Palicomp Alpha Blade review

The first Windows 8 PC we've seen from Palicomp is a no-nonsense powerhouse. Its Intel Core i5-3570K processor is overclocked to 4.6GHz, and the PC even has an overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card.
Unfortunately, it's not a pretty PC, certainly not compared to the Windows 8 machines we’ve seen from companies such as Wired2Fire and Scan. The Thermaltake case has rather too much cheap-feeling plastic and glossy strips to look particularly classy. The case doesn’t have any soundproofing, either, and the PC makes a slight rushing sound, which seems to come mainly from the graphics card.

The case isn’t a problem from a practical point of view, though. You get five free 3 1/2in drive bays and two 5 1/4in models for expansion. There's also a SATA docking connector on the top of the case, which means you can plug a 3.5in hard disk straight in. This is useful for transferring files from your old PC's disk. While there's nothing to obstruct airflow and all the PC's cables are neatly tied up in bunches, they're not hidden behind a false side panel as in some of the neater PCs we've seen.

The PC's motherboard is the same Asus P8Z77-V LX we saw in Wired2Fire's Windows 8 Diablo Predator. This means you get a fairly modest selection of ports on the rear, including four USB, two USB3 and 5.1 analogue audio outputs and optical S/PDIF. The front of the case has two USB ports, but unfortunately no USB3, although you could always add another USB3 port using a backplate and the header on the motherboard. There are three PCI expansion slots and a spare PCI Express x16 slot, which you could also use for PCI Express x1 or x4 cards.

The motherboard's 120GB boot SSD and large 2TB hard disk take up both of the board's SATA3 ports, while two of the SATA2 ports are taken up by the Blu-ray reader/DVD rewriter drive and top-mounted hard disk dock. This leaves a couple of SATA2 ports for extra storage.


APPLICATION PERFORMANCE
The processor's Intel Core i5-3570K processor has been overclocked to 4.6GHz. That’s a hefty overclock, if not as sky-high as the Wired2Fire Diablo Predator's 4.7GHz. The chip’s kept cool by a large Thermaltake processor cooler, and 148 in our application benchmarks puts this PC right at the top of our performance charts.
The Alpha Blade is also very quick in games. The Radeon HD 7950 graphics card may be large, need two PCI Express power connectors and make a bit of a whoosh, but you can't argue with its gaming performance. The card’s been overclocked from the standard 800MHz to 950MHz, which led to a smooth 36.1fps in our demanding Crysis 2 test, which we ran at 1,920x1,080 with Ultra detail and the high-resolution texture pack installed.
GAMING PERFORMANCE
We couldn’t get our normal Dirt 3 test to run under Windows 8 (previous tests of the Radeon HD 7950 have shown 90fps in this benchmark), so we switched to the more modern Dirt Showdown. This is a much more challenging benchmark than Dirt 3, but even at 1,920x1,080, 4x anti-aliasing and Ultra detail the Alpha Blade managed 41.1fps in this test. This PC will have no problems with current-generation games at maximum settings, and the power supply's twin eight-pin power connectors and rated 850W capacity means you won't have a problem if you need to upgrade the graphics card in the future.
MONITOR
Games certainly look great on the PC's Asus VS247H display, thanks to the high brightness levels and punchy contrast of its TN panel. Its gloss chassis also makes it look smarter than many budget screens, and it has a useful tilt adjustment on its stand. Horizontal viewing angles are wide, but there's some distinct colour shift when you move vertically, so you'll need that tilt adjustment.
The monitor could display 98.4% of the sRGB colour gamut before calibration, and 98.8% after we'd run our Dispcalgui calibration program with a Spyder4Express colour calibrator. However, we weren’t so convinced in our subjective tests, where reds had a slight orange hue. It's a fun monitor to use, but we've seen better overall image quality from IPS panels such as the AOC i2352Vh included with the Wired2Fire Diablo Predator and Scan Value G31.
CONCLUSION
Palicomp's first Windows 8 PC may not look particularly posh, but it gets the internals right. It's a seriously powerful PC with excellent desktop and graphics performance, as well as a useful 2TB of storage for your files. If you’re after a better monitor and smarter chassis we'd recommend the Scan Value G31, but if performance is all, the Alpha Blade is the PC to buy.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	IVY8
Review Date	13 Oct 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor external bus	100MHz
Processor multiplier	x46
Processor clock speed	4.6GHz
Processor socket	LGA1155
Memory	8
Memory type	DDR3
Maximum memory	32GB
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LX
Motherboard chipset	Intel Z77 Express

Ports
USB2 ports (front/rear)	2/6
Firewire ports (front/rear)	0/0
eSATA ports (front/rear)	0/0
Wired network ports	1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support	none

Internal Expansion
Case	midi tower
PCI-E x1 slots (free)	2 (1)
PCI-E x16 slots (free)	2 (1)
Free Serial ATA ports	2
Free memory slots	0
Free 3.5in drive bays	4

Hard Disk
Hard disk model(s)	OCZ Agility 3 + Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001
Interface	SATA3 + SATA2
Total storage capacity	2,168GB

Graphics
Graphics card(s)	AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB
Graphics/video ports	DVI, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort

Sound
Sound	Realtek HD Audio
Sound outputs	5.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out
Speakers	none

Removable Drives
Supported memory cards	none
Optical drive type(s)	BD-ROM, DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Display
Viewable size	24 in
Screen model	Asus VS247H
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Screen inputs	DVI, VGA, HDMI

Other Hardware
Keyboard	Logitech Wireless Desktop MK260
Mouse	Logitech M210

Software
Software included	none
Operating system restore option	Windows 8 disc

Buying Information
Warranty	three years RTB
Price	£1,000
Supplier	http://www.palicomp.co.uk
Details	www.palicomp.co.uk