Review: PC Specialist Scimitar MK1

Conclusion

...PC Specialist opts for the mainstream champion Ryzen 9 3950X sat below a 240mm watercooling kit. RTX 2080 Super is no graphics slouch.

Building a high-performance PC in 2020 comes down to a choice of which platform you want to support - AMD or Intel. Both are good options, but those looking at superb multi-threaded performance and decent gaming have understandably veered towards Ryzen.

PC Specialist opts for the mainstream champion Ryzen 9 3950X sat below a 240mm watercooling kit. RTX 2080 Super is no graphics slouch, offering excellent gaming at FHD and QHD resolutions, and the remaining supporting cast is up to scratch.

But it's in the integration that PC Specialist falls short. The system is unduly loud when idling, the motherboard prohibits the PCIe 4.0 goodness available to the CPU or SSD, and memory ought to be faster.

These observations still don't take away from the fact this is a solid system for the price, but a few tweaks here and there will take it from average to very good.

The Good		The Bad
Excellent multi-threaded performance High-quality FHD/QHD gaming credentials Competitive pricing		No factory overclock on CPU Loud when idling Limited-specification mobo

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The Scimitar MK1 base unit is available to order from PC Specialist.

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Those hoses for the cooling, and other wires in that area throw me so off.
All that put together is about as much hose as you would see in my computer with water cooled CPU and RAM, and in regard to wiring its about 5X as much as need to be seen in any PC

I don't honestly get the logic of this review.

You clearly state that you give them a budget of £2000 to work to, then berate the build, and suggest that if they spent more on the motherboard, more on the memory, etc etc, that it could have been so much better.

That's like asking Ford to spec, and supply a really nice Fiesta, then complain that its not a Focus.

Either set a guideline for the retailer to follow, specifying you want a x570 board, and faster memory, even if it means a lower tier CPU/GPU…. Or would you have criticised them for not including the 3950X and 2080 super, in the resulting spec?

I suspect the market here was a big influence and they know that the kinds of people who buy these kinds of PCs would build themselves if they were into things like mobos and PCIe 4. So it's the main parts which headline.

Myself, I'd have dropped from the top end Ryzen and gone for the 3900X, using the money to improve the mobo to an X570 and possibly improve the RAM. There are gains to be had going to 3200 from 3000 although apparently the gains beyond that are limited compared to the cost.

Those small tweaks would probably have kept it within the 2K mark, not hit gaming performance and would have drastically improved the longevity of the machine. For me, I paid £541 for an X570 mobo, 3900X and 16GB 3200 RAM. There was no way I was upgrading to Ryzen and not getting PCI-e 4 as well as the new USB standards. It doesn't make sense to spend on a long life CPU and not on a long life mobo. Yes, you can upgrade it but if you're planning on / are capable of doing that, why get a pre-built PC?

Sim0n, I think the comments are valid. You're paying the integrator to give you the best components for the price and select them properly. I don't build cars but if I did, I'd definitely not chose the 3 cylinder engine in the Fiesta (an engine built to please accountants). But I can't build a car, so I expect them to make the best possible choice of components for the price. That is the position many purchasers of PCs like this are in. I'd agree that for 2K, you should be expecting an X series mobo with the forward looking features and sacrifices to the CPU would be sensible for this given that the 3950X on its own is £699 when I got the bulk of a system with the CPU one level down (and marginal impact on gaming performance) for £541. For a gaming system, it's a poor choice of components in my book.

exactly what i was going to say, phil- 3900x and x570 mobo. i really don`t see the use of having a 3000 series processor in a non-pcie 4 board, it`s like driving a porsche round with the handbrake permanently engaged.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

Can't get near £2000 with the review spec, nearer £2200 now.

Review: PC Specialist Scimitar MK1

Conclusion

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