines-p960rn-laptop-review-9750h-2080-max-q/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/notebook/dominic-moass/dream-machines-p960rn-laptop-review-9750h-2080-max-q/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:05:19 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=442053 It's a thin & light gaming laptop, with i7 processor and RTX 2080 graphics - for just £2070

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Many of our readers will be familiar with Dream Machines' gaming mice, but the Polish company also produces a range of laptops. These are now being sold in the UK by Fierce PC, and today we are reviewing the Dream Machines P960RN gaming laptop. It may not be an especially memorable name, but with an i7-9750H and RTX 2080 Max-Q, for price that is just north of £2000, could this be the your next laptop purchase?

  • Display: 16.1″ Matte Full HD 144Hz IPS Screen
  • CPU: Intel Core i7 9750H 2.6GHz Quad-Core CPU
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB with Max-Q Design
  • Memory: 16GB of 2666MHz DDR4 Memory
  • Storage: 500GB M.2 Solid State Drive (Samsung 970 Evo Plus)
  • Keyboard: Fully RGB-backlit Keyboard
  • 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 port (Type-C)
  • 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port (Type-C)
  • 2 x USB 3.0 port (Type-A)
  • 1x SD/MMC reader
  • 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.3
  • 1 x HDMI output port (with HDCP)
  • 1 x 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Microphone / S/PDIF optical),
  • 1 x 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Headphone / Microphone)
  • 1 x RJ-45 LAN port
  • 1 x DC-in jack
  • Battery: 4-cell, 62WH. 180W Power brick
  • Dimension: 380(W) x 252(D) x 19.9(H) mm
  • Weight: 2.09 Kg, including 62WH Battery

While we will get to the headline components, and full testing, later in this review, it is also worth pointing out that the P960RN is also quite compact considering the hardware it has inside. Weighing in at 2.09kg, with a chassis that's under 2cm thick (not including the feet on the underside) you will have no problems carrying this around in a backpack to work or university.

On top of that, with a metal lid, keyboard deck and underside, the P960RN looks and feels high quality. Admittedly it isn't quite as premium as a Razer Blade or MacBook Pro with their unibody aluminium chassis, but you're also paying a lot less for the Dream Machines. In any case, there's very little flex to the inside of the laptop, and no more screen wobble than is standard for a portable machine.

As for the keyboard, this is a full-size unit with numpad, and it is generally decent as far as laptop keyboards go. It doesn't use low-profile mechanical switches like we have seen from some other machines in the past, but there is still a good amount of travel and the actuation doesn't feel mushy or spongy, so I can't really complain. The keyboard's RGB lighting isn't particularly sophisticated though, with just a few effects to choose from, but I can't imagine this would be a big factor for many people considering this laptop.

Pretty much the same sort of thing can be said for the trackpad. Immediately I thought the trackpad itself could be larger as there's definitely space around it to make it a bit wider and slightly taller, but using it day to day caused me no issues and it's actually very responsive in use. The discrete buttons are a little on the spongy side, but they're not bad at all and I'd say if you had to use the trackpad in a cafe or library then it would do the job fine. For any proper gaming, I am sure everyone would just use a mouse.

Connectivity options are also generous for a laptop this slim. The left hand side is home to three USB ports, two of which are USB 3.1 Gen1 – 1x Type-A and 1x Type-C – while the other is a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port. Alongside these sit a mini-DisplayPort and full-size HDMI outputs. On the right hand side, there's another USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A, dual audio jacks, SD card reader and Ethernet port.

Moving onto the display, this is another strong area for the P960RN. It's a 16.1in, 1920×1080 IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. That means it's a very fluid gaming experience and the combination of resolution and refresh rate works perfectly with RTX 2080 Max-Q (but more on that later). Importantly, it's also a good quality panel with 98% sRGB coverage, and the peak brightness of just under 300 nits is respectable. I was also impressed to see an average delta E value of just 1.22, indicating high levels of colour accuracy.

Lastly, just to go over the core spec of the machine. The processor is Intel's 6-core i7-9750H, with a base and boost clock of 2.6GHz and 4.5GHz respectively. Alongside this sits 16GB of DDR4 2666MHz memory, while storage is provided by a single 500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe SSD. Lastly, the GPU is Nvidia's RTX 2080 Max-Q, with a base clock of just 735MHz, and a rated boost clock of 1095MHz.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Fierce PC Shuriken Gaming PC competition winner announced! https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/fierce-pc-shuriken-gaming-pc-competition-winner-announced/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/fierce-pc-shuriken-gaming-pc-competition-winner-announced/#respond Mon, 02 Sep 2019 08:48:14 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=424203 Last month, we teamed up with FIERCE PC to give away the excellent Fierce PC Shuriken gaming rig, complete with a Ryzen 5 3600 processor and a Radeon RX 5700. We reviewed this very same PC earlier this year, coming away very impressed and now today, we'll be announcing the competition winner.  We reviewed the …

The post Fierce PC Shuriken Gaming PC competition winner announced! first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Last month, we teamed up with FIERCE PC to give away the excellent Fierce PC Shuriken gaming rig, complete with a Ryzen 5 3600 processor and a Radeon RX 5700. We reviewed this very same PC earlier this year, coming away very impressed and now today, we'll be announcing the competition winner. 

We reviewed the Fierce PC Shuriken system earlier this month, praising it for its exceptional cable management and choice of hardware. You can find the full review, HERE, but in the meantime, here is a breakdown of the specs:

  • Asus TUF Gaming GT501 Gaming Case
  • Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 140mm RGB Fan
  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Hex-Core Processor (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • Overclocked on all cores to 4.2GHz
  • Asus ROG Ryuo 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler
  • Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB Graphics Card (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • 16GB ADATA XPG Spectrix D60G RGB 3200MHz DDR4 Memory
  • ADATA 1TB XPG SX8200 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD
  • ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming Motherboard
  • Corsair RM750 80+ Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit.

In order to win, all we needed from you was an email letting us know what award we gave the Fierce PC Shuriken in our review. Now without further ado, our winner this time is… Donna Lowrie! 

We have been in touch with the winner this morning to confirm shipping details, so the prize should go out soon. Thanks to all of the KitGuru readers who entered, if you didn't win this time, then there will be plenty of opportunity to try your luck again. In fact, we have another big competition already running in partnership with AMD, which you can find HERE.

KitGuru Says: Thanks to Fierce PC for teaming up with us on this and congrats to Donna for winning! We'll be back with more competitions soon, so keep an eye out. 

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Win a Fierce PC Shuriken RIG featuring Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 5700! (closed) https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/win-a-fierce-pc-shuriken-rig-featuring-ryzen-5-3600-and-rx-5700/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/win-a-fierce-pc-shuriken-rig-featuring-ryzen-5-3600-and-rx-5700/#respond Tue, 27 Aug 2019 11:30:28 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=422226 With the launches of 3rd Gen Ryzen and the RX 5700 series, we know a lot of you are looking to make an upgrade this year.

One lucky KitGuru reader will get to make that jump for free, as we have teamed up with Fierce PC to give away a brand new gaming rig, featuring a Ryzen 5 3600 and Radeon RX 5700. Make sure you take the time to enter !

The post Win a Fierce PC Shuriken RIG featuring Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 5700! (closed) first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Update: This competition is now CLOSED. Our winner this time is Donna Lowrie, you can find the full winner announcement post HERE.

With the launches of 3rd Gen Ryzen and the RX 5700 series, we know a lot of you are looking to make an upgrade this year. One lucky KitGuru reader will get to make that jump for free, as we have teamed up with Fierce PC to give away a brand new gaming rig, featuring a Ryzen 5 3600 and Radeon RX 5700.

We reviewed the Fierce PC Shuriken system earlier this month, praising it for its exceptional cable management and choice of hardware. You can find the full review, HERE, but in the meantime, here is a breakdown of the specs:

  • Asus TUF Gaming GT501 Gaming Case
  • Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 140mm RGB Fan
  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Hex-Core Processor (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • Overclocked on all cores to 4.2GHz
  • Asus ROG Ryuo 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler
  • Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB Graphics Card (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • 16GB ADATA XPG Spectrix D60G RGB 3200MHz DDR4 Memory
  • ADATA 1TB XPG SX8200 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD
  • ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming Motherboard
  • Corsair RM750 80+ Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit.

As our review shows, this system makes for an excellent 1080p & 1440p gaming machine. Normally, the Fierce PC Shuriken retails for just shy of £1500, but we'll be giving one away for free. So how do you go about entering?

How to enter:

We wanted to make entering this competition as easy as possible. In order to win, all you need to do is send us an email and answer the following question: What award did we give the Fierce PC Shuriken in our review? You can find the answer, HERE.

If the email link above doesn’t work (or you don’t have an email client installed) then email us at fiercepcgiveaway@kitguru.net with subject line ‘I want to win a Fierce PC Shuriken!’

We will be running this competition from the 15th of August 2019 until the 2nd of September 2019. We will then pick and announce a winner within 14 days of the closing date here on the main site and on social media channels.

This competition is open to residents of Europe. Entries must be by email to the specific competition address on this webpage. Entries over social media, private message or emails directly to KitGuru staff email addresses are disqualified. We comply with GDPR guidelines – all competition email entries are deleted from our server after the competition is over. Please do NOT send personal information, physical mailing addresses or contact numbers over email – one of our staff will only ask the winner for his or her shipping details after the winner is announced. We value your privacy – no email addresses or any personal details are given to third party companies at any time when the competition is running, or after it is over. Entering this competition by sending us an email means you accept all these terms of entry. KitGuru Staff and immediate family members are not allowed to enter this competition.

KitGuru Says: Be sure to hit Fierce PC up on Facebook or Twitter and thank them for this excellent giveaway. Good luck to all who enter, we'll be back in a few weeks to announce a winner!

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Fierce PC Shuriken System Review – Ryzen 5 3600 & RX 5700 https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/andrew-munro/fierce-pc-shuriken-system-review-ryzen-5-3600-rx-5700/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/andrew-munro/fierce-pc-shuriken-system-review-ryzen-5-3600-rx-5700/#respond Tue, 13 Aug 2019 10:34:35 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=421052 It's an ALL-AMD system from Fierce PC, priced at £1499. What does Andy think?

The post Fierce PC Shuriken System Review – Ryzen 5 3600 & RX 5700 first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Today we’re looking at a pre-built system from Fierce PC. Using some of the latest hardware from AMD, this PC is named the Shuriken “so the user can use the power of this PC to slice ‘n’ dice any obstacle in their path!”. This system features an 6-core Ryzen 5 3600 with a 4.2GHz overclock, a Radeon RX 5700 graphics card, 16GB high speed DDR4 memory and a 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD for storage. With an asking price of £1499.95, is the Shuriken worth purchasing?

The first thing we need to address, before diving into the rest of the review, is pricing. We were initially told by Fierce PC that the Shuriken will cost £1799.95, and we filmed the video based on that information. Before going live with our written article, however, we were informed that this price was incorrect, and the Shuriken was always meant to retail for £1499.95. The video review is entirely accurate in terms of its overview of the system and with its performance results, but the conclusion will vary to this written article due to updated pricing information.

  • Asus TUF Gaming GT501 Gaming Case
  • Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 140mm RGB Fan
  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Hex-Core Processor (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • Overclocked on all cores to 4.2GHz
  • Asus ROG Ryuo 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler
  • Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB Graphics Card (Includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass!)
  • 16GB ADATA XPG Spectrix D60G RGB 3200MHz DDR4 Memory
  • ADATA 1TB XPG SX8200 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD
  • ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming Motherboard
  • Corsair RM750 80+ Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
  • FREE – BullGuard Internet Security 100Mb, 3 Users, 1 Year
  • 5 Year Prestige Protect Warranty (Return to Base – 2 Year Parts, 5 Year Labour, Carriage Free for first 6 months)

Let’s address packaging first. Often with pre-built systems I find it is easy to overlook how your new purchase will arrive and whether you can be safe in knowing that it will arrive in once piece. I have to say Fierce PC ensured the system was very secure in transit. The system was found inside the case box, which was then placed inside another very large box and filled to the brim with bubble wrap and other materials.

There was no wiggle room whatsoever and I was pleasantly surprised at how secure it seemed. Within the case itself we found the typical foam padding to minimise the components wiggling loose during transit, and upon first inspection everything was still connected. Well done Fierce PC!

The first thing you'll notice about the Shuriken is the sheer size of this system, with dimensions of 251 x 545 x 552 mm (WxDxH). The ASUS GT501 case is certainly not hard to miss with its ATX mid-tower form factor, so make sure you have enough space to display this system as it’s certainly eye-catching. Briony actually reviewed this case earlier in the year and rated it at 9/10.

Supporting two rugged TUF handles on the top, and a large glass side panel, I surprisingly found the handles incredibly useful, despite thinking they were fairly gimmicky at first, and as the system is fairly heavy I was grateful for them. The biggest downside of using a case of this size is that there is a huge empty space between the intake fans and the motherboard. Fierce PC could have utilised this space with a branded ‘Shuriken’ logo mounted here with RGB behind it, or something similar to better utilise this section of the case.

As standard, the case comes with three 120mm ASUS AURA RGB 1200RPM fans as front intake and one rear, non-RGB, 140mm exhaust. Fierce PC have removed this 140mm exhaust and replaced it with a Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 140mm RGB fan instead, and this is certainly a welcome addition as it really does increase the wow factor and aesthetics of the system overall due to the added RGB lighting.

Whilst we’re on the subject of RGB, the Shuriken uses an ASUS X570-F Gaming motherboard with RGB accents, populated by 16GB (2x 8GB sticks) of 3200MHz DDR4 ADATA XPG Spectrix memory. Not only is this a great choice as we know Ryzen systems perform best with faster RAM, but they are fully RGB sticks and are quite something to see in action.

The CPU cooler of choice is the ASUS ROG Ryuo 240mm AIO liquid cooler and while the two radiator fans are not RGB, the pump face has a programmable OLED screen with a mirror finish. Fierce PC have programmed their logo to display on said screen and this does add to the overall theme, but do note that this is changeable if you so desire.

All of the RGB components are directly plugged into the RGB headers on the X570-F motherboard and can be controlled via the ASUS AURA RGB software that comes pre-installed on the Shuriken. Fierce PC have programmed all of the RGB components to display their signature black and orange colour scheme. As mentioned, with such a huge case I kept thinking they could have added one or two RGB strips along the top of the case, or by the recessed area in front of the PSU shroud to really make things stand out.

While the Corsair RM750 80+ Gold fully modular power supply is great to see included here, we’d expect nothing less than an 80+ Gold unit at this price point, I couldn’t help but wish they’d included orange cable extensions to really make the theme of the build pop. The standard cables that come with the PSU are black sleeved, so none of the ‘ketchup & mustard’ red and yellow cables that let aesthetics down, but they’re still not as tidy as some nice extensions.

Being an X570 motherboard you can of course overclock a CPU with this board, but Fierce PC have already overclocked the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU from its base clock of 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) to 4.2GHz across all 6 cores. After prolonged testing I can safely say this is a very stable overclock and I had no issues with it.

Lastly, Fierce PC has opted for the AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB reference graphics card, that also includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass. This is obviously one of the latest cards from AMD, and as Dominic mentioned in his review it is a great mid-range card. As a reference card, this model has no backplate and is restricted to the blower-style single fan cooling system. Fierce PC have assured us that once non-reference cards are available these will be swapped in as standard.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Fierce PC Blackfire Hammerhead (R5 1500X/RX 580) System Review https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/dominic-moass/fierce-pc-blackfire-hammerhead-r5-1500xrx-580-system-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/gaming-rig/dominic-moass/fierce-pc-blackfire-hammerhead-r5-1500xrx-580-system-review/#comments Thu, 04 May 2017 14:45:54 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=332275 Fierce PC sent us an all-AMD (inc. the brand-new RX 580) gaming PC priced at £1199.95.

The post Fierce PC Blackfire Hammerhead (R5 1500X/RX 580) System Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
With both AMD's RX 500-series GPUs and Ryzen 5 processors launching over the past few weeks, Fierce PC thought it would be a good idea to bring both components together in an all-AMD gaming rig. Priced at £1199.95, does the Blackfire Hammerhead hit the price-to-performance sweet-spot?

While I have seen a few different PCs with Ryzen processors over the past month, this is the first all-AMD system I have seen in nearly a year. A lot has happened since then, so it will be very interesting to see how the Fierce PC Blackfire Hammerhead gets on with our testing. In this review, we look at build quality, performance and pricing before giving our final verdict.

Specification

  • Game Max Onyx RGB Mid Tower ATX 3 x RGB Fans Tempered Glass Sides & Front
  • AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5Ghz (3.7Ghz Turbo) Quad-Core Processor
  • Overclocked at 3.8GHz
  • AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Card
  • Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 Motherboard
  • 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz DDR4 Memory (2 x 8GB)
  • 500GB Samsung 850 Evo Solid State Drive
  • 2TB Seagate FireCuda Solid State Hybrid Drive
  • Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite 230V 600W 80+ Power Supply with black cable extensions
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
  • 3 Year Protect Warranty (Return to Base – 3 year labour, 1 yr Parts)

Price: £1199.95 delivered

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Win an Ironwing Rush Gaming system with your own custom front panel! https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/win-an-ironwing-rush-gaming-system-with-your-own-custom-front-panel/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/win-an-ironwing-rush-gaming-system-with-your-own-custom-front-panel/#comments Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:08:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=331933 This week, we are teaming up with Fierce PC to give KitGuru readers the chance to win a brand new gaming PC. We didn't want to just give you a standard gaming rig though, we want to give you the chance to make this build your own, so not only will you get to win …

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This week, we are teaming up with Fierce PC to give KitGuru readers the chance to win a brand new gaming PC. We didn't want to just give you a standard gaming rig though, we want to give you the chance to make this build your own, so not only will you get to win an Ironwing Rush Gaming PC but you get to design your own unique front panel.

The specific build being given away is the Ironwing Rush from Fierce PC's eSports range. In all, this system is worth £470! Here are the full specs:

  • AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Quad Core Processor.
  • Gigabyte F2A78M-HD2 Motherboard.
  • AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB Graphics Card.
  • 1TB SATA3 6Gbps Hard Drive.
  • 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 Memory.
  • Remote Control RGB Lighting.
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit.
  • FREE – BullGuard Internet Security.
  • 3 Year Protect Warranty.

This competition is being run through Gleam.io, so entry is pretty straight forward. However, before you submit your own front panel design, there are some image requirements to keep in mind:

  • Image should be 415mm(h) x 161mm(w)
  • Images should be in PNG, JPG, PSD, EPS or AI format
  • Where possible, images should be 300DPI or above
  • Images must not infringe copyright or contain pornographic or offensive content.

Entries won't be judged on talent alone, if you have an original or funny idea, then that can work too. This competition is open to European residents only due to shipping limitations. The competition ends on two weeks time on the 11th of May.

Fierce Wrap Battle!

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Fierce PC eSports Imperial Overlord Review https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/leo-waldock/fierce-pc-esports-imperial-overlord-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/leo-waldock/fierce-pc-esports-imperial-overlord-review/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2016 08:15:46 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=297699 FiercePC has rushed us its new E-Sports Imperial Overlord gaming PC that is built around a Founders Edition GTX 1080 graphics card. This is especially big news for your reviewer who hand-carried a GTX 1080 back from the Nvidia event in the USA and passed it on to our man Zardon without opening the box. So …

The post Fierce PC eSports Imperial Overlord Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
FiercePC has rushed us its new E-Sports Imperial Overlord gaming PC that is built around a Founders Edition GTX 1080 graphics card. This is especially big news for your reviewer who hand-carried a GTX 1080 back from the Nvidia event in the USA and passed it on to our man Zardon without opening the box. So yay, an actual gaming PC with GTX 1080 (original Founders Edition review HERE).

The rest of the hardware is pretty much what you would expect in any decent gaming PC – Core i7, a bunch of DDR4, Z170 chipset and a fast SSD. Broadly speaking we have seen it all before and that throws the focus on price and performance.

Well almost. The Corsair Carbide Spec Alpha chassis is an interesting choice as it is fairly small as tower cases go so this beast of a gaming PC actually looks rather understated. It would be easy to confuse it for a basic ‘yours for £499' PC right up to the point when you fire it into life.

FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Front-Low FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Front FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Front-Left-34-Open FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Front-Right-34-Open

FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Rear-Right-34-Open FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Side-Semi-Open  FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Side-Open-Reverse  FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-Side-Open-Detail

Specifications:

  • CPU Intel Core i7-6700K Quad Core CPU 4.6GHz Overclock
  • CPU cooler Corsair Hydro Series H80i v2 Liquid CPU Cooler (120mm)
  • Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000MHz
  • Motherboard Gigabyte Z170X-GAMING 7
  • Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Graphics Card
  • SSD 256GB Samsung SM951 M.2 NVMe Solid State Drive
  • Storage 1TB WD Blue HDD
  • Case Corsair Carbide Spec Alpha Gaming Case – Black/Silver
  • PSU Corsair RM650x 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply
  • OS 64-bit Windows 10 Home
  • Warranty 3 Year Protect Warranty (Return to Base 1yr Parts, 3 year labour, Carriage Free for first 30 days)

Obviously the combination of Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 with 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000MHz and an overclocked Core i7-6700K that Turbos to 4.6GHz (stock is 4.2GHz) was always going be rapid but our initial impression was that it was noisy.

Hmm, perhaps the Corsair H80i was set to spin too fast? Nope, Corsair Link was on silent and the push/pull fans at the rear of the case were indeed very quiet. The culprit was the pair of case fans at the front of the Spec Alpha that were roaring away. A quick flick of the fan speed control switch on the front of the case from fastest/loudest to slowest/quiet made a world of difference. If you are undecided about such things there is a third position in the middle that is a fair compromise.

One final word about the case fans is that they are white LED models that illuminate the inside of the case nicely. Yes we would prefer a proper RGB set-up but this cheap and effective approach works perfectly well.

With the Imperial Overlord running quietly we had a look through the component parts and found two items of note. The first is that the SSD has been upgraded from the expected Samsung 850 EVO to a Samsung SM951 which means it gains NVMe. The SSD is a chewing gum stick of M.2 goodness that sits just below the graphics card and offers sufficient capacity for your current crop of popular games.

Secondly, we noted the BIOS was rather elderly. The Gigabyte Z170X is on BIOS F5 which dates from October 2015. Since then Gigabyte has released F6 which improves M.2 compatibility, and F7 which helps XMP, along with Beta versions F8d, F8i and F8l for improved DDR compatibility from April and May 2016. We have to make it clear that we had no problems whatsoever with the Imperial Overlord however it would make us more comfortable to see the BIOS updated to F7.

FiercePC has bumped up the Turbo speed on the Core i7-6700K with a conventional overclock that increases CPU V Core 1.35V, CPU VCCSA 1.1V and DRAM to 1.35V. These are sensible, conservative figures that work well and deliver a handy ten percent more clock speed.

Testing

Fierce PC PC Mark

PC Mark 8

FiercePC 3DMark Fire Strike

3D Mark Fire Strike

FiercePC 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra

Fierce PC Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes 1080Ashes 4K

Fierce PC Rise of the Tomb Raider

Fierce PC GTA V

God's teeth this thing is fast. Mind you we expected nothing less but even so it was great to see GTX 1080 in action. As you will have seen in a number of KitGuru reviews GTX 1080 hauls in 1080p and 1440p and does a very fine job in 4K. It is unquestionably the finest single graphics card that sensible money can buy and Imperial Overlord pushes it to the fore.

At first glance the Corsair RM 650x power supply may appear to have a lowly rating of a mere 650W however we noted the Imperial Overlord only draws 80W at the mains socket when idling on the desktop and 310W under full load, which is incredibly low.

Cooling Performance

Fierce PC Temps

We had no problems during regular gaming use of the Imperial Overlord, however it was a different story when we pushed the hardware to the limit with AIDA 64. We saw the overclocked Core i7 push beyond 90 degrees Celsius point where throttling kicked in. This is doubtless due to the nature of the Skylake Core i7, rather than insufficient cooling as the Corsair H80i does a perfectly sound job.

Acoustics Performance
With the case fans set to the lowest position the Imperial Overlord is very quiet indeed. While it is not truly silent, in practice it is as quiet as it needs to be and that is thanks in no small part to the GTX 1080 which is impressively quiet in Founders Edition form.

Closing Thoughts

We are deeply impressed with FiercePC Imperial Overlord, however it is hard to offer it true love or affection. It looks fairly plain and doesn't offer much in the way of innovation or novel features. Instead it boils down to the GTX 1080 and its supporting Core i7, along with a blistering SSD and a goodly amount of DDR4 memory which all work incredibly well.

The biggest problem is that Imperial Overlord has a list of parts that we total as £1590 along with a selling price of £1640 so no matter how you cut it this is a seriously expensive PC when you consider it has an All In One liquid cooler on the CPU and an air cooled graphics card.

This is not intended as a downer on FiercePC which has responded to the launch of GTX 1080 by rushing out a new PC as fast as possible. We applaud them, however companies such as EKWB have now produced water blocks for GTX 1080 so what we want is the next PC coming down the line which is a Core i7/GTX 1080 combo with custom loop cooling. Hopefully that will cost around £2000 and will run considerably cooler, although that is merely speculation on our part. Nonetheless we have our fingers crossed.

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FiercePC-Imperial-Overlord-KitGuru-Review-650-End

Buy the Fierce PC eSports Imperial Overlord direct HERE.

Pros:

  • GTX 1080 gaming power
  • Overclocked Core i7
  • Lovely and quiet
  • Low power draw
  • Small footprint
  • Very fast Samsung SSD
  • White LEDs illuminate case interior

Cons:

  • Expensive
  • We are waiting for a custom loop version of this PC
  • CPU gets hot under extreme load

KitGuru says: An impressive PC that delivers a superb gaming experience.

WORTH BUYING

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