AFTERSHOCK IMPULSE V2
Aftershock has had plenty of experience putting together custom desktop systems, but the Impulse is its rst small form factor (SFF) desktop. The updated Impulse V2 is a diminutive, low-slung desktop with space for plenty of high-end components.
In fact, you’ll be able to fit up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti in there. The chassis is constructed entirely of aluminum alloy, and designed to be fully upgradeable. You won’t be stuck with your starting configuration as with certain pre-built systems, and you can freely upgrade components as you wish.
One of the most attractive points about the Impulse is the internal power supply unit. Other models such as the Dreamcore One have large external power bricks that take up a lot of space, but you’ll only have to contend with a single power cable here.
Another thing we like is how stable the Impulse is. A lot of SFF systems tend to stand tall and feature precarious narrow bases, so they feel like they might fall over if you accidentally swing an arm into them. However, the Impulse is short and sturdy, and there’s little danger of that happening.
It also packs more than enough power to handle just about any game today. You won’t even have to worry about turning the settings down as the Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 in there will chew through most titles with ease.
The Impulse comes equipped with an ASRock H110M-ITX/ac motherboard by default, although there are also options for higherend B250 and H270 models. That said, the H110 chipset does come with certain compromises – you’re limited to just PCIe 2.0 lanes on the PCH and fewer highspeed USB ports – but these generally aren’t things that most users are going to notice. Aftershock helps you save money on the chipset, but the important thing is that the processor still provides the PCIe 3.0 lanes for the GPU, so performance isn’t going to be a ected.
You also get two USB 3.0 Type-A ports and four USB 2.0 ports on the rear, and two more USB 3.0 ports at the front, so there should be enough connectors to go round.
+ Compact, powerful, and affordable.
- H110 chipset has limited expansion options.