Review: a custom build by PCSpecialist

Today, we’re going to test and share with you our opinion on a pre-assembled PC from PCSpecialist. Let’s face it, while many of us continue to assemble our PCs, more and more people, young and old, are turning to pre-assembled systems. Why are they doing this? Quite simply to have a turnkey product, but also to rely on a company with the capacity to offer components that are becoming difficult to obtain. Finally, the choice and arrangement of these components can also be a source of stress, so entrusting them to an experienced company is also a way of sleeping soundly. So here’s an excellent reason to test the production of one of the sector’s leaders. To do so, we’re treated to a fairly top-of-the-range configuration geared towards gaming, with the distinctive feature of being all white.

It’s also important to note that this configuration came to us following the classic process of an order placed by the average person. So, as well as the machine itself, we’re going to be able to give you our opinion on the whole process, from validation of the order to the arrival of the parcel in our hands.

Thank you to PCSpecialist for making this PC available to us!

[nextpage title=”The PC: component details”]

A brief clarification beforehand:

This is a top-of-the-range configuration that is intended to be as sleek and elegant as possible. So you’ll notice the machine’s strong ‘white’ hue. It’s an aesthetic choice that has consequences not only for the components, but also for the price. Nevertheless, the blue of the Thermaltake chassis and the rest of the configuration make for a very pleasing appearance!

The graphics card:

The PC is designed for use in 1440p or even 4K with its RTX 5070 Ti. In our case it’s a model from Gigabyte: RTX 5070 Ti EAGLE OC ICE SFF. This is a white card in SFF format that will occupy 2 slots. A larger model could have been considered, given the free space left in the case, but for a 5070 Ti and its TDP of 300w, the cooling is coherent.

The processor:

The best gaming CPU is here: the 9800X3D. A logical choice for those who want a gaming machine for 1440p or 4K. Given its price, a processor such as the 9900X might be an option. Once again, you can customise your machine as you see fit.

The motherboard:

For the motherboard, we have a Gigabyte again, but this time with the Aorus range: the B650E Aorus Stealth Ice. It was chosen for its special feature of having the connectors on the back. Yes, here aesthetics are pushed to the limit. The equivalent B850 versions were not yet available when the PC went into production.

The case:

Now let’s talk about the case. It’s a Thermaltake case, more specifically the Tower 600. It’s a case with a distinctive aesthetic, thanks to its horizontal mounting. Even if the following comment is subjective, in our opinion this is one of the most attractive cases of the moment, with real originality. The version we have is Hydrangea Blue, a very light blue that blends perfectly with white. It avoids having a really all-white configuration and provides a certain contrast.

The memory:

Memory… This is a bit of a disappointment. We have a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 in 5200 MHZ with a CL 40. An average choice for a PC that’s intended to perform well. Especially as for €20 or even the same price you can get better frequency and latency… We’re still entitled to 2x16GB, more than enough to play in 2025 and run a few applications in the background. Bear in mind once again that this choice is dictated by availability at a given moment. There’s nothing to stop you opting for other references.

Storage:

A Solidigm SSD known as P44 will be fitted in the PC. It will have a capacity of 2 TB and is a Gen 4. A very high-performance Gen 4 since it has the best performance for this PCIe interface, i.e. 7000 Mb/s read and 6500 Mb/s write. More than enough performance for gaming and everyday tasks. It’s worth noting that several Solidigm SSDs have their origins in the acquisition of Intel’s SSD division.

Power supply:

Corsair again with the RMx 850W Gold. This is a gold-certified 850w power supply. We could have gone for a 750w version, which would have been just fine, but if you want to upgrade your PC later you’ll be covered. The small negative point is that this power supply doesn’t have a 12V-2×6 connector. PCSpecialist will have thought of everything by installing a white cable with a small comb. Finally, given all the talk about the problems with this connector, there’s nothing limiting about having this set-up.

The little extra: the LCD screen:

You’ve probably already seen it on other Thermaltake cases, but we can add a small LCD screen sold by the brand. On this case, the screen is positioned at the bottom of the front panel. It’s a cool gadget that lets you display information about your PC, the time or a small animation. But this little aesthetic touch doesn’t come cheap, as the accessory is priced at around €140..

Cooling:

The processor is cooled by a 240m aio: the Frost Flow 240 Series ARGB White. This cooling is sourced directly from PCS and is more than sufficient for an 8-core processor. However, in 240mm, purists will notice that it’s less aesthetically pleasing because it doesn’t completely occupy the right-hand side. Here again, the aesthetic constraint of having as many white components as possible is the main explanation for its size.

[nextpage title=”The first important step: unpacking”]

This pre-assembled PC comes from PCSpecialist, as we’ve already said many times. If we’re repeating ourselves, it’s to make you aware of its journey. PCS assembles in England, so the journey is not neutral, especially for a PC mounted in a medium-sized chassis with lots of glass surfaces, the Tower 600. And this is already where the company is hitting hard. As you can imagine, we receive a lot of equipment in the workshop, including finished products from France such as laptops and other PCs. During the preparation phases of our machine, we already had a glimpse of the seriousness of PCSpecialist, with monitoring at every stage right up to dispatch. But the care taken with the packaging and the general protection of the machine is still a notch above anything else we’ve seen.

Unpacking the PC as if you were at home

You can see for yourself in our unpacking video:

The PC is delivered in a rather imposing cardboard box. PCSpecialist does not hesitate to put extra protection on the outside, a reassuring point when you know that some deliveries are not made smoothly..

In the main box, you’ll find a box containing all the components not used during assembly: there are screws, cables, SSD mounts, etc. All the instructions for your components are there too, along with installation instructions and a few stickers from PCSpecialist. A start-up guide is affixed to the inside of the PC’s glass case.

Underneath this box is the centrepiece: the PC. Once unpacked, we can clearly state that the PC will not be at risk during transport. Even out of its packaging, you can see that a whole host of protective features are still present in the case to prevent any component from becoming detached or suffering in the event of a shock during transport.

Once all the protective covers have been removed, and you’ve checked that nothing has come loose during transport, all you have to do is put the PC down, plug it in, switch it on and enjoy!

[nextpage title=”Assembly quality”]

Using an assembler to assemble your PC also means you can be sure of quality and identify any problems before shipment. Imagine receiving your components and when you’re ready to test them, you discover that one component, at random the RAM, is faulty or problematic… This is also the service you demand (and pay for) when you use a professional like PCSpecialist.

In our case, we really appreciated the skill of the PCS guys. The machine is impeccably assembled. Don’t be thinking that using a motherboard with a reversed connector hides the mess (we didn’t dare use another word). While using this type of motherboard makes for a flattering result, it also makes assembly more complex, and you need a good dose of patience to achieve the final result.

You’ll also notice the use of white custom cables to further improve the rendering: another detail that takes up a lot of time for an experienced assembler… and even more for others.

You’ll also notice the particularly careful arrangement of the cables. It’s an aesthetic detail, but also a good way of optimising airflow through the machine. If you take a closer look, you won’t notice any screwdriver cuts or missing screws… And you’ll notice that the cable ties (white on all visible parts) are used extensively, allowing clean assembly but also securing the connections of certain components for transport. In short, it’s a really, really good job!

[nextpage title=”Performance tests”]

Our test protocol:

The test protocol has been revised to offer something more comprehensive. We will therefore have a section with synthetic benchmark scores for the CPU and GPU, followed by productivity performance and finally gaming performance in 1080p/1440p resolution and with or without DLSS.

New competitive video games have also been added to give an overview of performance in this type of title.

Heating and the resulting noise.

To test the heating of this beautiful beast, we used a fairly simple test that is indicative of cooling performance: Cinebench R23. To do this, we’re going to launch a run on Cinebench R23 for 10 minutes, then record the maximum and average temperatures of the CPU, and finally its maximum and average frequency. For the graphics card, we’ll run a Furmark for an hour to put the card through its paces and see what it’s capable of. We’ll then simply record its maximum and average temperature.

The protocol

1. Synthetic CPU test
   CinebenchR20
   CinebenchR23
   Geekbench 3
   Geekbench 5
   3DMark CPU Profile
   Aida64
2. Synthetic GPU performance
   3DMark Timespy
   3DMark Timespy extreme
   3DMark Firestrike
   3DMark Firestrike Extreme
   3DMark Firestrike Ultra
   3DMark Speedway
3. Productivity performance
   PCMark 10 Extented
   PCMark 10 Applications test
   PugetBenchDavinci Resolve
4. Gaming performance Rasterisation (1080p ultra / 1440p ultra)
   Shadow of the tomb raider
   Cyberpunk 2077
   COD MW2
   War thunder
5. Gaming performance Esport
   Counter strike : Global offensive
   Counter strike : 2
   Rainbow 6 siege
6. Gaming performance RTX & DLSS/FSR (1080p/1440p ultra)
   Shadow of the tomb raider
   Cyberpunk 2077
   War Thunder
   COD MW2

Synthetic CPU performance:

Let’s take a look at what this machine has up its sleeve, starting with CPU and memory performance on a few synthetic benchmarks. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D that comes with this machine will be compared to the laptops and other pre-built PCs that we’ve tested previously. Obviously, the processor won’t get the best results because of its 8 cores, especially against the 14700 KF. But for gaming, as we’ll see later, it’s plenty powerful enough!

Cinebench R20:

Unsurprisingly, the processor is behind the 14700 KF. Logical results, since it has more than twice as many cores as the 9800X3D. The small surprise is that it comes close to a 13700 F. So this 9800X3D shouldn’t have any trouble with intensive tasks.

Cinebench R23:

Here again, the 14700 KF dominates, but the 9800X3D manages to narrowly beat the 13700F. This confirms its solid performance in terms of intensive calculations.

Geekbench 3:

Here, the 9800X3D comes last in the rankings. Not surprising, since this benchmark gives a score for decompression/compression, reading and writing performance… So more cores means faster tasks. Despite everything, our processor does very well.

Geekbench 5:

A more recent version of the previous benchmark, which gives more precise and symbolic scores, shows once again that the 9800X3D remains solid. It is the best in Single performance, but last in Multi with its 8 cores compared with 20 cores and 16 cores.

3DMark CPU profile:

This benchmark shows how processor performance evolves and changes with the number of cores and threads used. Here, the 9800X3D is the best in Single, as in virtually all previous tests. That’s why it’s the processor of choice for gamers. Once again, however, it came last in Multi, again because of its 8 cores.

Aida 64:

With Aida64, we’ll be looking mainly at ram performance. As I said earlier, with the choice of an average kit, as in our case, the data rates are not very good. However, the overall result is still good, but we could do so much better with a more powerful ram kit.

Synthetic GPU performance:

Now that we know the performance of the CPU, we can move on to the graphics card, starting with some synthetic benchmarks. The RTX 5070 Ti coupled with the 9800X3D will be compared with other pre-built PCs and laptops. Here, as you’ll see, the CPU’s score still lags behind. But that’s not really indicative, as the GPU score is of more interest to us and will give some indication of in-game performance.

3DMark Time Spy:

This benchmark shows that the graphics card in this PC is the best we’ve tested. The CPU still lags behind, but for gaming, especially with the 9800X3D, there will be no problems. In terms of overall score, which combines CPU and GPU scores, our configuration is also the best.

3DMark Time Spy Extreme:

Once again, our configuration outperforms the others on the graphics front. In terms of overall score, we are slightly behind the NZXT PC.

3DMark Firestrike:

Here, the superiority of our PC is still visible on the overall score and GPU.

3DMark Firestrike Extreme:

Once again, the GPU and overall scores outperform the others. The CPU still lags behind, but in this type of test, the CPU score is hardly indicative of gaming. Only the GPU score really counts.

3DMark Firestrike Ultra:

Here, the overall score and GPU beat the NZXT Player Three configuration equipped with a 4070 Ti Super by almost 4,000 points.

3DMark Speedway:

Let’s finish off with 3DMark Speedway, a graphics-only benchmark. Here we can clearly see the difference in raw Ray Tracing performance. The RTX 5070 Ti is well ahead of the 4070 Ti Super and the 4070.

Productivity performance:

Let’s move on to productivity. Here we’ll be focusing on the productivity performance of the configuration. In other words, the machine’s performance with software such as Microsoft Office, Blender or DaVinci Resolve.

PCMark 10 Extended:

In this benchmark, which gives us an overview of performance for different tasks, we can see that this PC will do the job in all situations. It is the best in Gaming and just behind the NZXT equipped with a 14700 KF in other tasks.

PCMark 10 Application:

PCMark 10 Applications evaluates performance for real office tasks by testing software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. Here, the processor is a key element in addition to the ram and SSD. Here again, the PC does very well, coming in just behind the one with the biggest processor. This can be explained by the presence of a very good SSD, as in our case. The score could also have been better with a good ram kit.

PugetBench DaVinci Resolve:

This benchmark evaluates the PC’s performance for video editing. We obtained a score of 2313. A very good score for a PC geared towards gaming rather than productivity.

The two Blender tests :

Here again, you’ll notice the importance of a multithreaded processor for this kind of benchmark.

UL Procyon AI Computer Vision:

We finish with a benchmark that won’t be useful to everyone: performance for AI. Here, with its graphics card and processor equipped with an extra cache, this PC is the best we’ve had on this subject.

Gaming performance:

We’ve now finished with the synthetic benchmarks. We’re now going to move on to video game testing.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider:

Here are the results in three resolutions, ultra quality and without DLSS and Ray Tracing on Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. All under DX12.

Cyberpunk 2077:

In Cyberpunk 2077, the PC is the best, with over 108 fps in 1440p and 50 fps in 2160p (4K), all in Ultra quality. Results that are more than enough to be playable.

War Thunder:

Performance in Esport type games:

We now move on to some e-sport titles. Here, it’s essentially the CPU performance that’s being tested. The graphics card isn’t put under much pressure at low resolutions and in games that aren’t very demanding in terms of detail. For a machine of this calibre, we can easily expect more than 360 fps in 1080p.

CSGO:

CS:2:

Rainbow 6 Siege:

Gaming performance with RTX & DLSS:

Let’s be frank: it was impossible for us to complete our protocol due to the instability of the Nvidia drivers. This situation is currently being resolved, but we can’t offer you any objective measurements. However, the gains are considerable for the sequences we were able to use. Nvidia is working to stabilise its drivers, and neither the machine nor the graphics card itself can be held responsible. For concerned gamers: don’t worry, this is just a software problem that the Greens will undoubtedly resolve. But the myth of reliable Nvidia drivers VS its competitor AMD is falling apart with these RTX 50s…

[nextpage title=”Conclusion:”]

Frankly, for a first, this assembly from PCSpecialist won us over. First of all, it’s its refined, well-thought-out aesthetics, its clean assembly and its equally meticulous shipping that really impressed us.

Secondly, the PC itself works remarkably well. Of course, some of the details of this configuration may be questionable to some of you. But don’t forget that the site’s configurator lets you do almost anything you want. The idea here was to have a very aesthetic product. All the games you want in 1080p, 1440p and even 4K will run smoothly. Most of our tests confirmed that this is a top-notch gaming machine. If the application and professional tests are less to the party, don’t worry either, this PC will still perform honourably.

And the rest of the components? Its SSD is also a good point; it’s a detail that’s often overlooked in pre-assembled PCs, but in our case, its choice is a life-changer, even if it’s only running Windows. The Thermaltake case is magnificent and makes a change from everything we’re seeing at the moment. It’s also very efficient at managing airflow.

So yes, with a 52000 MHz ram kit in CL 40, the machine’s potential is somewhat limited. Yes, the 240mm AIO could be advantageously replaced by a quieter 360mm. But once again, it’s up to you to decide where you place your cursor.

All in all, we can say that this PC reflects the know-how of PC Specialist: an excellent aesthetic combination of different components and an assembly quality that is far above the rest, with attention paid to every detail. Last but not least, the ordering process and the quality of the packaging are remarkable. Objectively, even if our local carrier had rolled over several times with his van, the PC would have arrived unscathed, given the amount of protection.

Then there’s the question of price. Here again, given the soaring cost of components, the recipe proposed by PCSpecialist is interesting. If you choose the components yourself (and obviously take exactly the same ones), the delta is under €300 (at the time of our test). For this price, you get high-quality assembly, an efficient after-sales service and the assurance that the machine delivered will work perfectly.

So we’re really won over by this first experience with a PCSpecialist machine. It’s also important to bear in mind that multiple out of stock and speculation lead to changes in strategy when it comes to pre-assembled PCs. In our case, the delivery of this machine, despite having ‘atypical’ components (white components), went quickly and smoothly.

We liked :

• The quality of the assembly and the attention to detail.
• The delivery process and the quality of the packaging.
• The aesthetics of the PC we received (yes, this is subjective).
• A turnkey machine that is truly “plug & play”
• The choice of a case that is not very common in the world of pre-assembled PCs

We liked less:

• The memory, which somewhat limits the potential of this PC.
• The 240mm AIO isn’t exactly discreet.