T
heStormforceCrystalservesupan
impressiveamountofpowerfora sub-
£2,000rig.Thestarpieceofsiliconis a
GeForceRTX 2080 SuperGPU,whichfullyenables
everypartofNvidia’sTU104GPU,givingyou3,072
streamprocessorsoverthestandardRTX2080’s
2,944,aswellastwomoreRTcores.
AnotherbigdifferencebetweenthetwoGPUs
concernsthe8GBofGDDR6memory,which
hasseena speedincreasefrom14GHz(effective)to
15.5GHz(effective)fortheSuper.The cardinsidethe
Stormforcemachineis anAsusROGStrixmodel,
whichmeansit hasanimposingheatsinkfilledwith
RGBLEDs,threefansandanoverclockthatboosts
theGPUboostspeedof1815MHzto1860MHz.
Thesehigh-qualityStrixcardsaren’tcheap,andit’s
greattoseeoneina machineatthisprice.
Meanwhile,theRyzen7 3700Xis fastbecoming
oneofAMD’smorepopularZen2 chips.It haseight
SMT-enabledcores,givingit 16threads,andhere,it
runsatitsstockbaseandboostspeedsof3.6GHz
and4.4GHzrespectively.
AllthisgearispluggedintoanAsusROGStrix
X570-FGamingmotherboard,whichbringsPCI-E
4 supportwiththeX570chipset,althoughthe
Stormforce’s500GBWDBlueSSDonlysupports
PCI-E3.Thereareseveralsparefanheaders,and
thereariswellstockedtoo,withsevenUSB3.1
portsanda Type-Cconnector.Youalsogeta
spareM.2socket,theusuallargeheatsinksand
a bevyofRGBLEDs.
Thespecificationis roundedoutwith16GBof
3200MHzDDR4memory,a 2TBharddiskanda
dual-band802.11acwirelesscard.Meanwhile,the
750WFSPPSUhasan 80 PlusSilvercertification,
butit isn’tmodular.
ThissystemcompareswellwiththeChillblast
FusionAxion(seeIssue194,p34),whicharrived
witha price of£2,200incVAT.Thatrighadthe
sameprocessorandmotherboard,andbroadlythe
samememoryandstorageconfigurations.Crucially,
though,thepricierChillblastonlyincludedtheoriginal
RTX 2080 – notthebeefed-upSuperversion.REVIEWS / PC SYSTEMS
SPEC
CPU
3.6GHzAMD
Ryzen7 3700X
Motherboard
AsusROGStrix
X570-FGaming
Memory
16GBKingstonHyperX
Predator3200MHzDDR4
Graphics
AsusGeForceRTX
2080 Super
Storage
500GBWDBlueSN500
M.2SSD;2TBSeagate
Barracudaharddrive
Case
CoolerMasterMB520
Cooling
CPU:CoolerMaster
MasterLiquidML240L
RGBwith2 x 120mmfans;
GPU:3 x 80mmfans;
front:3 x 120mmfans;
rear:1 x 120mmfan
PSU
FSP750-50ERN750W
Ports
Front:2 x USB3,2 x
audio;rear:3 x USB3.2
Gen2,1 x USB3.2Gen 2
Type-C,4 x USB3.1Gen
1, 1 x GigabitEthernet,1 x
opticalS/PDIF,5 x audio
Operatingsystem
MicrosoftWindows
10 Home64-bit
Warranty
Threeyearspartsand
labourcollectandreturnGAMING PC
STORMFORCE
CRYSTAL RTX 2080
SUPER/£1,999incVAT
SUPPLIER stormforcegaming.co.ukThe Stormforce is housed in a Cooler Master MasterBox
MB520 enclosure, which looks excellent. It has a tempered
glass side panel and a plastic front panel with three RGB LED
fans, which are synchronised with the lights on the graphics
card, CPU cooler and motherboard.
Around the rear, you’ll find two 2.5in drive mounts and a
3.5in drive bay, and cables are neat throughout. That said,
upgrading won’t always be easy, as the large graphics card
blocks some of the SATA ports and PCI slots. You’ll have to
remove this card to add a second M.2 SSD too, because the
Asus board has layered heatsinks.
It’s also good to see a Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L
all-in-one liquid cooler, but likewise, its fans and tubing can
make it tricky to reach the memory slots. The case’s build
quality is sometimes inconsistent too. The metal used
throughout is strong, but the plastic front panel is flimsy.
Finally, Stormforce’s machine has a three year collect and
return warranty that covers both parts and labour for the
duration, which is a fantastic deal.Performance
The RTX 2080 Super delivers a solid performance boost
over the discontinued RTX 2080, particularly with the Asus
overclock. The Stormforce’s 42fps minimum in Shadow of
the Tomb Raider at 4K was 5fps better than the Chillblast,
and it maintained similar leads in Total War: Warhammer II
and Battlefield V. The RTX 2080 Super is capable of handling
almost any gaming task. Gaming at 1080p and 2,560 x 1,440
is easy for it, and it can cope with some 4K gaming too,
although you’ll only get beyond a 60fps minimum in top
titles if you dial back the graphics settings.cc
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