It’s deliciously ironic that our
first gaming PC from Overclockers UK isn’t overclocked, nor is its 3.1GHz Intel
Core i5-3450 overclockable.
It is, however, by far the least expensive
PC here, although you’ll still need to budget for a monitor, keyboard and
mouse.
The CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 graphics
card may be considerably slower than the competition, but this PC turned in
some respectable performance scores. We recorded 5,507 points in PCMark 7, and
gaming frame rates that are high enough to play most games at 1920x1080 pixels,
albeit at lower quality settings. Only in Sniper Elite V2 at the game’s Ultra
quality setting did the Overclockers system produce unplayable frame rates.
Overclockers
UK Primo GTX 660
Windows 8 Edition
To put all this into perspective, you’ll
get around 80 percent of the PCMark performance achieved by Computer Planet’s
chart-leading i7 Extreme Gaming PC for a third of the price.
You do, however, miss out on some important
features. A small and not particularly quick 60GB Intel 330 SSD is included,
and the hard drive offers a relatively meagre 500GB capacity. You’re likely to
run into disk space issues with this system, and should expect to have to
carefully manage your use of the SSD.
the
Intel SSD 330
The Gigabyte H61MA-D2V motherboard is less
powerful than the Z77 Express based boards found in every other system. It also
lacks many functions - not just in the realm of overclocking, but also in the
terms of upgradability and built-in features. It’s a micro-ATX board with
precious little room for expansion and no support for the 6 gigabits per second
(Gbps) SATA speeds offered by both the installed drives, although USB 3.0 is
included.
The
Intel Z77 Express chipset
The Xigmatek Asgard II midi tower case is
small and rather basic. It looks somewhat unimpressive when stood next to the
competition, but the case is appropriate for a system that doesn’t require any
special cooling when operating at full speed.
The
Xigmatek Asgard II midi tower case
Blu-ray support is another victim of
cost-cutting, and has been bumped in favour of a cheaper DVD writer.
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Information
·
Price: $965
·
Contact: www.overclockers.co.uk
·
Model: Primo GTX 660 Windows 8 Edition
·
Processor: 3.1GHz Intel Core i5-3450K
·
CPU cooler: Standard Intel cooler
·
Memory: 8GB DDR3 1,600MHz
·
Storage: 60GB Intel SSD + 500GB Seagate HDD
·
Power supply: 400W PC Power & Cooling
Silencer MK III
·
Motherboard: Gigabyte H61MA-D2V
·
External USB ports: 2x USB 3.0, 8x USB 2.0
·
Display: Not supplied
·
Graphics card: Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 660
Windforce 2X, 2GB VRAM
·
Sound: Onboard
·
Networking: Gigabit ethernet
·
Other ports: DVI, D-Sub
·
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II
·
Keyboard & mouse: Not supplied
·
Optical drive: Overclockers DVD ± RW
·
Operating system: Windows 8
·
Extras: None
·
Case dimensions: 185x475x408mm
·
Warranty: 2-year collect-and-return
Verdict
·
PCMark 7 score: 5,507
·
Hard Reset: 108, 91
·
Lost Planet 2: 71, 56
·
Stalker CoP: 180, 84
·
Alien vs Predator: 82, 43
·
Sniper Elite V2: 62, 16
·
If you love games, but would rather not empty
your bank account to buy a gaming PC, the Primo GTX 660 offers the best value
for money in this round-up.
·
Build: 3.5/5
·
Features: 2/5
·
Performance: 3/5
·
Value: 4.5/5
·
Overall: 4/5
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