Palicomp Alpha Fury review

The Palicomp Alpha Fury is a great looking PC, thanks to the Cooler Master K350 case, that's also incredibly well balanced and capable of making the most of any task.
As we've come to expect from PC's at this price, a Core i5-3570K lies at the heart of the PC. This model has been overclocked from the standard 3.4GHz to a respectable 4.4GHz. With an overall score of 123 in our benchmark tests, this PC is certainly fast enough for any job.

Palicomp has fitted 8GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM in two modules. Again, that's as much as most people with ever need, but should you have an interest in particularly memory-intensive tasks, there are two vacant memory slots ready for upgrading.
It's gaming that this PC is particularly well suited to, thanks to the 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7850 graphics card. It's an excellent gaming graphics card, achieving smoothly playable frame rates of 73.9fps in Dirt Showdown running at Ultra quality at a resolution of 1,920x,1080 and 29.7fps in Crysis 2, running using Ultra quality settings at a Full HD resolution. The Crysis 2 score is borderline smooth, but drop the detail settings a little and you'll get much smoother frame rates and still have gorgeous-looking game.
We're pleased to say that the quality components continue inside the case, with an Asus P8Z77-V LX2 motherboard. This will be familiar to anyone who regularly reads our PC reviews. It's a generally excellent motherboard with two PCI slots, two PCI-E x1 slots and two PCI-E x16 slots, one of which is occupied by a graphics card and the other of which actually runs at x4, so it's better for expansion cards. The graphics card also blocks one of the PCI-E x1 slots, but there's still plenty of room for expansion.

The motherboard also has four SATA2 ports and two SATA3 ports. One of each is in use, connected to the DVD drive and 1TB hard disk respectively. There's plenty of room to add more storage when you want it, too, with six vacant 3.5in drive bays and two unused 5.25in bays. The drive cages are fixed in place, though, so the very longest graphics cards on the market could be a very tight fit indeed, even though the powerful-but-garish 750W gold CIT PSU could easily power them.
The case's front panel provides one USB port and one USB3 port, which is great as this fast connector is arguably more useful at the front of the PC, and 3.5mm mic and headphone ports. At the back, you'll find another six USB ports, two of them USB3, along with a pair of PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, Gigabit Ethernet and three 3.5mm audio ports for 5.1 analogue surround sound.

The supplied mouse and keyboard are budget Cherry set. They're not much to look at, but they're comfortable to use, despite the odd angularity of the mouse. The keyboard’s one of the better low-cost ones, with a decent layout and a responsive feel.
It's good to see a large monitor, with the 24in, Full HD Asus VS247H. It's got a decent range of inputs, too, with HDMI, DVI and VGA providing enough for you to hook up your PC and any other devices, such as a games console.
We measured its contrast ratio at an excellent 1,144:1, which was borne out in our image tests, as we could see fine detail in even the darkest parts of our test photos. Uncalibrated, the monitor isn't as good as some others and we measured it as only producing 87.5 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. We didn't see any particular colour problems in our tests, although the display is a little cold to look at.
All-in-all, Palicomp has put together a very powerful PC and the Alpha Fury is brilliant for games and Windows applications alike. It's well-built and was very quiet in our tests, too. While the 24in display is good to see, it's not as good as the 23in Iiyama IPS screen that comes with the Chillblast Fusion Sprite. If you want a monitor with your PC, the Fusion Sprite is a slightly better choice, although you'll have to sacrifice a little gaming performance; if you have a monitor you can already use, the Alpha Fury is a great buy for the PC only.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	IVY12
Review Date	8 Jun 2013
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor external bus	100MHz (DMI)
Processor multiplier	x44
Processor clock speed	4.4GHz
Processor socket	LGA1155
Memory	8
Memory type	PC3-12800
Maximum memory	32GB
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LX2
Motherboard chipset	Intel Z77

Ports
USB2 ports (front/rear)	2/6
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	4
Free memory slots	2
Free 3.5in drive bays	6

Hard Disk
Hard disk model(s)	Western Digital Blue (WD10EZEX-00RKKA0)
Interface	SATA3

Graphics
Graphics card(s)	2GB AMD Radeon HD 7850
Graphics/video ports	2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

Sound
Sound	Realtek ALC887
Sound outputs	5.1 line out, headphone, microphone
Speakers	none

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

Display
Viewable size	23.6 in
Screen model	Asus VS247H
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Screen inputs	HDMI, DVI, VGA

Other Hardware
Keyboard	Cherry KU-0556
Mouse	Cherry M-5400

Software
Operating system	Windows 8
Operating system restore option	Windows disc

Buying Information
Warranty	three years RTB
Price	£700
Details	www.palicomp.co.uk

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PC Specialist Vanquish 650Ti review

PC Specialist's first Windows 8 PC has bang-up-to-date hardware, with an Intel Core i5-3570K processor that's been overclocked to 4.4GHz, the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti graphics card and an SSD for super-fast boot speeds.

The PC looks rather snazzy on the outside, thanks to the tasteful blue details on the front of its Cooler Master case. Inside, it's less attractive, with plain grey metal that doesn't have any sharp edges but lacks the pleasing finishes found in more expensive cases. Nonetheless, it's well-designed and fairly dust-proof, even though there's a wide grille in the side panel. The case's sound proofing is less effective, although it does help cut out some of the disconcerting whining from the CPU cooler. There's only a single case fan installed at the rear, with space for two more at the front and sides of the PC's case.
The 450W power supply is a generic model, which is fine for the PC's current components but we wouldn’t trust to power any significant graphics card upgrades. The PC has both a 128GB SSD drive that ensures fast boot speeds and a 1TB hard disk for extra storage. There's also a Blu-ray drive and a multi-format memory card reader that handles all the popular card formats and provides an extra USB port on the front - there are two more USB ports on the front panel alongside the 3.5mm headphone and mic ports.

Even with so many storage options, there's plenty of room for expansion inside the case, with three free 3 1/2in bays and two empty 5 1/4in bays. On the motherboard, although both of the SATA3 ports and one of the SATA2 ports are in use, there are still three free SATA2 ports. There are also three vacant PCI slots, as well as one accessible PCI-E x1 slot (the other is blocked by the graphics card) and a spare PCI-E x16 slot that actually runs at x4 speed.
Two of the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard's four memory slots are in use, each containing a 4GB module running at 1,600MHz. 8GB of RAM is plenty for Windows 8, and the motherboard can take up to 32GB if you need more. At the back of the motherboard you'll find two USB3 ports, four USB2 ports, a PS/2 port, Gigabit Ethernet, an optical S/PDIF port for digital audio and 5.1 analogue audio outputs.



The graphics card, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti with 2GB of memory, has two DVI ports and two HDMI ports. It managed a frame rate of 24.5fps in Crysis 2 at 1,920x1,080 and Ultra quality - very slightly jerky, but easy to turn into a smooth gaming experience with just a few tweaks to the game's settings. In our application benchmarks, which test image-editing, video-encoding and multitasking power, the PC's overclocked processor helped it to an impressive overall score of 147 - this is one of the quickest PCs we've seen.
The matte finish 23.6in AOC E2450SWDA monitor has impressive image quality, with even, natural colours. The PC comes with a no-frills Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse set. They’re functional and comfortable to use, but nothing special.
The Vanquish 650Ti is one of the best PCs you can get at this price and was in strong contention for an award. However, although it has faster boot speeds, its gaming performance didn’t quite match that of the Chillblast Fusion Blaze, which just pips it to a Best Buy award.

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Wired2Fire Diablo Ultima review

The Wired2Fire Diablo Ultima has many of the ingredients you'd expect from a modern performance PC, with an overclocked Core i5-3570K processor, good build quality and Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system. The AOC i2352Vh monitor is one of our favourites, too, with a 23.6in matte-finish IPS screen and outstanding image quality. It's not a touchscreen, though, so you'll need either a second display or an alternative monitor if you want to take advantage of Windows 8's touch-optimised features.

The i5-3570K processor has been overclocked to an impressive 4.6GHz, which gives it enough of a power boost to produce an overall score of 146 in our application benchmarks. This high score translates to a real-world ability to run any application you'll need smoothly, even if your requirements include heavy-duty multitasking or virtualisation. The 1GB PNY Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 graphics card isn't amazingly powerful but it's certainly competent. In Crysis 2 at 1,920x1,080 and Ultra quality we saw 16fps, which is nowhere near smooth enough to play, but once we dropped the game's quality settings to Very High we saw a much smoother average frame rate of 27fps. The graphics card has two DVI ports and a Mini HDMI port for up to three monitors.
The PC's motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-V LX, which is a common board among system builders. It has three free PCI slots, two PCI-E x16 slots, one of which is free but runs at x4 speed, and two PCI-E x1 slots, one of which is blocked by the graphics card. Two of the four memory slots are fitted with 4GB RAM modules running at 1,600MHz. 8GB of RAM is plenty for current applications, but the other two memory slots are easily accessible and the motherboard can handle a maximum 32GB of memory.

There are a total of six SATA ports, of which two are SATA3. Both are currently in use, but that still leaves three empty SATA2 ports if you need to add extra storage. Currently, the Diablo Ultima has a 120GB SSD system drive for fast boot speeds and a 1TB HDD for storage, as well as a Blu-ray reader. There's plenty of space for more hard disks, memory card readers or optical drives if you want them, with four empty 3 1/2in internal bays, an empty 3 1/2in external bay and three unused 5 1/4in bays.


The case itself is robust and reasonably proofed against dust and fluff. The system is fairly quiet thanks to a good choice of components, although the perforated side panel doesn't block much sound. There are two USB ports on the front panel, along with the usual 3.5mm headphone and mic ports. The back of the motherboard gives you two USB3 ports, four USB2 ports, a PS/2 port, Gigabit Ethernet, an optical S/PDIF output for digital audio and 5.1 analogue surround sound.

The PC's keyboard is unbranded, and while it is made of rather rough plastic and its keys are a bit rattly, it's easy enough to type on. The Logitech mouse is definitely a budget option but is entirely comfortable to use.
This is an excellent PC and came very close to winning our coveted Best Buy award. Its graphics card is underpowered compared to that of similarly-priced rivals, such as the Chillblast Fusion Blaze, but if you prioritise fast boot speeds and an excellent monitor over gaming power, the Diablo Ultima could still be the PC for you.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	Diablo Ultima
Review Date	24 Oct 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor external bus	100MHz (DMI)
Processor multiplier	x46
Processor clock speed	4.6GHz
Processor socket	LGA1155
Memory	8
Memory type	PC3-12800
Maximum memory	32GB
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LX
Motherboard chipset	Intel Z77

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	3
Free memory slots	2
Free 3.5in drive bays	5

Hard Disk
Hard disk model(s)	Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD + Hitachi HDS721010DLE630
Interface	SATA3 + SATA2
Total storage capacity	1,120GB

Graphics
Graphics card(s)	1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
Graphics/video ports	2x DVI, 1x mini HDMI

Sound
Sound	Realtek ALC887
Sound outputs	5.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out, line out, mic in
Speakers	none

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

Display
Viewable size	23.6 in
Screen model	AOC i2352Vh
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Screen inputs	HDMI, DVI, VGA

Other Hardware
Keyboard	LK-890
Mouse	Logitech B110

Software
Software included	none
Operating system	Windows 8
Operating system restore option	Windows disc

Buying Information
Warranty	two years RTB
Price	£799
Details	www.wired2fire.co.uk

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Chillblast Fusion Blaze review

The Fusion Blaze from Chillblast is a powerful and well-built Windows 8 system. At £800, it occupies the middle ground between high performance and realistic pricing for a family PC. Chillblast has equipped it accordingly, with more modest components than you'd find in a full-on enthusiast PC. The Intel Core i5-3570K processor is the same powerful CPU that you'll find in many of our favourite performance systems. It has a significant overclock, too, bringing it up to a speed of 4.5GHz from the stock 3.4GHz. This helped the PC to an excellent overall score of 144 in our application benchmarks.

The graphics card is an overclocked 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 OC from Palit. The GTX 660 is an unassuming-looking card which isn’t as powerful as the GTX 660 Ti version, but it's still no slouch; we saw a smooth 30fps in Crysis 2 at 1,920x1,080 and Ultra detail, demonstrating that it's easily able to handle all the latest 3D games. The card has two DVI ports, an HDMI port and DisplayPort, and you can connect monitors to all three for triple-screen gaming; you'll have to drop the resolution and detail levels, though.
The PC's 700W power supply is generic rather than branded, but should nonetheless pack enough power to support significant upgrades. There's certainly plenty of scope to do so. The Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard is a budget model, but it's an ATX motherboard with three PCI slots and two PCI-E x1 slots - one of which is blocked by the graphics card's cooler. There are also two PCI-E x16 slots, but the bottom slot only runs at x4 speed.

There are six SATA ports, two of which are SATA3. There are three free SATA2 ports and one free SATA3 port. The PC has a Blu-ray drive and a 2TB hard disk. We were surprised to find that the Fusion Blaze – unlike most similarly priced systems - doesn’t have an SSD. Although this means that its boot speeds aren’t as fast as computers with a solid state system drive, Windows 8’s own improvements to boot times still make it feel fast. You also won’t benefit from the quicker read/write speeds of an SSD, but the 2TB hard disk gives you plenty of room to install software and means that you won’t have to juggle with the install locations of your favourite games and applications, as you do with small SSDs. If you want to upgrade later, there's lots of room for more drives, with two free 5 1/4in bays, one external 3 1/2in bay and five unused internal 3 1/2in bays. There are two vacant memory slots on the board, too, with the others each holding a 1,333MHz 4GB memory module.


At the front of the case are two USB ports - one USB3 and one USB2, plus 3.5mm mic and headphone ports. At the back are two more USB3 ports and four USB2 ports, as well as a PS/2 port for a keyboard or mouse. There are three 3.5mm stereo ports for 5.1 analogue surround sound, as well as an optical S/PDIF output and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The case itself is sturdy and well made, although not all the air vents have fine mesh covers to keep dust out. The system is remarkably quiet, thanks to high-quality processor and case fans.

The supplied Cherry keyboard is big and ugly, but its keys feel responsive. The mouse looks similarly old-fashioned but also does the job effectively, despite a somewhat loose scroll wheel. The monitor - a matte-finish 23in Iiyama ProLite X2377HDS - has an even backlight and produces natural colours and blacks.
The Fusion Blaze's sole disadvantage is its lack of an SSD. If you feel that you absolutely need the faster boot times and responsiveness an SSD can bring, then Wired2Fire’s excellent Diablo Ultima and PC Specialist’s Vanquish 650Ti both have fast 120GB solid state drives in addition to large hard disks, but this comes at the cost of gaming performance. In the end, in the face of very stiff competition, the Fusion Blaze's great gaming performance, raw processor power and room for expansion earn it a Best Buy award.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	Fusion Blaze
Review Date	19 Oct 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor external bus	100MHz (DMI)
Processor multiplier	x45
Processor clock speed	4.5GHz
Processor socket	LGA1155
Memory	8
Memory type	PC3-10666
Maximum memory	32GB
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LX
Motherboard chipset	Intel Z77

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	4
Free memory slots	2
Free 3.5in drive bays	6

Hard Disk
Hard disk model(s)	Seagate Barracuda (ST2000DM001-9YN164)
Interface	SATA2
Total storage capacity	2,000GB

Graphics
Graphics card(s)	2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 OC
Graphics/video ports	2x DVI, 2x DisplayPort

Sound
Sound outputs	5.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out, line out, mic in
Speakers	none

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

Display
Viewable size	23 in
Screen model	Iiyama ProLite X2377HDS
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Screen inputs	HDMI, DVI, VGA

Other Hardware
Keyboard	Cherry KU-0556
Mouse	Cherry M-5400

Software
Software included	none
Operating system	Windows 8
Operating system restore option	Windows disc

Buying Information
Warranty	two years collect and return
Price	£799
Details	www.chillblast.com

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Scan Value G31 review

The Value G31 is certainly the best-looking computer we've seen in a while. Its black-and-white NZXT case lends the G31 a class we don't often see in a desktop PC, and is ideal for showing off Microsoft's flashy new Windows 8 operating system.
Things are just as impressive inside. We don't often see PCs that are untidy behind their side panels, but rarely is everything so neatly routed as in the Value G31. It's also full of good-quality branded components, such as a 600W Corsair power supply, OCZ SSD, EVGA graphics card and an enormous Thermalright processor cooler. There's more cooling than in many PCs, thanks to an extra top-mounted 120mm fan to supplement the standard rear 120mm model, and it's a quiet computer.

Like all the Windows 8 PCs we've seen so far, the G31 has an Intel processor. The Core i5-3570K is the most popular Ivy Bridge chip among PC manufacturers, and it isn’t hard to see why. It's a fast processor out of the box, and its unlocked multiplier means it’s ripe for overclocking. Scan has pushed this one up to 4.5GHz, which is a respectable rather than spectacular overclock, but a score of 148 overall in our benchmarks shows that the G31 will have absolutely no problem with any desktop Windows application, and its 8GB of RAM is plenty for multitasking.
The PC's graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, which is running 66MHz faster than the card's stock 980MHz. The added megahertz led to an extra 3fps in our 1,920x1,080 Ultra detail Crysis 2 test compared to our tests of the stock GTX 660, which pushed the game into playable 30fps territory. Our Dirt 3 benchmark doesn't currently run under Windows 8, so for a second game test we ran Dirt Showdown. This is a newer title that’s much more technically challenging than Dirt 3; at 1,920x1,080, 4x anti-aliasing and Ultra detail we only saw 24.5fps, which is too jerky to be properly playable. However, setting the detail to High gave us 119.7fps, so you don’t have to worry too much about playable the latest games at decent detail settings.

The graphics card gives you plenty of choice when it comes to connecting monitors, with twin DVI outputs and HDMI and DisplayPort sockets. The motherboard's rear panel has a generous assortment of four USB and four USB3 sockets, and there are USB and USB3 ports on the front panel. Scan has fitted a high-quality Asus Xonar DG sound card to the PC; this gives you 5.1 audio outputs as well as optical S/PDIF, and has a built-in headphone amplifier to help your cans sound their best. A dedicated sound card can make a significant difference to how much you enjoy music and games, and it’s good to see one included.
The PC's storage is taken care of with a 120GB SSD boot disk and a 1TB mechanical hard disk for your files. The combination of an SSD, a modern UEFI BIOS and Windows 8 leads to very fast boot times; Windows 8 was fully booted just 16 seconds after we pressed the PC's power button. We're used to seeing Blu-ray readers in PCs of this price, but the Value G31 makes do with a simple DVD rewriter.


If you’d like to upgrade the storage, there's plenty of room inside the PC. You get two free 5 1/4in drive bays and six free 3 1/2in bays, and there are three free SATA2 ports for your storage. SATA2’s quick enough for normal hard disks but not SSDs. There are two spare USB headers to add another four USB ports using backplates, and a couple of free memory slots. The dedicated sound card consumes one of the two spare PCI slots, but there are also a couple of free PCI Express x1 slots and a spare PCI Express x16 slot, which can also take PCI Express x1 and x4 cards.

Scan hasn't skimped on the PC's peripherals, either. The Logitech MK120 bundle is a perfectly acceptable wired keyboard and mouse set, and we're fans of the AOC i2352Vh monitor. This is a 23in IPS panel with a 1,920x1,080 resolution, and has both impressive colour accuracy and wide viewing angles. Out of the box, our Dispcalgui calibration software reported slightly too much green in the picture, but this was easily fixed and once calibrated the monitor came within 97.2% of the sRGB colour gamut.
Scan's Value G31 is a classy PC with a great-looking case and high-quality components. It's also quick in desktop tasks and has reasonable gaming performance and a useful dedicated sound card. It’s just pipped to the post among the Windows 8 PCs we've seen by the Palicomp Alpha Blade thanks to that PC's faster graphics and 2TB of storage. However, the Palicomp PC doesn’t have such a classy case and has a slightly inferior monitor, so if games aren’t so important to you the Value G31’s a great buy.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	Value G31
Review Date	14 Oct 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K
Processor external bus	100MHz
Processor multiplier	x45
Processor clock speed	4.5GHz
Processor socket	LGA1155
Memory	8
Memory type	DDR3
Maximum memory	32GB
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
Motherboard chipset	Intel Z77 Express

Ports
USB2 ports (front/rear)	2/8
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)	3 (2)
PCI-E x16 slots (free)	2 (1)
Free Serial ATA ports	3
Free memory slots	2
Free 3.5in drive bays	6

Hard Disk
Hard disk model(s)	OCZ Vertex Plus SSD + Seagate ST1000DM003-9YN162
Interface	SATA3 + SATA2
Total storage capacity	1,120GB

Graphics
Graphics card(s)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
Graphics/video ports	2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

Sound
Sound	Asus Xonar DG
Sound outputs	5.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out
Speakers	none

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

Display
Viewable size	23 in
Screen model	AOC i2352Vh
Native resolution	1,920x1,080
Screen inputs	DVI, VGA, HDMI

Other Hardware
Keyboard	Logitech MK120
Mouse	Logitech MK120

Software
Software included	none
Operating system restore option	Windows 8 disc

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

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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

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