Performance Analysis

We'll start with our only main gripe here, which is the CPU cooling. Out of the box, the CPU hit 97°C in our combined load test, and that's a little toasty in our books. Admittedly, both the graphics card and CPU were under full load, which isn't likely to happen in the vast majority of typical use cases this PC is aimed at, but we'd have concerns on warm days if you were to throw video editing or rendering tasks at this PC. Interestingly we also spotted that the AIO cooler fan had been connected to a system fan header, and the pump was connected to the CPU fan header rather than the dedicated pump header. 

This did look neater, but switching the connectors around to the more appropriate headers and switching on Smart Fan mode in the EFI saw that CPU temperature drop to 90°C. In addition, the CPU cooler fan really didn't spin up that much under load, even after we were certain it was hitting full speed. In short, our thermal testing suggests the H60 gets a little overwhelmed by this particular OC/voltage. Again, if you're gaming, streaming, or web browsing, this won't be an issue, as the CPU stayed below 80°C in other tests, although it wasn't the quietest rig we've tested either. A better cooler would offer a better balance of noise and thermals.

Thankfully, in terms of performance elsewhere the system really holds up. Deus Ex is still a tough cookie when it comes to games (it's why we use it here), but a minimum frame rate of 39fps at 1440p with maximum settings in DX12 was a decent result and mostly matched the GTX 1070 Ti used in CyberpowerPC's RGB Infinity RTX we reviewed a while back. This rose to a minimum of 56fps and average of 70fps at 1080p, and it should offer smooth frame rates on ultra-wide monitors too.

Despite it lacking Hyper-Threading, the massive overclock allows the Core i5-9600K to match the Ryzen 5 2600X in HandBrake, but the latter was much quicker in Cinebench, which allowed its extra threads to stretch their legs. Still, thanks to the overclock, the CPU is no slouch when it comes to content creation, even if this is a gaming-focussed system.

Conclusion

Adding up all the hardware plus factoring in Windows, you're looking at a similar price to what CyberpowerPC is asking for, yet here you also get a pre-built PC with WIndows installed, an overclocked CPU, and warranty for similar cash. We can't argue with that kind of value, nor the PC's aesthetics, RGB controller, or performance in our tests, which showed solid 1080p and 1440p gaming performance. The only area of concern, and one that stops it receiving our top award, is the CPU temperature. 

We stress test every PC we review to see how it handles things in a worst-case scenario. Our testing environment was around 24°C ambient, and for the CPU to hit the high-90s is a tad concerning for those that are interested in benchmarking, rendering, or other multi-threaded tasks that will push the CPU and its cooling system to their limits. However, this isn't an outright fail, and the CPU didn't throttle one iota - it's just warmer than we'd like to see. As a result, we feel we're justified on account of stability, performance, and value in handing out a Recommended award to those that would use the PC for gaming, but in its current guise, the Infinity X66 RTX just needs more potent CPU cooling to be worthy of top honours - thankfully you can easily do that with a few clicks in the impressive configurator.