2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

56 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

01

Abasic PC costingaround£350 will

be able to run everydayoffice,

multimediaand educationsoftware and will

easily cope with surfingthe internet. It might

even be able to run some moderngames.

Many PCs can be sold either with or

withoutamonitor.Ifyou don’t like the

displaythe manufactureris offering, you

can always use your currentone,orbuy

anotherone separately.

02

If you want to playgames, you’ll

have to upgradethe graphicscard.

Budgetcards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX

1050 will cope well with many 3D games,but

to playthe latest 3D games smoothly(and

enjoythe best-qualitygraphics)it’s worth

upgradingto amore powerfulcard such as

the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.

Choosing a... PCsystem

03

All modernPCs come with at least

adual-coreprocessorand are

capableof most tasks. Anyonewho

regularlyundertakesdemandingtasks

such as video editingand encoding

should considerahexa-coreor even

an octa-coreprocessor.

04

There are plenty of good reasonsto

upgradethe PC’s memoryor hard

disk. If you’ll use your PC forgaming, video

editingor other demandingtasks, you’ll

need at least 8GB of RAM and alarge hard

disk; 1TB should suffice.Many new PCs have

an SSD,which speedsup the time it takes for

your PC to boot and forprogramsto load.

05

Having plenty of USB ports is

always useful, as most computer

peripheralsattach to these ports. Most new

PCs come with USB3 or the latest USB3.1

ports, which provide faster data transfers

when used with supported devices than the

older USB2 standard.

06

Most new PCs now come with

Windows10 pre-installed.Don’t be

tooeasily swayed by the inclusionof other

software,though,as it maybethat you’ll

never use it.

07

While most PCs come in cases of

asimilar size,some have more

compactmini tower or mini PC cases.

These smallerPCs will fit under your TV

or on your desk more easily,but bear in

mind that they’re significantlyharder to

upgradethan full-sizemachines.

PCs

AC ERChromeboxCXI3

★★★★★

£502•shop.bt.com

RASPBERRY

3ModelB+

★★★★★

£28•uk.rs-online.com

An absolutely tiny ChromeOS

system, the ChromeboxCXI3 is

compactenoughto attach to

the back of amonitor.Even better,ithas more

p wer than most Chromeboxes,thanks to its

Core i5 processor,and is loaded with useful

ports in spiteofits minimalsize.It’s cheap,too,

althoughwe’d recommendinvestingin abetter mouse and keyboard

than the bundledperipherals.

The ult at e

micro g

even bette

with faster CPU clock s y

Wi-Fi performance.The differencesbetweenthis and the

standardPi Model 3probablywon’t be enoughto be worth

adirect upgrade,but since this is no more expensive,it’s the

best choice fornew projects.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-82500U•RAM8GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB3•

REARUSBPORTS3xUSB3,1xUSBType-C•TOTALSTORAGE64GBSSD•DISPLAYNone•

OPERATINGSYSTEMChromeOS•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.acer.com•

PARTCODEDT.ZOSEK.001•FULLREVIEWAug2019

PROCESSORQuad-core1.4GHzBroadcomBCM2837•RAM1GB•USBPORTS1xMicroUSB

(power),4xUSB2•TOTALSTORAGEMicroSDcardslot•DISPLAYNone•OPERATING

SYSTEMRaspbian•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.raspberypi.org•PARTCODEPi3

ModelB+•FULLREVIEWJun2018

CHILLBLASTFusionRyzen7RTX

2070CustomGamingPC

★★★★★

£1,370•www.chillblast.com

From its multithreading-friendly

processorto its hulkingTuring

graphicscard, this desktop has the

hardwareto breeze throughall but the toughest

4K-resolutiongames.There’s not as much room for

internal upgradesas some mid-tower systems, but

the Fusion Ryzen 7RTX 2070 Custom GamingPC

makes up forthis with high core performanceand good pricing.

PROCESSOROcta-core3.2GHzAMDRyzen72700•RAM16GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB3•

REARUSBPORTS2xUSB2,4xUSB3,2xUSB3.1•TOTALSTORAGE250GBSSD,2TBharddisk•

GRAPHICSCARD8GBGigabyteGeForceRTX2070Windforce8G•OPERATINGSYSTEM

Windows10Home•WARRANTYFiveyearslabour, includingtwoyearscollectandreturn•

DETAILSwww.chillblast.com•PARTCODEFusionRyzen7RTX2070CustomGamingPC•

FULLREVIEWJul2019

A

★★

£50

YPI

m

the

pow

ultimate

PC gets

better

speeds and dramaticallyimproved

diff bthand th

PALICOMPAMDAbyss

★★★★★

£700•www.palicomp.co.uk

At this price,you’d

seriouslystruggleto find

amore comprehensively

capabledesktop system than Palicomp’s

AMD Abyss. It can multitaskwith

seriousapplicationsjust as well as it

can run games,and with its large,fast

NVMe SSD,itwon’t be sloweddown

by storage.There’s alot of room for

future upgrades,too.

PROCESSORHexa-core3.6GHzAMDRyzen52600X•RAM8GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB2,

1xUSB3•REARUSBPORTS2xUSB2,2xUSB3,2xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•TOTALSTORAGE

512GBSSD,1TBharddisk•GRAPHICSCARD8GBAMDRadeonRX570Armor8GBOC•

OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows10Home•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILS

http://www.palicomp.co.uk•PARTCODERYZ6•FULLREVIEWApr2019

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