Computer Shopper - UK (2020-10)

ISSUE392|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2020 23

post-purchase,asitsonly
air-cooled,butfranklyyou
don’tneedto.Thisisalreadya
significantlymorepowerfulPC
than the ProArt PA90, which
scored311 overall, andthe
ConceptD 500, which scored

299. Both of theseare
     hundredsofpoundsmore
     expensive,sodespitethem
     sharing Intel’s erstwhile
     top-of-the-lineCorei9-9900K,
     theycan’t match the Photo
     Zenonbangper buck.
     Chillblast’ssystemalso
     has asecretweapon: its
     500GB SSD, whichuses the
     PCI-E 4.0 standard. We’ve
     beenquitedown on Gen 4
     SSDsinthe past as they’re so
     expensive to buy on theirown
     comparedtoPCI-E 3.0 drives,
     which remain the norm among
     new releases. Nevertheless,its
     hard to complain whenit’s
     just one part of aPCthat
     –aswe’ve just seen –is
     goodvalueinother ways.
     Moreover,it’s incredibly
     fast. AS SSD recordeda
     sequential writespeed of
     2,377MB/s, whichisgood (if stillwithin
     the realmsofPCI-E 3.0performance)and a
     sequential read speedof4,049MB/s, which is
     much more ‘next gen’. Youfeel the benefits of
     faster read speedsmore often, too, as it’s
     what determines the speedofWindows
     booting, applications loading andfiles
     opening. Again, it’s just the ticket foraPC
     focusedongetting work done.

SUPERTROUPER

As forthe GTX1660Super,it’s true that
something like the ProArt PA90’sQuadro
P4000 graphics card would be more helpful
withencoding, effects work and 3D modelling,
but forphotoediting specifically,the P4000’s

extrapower wouldn’t strictly be worth the
much greater expense.
Again, this is not agamingsystem, but
dutydemanded we runour regulargaming
benchmarksonthe PhotoZen, andtheyat
least provedthe GTX 1660Super is no
weakling. It even managed smooth 4K in
Dirt Showdown,averaging 70fpswithUltra
qualitygraphics, thoughits 155fpsat
1,920x1,080and 122fps at 2,560x1,440 were
naturallymuch slicker.
The SteamVR Performance Test also
returned anear-perfect scoreof10.8,leaving
Metro: Last Light as the onlyone to bother
thePhoto Zen. At 1080p it wasfine,producing

SPECIFICATIONS

Windows overall

Multitasking

Dirt Showdown

Metro: Last Light

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage82for performance details

PROCESSOROcta-core3.6GHzAMD Ryzen73700X•

RAM32GB DDR4•FRONTUSB PORTS2x USB2, 5x USB3•

REAR USBPORTS2x USB2, 2x USB3, 4x USB3.1•GRAPHICS

CARD6GBAsusGeForce GTX1660 Super PhoenixOC•

STORAGE500GBSSD,2TB hard disk•DISPLAYNone•

OPERATING SYSTEMWindows 10 Home•WARRANTY

Five yearsincluding twoyears collectand return•DETAILS

http://www.chillblast.com•PART CODEPhotoZen

60 fps, but this droppedto34fpsat 144 0p and

15fpsat4K.Turning offSSAA isagood trick

to getthe former up to 67fps andthe latter to

30fps, though for4Kwealsotried turning

down the Very HighpresettoHigh. This

grantedanother boost to aplayable 44fps.

DEEP SPACE

Generallywe’re extremelypleasedbythe

hardware within –and sometimes on the

outsideof–the PhotoZen, though the

addition of ahard disk like our2TB drive

does seem more essentialthanoptional.

It’s great that the main SSD is so quick, but

500GB is alittle lowfor asystem that’slikely

to be stuffed with large image files.

Fortunately,not only is this arelatively

cheap upgrade,there’s room forlots more

inside.The chassisprovidesroom foran

excellent six 3.5in storage drives,which can

also hold smaller 2.5in drives, and thereare

two dedicated 2.5in bays on the back of the

motherboard tray as well. That’s eight in

total, double whatwe’re used to seeing

from modernmid-towers, although the

motherboard’s four empty SATA ports

meansyou won’tbefilling up every one.

It’s stillagoodamount,however,and makes

us wonder if it’s worth addingyet another

hard disk to run alongside the first in RAID1

mode forinstantbackups.

Elsewhere,there aretwo spare slots for

adding even more RAM –not that thePhoto

Zenisinshort supply of it –plus onespare

PCI-Ex16 slot,three PCI-E x1 slotsand one

secondaryM.2 slot,which like theprimary slot

supports PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. Amorepressing

upgrade mightbeaWi-Fi card –there’s

certainlyplentyofspacefor one.

BIG PICTURE

Afew years ago,Chillblast produced one of

our favouriteproductivity PCs,the Chillblast

FusionPhoto OC VIII (Shopper358). Now,

with thepowerful, quiet,flexible and

affordable (well, relatively) PhotoZen, it’s

done it again. It’sabsolutely onetoconsider

if you regularly use PhotoshoporGIMP,and

you’re findingthatyour laptop or home

office PC isn’t up to snuff.

JamesArcher

60fps

406

155fps

345

In the image-editing portion of our 4K benchmarks, the

PhotoZen scored 200, which is arecordfor apre-built PC