Key Features: 3.5GHz Intel Core i5-6600K processor; Zotac Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 4GB graphics; 16GB 2,133MHz DDR4 memory; 960GB Kingston HyperX Savage SSD; Windows 10 64-bit; 3yr warranty; Manufacturer: PC Specialist
Manufacturer: PC Specialist
What is the PC Specialist Ignis?
Small-form-factor PCs aren’t unusual, but the PC Specialist Ignis goes beyond what I normally see from such diminutive desktops. Its case is built by bespoke builder Parvum, and is made entirely from acrylic.
That’s enough to draw the eye, but there’s plenty on the inside too that proves attractive. At the heart of this PC sits high-end, current-generation silicon from Intel and Nvidia, plus an SSD that’s nearly 1TB in size.
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PC Specialist Ignis – Design, Build Quality and Connectivity
The Parvum Veer 1.0 chassis is built from layers of plastic. Most of them are black, with a burst of colour coming courtesy of an occasional layer of opaque red – a smart touch that looks even better when those colour panels glow as they catch the sun.
The layered acrylic, sharp corners and two-tone colours ensure that the Veer 1.0 looks different from every other case on the market. And this individuality is enhanced further by slick touches throughout. The front panel is decorated with a pin-sharp Parvum logo; indents in the front panel reveal more red; and a huge window on one side of the case provides a view of the components.
And that view is a good one. The motherboard sits on a raised section that hides the PSU and its cables, and the graphics card and large water-cooling unit sit in parallel above the mini-ITX board. It’s tidy, which enhances the look of the interior further.
The PC Specialist stands apart from its two keenest rivals. The Alienware X51 is an exercise in excess: tall, narrow, covered in lights and made from plastic. TheChillblast Fusion Fury Nano is smaller than the PC Specialist, and just as smart. It’s made from brushed red aluminium and also has a side window.
The Ignis’ Parvum chassis looks fantastic – bold, smart and unique – but it has a few downsides. The first is build quality, which is unlike more traditional cases. Pick up the PC Specialist and the acrylic immediately begins to squeak where panels rub together. Some of the panels flex, too; the plastic beneath the PSU bends to accommodate cables, for instance.
The PC Specialist doesn’t feel weak or flimsy, but there’s no denying that the two rival machine’s are sturdier and will do a better job of standing up to the rigours of regular use.
In addition, the Parvum lacks any decent room to grow, with only one extra 2.5in slot included. While this isn't unusual in small PCs – both rivals offer similar spaces – it’s a little surprising given the Parvum’s size and the amount of space inside that lies fallow. The Ignis is 267mm wide and 357mm deep, while the Chillblast is only 190mm wide and 254mm deep; the Alienware is just 95mm wide.
Connectivity is good. The back panel serves up dual-band 802.11ac wireless and Gigabit Ethernet with prioritised gaming traffic, and there’s Bluetooth 4.0. The rear has four USB 3 ports, USB 3.1 Type-A and -C connectors and three audio jacks, and the front has two more USB 3 connectors.
PC Specialist Ignis – Specifications
The key gaming part is Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 980 graphics card – one of the firm’s most powerful chips. It isn't overclocked, but it has 2,048 stream processors and a stock speed of 1,126MHz that can use GPU Boost to reach 1,266MHz.
The GTX 980 will easily outpace the Alienware’s GTX 960 core, but it could have a tougher time against the AMD Radeon R9 Fury Nano inside Chillblast’s machine.
The processor is a current-generation Core i5-6600K part that runs at a stock speed of 3.5GHz and reaches a single-core Turbo speed of 3.9GHz. That’s good on paper, and it means that the Ignis won’t balk at any home or gaming tasks.
However, it could struggle when pitted against rivals. Both the Alienware and Chillblast include the 4GHz Core i7-6700K, and the latter machine ran that chip at an overclocked 4.6GHz. That processor also has Hyper-Threading.
Elsewhere, there’s 16GB of memory and a 960GB SSD. The latter is as large as many hard disks, and with far more speed. It’s also a little unusual for a PC to arrive with a single large SSD – the Chillblast is more conventional with its smaller SSD and larger hard disk.
The Asus Maximus VIII Impact is one of the industry’s best mini-ITX motherboards. It crams in the features: it accepts up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, and the back panel has power and reset buttons alongside a two-figure POST display.
It’s a good-looking slab of PCB, but the mini-ITX form factor does prove limiting. There are only two memory slots, both of which are occupied, and the single PCI Express socket already houses the graphics card. There are spare SATA connectors, but the lack of upgrade room in the case puts paid to any use for those.
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/pc-specialist-ignis-review#XQOux2TzOsSjDZiS.99
PC Specialist Ignis – Performance
The GTX 980 is one of Nvidia’s most powerful cards, so it’s no surprise that the PC Specialist blasted through games at 1080p and 1440p.
In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at those resolutions it averaged 94fps and 65fps, and in BioShock Infinite it was even faster, with averages of 124fps and 84fps at the game’s highest graphics settings.
The PC Specialist wasn’t phased by tougher games, either. In Battlefield 4 at 1440p it romped through at 57fps, and it managed 51fps in Crysis 3 at 1440p – the toughest test at this resolution.
The higher resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 was always going to be trickier. In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and BioShock Infinite, the PC Specialist averaged 36fps and 43fps – both scores that indicate playable frame rates at 4K. In Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3, though, the Ignis delivered averages of 29fps and 26fps. Those figures aren’t far from playable, but they do mean that graphics settings will need to be dropped a little to deliver smooth gameplay at 4K.
The PC Specialist easily beat the Alienware in games tests: the X51 and its GTX 960 could only manage 45fps and 71fps in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and BioShock Infinite’s 1080p tests.
The Chillblast provides stiffer competition. Its Battlefield 4, 1440p and 4K results were three frames ahead of the PC Specialist, and it was two frames better in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at 4K. At this tough resolution in Crysis 3, the Chillblast was one frame faster.
The PC Specialist’s slight slowdown was apparent in synthetic tests. The Ignis’ 3DMark: Fire Strike score of 10,716 is excellent, but the Chillblast managed 12,318.
The Ignis has a capable Core i5 processor, but it’s unable to match the competition – not unexpected, considering those machines have Core i7 silicon. The PC Specialist’s Geekbench 3 score of 13,714 is good, but the Alienware used its Hyper-Threading to score 16,533 in the same test. In PC Mark 7 the Ignis scored an impressive 7,640, but the Chillblast managed 8,288.
Thankfully, there’s headroom here to overclock the PC Specialist’s processor if you feel confident enough to delve into the BIOS. I’ve seen this chip run at 4.6GHz and beyond, and the Corsair Hydro H100i GTX cooler will certainly cope – the processor’s stock-speed top temperature of 65 degrees is fine.
There were no heat issues from the graphics card, with a peak of 80 degrees. Again, that means there’s scope for a modest core tweak if desired.
Noise problems weren't an issue, either. When games weren’t running I could barely hear the fans on the inside, and high-end gameplay saw the GPU and CPU spinners generate only a modest whirr. It’s about as quiet as the Chillblast, and current-gen consoles.
The Kingston SSD looked good on paper thanks to its 960GB capacity, but it’s a standard SATA drive that delivered mediocre read and write speeds of 525MB/sec and 492MB/sec. Chillblast’s drive is smaller, but it uses PCI Express lanes to run through those tests at 1,764MB/sec and 1,196MB/sec – and the Alienware’s Samsung is quicker too.
Other Things to Consider
The Ignis comes with a three-year labour warranty that includes one month of collect-and-return service and a year of parts coverage. That’s a good deal – better than the Alienware’s sole year of coverage – but it can’t compete with the five-year Chillblast warranty. That scheme includes two years of parts, labour and a collect-and-return service.
Should I Buy the PC Specialist Ignis?
This machine is designed to play games at impressive speeds and look good while doing it – and, thanks to the acrylic Parvum chassis, there’s no doubt it succeeds.
The Chillblast looks just as impressive, though, and it’s smaller and sturdier. It’s also quicker: the Fury Nano GPU is a tad faster, the Core i7 chip is swift, and the SSD is better. It will remain more rapid even if the cheaper Core i5 model is chosen, too, thanks to overclocking.
The Ignis is easily better than the Alienware. It might cost a little more, but it’s in a different league when it comes to gaming speed and includes a much better warranty.
The PC Specialist is small, fast and good-looking, but it falls in between its rivals. It’s a better buy than the underpowered Alienware, but the Chillblast is more well-rounded.
Verdict
Parvum’s acrylic case makes for a smart, unique PC, and the components inside mean this is a good performer too: it offers plenty of grunt and enough GPU power to just about handle gaming at 4K. Other machines are more balanced, though – Chillblast’s machine is smaller, just as smart, and includes a faster processor and graphics card.
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