Cyberpower PC ‘Ultra Fusion’ AMD Gaming System Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

For a high performance gaming system that sits not too far from some of the higher specified systems that I’ve looked at, an all in price of just under £1500 (Inc VAT and Delivery) is pretty reasonable in my mind. Admittedly there are one or two alterations that would benefit this system – such as cooling – but this will only add a small percentage to the total delivered cost from CyberpowerPC UK.

Overview

Choosing whether or not to go down the Intel or AMD route for your new system is one of those debates that has been going on for many years – and it is not one that I’m going to delve into once again here. The simple matter of choosing which way to go down ultimately comes down to your intended use for the system. If it’s an all round multi-tasking system that offers gaming, video editing, photo editing, and low power figures to match, then sadly this system won’t necessarily be the best option for you. If gaming is the sole use for your new shiny purchase, then AMD potentially is a better offering for you. The reason for this is the relative gaming performance for the cost. A couple of years back we dug a little deeper into the gaming performance of AMD’s FX-8150 Bulldozer processor vs the Intel i7-2600k and the relative costs and what was clear was that even though Intel’s chips beat the Bulldozer CPU hands down in day-to-day operations, when it game to gaming performance, the two were closely matched. The biggest thing that we pulled out from the analysis was the overall cost of buying an AMD system vs an equally matched Intel based rig and this is still the same today with the cost being a major factor.

Bringing this price factor forward and into this review, if you’re a pure gamer and that is your sole use for this system, then AMD may potentially be the option for you. Look at the figures, you’ve got a system here that is more than capable of keeping up with the high-end Intel based rigs and the price that you pay is much lower. By saving a little bit of money leaves you with a couple of options, the first is just to keep the cash in your pocket and be happy with what you’ve got. The other option is to use that saving to upgrade one or two components to give just the little more performance and this is the option that I recommend that you follow.

Due to no fault of Cyberpower PC, the FX-9590 is chip that likes to run hot and this results in slightly higher acoustics as the system ramps up its fan speeds to keep itself cool. Consequently I recommend an upgrade to the CPU cooler, either to Corsair’s H100i for around £30 or to one of Cyberpower’s own custom loops for prices starting at just under £80. The difference that this upgrade will make will be well picked and it will make the system a bit cooler but more importantly a bit quieter.

On the topic of component improvements, I am a little disappointed to see 1600MHz RAM being used here. Other gaming systems that we tend to see use upwards of 1866MHz and whilst this may only seem like a minor difference, the performance impact that it has is in some cases rather noticeable. 8GB is more than enough for general gaming so there is no real need to upgrade this, but if you’re likely to be running a number of processes in the background for streaming to Twitch TV as an example, then using that cash you’ve saved to get 16GB instead would be a good purchase.

Putting the pricing and performance to the side and looking at the system as a whole, the Cosmos SE is simply put a great looking chassis. I’m a great lover of the Cosmos II, but like many of you, I can imagine that its sheer size is a bit of a disadvantage when thinking about where you’re going to have it sat. The SE is a more bite size option and it still gives the same gorgeous looks and Cyberpower PC have built a system inside that compliments the style and design very well with a blue and black theme with grey highlights that runs right through the system. Overall I’m pretty happy with the Ultra Fusion. Sure there are one or two bits that I feel would benefit this system if they were changed, but for a pure gaming system that is able to take on the big guns, the Ultra Fusion is a tidy little number to consider.

Pros

• Cost effective alternative to an Ivy Bridge-E processor
• Ideal option for a pure gaming system
• High level of care an attention put into every build
• Well known and reputable brand

Cons

• FX-9590 processor not optimum for video editing work or CPU intensive tasks
• Hot running chip would benefit upgraded cooling for a quieter operation

“Choosing whether or not to go down the Intel or AMD pathway for a pure gaming system may seem like a hard decision, but with a large cost saving to be made, AMD is the chosen path for many gamers. The Ultra Fusion is a well priced system that offers a great level of performance – just what a gamer needs for that late night fraggin’ session with their mates.”

Thanks to Cyberpower PC for providing this review sample.