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78 MAY2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE387
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When we run these low-price PC shoot-outs, it’s always interesting
to see how different systems take different approaches. Just among
these six desktops, we’ve seen the resourceful mining of previous-
generation hardware to get erstwhile flagship performance on the
cheap,and almost every single one came to adistinct conclusion on
what the best balance of storage capacity and speed should be.
Twosystems stand out. The Palicomp Intel i5 Mercury is –not
unlike its distant gaming-based cousin, the Palicomp AMD Abyss –a
brilliantly balanced system, managing to spin high CPU performance,
aspacious SSD,extensive upgradability,speed-focused connectivity
and even ahandsome chassis out of arelatively tight budget.
However,wethink the Wired2Fire Ultima WS edges it. Its core
performance is even better than that of the Intel i5 Mercury,
thanks to the superior multitasking capability of its AMD Ryzen
processor and even nimbler NVMe SSD –which,again, is big
enough to handle storage duties all by itself,with no mechanical
hard disk slowing it down.
The Ultima WS also has the biggest, most varied collection of
external ports –mainly in the USB and displayoutput departments
–soit’saparticularly good choice if you have loads of peripherals
and external drives that need permanent or regular connections.
There are other highlights elsewhere.The Chillblast Fusion
Dauntless Family PC, forinstance,makes up forits limited storage
with chart-topping CPU power and bonus audio connectivity,but
the Intel i5 Mercury and Ultima WS are the most endearingly
well-rounded systems.
VERDICT
RECOMMENDED BESTBUY
Manufacturer ALPHABETAPC ARIA CHILLBLAST PALICOMP PCSPECIALIST WIRED2FIRE
Modelname AMDRyzen 53 400G
GamingDesktopPC
GladiatorParadigm FusionDauntless
FamilyPC
Inteli5Mercury MagmaS1 UltimaWS
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
CORESPECS
Processor Quad-core3.7GHzAMD
Ryzen 5 3400G
Hexa-core 2 .9GHzIntelCore
i5-9400F
Octa-core3.7GHzAMD
Ryzen 727 00X
Hexa-core5GHzInteli5
Mercury
Hexa-core3.6GHzAMD
Ryzen 526 00X
Hexa-core3.6GHzAMD
Ryzen 53600
Processorsocket AM4 Intel 1151 AM 4 Intel1 151 AM4 AM4
RAM 32 GBDDR 41 6GBDDR 41 6GBDDR 41 6GBDDR 41 6GBDDR 41 6GBDDR 4
Maximummemory 32GB 32GB 64GB 128GB 6 4GB 64GB
Motherboard GigabyteGA-A320M-H AsusPrimeH310-AR2.0 GigabyteB450AorusM AsusPrimeZ390-PAsusPrimeA 3 20M-K MSIB 45 0M-VDHMax
PORTSANDEXPANSION
FrontUSBports 2xUSB2,1xUSB3 1xUSB2,1xUSB 31 xUSB2,1xUSB3 2xUSB2,1xUSB 32 xUSB2,1xUSB 32 xUSB2,1xUSB 3
RearUSBports 2xUSB2,4xUSB3 2xUSB2,2xUSB3 2xUSB2,4xUSB3,2xUSB3. 14 xUSB3,2xUSB3. 12 xUSB2,4xUSB 34 xUSB2,4xUSB 3
Otherports 2 xPS/ 2 2 xPS/ 2 1 xPS/2 2xPS/2 2xPS/ 21 xPS/2
Networking GigabitEthernet,
802.11nWi-Fi
GigabitEthernet,
802.11nWi-Fi
GigabitEthernet GigabitEthernet GigabitEthernet,
802.11nWi-Fi
GigabitEthernet
Casetype Mid-tower Minitower Minitower Mid-tower Mid-tower Mid-tower
Casedimensions 480x290x380mm 3 58x175x410mm 358x175x410mm 435x201x435mm 448x185x436mm 410 x175x385mm
PCI-Ex1(free) 2(1) 2(0) 1(1) 4(4) 2(0) 2(2)
PCI-Ex16(free) 1(1) 1(0) 2(1) 2(2) 1(0) 1(0)
SerialATA(free) 4(3) 4(3) 6(6) 4(4) 4(3) 4(4)
Memoryslots(free) 2(0) 2(0) 4(2) 4(2) 2(0) 4(2)
Drivebays2.5in(free) 2(2) 3(1) 3(3) 3(3) 2(2) 2(2)
Drivebays3.5in(free) 2(1) 2(1) 2(2) 2(2) 2(1) 2(2)
M.2ports(free) 1(0) 1(0) 1(0) 2(1) 1(0) 1(0)
STORAGE
Totalstorage 480GB SSD,1TB hard disk 512GB SSD, 1TB harddisk 500GB SSD 1TBSSD 250GB SSD,1TB hard disk1TB SSD
Memorycardreader None None None None 1x SD,1xmicroSD None
GRAPHICS
Graphicsprocessor AMD RadeonVega 11 2GB Asus GeForce GT 10302GB Nvidia GeForceGT1030 Intel UHDGraphics 6304GB Palit GeForce GTX1650
StormX
2GB Palit GeForce GT 710
Graphics/videoports 1x HDMI,1xDVI-D 1 xHDMI, 1x DVI-D 1x HDMI,1xDVI-D 1 xHDMI,1xDisplayPort 1x HDMI, 1xDVI-D 1 xHDMI,1xDVI-D,1xVGA
SOUND
Soundcard Onboard Onboard Onboard Onboard Onboard Onboard
Soundcardoutputs Line outLine outLine out, sidespeaker,rear
speaker,C/SUB
Line outLine outLine out
SOFTWARE
Operatingsystem Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home
Operatingsystem
restoreoption
Windows 10 restore Windows 10 restore Windows 10 restore Windows 10 restore Windows 10 restore Windows 10 restore
BUYINGINFORMATION
Warranty Three years RTBincluding30
days collect andreturn
Four yearslabour Twoyears collect and return Three years RTBThree years labour,one year
parts, one month collect
and return
Five years labour including
two yearsparts
Price £600 £590 £600 £600 £599 £600
Supplier http://www.alphabetapc.com http://www.aria.co.uk http://www.chillblast.com http://www.palicomp.co.uk http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk http://www.wired2fire.co.uk
Details http://www.alphabetapc.com http://www.aria.co.uk http://www.chillblast.com http://www.palicomp.co.uk http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk http://www.wired2fire.co.uk
Partcode ABPC-R5-3400G Gladiator Paradigm C6830 COF9 Magma S1 Ultima WS
