MEAN MACHINE
THIS RIG has been a roller coaster of problems. It’s been one thing after another, from the operating system install not playing ball, to the drivers self-destructing and causing power state failure blue screens, to Gigabyte’s RGB LED software being detected as malware by anti-cheat software, and stopping us from running our gaming benchmarks. To say it’s been a less-than-stellar post-build experience is an understatement.
Which is unfortunate, given the role this rig has to play. It has to work flawlessly, day in, day out. To sit here, struggling to log in from time to time because the USB ports have decided not to detect the keyboard, or have the audio drop out for a similar issue, just isn’t on. That’s why we made such a big fuss about Asus dropping its TUF brand into a more budgetfriendly position. They were our workstation boards of choice, and the fact there’s no Ryzen equivalent saddens us deeply. Let’s be fair: It could just be the sample board we have being quirky, but we sure do miss the plug-and-play nature of an Asus affair. It’s a shame, because it’s these kind of experiences that ruin your perspective on a brand, and push you toward subjective judgements based on anecdotal evidence—something us journalists have to avoid like the plague.
Now that little rant is out of the way, the build experience itself was pretty enjoyable. NZXT’s H500i is an awesome budget-busting chassis, with clean lines, intuitive design features, and enough cooling support for any mid-range build. Yeah, the front radiator bracket might be a bit cumbersome if you’re trying to go against the grain and install a 280mm push-pull setup, but for a new PC builder, it’s a quick-and-easy, versatile case.
So, the biggy: What’s the performance like? Let’s preface this by saying that the rig is plugged in to a 32-inch 4K panel, and we’ve already done some BattlefieldV testing on it just fine, so can it game at 4K? Yes—just be smart about how you use those settings (although, admittedly, BFV was simply whacked up to Ultra, then left). Yup, that’s a GTX 1080, playing the latest unoptimized beta of an AAA title at 4K, at a smooth 50-plus fps. Processor performance kicks our zeropoint’s ass by some margin, but overall the scores are pretty much what we’d expect.
What would we change? Apart from the motherboard, not a lot. Maybe the cable management in the rear, and some additional internal LED lighting perhaps, but all in all, she’s a quick, clean rig, with just the right amount of storage, and enough grunt to keep our day-to-day work running smoothly.