Palicomp i5 Matrix review: An overclocked gaming PC that's VR ready

With a large overclock, this gaming pc is capable of some remarkable performance. It also pushes the CPU cooler's skills, however universal this is a great-value computer. right here's our Palicomp i5 Matrix evaluation.

PALICOMP I5 MATRIX REVIEW

This gaming laptop is designed to deal with digital fact video games. Palicomp has pulled out all the stops and the i5 Matrix turns in a few dazzling performance effects, even though it’s not with out its problems. See additionally: best gaming chairs

PALICOMP I5 MATRIX REVIEW: PERFORMANCE

you could purchase the i5 Matrix for £1199.ninety nine inc VAT from Palicomp. That includes a 27in Asus screen, plus a mouse and keyboard.

in case you only need the laptop base unit, the price drops to £1074.99.

notice: seeing that Palicomp despatched us the i5 Matrix, nVidia has launched the GTX 1080 and 1070. you can specify any such pictures playing cards when ordering.

PALICOMP I5 MATRIX REVIEW: BENCHMARK RESULTS

by using pushing the Intel middle i5-6600K from three.5GHz all the manner up to 4.7GHz, Palicomp has tried by a ways the most ambitious overclock we've got visible with this CPU. we are able to’t blame it for trying, after all appearing on the pinnacle of the performance charts continually appears appropriate and it’s certain to capture any reader’s attention.The pc also comes fitted with an nVidia GeForce GTX 980 portraits card, that's a large step up from the base spec of a GTX 970, resulting in enormously better gaming overall performance across the board.

It’s additionally considered one of 3 structures in our organization test to reap a ‘Very high’ VR pleasant rating from the SteamVR performance test. With a median VR best score of 9.1, it benchmarks nicely beforehand of challengers from Chillblast, Overclockers and Zoostorm, however no longer as fast as either the Wired2Fire Diablo Predator VR or the Yoyotech Warbird RS14, both of which use the faster GeForce 980 Ti pictures card.

What this suggests us is that Palicomp’s overclocking hasn’t boosted bottom-line gaming overall performance what can be finished on the identical charge with inventory processor speeds and a quicker snap shots card. just decreasing the velocity a notch or  could, in our opinion, make this a better pc. Of path this will range from CPU to CPU, but our evaluation sample either had to run a bit slower or to be geared up with a fair extra powerful cooling system.

unluckily, there are aspect outcomes to pushing the CPU all of the manner to four.7GHz and those come within the shape of the needs placed on strength intake and cooling. whilst we first powered up the i5 Matrix, we noticed that CPU temperatures had been a long way too excessive. Palicomp, to its credit score, identified a broken processor cooler and quickly shipped out a replacement to which become barely upgraded in specification as consistent with our suggestion.

With the brand new cooler in vicinity, CPU temperatures had been saved a good deal decrease, but under full load still climbed as excessive as 100Cº. You’d be very unlikely to see this take place underneath everyday use however we might have been happier with a less bold overclock at the side of some a whole lot decrease temperatures.

PALICOMP I5 MATRIX evaluation: BENCHMARK consequences

bear in thoughts that all these computers have been examined before the GTX 1070 and 1080 had been launched. You should specify at least the GTX 1070 if you decide to buy the i5 Matrix.

PALICOMP I5 MATRIX REVIEW: DESIGN AND SPECS

Palicomp’s different thing picks screen a pleasantly excessive specification for the £1074 price. You get a complete 16GB of RAM and a 2TB hard power, that is double the garage ability supplied via any other dealer inside the check. For velocity, this is paired with a 256GB Samsung SM951 M.2 NVMe PCI explicit solid-nation force, that's one of the very quickest drives currently available. these components stay on an Asus Z170-pro Gaming motherboard, which comes with Intel’s enthusiast level Z170 chipset. This gamers’ version of the board adds aid for nVidia SLI pics, improved overclocking and upgraded audio components over the standard version.

The i5 Matrix is built inner a Sharkoon VG5-W Midi ATX Tower. It’s an imposing beast, with appears described via Sharkoon as “brawny”, that is maximum definitely a case aimed toward gamers who like brightly illuminated fanatics and a clean view of internal components. The front panel comes with a couple of 120mm enthusiasts set up with another established at the rear. Our evaluate sample was geared up with purple lights, even though blue and green fashions are also to be had.

The the front panel has a cable-loose design which lets in it to be without difficulty removed to get entry to the five.25in pressure bays in the back of. strangely these days, this sort of bays changed into geared up with a DVD rewriter, making it the handiest computer we've reviewed currently to encompass an optical pressure as part of the spec.

SPECS

Palicomp i5 Matrix: Specs

Intel Core i5-6600K (3.5GHz stock, 4.7GHz OC)

BeQuiet Pure Rock cooler

16GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM

Samsung SM951 256GB M.2 PCI-e NVME + 2TB Seagate SATA 3

750W FSP power supply

Asus Z170-Pro Gaming motherboard

Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit

27in Asus VX278H monitor

KFA2 nVIDIA GTX 980 4GB graphics card

onboard audio

onboard Gigabit Ethernet

1xUSB 3.1 (Type-A) 1xUSB 3.1 (Type-C) 4xUSB 3, 2xUSB 2.0

1xPS/2, 1xDVI, 1xD-Sub, 1xDisplayport, 1xHDMI, Optical S/PDIF out

Samsung 24XDVD+/-RW Dual Layer/Dual Format optical drive

Sharkoon VG5-W Red case

Nemesis Kane gaming keyboard & mouse set

Software: AVG Anti-Virus, CD Burner XP, Open Office

3-Years collect & return warranty

OUR VERDICT

The Palicomp i5 Matrix is very fast and reasonably priced considering its premium components. However the 4.7GHz overclock is perhaps a little overambitious for the supplied cooling solution.