PCSpecialist Fusion R
Choose this if you’re after the fastest gaming possible under £1,000, but beware the Omen omens
The first thing that strikes you about the PCSpecialist Fusion R is that this is a big machine. It’s based around the Corsair 175R RGB chassis, but customised with a backlit RGB PCSpecialist logo on the front – size aside, this case leans towards the understated and classy portion of the chassis Venn diagram.
It would also fall into the midrange circle, because that brushed metal finish on the front is actually plastic (on its own, the case costs around £60). It doesn’t feel cheap, though, and it benefits from a large tempered glass side window through which you can admire the full-size ATX motherboard.
Combined with this PC’s large dimensions, this makes the Fusion R a pleasant machine to work inside. For instance, the three empty PCI Express slots (including one x16 slot) are easy to access, as is the empty M.2 slot. The one awkward note is that you’ll have to unplug the cables powering the graphics card if you want to add to the 16GB of Corsair Vengeance memory. Still, that’s hardly a tough job.
There’s plenty of space – and on-motherboard connectors – for adding more SSDs and hard disks in the main body too, but the neatest option is to remove the right side and take advantage of two mounting slots for SSDs and two caddies for 3.5in hard disks. This won’t be immediately necessary as PCSpecialist includes a 1TB M.2 Intel 670p SSD, even if it can’t match the speed of the 500GB Seagate unit in Chillblast’s similarly priced Fusion Frigate Gaming PC.
The two British companies go their different ways for core components as well. Here, we have the proven combo of Ryzen and Nvidia, and both are solid choices. Tackling the CPU first, the Ryzen 5 5600X is a great midrange processor with six cores and 12 threads that slashes its way through tough tasks. Whilst it was always a fraction slower than the Intel Core i5-11600K inside the Chillblast, this wasn’t to an extent that it will unduly affect anyone’s life. Most of us can bear to wait another minute for a tough task to complete.
The two PCs’ positions in the performance charts ( see p92) swapped around in games, which is due to the greater power offered by the GeForce GTX 1660 Super compared to the Chillblast’s GTX 1650. This proved a decisive advantage in Metro Exodus, with the Fusion R returning 55fps and 42fps at 1080p and 1440p; the Fusion Frigate scored 38fps and 28fps. It was a similar story in Shadow of the Tomb
Raider, with results of 92fps and 61fps a sizeable jump over 58fps and 38fps. It’s enough of an advantage to make games playable or not playable.
The thorn in the side of the Fusion R, however, is the HP Omen 25L ( see p88). With an RTX 3060 inside, and costing only £100 more, it’s a far better choice if you want fast gaming: it scored 63ps in Metro
Exodus and 89fps in
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (both at 1440p). And, of course, it can take advantage of ray tracing without a huge hit to its frame rates due to dedicated cores.
As with the Chillblast, however, the arguably more important point is future potential and the games you currently want to play. Both of the GTX graphics cards will look ancient when the new releases shift to ray tracing by default, so arguably you’re just delaying the inevitable upgrade.
This brings us to the exciting topic of power supplies, with the Fusion R as supplied chomping through 262W at its peak. That’s a solid amount less than the 299W of the Chillblast, but if and when you upgrade your graphics card you’ll likely have to upgrade the PCSpecialist’s power supply as well. A 450W PSU is fine for now, but the 650W unit inside the Fusion Frigate is a wiser long-term option.
Despite the presence of an air cooler rather than a water cooler, we found little difference between the noise output of the two computers too.
Where we have given the PCSpecialist Opal R ( see p89) the edge in the battle of the £1,500 PCs, the Chillblast Fusion Frigate gets the slightest of nods at the £1,000 mark. However, much of that advantage comes from jam tomorrow. If you’re looking for jam today, especially when gaming, the Fusion R has the edge.