PCSpecialist Cobalt Spark R Prebuilt Review (i3 + RX 6600)

1. Introduction2. Test Setup3. System Benchmarks4. Game Benchmarks5. Thermals, Noise & Power6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

The PCSpecialist Cobalt Spark R has been a very interesting system to put through its paces over the last week, just because of how difficult it can be to put together a well-balanced system at the affordable price of £799.

I think it can often be tempting with cheaper systems like this to think, ‘oh if you only spent an extra £50 on the GPU', or ‘just an extra £30 on the memory', or ‘why not spend the extra £40 on a better' case – but by the end of the process you have a completely different system that might cost £100, even £200 more.

What PCSpecialist has done for £799 is very solid. The combination of the i3-14100F and RX 6600 delivers the goods for gaming, and while it may not be able to play the latest AAA games at Ultra settings, our benchmarks have shown it is still a potent combo for 1080p High settings gaming, and even 1440p isn't out of the question for esports titles.

The components are also very low-power, so cooling is a doddle, and that means the system is very quiet under load and barely draws more than 200W at the wall, so the choice of a 650W 80+ Gold PSU gives plenty of headroom for any upgrades down the line.

Of course, no system at this price is going to be perfect, and there are clear compromises here. The case feels fairly cheap and flimsy, the DDR5 memory only runs at 4800 MT/s and CL40 latency, while the decision to use a micro-ATX board in an ATX chassis leaves a lot of dead space inside the system. We also have to wonder about how much longer quad-cores will cut it, but as we said, it is managing fine for now.

PCSpecialist is offering solid value, too. Parting up as similar a system as I could using PCPartPicker, I came to a total cost of over £740, which means PCSpecialist is doing all the work for you, shipping it out and covering with their standard 3-year warranty, for barely a £50 premium. If you're looking to get into PC gaming and don't yet fancy building your own machine, the Cobalt Spark R is a solid starter system.

You can buy this system as reviewed for £799 HERE.

Pros

• Affordable price.
• RX 6600 is a solid gaming GPU for 1080p and even some 1440p gaming.
• Low-power components run cool and quiet.
• RGB fans and CPU cooler.
• 650W 80+ Gold PSU will last through several components upgrades.
• Very well built with excellent cable management.
• Great value versus DIY pricing.
• Covered by PCSpecialist's standard warranty.

Cons

• Lots of dead space inside the chassis.
• Case feels flimsy.
• 1TB storage fills up very quickly these days.
• Memory is pretty slow by modern standards.

KitGuru says: The Cobalt Spark R isn't perfect, but it offers a great entry point into the world of PC gaming, at an affordable price.

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