CCL Elite Strix 100 Review

Performance Analysis

As we suspected, the GTX 950 was more than up to the task fo dealing with games at 1,920 x 1080, with the only slower-than-expected result being in Battlefield 4, where the modest CPU may have hindered things compared to the overclocked Core i5 CPU in our graphics test system. Even so, a minimum frame rate of 35fps at ultra detail settings means there's plenty of futureproofing here for most scenarios. Crysis 3 backed this up with a minimum frame rates of 33fps, although as we saw in our GTX 950 review, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor already sees the GTX 950 dip to 19fps minimum and 28fps average so you may find you need to tone down the settings in some games already. Unigine Valley saw the system fit pretty much where we'd expect it to - between results for the R9 280 and R9 270X, with the GTX 960 offering a decent amount more performance still.

The 2D tests weren't spectacular, but then we are dealing with a dual-core CPU here. Only the FX-8350 was slower, but even then only on occasions, with the quad-core Intel CPU results edging our huge leads, especially in the photo editing and rendering tests. Thankfully, the low spec also meant power consumption was ridiculously low - less than 50W idle and only 170W under full load - over 100W less than the GTX 960-based PC Specialist Apollo 703.


Despite our reservations with the CPU cooler, it was actually fairly placid throughout testing meaning the system as a whole relatively unobtrusive. However, we'd still much prefer to see a third party CPU cooler - even if it was something like an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. which costs just £14. It would mean the system would be quieter still and as our own CPU cooler benchmarks show, the CPU would be a huge amount cooler too.

Storage-wise, the Kingston HyperX Fury isn't the fastest SSD we've seen and the write speed especially was way south of 150MB/sec. Likewise there's not a great deal of space on offer too, with our small selection of games and tests installed, there was less than 40GB remaining. Yes you have the hard disk as backup, but we'd sooner see a smaller hard disk and slightly bigger SSD.

Conclusion

We'll start with the negatives. The CPU cooler might just about cope with the CPU and didn't present major issues noise-wise, but we now just how poor they are at cooling and that third party coolers can be much quieter too. We might expect a reference cooler on a system with a lower spec than this but to include a decent graphics card and SSD and then to use a reference CPU cooler wouldn't have been our choice. As it stands, though, temperatures are within their limits, but if you upgrade - something the system has plenty of potential for - you'll likely need something better. The CPU cooler fan is also the noisiest component - the GPU switches its fans off entirely under low loads so the reference cooler spoils things here. The CPU itself does let the side down too - it lacks the grunt needed to keep up with Core i5's, quite significantly in some 2D tests, although in games the difference was less noticeable. We'd also like to see a bigger SSD - including one is fine but 128GB isn't enough if you play all the latest eye candy-laden titles without constantly running out of space.

On the plus side, the system has good upgrade potential - apart from the CPU cooler. The H97 motherboard can overclock K-series CPUs and it has an M.2 port as well. The case, too, sports plenty of cooling potential for air and liquid cooling and it's not bad looking either. Price-wise, you'd likely be saving between £30-50 once an OS is factored into the equation buying the CCL Elite Strix 100 compared to using the same components yourself, plus you get a three-year collect and return warranty and a ready-to-run system arriving at your door. The use of a small, comparatively slow SSD can be forgiven at this price and stomaching a reference cooler if CCL was intent on keeping the price below £500 would be easier too. As it stands, though, the system costs £530 so another £15 on an aftermarket CPU cooler really wouldn't have made that much difference. Had the Elite Strix 100 included something other than a reference cooler, it would likely have approached award territory too.