Custom PC - UK (2020-03)

C

yberPower’sInfinityX99Supertriestofight

backagainstAMD’smulti-coredominance

witha seriouspieceofIntelhardware.The

Corei9-9900KShaseightHyper-Threadedcores,

matchingthecoreandthreadcountofAMD’sRyzen 7

3800X,andit hasa peakturbofrequencyof5GHz,

alongwitha 4GHzbaseclock.Thiswillgiveit anedgein

somegamesandlightlythreadedsoftware,butit can’t

matchAMD’slatestRyzen9 chipsintermsofheavilymulti-

threadedperformance.

CyberPowerhaspairedit withanMSIGeForceRTX 2080

Supercard.TheGPUis fullyenabled,

givingit 3,072streamprocessors,and

italsohas8GBofGDDR6memory

runningatNvidia’simprovedspeedof

15.5GHz(effective).TheMSIVentusXS

OCcardusedherehasfanswithsteep

bladestoaccelerateairflow,andit’salso

overclocked,althoughtheboostclock

improvementfrom1815MHzto

1830MHzis modest.

Thesecorecomponentsarejoinedby

theusual16GBof3200MHzmemory,

andthere’sa 512GBIntel660pNVMe

SSDanda 2TBharddisk.It’sallpowered

bya CorsairVengeance650MPSU,

whichis reasonable,butnotoutstanding:

it’sonlysemi-modularandhasjustan 80

PlusSilverefficiencyrating.

TheMSIMPGZ390GamingPlus

motherboardis a taddisappointingtoo.

It getsthebasicsright,withroomfor

extramemory,several1xPCI-Eslots

andRGBLEDs,andit alsohastwo

spareM.2ports– oneforSSDsand

anotherforwirelessmodules.ALC892

However,there’snoSLI

compatibilityforaddinga second

GPU,andtherelianceonanIntel

platformmeansnoPCI-E4 support.

REVIEWS / PC SYSTEMS

SPEC

CPU

4GHzIntelCorei9-9900KS

Motherboard

MSIMPGZ390GamingPlus

Memory

16GBCorsairVengeanceLPX

Black3200MHzDDR4

Graphics

MSIGeForceRTX 2080 Super8GB

Storage

512GBIntel660pM.2SSD,2TB

SeagateBarracudaharddisk

Case

CoolerMasterMasterBoxNR600

Cooling

CPU:CoolerMasterMasterLiquid

Lite 240 with2 x 120mmfans;GPU:

2 x 90mmfans;top:2 x 120mm

fans;rear:1 x 120mmfan

PSU

CorsairVengeance650M650W

Ports

Front:2 x USB3,1 x audio;rear:1 x

USB3.2Gen2,1 x USB3.2Gen 2

Type-C,2 x USB3.1Gen1, 2 x USB2, 1

x GigabitEthernet,1 x PS/2,6 x audio

Operatingsystem

MicrosoftWindows 10 Home64-bit

Warranty

Twoyearspartsandlabour,plusone

yearlabouronly.Firstsixmonths

collectandreturn,thenreturntobase

GAMING PC

CYBERPOWER INFINITY

X99 SUPER/£1,999inc VAT

SUPPLIER cyberpowersystem.co.uk

There are no on-board or rear I/O buttons for tweaking or

overclocking, and you only get the basic Realtek ALC892

audio as well. The rear I/O is basic as well – you get single

USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C connections, and two

USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, but elsewhere, you’re restricted to

USB 2 and there’s no optical S/PDIF output.

CyberPower’s machine squares up against the Stormforce

Crystal RTX 2080 Super (see Issue 196, p38). That machine

used AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X processor and an Asus ROG Strix

RTX 2080 Super card with a slightly better overclock than the

CyberPower’s MSI card. The Stormforce PC arrived at £1,999,

but it now costs just £1,870 inc VAT. The Stormforce also added

a Wi-Fi card, and its motherboard offers PCI-E 4 support, SLI

support, superior audio and more USB connections.

CyberPower has used a Cooler Master MasterBox NR600

case for this PC. It looks smart, with a trio of RGB LED intake fans

that glow through the front mesh, and there’s another band of

RGB LED lighting on the inside. The interior layout is

conventional – there’s a PSU shroud, rubber grommets for

cable routing and the cabling is neat. There’s loads of space too

• the 240mm radiator for the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite
  CPU cooler is barely noticeable, and there’s ample room to
  work. It also has five 2.5in drive mounts and space for three 3.5in
  hard disks. The chassis is untidy around the back, though, and
  the PSU shroud and plastic front panel both feel a bit weak.
  The CyberPower is protected by a three year labour
  warranty with two years of parts coverage, which is good to
  see, although you only get six months of collect and return
  service. Comparatively, the Stormforce covers parts and
  labour for the full three years, including collect and return
  service for the duration.