22 APRIL2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE386
IT’SALWAYSINTERESTINGtoseejusthow
muchdesktopPCscandifferfromeachother,
eventhosethathavethesamepurpose.
Cyberpower’sUltra 5RTX is aperfect
example of this: just like theAlphaBetaPC
Intel i5 RTX(Shopper384), it’s amid-range
gaming system that costs £999,yet the
closest thingtoasharedcomponent
betweenthem is the 16GB of RAM.
Whereas theAlphaBetaPCsystem wentfor
maximum graphicalpower,arguably at the
expense of its CPU,the Ultra5RTXismore
balanced, with aRyzen 53600X and 6GB
MSI GeForceRTX 2060 VentusXSOC. That
meanslower gaming performance,but much
more multitaskingand productivity potential
than AlphaBetaPC’s combination of aCore
i5-9600KF andanRTX 2070 Super GPU.
Then there’s the design.Whereasthe Intel
i5 RTXisagiant, glassycube,its single
200mm intake fanglaringout of thefront like
abewildered RGB eye, theUltra 5RTX adopts
amuchmore conventionalmid-tower format.
COLOURFUL IMAGINATION
Not that it’s dull, by any means. It’s a
straightforward case in shape,but alsoa
reasonably classy one: tempered glasspanels
occupythe front and leftside,giving you an
unobstructed view of thetriple intake fans
and intothe maininternal chamber.The Ultra
5RTX isn’t overly wide,deep
or tall,and where there isn’t
that tempered glass, there’s
nicelytextured metal instead
of cheapplastic.Wealso
particularly like the indented
air vents that run downboth
sidesatthe front;these
ensure sufficient airflow,
whichisn’t always agiven on
desktops with glass at the
front, while keeping the vents
themselveshidden from
most viewingangles.
It’s not all prim and proper
sensibilities, however.One
thing the Ultra5RTXshares
with the AlphaBetaPC system
is an appreciation of
customisable lighting, andso
all threeofthe front fans –
as well as the single,
rear-mounted exhaust fan
–glow with decorative LEDs.
Also sharedwiththe Inteli5
RTXisabundled remote
control, whichmakes
CYBERPOWER Ultra5RTX
★★★★★
£999•From http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk
VERDICT
TheUltra5RTXisashiningjackofalltrades,andamasterofsome
DESKTOPGAMINGPC
switchingbetweensolidcoloursand
pulsating multicolour modes abreeze.
By default, arainbow effectswirls
aroundeach faninsync, but with a
button press youcan change this to
asingle,less ostentatiousshade,as
well as adjust thebrightness.
Alternatively,you can hit the Auto
button, which launches the lighting into
aspectacularly chaotic mixofmodes
and hues.This easy customisability
feels like theideal route to take with
somethingaslove-it-or-loathe-it as
RGB lighting: you can have it as flashy
as you want, which mightwell mean
not making it flashy at all.
BREATHINGAID
On amuch more practicalnote, there’s a
benefit to having so many fans besides simply
adding more lights. The Ultra5RTXcan pump
farmore cooling air into its innardsthan a
single- or double-intakefan setup would,
which is goodnews forthe health of
components suchasthe CPUand GPU.
The only downside is noise: all four fans
spinratherquicklyeven when you’re simply
idling on the Windows desktop,and since
runningintensive applicationswill also kick
the CPU cooler andgraphicscard cooler
intohigher RPM, thewhole thingproduces
enough whirring that
playing games or watching
video is best done with a
pairofheadphones.
Still,ifyou want asystem
thatcan handletasks such
as video encoding or photo
editingaswellasitcan
running games, you’ll be
glad to know that such fan
noise is in serviceofwhat
amountstoexcellent CPU
performance forthe money.
Thesix-core,12-thread
Ryzen 53600X makes a
formidable team with the
16GBofDDR4 RAM,
producing 4K benchmark
scores of 182 in the
single-coretest, 254inthe
video test and304 in the
multitasking test. That
makes foranoverallscore of
267,wellclear of theIntel i5
RTX’s 211. Thelatter was
particularly farbehindinthe
multitasking test, scoring 231,
although its image test scoreof160 shows
how well AMD has managed to closethe gap
against Intelonsingle-core performance.
MORE EQUALTHAN OTHERS
Incidentally,the overall score of 267exactly
matches that of another Ryzen53600X-based
desktop, the PC Specialist Inferno R1 (Shopper
380).That was £200 more than the Ultra 5
RTXwhenwefirstreviewed it, and it’s since
only droppedto£1,153, so there’s stilla
significant savingfor the same CPU.
However,something both the Inferno R1
and the Inteli5RTX have over the Ultra 5RTX
is better graphics performance. The RTX2060
is apotent card, butthe Inferno R1 has its 8GB
upgrade,the RTX2060Super,whilethe Intel i5
RTXgoes even further beyond withits RTX
2070 Super.Cyberpower’s choice of GPUisn’t
technicallyprevious-gen, but with the
subsequent launch of the Super variants,
you’d be forgiven forthinkingit.
This isn’t, in fairness, aparticularlyvisible
fault in olderorlessdemanding games,as
the frame ratewill alreadybehighenough
that additional performancegains aren’t as
impactful. Dirt Showdownaptlydemonstrates
this:at1,920x1,080,with Ultraquality and 4x
MSAA enabled, the Ultra 5RTX produced
177fps. While the Inferno R1 managed
190fps, you’d barely be able to tell the
difference even if you hada240Hz monitor
capableofdisplaying it.
It’sthe same case with 2,560x1,440: the
Ultra 5RTX’s153fps is bothlower than the
Inferno R1’s 164fpsand high enough that
such adifferencedoesn’t really matter.Also of
noteisthat at both resolutions,it’sactually
