New products tested by our experts
22
Reviews
New products tested by our experts
and Bluetooth hardware, with Wi-Fi 6
and Bluetooth 5.2 preinstalled.
So, for general Windows use, this
doesn’t have enough power to topple our
new favourite Wired2Fire desktop PC off
its perch.
However, if you need more of an
all-round PC that can play games as
well as blast through Windows work,
this is a decent PC for the price. Those
looking for even more gaming
performance need to spend a bit more
money – check out the PCSpecialist
Fusion Elite, reviewed opposite.graphics cards from Amazon, you’d have
to pay in excess of £200, so you can
understand what a push this is towards
graphics over raw power. In order to
squeeze such a device into a £750 PC,
other components have to give. In the
case of this PC, it’s the inclusion of a
four-core Intel Core i3-12100F processor,
which has half the number of cores of the
Wired2Fire’s AMD Ryzen 7 5700G.
This has a significant impact on the
PC’s multi-core benchmark results,
returning a score of 6,509, much lower
than Wired2Fire’s 9,544. However, it’s
still worth noting that the Chillblast’s
latest generation chip performs well in
simple programs, with a single-core
result of 1,652, slightly higher than
Wired2Fire’s 1,583. In our general
Windows benchmark, which tests real
programs running, the Reaver runs at
around 60 per cent of the performance of
Wired2Fire’s PC.
The graphics power comes into its
own in gaming tests, though. It ran
our 1080p test games at an average of
64fps (frames per second) with the
games’ graphical settings set to high.
Wired2Fire’s PC could only muster
29fps in the same test. Up the resolution
to 1440p (also known as 2K resolution)
and the Reaver is still managing a
playable 41fps. Wired2Fire’s PC drops
to 18fps here.
There are surprisingly few other
compromises at play, considering the
price. You will probably outgrow the
500GB SSD drive fairly quickly, but
storage is easy to expand, either inside or
outside the PC. On the other hand, the
16GB of RAM is generous enough, and
Chillblast hasn’t skimped on its Wi-FiVERDICT An affordable desktop PC
that’s capable in Windows and great at
playing games, too★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE
Wired2Fire Ultima
WS Home Office
Workstation £750 If
your requirements
are Windows focused
rather than games, this
is even more powerfulSPECIFICATIONS
Four-core Intel Core i3-12100F processor •• 16GB
memory •• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics ••
500GB SSD •• Wi-Fi 6 •• 1x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port- • 1x HDMI port •• 2x DisplayPort •• 1x USB-C port •• 4x
USB 3.0 ports •• 3x USB 2.0 ports •• Windows 11 Home - • 412x200x396mm (HxWxD) •• Three-year warranty
http://www.snipca.com/41637
PC ❘ £750 from Chillblast http://www.snipca.com/41637
Chillblast Fusion Reaver
Visually appealing
The Chillblast Fusion Reaver is the first
desktop PC we’ve reviewed to go
head-to-head against our new favourite,
the Wired2Fire Ultima WS Home Office
Workstation, reviewed last issue. Both
PCs cost £750, but this model is a very
different proposition to Wired2Fire’s
Windows powerhouse.
Where Wired2Fire kept prices down by
excluding a pricey graphics card, and
spent the saving on a powerful processor,
the Chillblast Fusion Reaver takes the
opposite path.Here Chillblast has chosen to include
an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics
card, which sits at the bottom of Nvidia’s
graphics card line, but will still provide
more power to graphically intensive tasks
than you’d get in a PC that relies on the
processor alone. This becomes important
if you want to enjoy the most realistic
visuals when you’re taking your Cessna
out for a few hours in Microsoft Flight
Simulator.
If you were to try and buy one of theseGood all-round PC
for Windows tasks,
with plenty of graphics
power for games
11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631