Fierce PC Prodigy GT Review

Performance Analysis

We compared the performance of the Prodigy GT against other CPUs in our Media Benchmark suit. The 4.2GHz Core i5-3570K came top of the class in the image editing test, beating a stock speed Core i7-3770K by 100 points. Of course, the overclocked Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs leaped passed it with their significantly higher clock speeds.

The additional virtual cores of the Core i7-3770K were enough to beat the Prodigy GT at stock and overclocked CPU speeds, but it was still noticeably faster than the stock speed Core i5-3570K. The extra clock speed didn't yield much benefit in our multi-tasking test though.


Games-wise, the system had a sizeable advantage over our GeForce GTX 670 2GB test system managing a minimum frame rate 7fps faster at 1,920 x 1,080. In Crysis 3 at the same resolution using Ultra High settings, the frame rate never dipped below 29fps, managing an average of 42fps. In our stress test, the PC proved to be moderately quiet, with just a noticeable airflow noise coming from the CPU cooler and graphics card. The CPU delta T topped out at 51°C, while the GPU was a little toastier at 60°C, with an ambient temperature of 20°C.

Sadly, overclocking the CPU wasn't a fruitful experience due to the lack of vcore adjustment on Gigabyte's GA-Z77-WiFi motherboard. We initially managed to get the machine to 4.4GHz, but Crysis 3 kept crashing. Knocking it back to 4.3GHz did the trick, and we also managed to boost the GPU core from its shipped frequency of 954MHz to 1044MHz and the RAM from 1.5GHz (6GHz effective) to 1.65GHz (6.6GHz effective). The 100MHz boost in CPU clock speed unsurprisingly didn't yield many gains. However, combined with a substantial boost in the graphics department, Battlefield 3 and Crysis both saw a six per cent improvement in their minimum frame rates.

Conclusion

As always with pre-built PCs, the question for most of us is how much are we saving or losing compared to building the thing ourselves. A quick tally puts the cost of components here at around £1,100 at time of writing - this is within £40 of the asking price of the PC, and for that small extra outlay, you're getting a two year warranty and a pre-built and pre-overclocked system delivered to your door with Windows 8 installed and ready to go. As you can see from the photos, Fierce PC has done a reasonable job of keeping things tidy too.

There are two issues with it though. As we noted in our review of the BitFenix Prodigy, you need to have a love for it to overcome it's wobbly exterior. This may or may not float your boat and £1,100 pounds is a lot to pay if you're not sure. Secondly, we're expecting a new Intel CPU socket and graphics card launches in the not too distant future.

Purchasing a PC now, particularly one that might have limited CPU upgrade potential as a result, might not be the best idea unless you're the kind of gamer that splashes out every couple of years on a new gaming rig and doesn't do much upgrading. Even if you do decide to wait, in value terms the Prodigy GT seems like an excellent deal, so we'd be interested in seeing an Intel Haswell version when the time comes. If you need a PC now, though, then you'd be hard-pushed to get this specification for less. Just make sure it's the case for you before reaching for your wallet.