C
hillblast’s Fusion Testarossa is a fast-paced
contender with all the key hardware from
the red team, which seems appropriate
given its Ferrari-inspired name. The Radeon RX 6900
XT graphics card deploys 16GB of memory and 5,120
stream processors, and this rig’s Gigabyte-made
card has had its initial boost speed of 2250MHz
overclocked to 2365MHz.
The card is physically impressive: it has loads of
RGB LEDs, alongside a small LCD that displays GPU
information or custom images and GIFs.
The 6900 XT does have 80 AMD Ray
Accelerators, and can handle ray tracing,
but AMD’s DLSS equivalent is still absent.
Meanwhile, AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X is
one of the best content-creation chips
around thanks to its 12-core design, and
here, it runs at its stock base and boost
speeds of 3.7GHz and 4.8GHz, and it’s
cooled by a massive Fractal Celsius+ S36
Prisma cooler with a 360mm radiator.
Chillblast has rounded out the
specification with 32GB of DDR4
memory clocked to 3600MHz and a 2TB
Samsung 980 Pro SSD. This hardware
should scythe through content-creation
apps and top games, and an impressive
Fractal Design PSU powers it, with a
fully modular design and 80 Plus Gold
certification.
The Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
motherboard impresses too. It looks the
part, with big heatsinks and plenty of
RGB LEDs, and it’s packed with features.
It provides 2.5Gbps Ethernet, dual-band
802.11ax Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5, and
it has two 16x PCI-E 4 slots and two
PCI-E M.2 connectors.
On the board you’ll find a generous
array of connectors and a POST display,
while the rear I/O panel serves up aREVIEWS / PC SYSTEMS
SPEC
CPU
3.7GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard
Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
Memory
32GB G.Skill TridentZ RGB
3600MHz DDR4
Graphics
Gigabyte Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB
Storage
2TB Samsung 980 Pro M.2 SSD
Networking
2.5Gbps Ethernet, dual-band
802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5
Case
Fractal Vector RS
Cooling
CPU: Fractal Celsius+ S36 Prisma
cooler with 3 x 120mm fans;
GPU: 3 x 80mm fans; front: 2 x
140mm; rear: 1 x 140mm fan
PSU
Fractal Ion Gold 850W
Ports
Front: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 x USB
3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1 x audio; rear: 7
x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2
Type-C, 1 x optical S/PDIF, 5 x audio
Operating system
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Warranty
Two years parts and labour collect
and return, followed by three
years labour only return to baseAMD X570 GAMING PC
CHILLBLAST FUSION
TESTAROSSA /£3,799 inc VAT
SUPPLIER chillblast.commighty count of seven full-sized USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a
Type-C connection. There’s a high-end SupremeFX S1220A
audio codec, and this board includes eight SATA ports. It’s an
excellent high-end option.
The case lends itself to storage too. Fractal’s Vector RS
is a big bruiser that stretches 552mm from front to back. It
has room for six 3.5in hard disks and two 2.5in drives around
the rear, with the vibration-reducing hard disk bays hidden
behind a plate to keep the front neat.
The huge Vector has rock-solid build quality, and the
cabling is neat. The components are accessible too, and this
system’s band of RGB LEDs along the top are synchronised
with the internal lighting. There’s a USB Type-C connector on
the front as well.
The Chillblast shares its AMD processor with this month’s
Wired2Fire rig, and both machines have superb warranties,
with five years of labour coverage joined by two years
of parts protection with collect and return transport. The
Chillblast beats the Wired2Fire with its larger SSD, better
motherboard and more versatile case, but Wired2Fire’s
machine does have an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and a
cheaper price.Performance
The overclocked Radeon GPU delivered its best performance
results in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. At 2,560 x 1,440, the
AMD GPU returned a 99th percentile minimum of 75fps, with
that score declining to 49fps at 4K. Those aren’t just playable