[ad_1]
The ABS Master gaming PC has a lot going for it: 1440p gaming, imaging prowess and a big X for productivity. And while it delivers when it comes to the core components, it wouldn’t hurt for ABS to give the supporting parts a little more love.
We had some trouble with having to clock the RAM correctly, but otherwise we can let the numbers speak for themselves.
First, let’s look at how the ABS Master arrived. If you’re worried about whether it’ll get to you in one piece, don’t worry; if anything the packaging is a bit excessive. We ran our reviews from the UK office and the computer came all the way across the Atlantic double boxed with huge bubble wrap filling the outer box, polystyrene cushions, as well as a foam cushion.
There was also a GPU brace mount inside the case to hold the pre-installed Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. (opens in a new tab) (Gigabyte model) of shaking around. I think the mount shifted a bit in transit, but all this packaging did well to keep everything from getting damaged.
ABS Master Spec
CPU: Intel Core i5 12400F
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
RAM: 16GB DDR4-3200 OLOy Blade
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660 DS3H DDR4
Storage: Intel 670P 512GB
Front I/O: 2x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 Type-A, headphone, microphone in
Rear I/O: 1x USB 3.2 2×2 Type-C, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 4x USB 2.0/1.1
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 5
PSU: 600W 80 Plus Gold
Case: Deepcool Matrexx 50
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Warranty: 1 year parts and labor
Price: $1,300 (opens in a new tab)
Out of the box, the Intel Core i5 12400F (opens in a new tab) along with the Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti delivers fair performance for the price, although the RAM speeds were a definite hurdle. With mediocre memory throughput and memory copy scores, I found myself questioning the spec sheet. It said 16GB DDR4-3200, but the system was only clocked at 2,400MHz. We assumed that the OLOy Blade RAM was where ABS was leaking, but after chatting with the PR we were informed that “the user would need to enable XMP in the BIOS.”
Generally, we have found that system builders will take care of that step for you, as the average user is not always aware of XMP. I didn’t think to check before the benchmarking process myself, and I do this for a living. What you see here, since there are no instructions telling you to do this, are the extraordinary benchmarks you would see from the machine without any extra tinkering.
That said, it didn’t pose too much of a threat to the ABS Master’s playability.
Unfortunately, 512GB is a bit small for the size of today’s games.
Despite the slower RAM speed, it still managed to score well in our PC Mark 10 composite productivity benchmarkâbetter than some of the more expensive machines we compare it to. That productivity score is mostly down to the core components, but the included Intel 670P SSD isn’t a bad choice either. It might be a little old, but we’ve seen much worse numbers in the FFXIV load times benchmark. Unfortunately, 512GB is a bit small for the size of today’s games, although there is room to pop in another SSD at a later date, or even swap out that boot drive for a bigger one.
Next to productivity, the ABS Master managed some more than reasonable Cinebench R23 single-core and multi-core scores, which means you can expect pretty good rendering performance for the price. And while video encoding performance was a little disappointing, the 12th Gen Intel processor still rocked the more CPU-intensive gaming benchmarks in our series.
System performance
Hitman 3 Dartmoor managed a 93fps average even on ultra-graphics settings, at 1440p. That’s with sim quality set to best. Metro Exodus Enhanced lagged a little behind with 54fps at ultra-graphics settings, it was a similar story for the rest of the gaming benchmarks.
At 1440p, ultra, and with DX12 on (opens in a new tab) the ABS Master managed a 61fps average in the Warhammer 3 combat benchmark. FarCry 6 averaged 90fps, while we saw a solid 46fps in F1 22. So not a bad game score overall. Compare it to the $99 more expensive iBuyPower and the RTX 3060 there, and you get an extra 14fps in Metro, 23fps in Farcry and a whopping 28fps in Hitman Dubai.
Sure, you may have to turn down some settings to take advantage of high-refresh monitors, but overall I’m happy with the core components that ABS chose.
Gaming respects
The Deepcool Matrexx 50 case, however, I’m not so enamored with. I am convinced that this computer would have scored much better in thermal testing with a better ventilated case. However, the glass front looks great with the row of spinning RGB fans – there’s even a button to change the lighting of the case, which is fun.
You also get some peripherals with this one, for free. They aren’t the best quality, but they help make life easier for new PC gamers while saving up for the best gaming keyboard. (opens in a new tab) and best gaming mouse (opens in a new tab). The Gamdias mouse is very low profile, with a rubberized coating that definitely rubs up pretty quickly, and the switches on the keyboard are maybe a little scratchy. There are audio controls on the keyboard, which is a plus, but just don’t expect a stellar experience from free peripherals.
When you consider that this is a machine that packs an RTX 3060 Ti, comes in at $1,400, and manages excellent gaming and productivity, it puts the more expensive iBuyPower Gaming RDY SLMBG218 we tested to shame. Sure, the RAM and SSD are better inside the latter, but it’s a hundred bucks more for a whole lot lower GPU-wise.
For the ABS Master I would have been a bit faster RAM, especially since it is otherwise a great machine for productivity. A larger SSD wouldn’t go amiss either. And yet, despite its minor downfalls, the ABS master is still a great mid-range gaming PC for the price. I’m not sure those peripherals have much to do with my opinion, though. I honestly try to push them out of my mind.
[ad_2]
Source link