22 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
AMDFINDINGSUCHgreat success with its
third-generationRyzen CPU chips also seems
tobebringingoutthebestinpre-builtsystems:
Palicomp’s AMD Navigator is the third Best
Buy-winning, Ryzen-powered desktopto grace
these pages in as many months.
Specifically,itu ses the same mid-range
Ryzen 63600X as the PC Specialist Inferno R1
(Shopper380), butoverclocked from 3.8GHz
to 4.3GHz. It also sharesaGPU with the CCL
Paladin (Shopper381), the 8GB Radeon RX
5700 XT,along with an up-to-dateX570
motherboard, 512GB SSD and 240mm
all-in-one CPU watercooler.That’s alot of
PC for£1,250, and it’s all wrapped up in a
refreshingly unusual case,too.
WHITEONC UE
The snowychassis, aCorsair iCUE 220T RGB
White, isn’t perfect; it only has an unambitious
total of two 2.5in drive bays and two 3.5in
bays, forinstance.However ,its metal frame is
solid and sturdy,with adistinct look that
plays intopracticality as well. The front panel,
chiefly ,isc overed in strikingV-shaped vents,
which allowforplenty of cooling airto be
sucked inby the three intakefans.
There’s also just the right amountof
illumination. The frontfans are all RGB-lit, as
are the two 8GB sticksof RAM, but other than
adash of solid colour lighting on the graphics
card and AIO pump,that’s it. Theyjazz up the
AMD Navigator enoughto avoid looking dull,
but without veering intounsightly tackiness.
Performance is the bigger star.Ins etting
the Ryzen 53600X to 4.3GHz,Palicomp is in
essence sacrificing 100MHzof the maximum
PALICOMPAMDNavigator
★★★★★
£1,250•From http://www.palicomp.co. uk
VERDICT
BoththeCPUandGPUshineinthisversatileand
eye-catchingPC,whichisprettygoodvalue,too
DESKTOPGAMING PC
SPECIFICATIONS
Windowsoverall
Multitasking
DirtShowdown
Metro:LastLight
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
Seepage84f orperformancedetails
PROCESSORHexa-core4. 3GHzAMDRyzen52600X•
RAM16GBDDR4•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB3•REAR
USBPORTS4xUSB3,2xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•GRAPHICS
CARD8GBAMDRadeon RX5700XT•STORAGE512GB
SSD,2TBharddisk•DISPLAYNone•OPER ATING
SYSTEMWindows 10Home•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB
- DETAILSwww.palicomp.co.uk•PARTCO DERYZ8
boost clock speed in orderto stayfaster in
heavily multithreaded tasks, and it’satactic
that paysoff:ino ur benchmark suite’s
video-encoding and multitaskingtests, the
AMD Navigator scored 268 and 335, both
higher than the stock clocked Inferno R1.
The two PCs were alsoeven in the image-
editing test, with 186, so targeting 4.3GHz
insteadof 4.4GHz doesn’t change single-core
power as much as you’d think. Overall, the
AMD Navigator scored 288to the Inferno R1’s
267,amodest but worthwhile improvement.
Crucially,the overclock is stable,and the
watercooler doesafine job of keeping CPU
temperature in check: at maximum load, the
processor was staying around 74°C, which
isn’t even closeto overheating.
Judgingby how close the AMD Navigator’s
gaming performance isto the CCLPaladin, this
CPU tweak has had only the tiniestof impacts
on how it enables the GPU, but we suspect the
RX 5700 XT would do well either way. In Dirt
Showdown,runningatUltraquality,Palicomp’s
PC cruisedto 188fps at 1,920x1,080, only
droppingto 185fps at 2,560x1,440 andeven
averaging 110fps at 3,840x2,160.
It comfortably dealt with Metro: Last Light
Redux as well. Using theVery High preset with
SSAAenabled,itaveraged95fpsat1,920x1,080,
57fps at 2,560x1,440 and 26fps at 3,840x2,160,
so only 4K provesaproblem. Simply disabling
SSAA bumps this upto aplayable 51fps,
althoughforextra slickness you mayalso
want to drop downto High quality,for 72fps.
THINKINGAHEAD
With aperfect SteamVRPerformanceTest
score of 11, the AMD Navigator is well
preparedfordemanding gamesof all varieties.
It’s notably better at running high-intensity
titles such as Metro than the Inferno R1, as
that hasaless powerful GPU in its GeForce
RTX2060 Super.The AMD Navigator is also a
lot cheaper than thePaladin, although that
has abrawnierRyzen 73700X processor and
agigantic 1TB SSDto make upforit.
Not that the 512GB SSD here will make you
feel short-changed. It’s twice the sizeof the
Inferno R1’s, and is accompaniedby a2TB
hard diskforeven more capacity.It’s not
breathtakinglyfast –ASS SD recorded a
sequential read speedof 1,696MB/s and a
sequential writespeed of 920MB/s–but it’s
speedy enoughto avoid long load times.
If PCI-E 4.0 SSDsever become more
affordable,you could potentially add one in,
as the X570 motherboard andRyzen 3000
CPU combination enables such an upgrade.
There’s alsoaspare PCI-E x16 slot, three PCI-E
x1 slots, one empty M.2 slot and two RAM
slots foryou to fill, should youfeel the need.
SOUNDSTERLING
Connectivity is good,too, as while there are
only two USB3 ports on the front panel, the
rear paneloffers plenty more: two USB3.1
ports, four USB3 ports andaUSB Type-C port,
to be exact. There’s no Wi-Fi, unfortunately,
but there isatrusty Gigabit Ethernet port, and
hi-fi enthusiasts will appreciatethe inclusion
of optical S/PDIF,rear speaker and side
speaker outputs. The same panel alsotosses
in aPS/2 socketforolder peripherals, while
video outputs come in theform of one HDMI
and three DisplayPort connectors.
Powerful forthe moneyand devoidof
seriousfaults, the AMD Navigator is yet
anothertop-notchRyzen desktop.It’s £50
more than the Inferno R1, butforthis you
get areliable CPUoverclock,abetter GPU,
more SSD space andanewer motherboard
chipset, so the choice should be obvious.
JamesArcher
288
96fps
188f ps
335
