AWD-IT Aura (GTX 1070) System Review

The AWD-IT Aura system uses the GTX 1070, which we reviewed in June over HERE. Alongside that we find an i7-6700K overclocked to 4.5GHz, as well as 16GB of 3000MHz Corsair DDR4 and a Samsung 750 EVO SSD. It is certainly a good spec on paper, and with a price of £1499 it looks to offer good value. Since the release of Nvidia's latest Pascal architecture over the summer, we have reviewed a few gaming PCs utilising the new GPUs - perhaps most notably, PCSpecialist's Leviathan X which incorporates two Titan X cards (review HERE). For most people, though, that £3899 system is out of reach. What if you want the latest-and-greatest Pascal technology in a well-balanced system with a much more reasonable price tag? Enter AWD-IT's Aura. In this review we put the Aura through it paces, benchmarking some of the toughest games a rig can handle before giving our final verdict. Specification: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Glass Asus Z170 Pro Aura Gaming Intel 6700k @ 4.5GHz Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3000MHz Asus GTX 1070 Corsair RM650i Samsung Evo 750 500GB Corsair H100i OEM Price: £1499 Given the AWD-IT Aura is built in the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Glass case (which we reviewed HERE) it makes sense that the system is delivered in that case's box. Also included are the motherboard, power supply and GPU boxes - filled with extra cables, manuals and driver discs. Getting our first look at the system, we can see there is a mesh panel on the front to allow easy airflow to the internal components. The Enthoo Pro M Glass also has a large dust filter covering the top fan grill. The main attraction of this case, however, is undoubtedly the tempered glass panel. It looks stunning - the whole side panel is glass. It is tinted, however, which means it is hard to see the installed components without any lighting. More on that later, though. The front I/O is on the side of the front panel, too, and is comprised of 2x USB 3.0 ports as well as your audio jacks. Taking off the side panel, we get a proper look at the innards of the chassis. It is clear AWD-IT have done a fantastic job building the Aura. If you just took a brief look at the system, you could well think there aren't any cables at all - they are expertly routed, making the build look exceptionally clean. This is a key area for me as I think a PC costing just under £1500 should look beautiful. It is safe to say AWD-IT agree, and have built the system accordingly. Taking a look at the components, then, we start with the cooling apparatus. AWD-IT have left the stock Phanteks fans alone and not added to them, meaning there is a single 140mm at the front, and another at the rear of the chassis. While this will most likely do a solid job of cooling the components, we will put this to the test later in the review. The motherboard here is the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming Aura - clearly, the inspiration behind the system name. You can read our review of this motherboard HERE. The i7-6700K is cooled by a Corsair H100i all-in-one - although this is an OEM version for system builders, which does not look quite as swanky as the retail version. Alongside the processor is 16GB of Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz DDR4 - a 2x8GB kit, meaning there is space to install two more DIMMs. Working our way down, the GPU is Asus' GTX 1070. This is an interesting one, as it is a special model only for system integrators. Asus tell us it is a modified version of their DUAL graphics card - to me, it looks more like Asus' previous-generation of graphics cards, rather than the latest GTX 1070 STRIX card which we reviewed HERE. It uses a dual-fan cooler, while the Asus logo is illuminated. Incidentally, the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura motherboard supports 2-way SLI - so you could add another GPU down the line. There is also a spare M.2 connector which supports the latest NVMe SSDs. At the bottom of the case, Phanteks have included a ventilated PSU shroud. It has several cutouts for front-panel connectors which AWD-IT have utilised very well - the cables are barely visible. The PSU is Corsair's RM650i - a fully-modular, 80 Plus Gold certified unit. We have not reviewed this specific model, but you can read the review of the 750W version HERE. Also installed to the PSU shroud is the Samsung 750 EVO SSD. This is Samsung's 'value' SSD, as it uses cheaper 2D Planar NAND, rather than the 3D NAND of the 850 EVO, for example. A 500GB SSD, this 750 EVO is also the only storage in the system. For me, this is not an issue as I do not have a big media collection and tend to store what big files I do have (such as high-resolution photos) on an external drive. However, for some people, 500GB of space could well be a problem. Because of this, I would have preferred to see a 250GB SSD for Windows and a few games, alongside a 1-or-2TB mechanical hard drive. The cost would have been around the same, while ensuring there is adequate storage space for those with large Steam libraries, for example. AWD-IT have told us it would be possible to change this configuration if a potential buyer contacts them ahead of ordering the system, but by default, I think a 250GB SSD with a mechanical drive would have been the smarter choice. Moving to the back of the case, we find the Z170 Pro Gaming Aura has a solid set of I/O ports. There are 8 USB ports (including one USB 3.1 Type-A and one Type-C), as well as four display outputs, a PS/2 combo, Intel Gigabit LAN and a series of analogue and digital audio outputs. The GTX 1070 has the following outputs: 2x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, 1x DVI. Here we take a look behind the motherboard tray. Again, top marks to AWD-IT here. The cables are expertly routed, tied down and lashed together to ensure a very tidy system. Eagle-eyed readers may have also spotted that there are two spare drive bays in the bottom-left corner. These bays use removable caddies which slide in and out very easily - making it a doddle to install an extra HDD if you want to. Finally, I want to touch on system lighting. While I certainly like Asus' Aura software which allows configuration of the motherboard's RGB LEDs, the motherboard and GPU lighting alone do not illuminate the case interior very well. Add that to the fact the tinted glass side panel means it is hard to see into the chassis anyway, the lack of lighting means you really do not get to see the components inside the system. To my mind, a white LED strip would have been the perfect solution to this problem - it would have enabled consumers to get a proper look at the insides of the case, while not clashing with the RGB configuration enabled by the Aura software. Above we get an overview of the CPU and GPU, courtesy of CPU-Z and GPU-Z respectively. The i7-6700K is a quad-core unit with HyperThreading. Most notably, AWD-IT have overclocked it to 4.5GHz using a 1.330 Vcore. The GTX 1070 here has a 1569MHz base clock, while it boosts to 1759MHz. In reality, though, I saw it boosting up into the 1900s thanks to GPU Boost 3.0 technology. It is equipped with 8GB of GDDR5 memory which operates over a 256-Bit bus. Comparison systems Today I will be comparing the Aura with the following systems: Dell Inspiron 15 7559 Intel Core i7-6700HQ Nvidia GTX 960M 16GB Dual-Channel 1600MHz DDR3 RAM 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD ECS LIVA X Intel Bay Trail-M Celeron N2808 SoC Intel HD Graphics 4GB DDR3L RAM 64GB eMMc storage ECS LIVA X2 Intel Braswell N3050 SoC Intel HD Graphics 2GB DDR3L RAM 32GB eMMC storage PCSpecialist Lafité Intel Core i3 i3-5010U Intel HD Graphics 5500 8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB) 240GB Kingston V300 SSD Dell Latitude 13 7370 Intel Core™ m5-6Y57 Intel HD Graphics 515 8GB LPDDR3 1866MHz Memory 256GB Solid State Drive M2 2280 PCIe UK Gaming Computers Styx Intel Core i5-6500 Asus Turbo GTX 960 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz DDR4 RAM 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD ASUS ROG GX700 Intel Core i7-6820HK Nvidia GTX 980 (desktop) 32GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM 2x 256GB Samsung SM951 PCIe SSDs in RAID0 DinoPC Primal GT0 AMD FX-8320 AMD RX-480 16GB DDR3 2133MHz RAM 240GB Adata Premier SP550 PCSpecialist Defiance III 17.3 Intel i7-6700HQ Nvidia GTX 1060 16GB HyperX DDR4 2133MHz RAM 512GB SanDisk X400 M.2 SATA SSD Gigabyte BRIX Gaming UHD Intel i7-6700HQ Nvidia GTX 950 16GB Crucial DDR4 2133MHz RAM 512GB Samsung Pro M.2 SSD Gigabyte BRIX i7A-7500 Intel i7-7500U Intel HD Graphics 620 16GB G.Skill DDR4 2133MHz RAM 256GB Toshiba OCZ RD400 M.2 SSD And lastly my personal desktop with a Core i3-4160, 8GB 1866MHz DDR3 and a GTX 960. Test software SiSoft Sandra Cinebench R15 Handbrake CrystalDiskMark ATTO Disk Benchmark 3DMark 11 3DMark VRMark Prime 95 (version 26.6) CPUID HWMonitor AIDA64 Engineer Fraps Test games Grid Autosport The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Grand Theft Auto V Doom (2016) Today we are testing the Aura at 1080p, 1440p and 2160p (Ultra HD 4K). All tests were conducted using the latest Nvidia GeForce 375.86 driver.SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software. Sandra is a (girls’) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting. It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc. The AWD-IT Aura gets off to a very good start thanks to strong CPU and memory performance. In both tests, the Aura goes straight to the top of the charts - thanks to the solid 4.5GHz CPU overclock, as well as the fast 3000MHz memory used.CINEBENCH 15 is a cross-platform testing suite that measures hardware performance and is the de facto standard benchmarking tool for leading companies and trade journals for conducting real-world hardware performance tests. With the new Release 15, systems with up to 256 threads can be tested. CINEBENCH is available for both Windows and OS X and is used by almost all hardware manufacturers and trade journals for comparing CPUs and graphics cards. Again, the Aura goes to the top of our Cinebench chart thanks to the strong overclock on the i7-6700K. Cinebench does favour more cores over clock speed, but as the fastest quad-core chip I have tested to-date, it claims its place at the top of the chart.HandBrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs. The last of our CPU-specific tests, Handbrake exhibits the same trend we have seen previously. The i7-6700K shoots to the top of the chart thanks to its 4 cores, 8 threads and high clock speed.Here we test the Aura's storage performance, using CrystalDiskMark 5.1.1 and ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.47 While sequential read and writes are strong, the Samsung 750 EVO uses cheaper 2D Planar NAND compared to the 3D NAND of the 850 Evo. That being said, for general storage and games it is plenty fast enough.To test the USB 3.0 ports on the Aura, I plugged in an OCZ Trion 150 SSD via a SATA-to-USB 3.0 5Gbps adapter, which uses the ASMedia ASM1053 controller. We reviewed the SSD HERE, finding it delivers good speed at a budget price. Most importantly, it is capable of saturating the USB 3.0 bus, allowing us to test the speeds the USB 3.0 ports deliver. To test this, I ran both CrystalDiskMark and ATTO Disk Benchmark on the Trion 150 drive. As you can see, the USB 3.0 speeds are right at the 5Gbps ceiling of the USB interface. No problems here.3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads. Another top spot for the AWD-IT Aura. The GTX 1070 comes in over 6000 points above the RX 480. This certainly bodes well for real-world gaming performance.3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance. Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good. To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.” In Fire Strike, the GTX 1070 is another 6000 points ahead of the RX 480, while it is over 8000 points ahead of the Maxwell-based GTX 980. This crushing performance takes it to the top of the chart.VRMark is a benchmark designed specifically with virtual reality gaming in mind. Futuremark say 'the performance requirements for VR games are much higher than for typical PC games. So if you're thinking about buying an HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift, wouldn't it be good to know that your PC is ready for VR? VRMark includes two VR benchmark tests that run on your monitor, no headset required, or on a connected HMD. At the end of each test, you'll see whether your PC is VR ready, and if not, how far it falls short.' A new addition to our benchmarking suite, VRMark looks like one of the few valid ways of testing the VR capabilites of a PC. Consisting of two 'rooms', or benchmark tests, the Orange Room is the standard test, while the Blue Room is much more demanding. As this is the first time I have used VRMark - it has only just been released - I have no comparison data, though you can download the basic edition for free HERE and see how your rig compares.Grid Autosport is a racing video game by Codemasters and is the sequel to 2008′s Race Driver: Grid and 2013′s Grid 2. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 24, 2014. (Wikipedia). We test using the 'ultra' preset, with 4x MSAA. Though it is now getting on in age, I still include Grid Autosport in my benchmark suite as it is a good indication of how well a system performs using a less demanding game engine. As you can see, across the board - even at 4K - frame rates are very high. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt concludes the story of the witcher Geralt of Rivia, whose story to date has been covered in the previous titles. Continuing from The Witcher 2, Geralt seeks to move on with his own life, embarking on a new and personal mission while the world order itself is coming to a change. (Wikipedia). We test using the 'high' preset. Given The Witcher 3 does not have its own in-built benchmark, I tested near the beginning of the game with Geralt riding through White Orchard on his horse, before dismounting and carrying on on-foot. I benchmarked 3 closely-matched runs and then took the average figures from those runs to present here. A very demanding game, the Aura still manages playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, however, an average of 30.9 FPS is simply not playable.Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure game played from either a first-person or third-person view. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of missions, players may freely roam the open world. Composed of the San Andreas open countryside area and the fictional city of Los Santos, the world is much larger in area than earlier entries in the series. It may be fully explored after the game’s beginning without restriction, although story progress unlocks more gameplay content. We maximise every setting, though MSAA is disabled. Again, GTA V is perfectly playable at both 1080p and 1440p. 4K is less smooth, with a minimum FPS figure of 24.9 being cause for concern. With some tweaking of the settings, though, this could become playable relatively easily.DOOM is a science fiction horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is a reboot of the Doom series and is the first major instalment in the series since the release of Doom 3 in 2004 and the fourth title in the main series of games. The game is played entirely from a first-person perspective, with players’ taking the role of an unnamed marine, as he battles demonic forces from Hell that have been unleashed by the Union Aerospace Corporation on a future-set colonised planet Mars. We test using the 'ultra' preset. Given Doom does not have its own in-built benchmark, I tested at the beginning of the game as the player destroys the very first Gore Nest. I benchmarked 3 closely-matched runs and then took the average figures from those runs to present here. Great frame rates across the board in Doom (2016). 4K frame rates do dip into the 40s, though many would still consider that very playable.Thermal dynamics To measure idle temperatures, a reading was taken after having Windows open on the desktop for 30 minutes. A reading under load was taken with AIDA64’s stress test running. Perfectly acceptable thermals on display here. A peak of 64 degrees for the overclocked i7-6700K is particularly impressive. Acoustics performance Initially, I was worried by the noise levels coming from the Aura. The fans would spin up significantly almost at random, even when the system was under very low load - it was annoying and intrusive to say the least. I dived into the UEFI to take a look at the fan control settings - lo and behold I found the reason for this annoyance. The fan control settings had not been configured properly, as all the fans were being controlled in DC mode, even though the two radiator fans are PWM 4-pin models. Changing the setting to PWM mode improved matters a great deal - the fans still ramped up under load, but at idle there was no more strange bursts of speed from the fans.For idle power draw, a reading was taken after having Windows open on the desktop for 30 minutes. A reading under load was taken with AIDA64’s stress test running. Idling, the system pulls very little power at all. Under load, the power draw is still less than 50% of the RM650i's rated capacity. This ensures good efficiency levels, while also enabling the PSU fan to spin very slowly, if at all. As a point of interest given the spare PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, the RM650i would also be very capable of handling another GTX 1070 should you wish to add another for SLI down the road.All-in-all, the AWD-IT Aura is a well-balanced and well-built system. For starters, the cable management is exceptional - from the back or the front of the case, the wires are expertly tucked away and kept out of sight. This is important as nobody wants to spend £1499 on a messy system. In this regard, AWD-IT have done an excellent job. The one downside with the build is the lack of lighting. The motherboard and graphics card do emit some light (the motherboard has integrated RGB LEDs, for example) but given the tinted glass panel on the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Glass, it is not enough to allow you to properly see the components inside the chassis. This is a shame, as it almost renders the glass side panel redundant - why have it if you cannot really see the components through it? A white LED strip would have made a big difference, and I would have liked to see one included by default. That being said, Aura is a great performer when it comes to games. It handles 1080p and 1440p gaming with no issues - although 4K gaming is a mixed bag. Less demanding games such as Grid Autosport and Doom (2016) will run fine, but more demanding titles such as Grand Theft Auto V and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt prove the GTX 1070 is not quite up to the task of heavy 4K gaming. One other area of contention for me is the default storage configuration. The Aura comes with a single 500GB Samsung 750 EVO SSD, with no other drives present. I would have preferred to see a 250GB SSD alongside a 1TB mechanical hard drive as this provides greater capacity for those with large Steam libraries or media collections. AWD-IT do tell us potential buyers can request a different configuration, but by default, a smaller SSD alongside a mechanical hard drive would have been a smarter choice. Nonetheless, the AWD-IT Aura is a very capable system. It would be great for high refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, while the overclocked i7-6700K even enables some video editing or content creation to be possible. This specification costs £1499 and you can buy it directly from AWD-IT HERE. Pros Very tidy. Tempered glass Phanteks Enthoo Pro M. Strong performance from the CPU and GPU. Smart and well-balanced specification elsewhere. Reasonably priced. Room to upgrade with a spare PCIe x16 slot, as well as an M.2 port available. Cons Could do with an LED strip to get a proper look inside. Default storage configuration is not optimal. Fans needed configuring in the UEFI. KitGuru says: AWD-IT have done a great job with their Aura system. It is well-balanced, powerful and very tidy inside. If they made just a couple of minor adjustments, it would be pretty much perfect.