A PC with a splash of colour
Like many desktop PCs we’ve reviewed, Palicomp’s i3 Aurora is not only good for gamers but also for anyone who wants a capable generalpurpose system with scope for future expansion. Its simple black cuboid case comes decorated with smokey swirls in red, blue or green, which makes a striking change, and is less distracting than LED lights.
For convenience, there are two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports at the front, headphone and mic sockets. Around the back you get the same ports again, plus a small USB Type-C connector for the latest accessories, and two PS/2 sockets for an old-style keyboard and mouse. There’s also Ethernet for wired networks and the usual three audio jacks. The DVI-D and DVI-I video outputs support high-resolution screens, and there’s a DisplayPort and two HDMI sockets as well.
Inside, one PCI-Express x16 slot, two x1 and two basic PCI slots remain free for expansion cards, as well as four SATA connectors for hard drives, with a choice of 10 bays to put them in. A 1TB hybrid drive (a hard drive with a bit of flash memory to speed it up) and DVD writer are included.
Two extra memory slots are available should you want to increase the 8GB that’s supplied (as two 4GB sticks), but the huge cooling fan assembly for the Intel i3-6100 processor slightly obstructs one of them, so you’d need to fiddle around a bit to get a module in. Alternatively, you could replace the two 4GB memory sticks with 8GB versions, or order more to start with – £44 gets you 16GB.
With the i3 overclocked to 4.5GHz for higher performance – hence that big fan – and AMD’s Radeon R7 370 card handling graphics, the i3 Aurora performed well in all our tests, and the case’s soundproof lining kept things quiet. But Palicomp’s own AMD Shockwave PC achieved similar performance levels – a little behind in some aspects of general processing and ahead in graphics – but is £100 cheaper.
VERDICT
Although the i3 Aurora is a good system for all-round computing, photo editing, basic video tasks and most games, it’s not the best deal.
SPECIFICATIONS
4.5GHz Intel Core i3-6100 dual-core processor • 8GB memory • 1TB hybrid drive • 2GB AMD Radeon R7 370 graphics card • 24x DVD writer • 4x USB 3.0 ports • 4x USB 2.0 ports • 1x USB Type-C port • Gigabit Ethernet port • 2x HDMI ports • 2x DVI ports • DisplayPort • Windows 10 • 451x232x521mm (HxWxD) • Three-year warranty