Custom PC - UK (2020-02)

T

hePCSpecialistVortexIXisn’tthe
mostattractivelaptopwe’veseen.
Thelidandbasearemadefrom
plainmetal,thewristrestis litteredwith
stickersandthesideshavestrangeorange
accents.It weighs2.5kg,andit’sthethickest
laptopontesttoo.
Ontheplusside,it’skittedoutwitha Core
i9-9980HKCPUwitheightHyper-Threaded
cores– therestofthemachinesontesthave
6-corechips.TheCPUhasbaseandboost
speedsof2.4GHzand5GHz,withthatlatter
figurealsothebestontest.It’sjoinedbya
full-powerRTX 2070 GPU– thesameGPU
astheChillblast,whilethebootdriveis a
500GBSamsungSSDthatreturnedexcellent
readandwritespeeds,plusthere’s16GBof
2666MHzmemory.

PC SPECIALIST VORTEX IX

/£1,999inc VAT

SUPPLIER pcspecialist.co.uk

That extra CPU clock speed put the PC

Specialist 6,000 points ahead of all the

competition in our image editing test, and

those extra two cores put it nearly 200,000

points ahead of rivals in our Handbrake test as

well. It’s by far the fastest machine on test for

application performance.

Meanwhile, the PC Specialist’s 74fps and

68fps minimums in Shadow of the Tomb

Raider and Total War: Warhammer II outpace

the Chillblast, but the RTX 2080 Max-Q

machines are faster in those games and

the Chillblast is faster in Battlefield V. The

PC Specialist is still a fast gaming machine,

nevertheless. Practical features are solid

as well, with three full-sized USB 3 ports

and separate USB Type-C and Thunderbolt

connections.Yougetdual-bandWi-Fi6 too.

WherethePCSpecialiststartstofalteris

withitsscreen.Its240Hzrefreshratemeans

it’scapableofsmoothgamingathighframe

rates,buttheHPOmengoesonestepfurther

withG-Syncsupport.Qualityisn’tgreateither.

Thebrightnessof305cd/m²is comparatively

dim,andthecontrastratioof1,089:1is

middling– morevibrancycanbefound

elsewhere.ThedeltaE of1.81is reasonable,

e tureof7,908Kis too

tha slight

h copeither,

hismachine

ughthe

nd52°Care

oo,lasting

aywork

n gaming.

hicletunitwith

yping and

g,butits weak

asemakes

it toosoft for

serious gaming.

Conclusion

PCSpecialist’sbulkysystemsuffers

frominconsistentscreenqualityand

underwhelmingergonomics,butitsCore

i9CPUofferstremendouspowerandthe

RTX 2070 is fast.There’smorequalityand

gamingpoweravailableelsewhere,though,

sothismachineis onlysuitableif youreally

wantits8-coreCPU.

VERDICT

Lashings of CPU power and good gaming

speed, but the PC Specialist is noisy and

needs a better screen.

VORTEX

• 
  

  Incredible CPU pace

  
  


• 
  

  Good gaming power

  
  


• 
  

  240 Hz screen

  
  

ARTEX

• Loud, bulky and ugly


• Poor screen quality


• Keyboard feels
  too soft

PERFORMANCE

24 / 25

HARDWARE

17 / 25

DESIGN

16 / 25

VALUE

20 / 25

OVERALLSCORE

77 %

SPEC

CPU 2.4GHz Intel Core i9-9980HK

Memory 16GB 2666MHz DDR4

Graphics Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB

Screen 15.6in 1,920 x 1,080 IPS 240Hz

Storage 500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2

SSD, 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard disk

Networking Gigabit Ethernet,

dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi

Weight 2.5kg

Ports 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen

2 Type-C, 1 x Thunderbolt 3, 1 x mini-

DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI 2, 2 x audio jack

Dimensions (mm) 359 x 263 x 33 (W x D x H)

Operating system Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Extras Bluetooth 5

Warranty One year parts and labour. First month

collect and return, then return to base

e

butitscolourtempe tureof ,

chillyforworkandleavesgameswi

bluepall.Thespeakersaren’tmuch

soundingtinnyandlackingbass.

Theotherissueisfannoise– th

isoneoftheloudestontest,alt

CPUandGPUdeltaTsof54°Can

great.Batterylifeisreasonablet

justoverfourhoursinourever

test,andjustoveranhourwhen

Meanwhile,thekeyboardisa ch

a numberpadthat’sfinefort

casual gaming

ba

LABS TEST / GAMING LAPTOPS