The Zircon Nova R desktop from PCSpecialist goes full AMD with a Ryzen 7 9700X processor and a Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card… but how is gaming on an all-Team Red machine in 2025? Those components are paired with 32GB of Corsair Vengeance RAM, a 2TB Samsung M.2 SSD and a Gigabyte AORUS Elite WiFi 7 motherboard. Priced at £1899, does the Zircon Nova R deliver on its circa two-grand price tag?

Timestamps:

00:00 Start
00:36 Pricing / Warranty
01:22 Specification
02:23 Memory / Testing
03:02 SSD / Testing
04:09 Mobo
04:42 Rear I/O
05:31 PSU
06:04 CPU Cooler / Fans
06:48 Case
07:45 Front I/O
08:08 Mats thoughts/ Cable Management
08:40 Software side
09:03 Assassins Creed Shadows (4k)
09:27 Cyberpunk 2077 (4k)
09:45 Hogwarts Legacy (4k)
10:11 Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (4k)
10:30 A Plague Tale Requiem (4k)
10:51 Black Ops 6 (1440p)
11:12 Space Marine 2 (1440p)
11:29 Forza Horizon 5 (1440p)
11:50 Black Myth Wukong (1440p Max)
12:14 F1 2024 (1440p)
12:29 Temps and Fan Noise Sound Test
13:23 Total System Power Draw
13:37 Closing Thoughts

Specifications:

• Case – Lian Li LanCool 205 Mesh C (Black)
• CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
• Motherboard – Gigabyte AORUS Elite B850 WiFi 7
• Memory – 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 5600MT/s CL40
• GPU – Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070XT
• SSD – 2TB Samsung 990 Pro Evo M.2 NVMe SSD
• PSU – Corsair 850w RMx ATX 3.1
• CPU Cooler – PCS Frostflow 150 Series Air Cooler
• Operating System – Windows 11 Home

The core specs are confirmed in the following CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots:

Gaming performance proved to be quite varied across a number of titles at both 1440p and 4K. The system is much better suited to 1440p gaming if high frame rates are a priority. 4K performance did marginally exceed 60fps in certain titles but on the whole, some tweaks would be needed to maintain smooth 60+ fps 4K gameplay. Below are some screenshots from a handful of games (but for full details of all 10 games we tested, watch our video review on YouTube, embedded at the top of the page).

F1 24 (1440p)

Warhammer: Space Marine 2 (1440p)

Assassin's Creed: Shadows (4K)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (4K)

Game optimisation plays a large part in system performance, as can be seen in the 1440p screenshots, with F1 24 hitting 381 FPS at it's peak, with Space Marine 2 falling some way behind that at around 110-120 FPS. 4K performance typically sat just below 60 FPS as previously mentioned, at least when not using FSR or any upscaling.

For details of synthetic benchmarks, power usage, noise and temperatures check out our full video review on YouTube.

You can buy the Zircon Nova R desktop directly from PCSpecialist for £1899 HERE.

UPDATE: PCSpecialist have got in touch and let us know the Zircon Nova R is actually retailing for £1899, £100 less than the figure we were originally told and reference in the video review. As such, we have increased its score from an 8/10 to 8.5/10.

Pros:

• Good 1440p gaming performance.
• Very well built and with excellent cable management.
• 2TB SSD should provide enough storage for most people.
• Great build aesthetics.

Cons:

• Memory could be faster and with tighter timings.
• Pricing is not as competitive as some previously reviewed PCSpecialist systems. (See update above).

KitGuru says: The Zircon Nova R is well built and relatively balanced all AMD desktop, hindered by sub par memory.

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