This super-fast PC is the most powerful model that you have
found in such price range.
Processors and modern graphic cards mean that today’s gaming
PCs are better value than the previous model. If you purchase a hi-end PC at
present, you will hope for playing games with it for the next 3 or 5 years.
Palicomp Alpha
Inferno
Alpha Inferno Palicomp has good tech specs, with Intel Core
i5-3570K processor (overclocked 4.7GHz), XFX AMD Radeon HD 7950 (3GB of VRAM)
and 16GB of Patriot RAM (Patriot 2133MHz bus, 4 slots). It’s RAM’s huge
capacity that differentiates this PC from most of Core i5-3570K based gaming
systems. You may not need such specs to play games, but it is helpful for
audio/video production and virtual machine operation. It’s also a good way to
prepare for a future system. For years, our expected RAM capacity has increased
from 4GB to 8GB; Alpha Inferno’s 16GB will support the future computing when
software gets more complicated.
We are surely going to see Asus P8Z77-V LX mainboard of
Alpha Inferno in more OEM PCs than any kind of mainboard. There’s a reason: it’s
cheap and with a lot of features, including two PCI-E x16 slots, PCI-E x1 slots
– one of which is blocked by graphics card – and three PCI slots. It offers you
many capability of adding sound card, TV tuner and other accessories.
Regarding storage, a free internal USB 3.0 connector means
that you can add 2 fast USB ports on a backplane or adaptor panel in the front.
It lies on 3 USB connectors and existing outputs. For internal storage, there’re
3 empty SATA2 ports. Two SATA3 next to the mainboard are all connected to hard
drive, and Blu-ray drive uses one SATA2 port. You have considerable storage in
this system, with a 120GB SSD for both OS and some apps, and a 2TB HDD for
other data and apps.
While most of PC cases have some 5 ¼ in bays and some 3 ½ in
bays, Alpha Inferno case only has only one chain of 5 ¼ in bays, with shelves to
mount 3 ½ in or 2 ½ in drives. There’s a lot of space for long graphic cards
and edges are completed nicely, but the case lacks things to distance from system
sound. There’re also holes letting dust in, yet they are ugly. Luckily, the
system is not too noisy.
The front panel has some USB ports and one 3.5mm audio jack.
In the back, there’re 3 3.5mm stereo outputs for analog surround sound and 1 S/PDIF
optical output, along with Giga Ethernet, PS/2, 4x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0. The
graphic card is impressive, having 1x DVI, 1x HDMI and 2x mini DisplayPort
outputs.
This powerful PC
is clearly able to rival system sharing the same price.
This powerful PC is clearly able to rival system sharing the
same price. Although there were debates about whether the mainboard should rather
be equipped with more SATA2 or USB 3.0 ports or a nicer chassis instead of 8GB
of RAM. Regardless all, Alpha Inferno is still an excellent PC, gaining out
5-star rating.
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Info
·
RRP: 1,275
Technical
specs
·
Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K 4.7GHz
·
RAM: 16GB
·
Storage: 2TB HDD + 120GB SSD
·
Graphic card: 3GB AMD Radeon HD 7950
·
Optical drive: BD-ROM, DVD+/-RW+/-DL
·
OS: Windows 8
·
Size: 420x172x480mm
·
Power consumption: 3W (standby), 91W (idle), 280 (processing)
·
Warranty: RTB 3 years
·
Overall Windows scores: 134
·
Multi-tasking: 142
·
Dirt Showdown: 89.5fps
·
Runtime: 41.2fps
Verdict
·
This super-fast PC is the most powerful model that you have
found in such price range.
·
Ratings: 5/5
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