Test Methodology
Comparison Systems - Part One |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Name | |||||
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 |
Intel Core i7-8700K |
Intel Core i9-9900K |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X |
Intel Core i7-8700 |
| Overclocked | No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 3.9GHz |
4.7GHz |
5.0GHz |
4.3GHz |
4.6GHz |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 6 / 12 |
6 / 12 |
8 / 16 |
8 / 16 |
6 / 12 |
| CPU TDP | 65W |
95W |
95W |
105W |
65W |
| CPU Cooler | AMD Wraith Max |
Corsair liquid cooler |
Corsair liquid cooler |
Cooler Master Seidon 240V |
MSI RGB CPU Fan |
| Motherboard | Asus Prime B450-Plus |
MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC |
MSI Z370I C2018 |
Asus Prime B350-Plus |
MSI B360M Bazooka |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
32GB DDR4 (2x16GB) |
32GB DDR4 (2x16GB) |
16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
8GB DDR4 (1x8GB) |
| Memory Speed | 20-19-19-43-1T @ 2,666MHz |
16-18-18-35-2T @ 2,666MHz |
16-18-18-35-2T @ 2,666MHz |
16-18-18-36-1T @ 3,000MHz |
17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz |
| Graphics | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti OC 6GB |
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SeaHawk 11GB |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB |
MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero ITX 8GB |
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 OC 6GB |
| Primary Storage Device | 250GB WD Black SN750 SSD |
512GB Samsung PM961 SSD |
512GB Samsung PM961 SSD |
240GB Adata Ultimate SU650 SSD |
128GB Transcend SSD230S SSD |
| Second Storage Device | 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
16GB Intel Optane + 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
| Optical Drive | - |
- |
- |
- |
DVD Writer |
| PSU | TBC |
Corsair SF500 (500W, internal) |
Corsair SF600 (600W, internal) |
Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite (500W, internal) |
Delta GPS-550LB H (500W, internal) |
| Chassis | Corsair Carbide Series Spec-06 RGB |
Corsair One |
Corsair One |
Cooler Master MasterBox MB500 |
MSI Infinite A |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
| Warranty | Five years (two years collect-and-return, five years labour) |
Two years (parts and labour, to an authorised centre - Scan in the UK) |
Two years (parts and labour, to an authorised centre - Scan in the UK) |
Three years (one-month collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour) |
One year |
| Date Reviewed | May 2019 |
May 2018 |
March 2019 |
April 2018 |
July 2018 |
| Cost As Reviewed | £950 |
£2,700 |
£3,400 |
£1,369 |
£1,399 |
Comparison Systems - Part Two |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Name | |||||
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9700K |
Intel Core i5-9400F |
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 |
Intel Core i7-8086K |
Intel Core i9-9900K |
| Overclocked | No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.9GHz |
4.1GHz |
3.9GHz |
5.0GHz |
5.0GHz |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 8 / 8 |
6 / 6 |
6 / 12 |
6 / 12 |
8 / 16 |
| CPU TDP | 95W |
65W |
65W |
95W |
95W |
| CPU Cooler | MSI Low-profile |
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition |
Scan Hydro 240 |
Corsair Hydro Series H100i Pro RGB |
Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro |
| Motherboard | MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC |
Asus Prime H310-Plus |
Asus TUF B450M-Plus Gaming |
Asus RoG Strix Z370-F Gaming |
Asus RoG Maximus XI Hero |
| Memory | 32GB DDR4 (2x16GB) |
16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
8GB DDR4 (2x4GB) |
16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
32GB DDR4 (2x16GB) |
| Memory Speed | 19-19-19-43-2T @ 2,666MHz |
16-16-16-39-2T @ 2,400MHz |
16-18-18-36-1T @ 3,000MHz |
15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz |
16-18-18-36-2T @ 3,200MHz |
| Graphics | MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ventus OC 8GB |
Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 Twin Fan 6GB |
MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Ventus XS OC 6GB |
Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Dual OC 8GB |
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra Gaming 11GB |
| Primary Storage Device | 512GB Samsung PM981 SSD |
256GB Intel 760p SSD |
500GB Seagate BarraCuda 2.5in SSD |
500GB Samsung 970 Evo SSD |
1TB Samsung 970 Evo SSD |
| Second Storage Device | 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD |
| Optical Drive | - |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| PSU | 650W, internal |
Corsair VS450 (450W, internal) |
Corsair CX550M (550W, internal) |
Corsair TX550M (550W, internal) |
Corsair RM750X (750W, internal) |
| Chassis | MSI Trident X |
Fractal Design Focus G |
Fractal Design Define Mini C TG |
NZXT H500i |
NZXT H700 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
Windows 10 |
| Warranty | Two years |
Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) |
Three years (first year onsite, second and third year return-to-base with parts and labour) |
Three years (first year onsite, second and third year return-to-base with parts and labour) |
Three years (first year onsite, second and third year return-to-base with parts and labour) |
| Date Reviewed | February 2019 |
April 2019 |
February 2019 |
September 2018 |
October 2018 |
| Cost As Reviewed | £2,699 |
£899 |
£970 |
£2,400 |
£3,400 |
CPU and Storage Benchmarks |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU. | |||||||||||
| Cinebench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. | |||||||||||
| HandBrake | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores. | |||||||||||
Memory and Storage Benchmarks |
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| AIDA64 | Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency. | |||||||||||
| CrystalDiskMark | Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds. | |||||||||||
System and Gaming Benchmarks |
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| PCMark 10 | The tests in this benchmark cover a wide range of activities from everyday productivity tasks to demanding work with digital media content. | |||||||||||
| 3DMark | 3DMark Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. | |||||||||||
| Gaming | A selection of modern titles are tested at various resolutions. | |||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming. | |||||||||||
| Temperature | Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU while gaming. | |||||||||||