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Palicomp shipped the Alpha Pulse to us in an absolutely gigantic box which was so large that we couldn't fit it in our photo studio. Inside this there was a vast amount of protective packaging surrounding the PC box. We're very happy to see that they are making every effort to ensure that the computer arrives in perfect condition.
Inside the outer box there was a small accessories box nestled away in all the protective packaging. This contained all the accessories including a Windows 7 re-install CD and all the driver CDs for the system. There is also a wireless antenna included which plugs in the back of the motherboard.
The Alpha Pulse is based around the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I chassis which we reviewed here. While it's far from a bad chassis, we aren't that fond of the design, and I think it looks quite ugly.
It also doesn't feel that well built compared to a lot of similarly priced cases available today. Palicomp have an online configurator which lets you choose between a selection of cases so we would recommend choosing a different model.
There are a generous selection of front panel connections on the top of the chassis of the front which include two USB3.0 ports, two USB2.0 ports, an eSATA port, a headphone jack and a microphone jack. The power and reset buttons are also located here.
In the front of the system there is a Blu-Ray drive populating the top drive bay. Moving further down the front panel there are a further three empty drive bays and then a large vented area covering an LED blue intake fan.
There is another large vented area along the top of the case which is where the Corsair H100 is mounted. This is a great cooler which features two 120mm fans exhausting hot air from the system. There is a further 120mm exhaust fan in the rear of the system.
Connectivity from the back of the system is also generous with the following connections included
Motherboard:
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
- 1 x DVI-D
- 1 x D-Sub
- 1 x DisplayPort
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
- 4 x USB 3.0
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
- 6 x Audio jack(s)
- 1 x WLAN connector(s) for ASUS wireless module
Graphics:
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x DisplayPort
- 2x DVI-D
looks like a good selection of components but im not impressed with the case either. Thermaltake make shoddy cases generally. low cost materials etc.
looks like a nice system, but id rather build my own, as Henry said, dont like this case at all.
Just like me if you are a great fan of gaming computers then you should check out the online shop.
£1399.99 now…
Price increases in this case are reasonable and understandable.
The world’s components are traded in dollars.
At the time it was reviewed, the US dollar was relatively weak – with a value of around $1.65 to £1
The pound now only buys just over $1.50 – which is a drop of almost 10%
That 10% movement will translate into a cost increase of around the same value
If a company submits a machine for review and changes it within 28 days, then we will launch a FULL investigation… But a change after many months where the source of the change is (a) clear and (b) outside the supplier’s control is fine
We hope you agree 🙂