CyberPower Achilles Pro System review (i5 4690/GTX780)

1. Introduction2. CyberPower Achilles Pro3. CyberPower Achilles Pro (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. 3DMark Vantage6. 3DMark 117. 3DMark8. Unigine Heaven Benchmark9. Unigine Valley Benchmark10. SiSoft Sandra11. Cinbench R11.5 64 bit12. Cinebench R1513. SSD and HDD Performance14. USB 3.0 Performance15. Tomb Raider (1600p)16. Tomb Raider (Ultra HD 4K)17. Total War: ROME 2 (1600p)18. GRID 2 (1600p)19. GRID 2 (Ultra HD 4K)20. Wolfenstein: The New Order (1600p)21. Thermal Dynamics22. Acoustics Performance23. Power Consumption24. Closing Thoughts25. View All Pages

The CyberPower Achilles Pro is the first system we have tested which uses the latest Core i5 4690 processor. Intel have yet to release their new ‘K' series of unlocked processors, so until then we have to make do with the locked variants. Overall performance of the new chip is certainly good, although as it is locked there are serious, forced limitations.

Cyberpower do deserve praise for this build. The Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard is rock solid and never caused a single issue for us over a full week of stress testing and gaming. Additionally, the Gigabyte GTX780 is a high performance graphics card, capable of powering the latest engines at 1600p with the image quality settings maxed. At 4K some of the latest Direct X 11 titles may need the image quality settings dialed down a little, but overall – performance is fantastic.

The In Win 904 Chassis is the talking point of this system build. It is an eye catching case designed to grab attention of anyone in the vicinity. It fell under the admiring eye of my colleagues during the review process. The smoked glass side panels did stir a lot of nostalgia – the In Win 904 constantly reminded me of hi-fi equipment from the 1970's … in a pleasant rose tinted way.

While the CyberPower Achilles Pro has plenty of frame rate prowess, I really was smitten with the chassis. Under load, the system was barely audible and some of the credit goes to the design of the case and the choices made by CyberPower. The all in one liquid cooler doesn't have to work hard at all, as the 4690 isn't overclocked, the cooling fan barely spins up at all under heavy, sustained load. It is only when gaming that the GTX780 fan makes its presence known.

The Achilles Pro is very responsive and some of the credit has to go to the adoption of a very fast 256GB Plextor PCIe based Solid State Drive. Access times are very quick, and sustained sequential performance peaks at around 730 MB/s – comfortably exceeding the 600 MB/s limitations of the SATA III interface.

You can change any aspect of this system over at the Cyberpower website, here. At £1,399 inc vat, the Achilles Pro offers good value for money and there are no discernible weaknesses or problems. Obviously if you want a pre-overclocked system then you need to wait until Intel release the new K range of processors.

Cyberpower are working with Gigabyte and KitGuru to give away this system to a lucky KitGuru reader. To find out how you can save £1,399 then head over to this page and follow the simple instructions.

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Pros:

• Quiet under load.
• The In Win 904 case is beautiful to behold.
• Solid, well balanced performance characteristics.
• quality components used in the build.

Cons:

• Intel's new ‘K' series processors are just on the horizon.

Kitguru says: We like the Cyberpower Achilles Pro. It looks spectacular, is quiet and runs cool under load.

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