PCSpecialist Opal R
An imposing system in every way, the Opal R is our top choice – and the best pick for gamers in particular
SCORE
PRICE £1,249 (£1,499 inc VAT) from pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews
T urn to the gaming graphs on p92 and this PC’s major appeal will become instantly clear: it’s the fastest gaming system we’ve seen for under £1,500, so if that’s your primary driver then there really is no need to continue reading this review. Head to the website and order it, then cross your fingers that others haven’t beaten you to the punch ( see p93).
The GeForce RTX 3070 dominates the inside of the case. But don’t be fooled into thinking this alone is enough to produce chart-topping frame rates, as Acer also includes the card in its Predator Orion 3000. As the gaming graphs indicate, the Opal R is significantly faster, and this isn’t due to magic but because PCSpecialist wisely partners it with the equally speedy Ryzen 7 5800X processor.
Together, they propelled the Opal R to a set of results that bring 4K gaming into play. For instance, at that resolution Metro Exodus averaged 57fps, Shadow of the Tomb Raider
86fps (with DLSS) and Wolfenstein:
Youngblood 129fps (with DLSS and RTX). Only Hitman 2 suffered with an average of 22fps – but that’s with super sampling at 2x. Dropped to 1x, it managed 79fps. As you’d expect, only the Acer could compete with such scores, but it was 5% to 10% slower.
The Opal R is similarly quick in tasks such as encoding and video editing, as you’d expect with AMD’s eight-core Ryzen 5800X in place. A score of 423 in the PC Pro benchmarks emphasises just how much power is inside, and that’s with 16GB of RAM rather than the 32GB included in the Chillblast Fusion Cruiser Gaming PC. Chillblast did edge out its £1,500 rival in benchmarks such as Geekbench and Cinebench R23, but this is likely due to its inclusion of a water cooler.
Counterintuitively, the five fans in the Opal R actually help the PC stay quiet. There’s always a low hum, but as they are all efficient 120mm fans their cumulative sound is only truly noticeable when the PC is pushed in games or benchmarks.
Four of the fans include RGB lighting, but the effect is subtle – in part, because the only other RGB to be found is three discreet lights on the graphics card. You can see these colours through the tempered glass side of the case and through the front. With its sharp angles, this case is reminiscent of Alienware PCs, as is its sheer size: at 410mm wide and
475mm tall it’s the biggest here.
We’d normally say that this size makes the case a pleasure to work inside, but it’s cramped in key areas. You can add more RAM without removing the air cooler, but it will be a squeeze, and we would recommend you unscrew the graphics card before trying to access the two PCIe slots and spare M.2 slot.
PCSpecialist only includes a 1TB M.2 card, so you might want to request a hard disk at the time of order. But it’s easy to add storage yourself: two thumbscrews secure the right side of the chassis, and removing this gives you access to a 3.5in bay and two caddies for 2.5in SATA SSDs. Nor is there any shortage of SATA expansion on the Asus Prime B550-Plus motherboard.
One theoretical limitation is the 650W power supply, but we aren’t concerned. The 650W Corsair TX650M includes a Gold 80 Plus rating, which indicates superb efficiency, and even when we pushed this system to the maximum it only consumed 402W of power. There’s plenty of headroom if you want to upgrade the graphics card. Note that this system consumes 61W at idle, however, so electricity bills will rack up if you keep it on.
The final inclusion of note is a 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 card that sits in one of the PCIe slots, which gives you extra flexibility when placing the Opal R – although we suspect most people will still default to the wired Gigabit Ethernet on the rear of the motherboard. This also features a good set of audio connectors, including an optical out, plus a solitary USB-C port. All three ports on top of the case are USB-A.
The fact that our one “complaint” about the Opal R is the positioning of its ports tells you everything about this PC. It’s a brilliant choice for all gamers who can afford the luxuries within.