PC Specialist Inferno X1

Item: PC Specialist Inferno X1
Author: Mason Lyons

Written by Mason Lyons

January 31, 2020 | 09:00

Tags: #pc #prebuilt #system

Performance Analysis

Having a Ryzen 9 3900X and GeForce RTX 2070 Super in the same system leads to a well-balanced PC with respect to content creation and gaming. The extra core-and-thread muscle is most evident in HandBrake video encoding and Cinebench, where this machine batters the Core i9-9900K in the significantly dearer Corsair One i64. It does so without using much extra power, showing that a 650W PSU is more than sufficient for a premium rig like this one.

As only one of two systems to feature PCIe 4.0 compatibility through the X570 chipset and 3rd Gen Ryzen processor, it makes a lot of sense to have the 1TB Corsair MP600 in situ. Sequential throughput is about 50 percent better than a reasonable PCIe 3.0 drive in an Intel system, and those extra GB/s may well come in useful for digital content creators used to moving massive files around. Best of all, shipping models will have the faster FireCuda 520 as standard.

The GeForce RTX 2070 Super card, meanwhile offers great performance at 1080p, decent numbers at 1440p, but barely passable framerates at 2160p. On average, it is a bit better than the Radeon RX 5700 XT in the Novatech system, but, obviously, cannot touch the speed of a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti for high-end gaming, as evidenced by the class-leading results of the Corsair One i64.

Having an all-in-one cooler on the CPU is a sensible choice, as peak chip temperature was 82°C. The simpler dual-slot air cooler on the Zotac card, however, was surprisingly effective, leading to an under-load 77°C. There was no evidence of throttling on either count.

The use of three front-mounted fans causes the system to be heard when idling. In the PC Specialist's defence, it doesn't become much louder at load, but we'd suggest the fans are tuned for quieter operation when idling.

Conclusion

PC Specialist goes down the Ryzen and GeForce route when constructing a thoroughly decent high-end PC. The Ryzen 9 3900X is an excellent performer for tasks that can take advantage of its 24 threads, but it's a shame that it's not overclocked given the liquid cooling present. Even so, it runs rings around the Intel Core i9-9900K commonly found on similar systems.

Good integration, all-branded components, and tidy cabling are plus points, temps are good, and there's generally little to criticise if you can get passed the slightly noisy idle state.