Wired2Fire Diablo Reactor Gaming PC Review

1. Introduction2. Wired2Fire Diablo Reactor: Packaging and Bundle3. Wired2Fire Diablo Reactor System4. Testing Methodology and Configuration5. Tests: System-related6. Tests: Processor-related7. Tests: Gaming-related8. Tests: Motherboard-related9. Technical: Thermals, Acoustics, and Power10. Closing Thoughts11. View All Pages

The Wired2Fire Diablo Reactor is a well-balanced gaming machine that focuses its efforts on the use of budget components in order to afford alluring gaming hardware while maintaining an affordable asking price. The areas of compromise are well thought out and allow the system to sell for well below the £1000 mark.

Stars of the show are the 4.4GHz i5 4690K CPU and the GTX 970 graphics card. Wired2Fire deserves credit for shipping the i5 with a 4.4GHz clock speed, which can be considered a fairly high level for the Devil's Canyon chip and a modest CPU cooler.

The GTX 970 graphics card performs well and doesn't run overly loud, however some thermal throttling concerns should be addressed by the use of a tweaked fan speed profile. A cheap, but effective, front intake chassis fan would have been a useful addition to aid GPU cooling. Opting for one of the cheaper custom-cooled GTX 970 graphics cards would also be preferable.

A good balance of supporting hardware is used on the Diablo Reactor. Budget options for the CPU cooler, case, PSU, and Asus motherboard allow for extra investment in other components. This results in 16GB of DDR3 memory and a 250GB SSD being equipped as the premium additions. They don't increase frame rates but they do enhance the general usage and gaming experiences.

Wired2Fire's shipping efforts are excellent (the system is very well protected) and the included 3 year warranty is a positive point for the system and one that may tempt buyers who were considering building it themselves.

The Wired2Fire Diablo Reactor is currently shipping for £859.97. Less than £900 for the calibre of hardware being offered is a very impressive asking price. An almost identical set of components (different brand PSU) would cost just over £900 at OCUK. So Wired2Fire is effectively building the system, overclocking the CPU to 4.4GHz, and including a 3 year warranty for less than the individual component cost. That's a good deal.

Pros:

• Good balance of components with focus on gaming hardware.
• Excellent, well-optimised overclock on the Core i5 4690K CPU.
• Very competitive pricing.
• Appropriately sized SSD.
• Quiet operation when idling and non-intrusive under gaming load.
• Solid upgrade potential.
• No bloatware with the OS install.

Cons:

• Graphics card cooling could be better optimised.
• Modular power supply may have been easier for user-led upgrades.
• A fan installed in the front mount would have been welcomed.

KitGuru says: A well-balanced, competitively-priced system that stays true to its gaming core.

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