Zoostorm Stormforce 340 Gaming PC Review

John Williamson / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Zoostorm Stormforce 340 is currently available from respected online store laptopsdirect.co.uk for £799.97. To determine a system’s value proposition, we endeavour to compile an identical self-build and compare the price. This allows us to analyse the fee (if any) that a system integrator is choosing is charge customers for its services.

Case: NZXT S340 Red and Black Mid Tower = £59.94
Motherboard: MSI B150 PC Mate = £66.99
Processor: Intel Core i5-6500 = £172.99
Processor Cooler: Intel LGA1151 Stock Cooler = £0 (Included with CPU)
System Memory: 8GB Crucial DDR4 2133MHz CL15 = £25.92
Main Boot Drive: 128GB Sandisk M.2 Z400s SSD = £40.09
Additional Storage Drive(s): 1TB Western Digital Blue 7200RPM = £44.92
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB = £234.99*
Power Supply: FSP 500w 85+ PSU FSP500-60HHN = £59.80
OS: Windows 10 Home = £73.98

Once totalled up, this equates to £779.62 which is a saving of £20.35 compared to the pre-configured Zoostorm model. As you can see, the difference is minimal which demonstrates how reasonable the system’s price point really is.

Overview

The system’s NZXT S340 chassis evokes a professional feel due to the study construction and aesthetically pleasing colour scheme. While a cheaper option could have been deployed, it wouldn’t enthuse as much confidence in the product and I strongly believe the S340 is a fantastic choice given the budget constraints. Personally, I prefer the appearance once the side panel is removed because you can clearly see the red highlights. Annoyingly, the panels cover these red sections and results in a more understated theme. Whatever the case (if you’ll excuse the pun), the Zoostorm Stormforce looks more expensive than it is and the tinted window manages to partially obscure any cutbacks made for aesthetic reasons.

In terms of component selection, the i5-6500 processor is perfectly suited towards mainstream gaming and you’re not going to experience any sort of bottlenecks compared to unlocked CPUs like the i7-6700K. As a result, the base frequency is enough to cope with a huge range of demanding scenarios and it’s guaranteed to run at lower thermals compared to overclocked options. Speaking of thermals, the system opts for the default Intel cooler which initially made me quite concerned about its ability to dispel heat in an effective manner. Thankfully, this was probably pure snobbery on my behalf after being fortunate enough to use some of the best CPU coolers on the market. While the stock cooler is fairly ghastly to look at, it’s functional and remains surprisingly quiet under heavy load. Ideally, I’d like to see the something similar to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo used instead which only has a small impact on the system cost and looks much better. Of course, if you’re not bothered by aesthetics then there’s no need to disregard the stock cooler’s perfectly fine functionality.

The 8GB DDR4 memory operates at a speed of 2133MHz which makes sense given the limitations imposed by Intel on the budget B150 chipset. Despite this, I’d prefer to see two DIMMs to create a better appearance and utilise dual channel speeds. Some users might dislike the green PCB and exposed ICs especially when attractive DDR4 memory is relatively affordable. Once again it all comes down to subjective preference because the attractive designs usually sport 2400MHz and you cannot use these modules to their full potential. This seems rather wasteful if the memory speed has to be downclocked to 2133MHz. Therefore, I think Zoostorm have taken the right approach and ensured money isn’t wasted during the component planning process.

The M.2 boot SSD is capable of stunning read speeds and competes rather favourably against higher end devices. Unfortunately, it really falls behind in sequential write performance which is reflected in its cheaper price point. Perhaps, a better option would be to go for the 120GB Samsung Evo 850 with greatly improved write speeds. The 120GB capacity is large enough to store the operating system and a few programs. While 250GB would be ideal, it’s probably not worth the extra given the sort of user considering this PC. The current setup allows them to keep all large data files on a secondary mechanical drive and find a good balance between storage capacity and cost.

Next up is the GTX 970 graphics card which offers exceptional performance numbers across a wide variety of visually demanding titles. Whether you’re opting for a 1920×1080 high refresh display or 2560×1440 60Hz panel, you should be able to maintain a fluid frame-rate with high settings. Alongside the R9 390, it’s one of the best price to performance cards on the market and a wonderful choice for this particular PC. It’s really quite surprising how much of a premium experience you can get under £800. While this is significantly more than a console, clear savings are made via heavy discounts on digital games. Furthermore, adding the cost of a basic laptop and console with a few games isn’t too far off the £800 mark.

Finally, the system’s cable management is fairly average but a large portion of this is down to the non-modular power supply and chassis design. Sadly, the chassis’ lack of rubber grommets and reliance on a plastic cable cover complicates the build process by a noticeable degree. Zoostorm has managed to make the front section looks exceptionally neat and they deserve credit for achieving this feat. They’ve employed tight cable runs and durable zip-ties to keep everything in position rather nicely. The opposite side can look a little disorganised upon first inspection but it should be clean enough to please most users. The only real complaint I have is the hanging SATA cable which needed to be flush with the case. Putting this aside, the cabling is decent and demonstrates a good skill level throughout.

Pros

Decent cable management considering chassis restrictions
Exceptional value-for-money
Fantastic gaming experience
Good colour coordination
Impressive boot SSD read speeds
Low power consumption
Professional build
Relatively quiet
Superb temperatures

Cons

Component protection could be better
One year warranty is lacking compared to other companies

“The Zoostorm Stormforce 340 might not be the most visually spectacular PC on the market but it’s certainly well made and features a stunning specification for the money. This makes it a fantastic choice for budget-orientated PC gamers who aren’t overly concerned with spending extra money on luxury extras such as water cooling or illuminated memory.”

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