A fast and colourful Windows 7 PC
The Chillblast Fusion Rhino is an updated version of the Fusion Mammoth, one of our favourite PCs of 2013. Although the Mammoth wasn’t cheap and was sold without a keyboard, mouse or monitor, it was nonetheless a great PC (we gave it five stars) thanks to its power, compact size and quiet operation. The Rhino retains all of these great qualities.
The Rhino’s dimensions are more compact than most tower PCs, so it saves space whether on your desk or under it. It would be a shame to hide it away though because it’s available in a variety of eye-catching colours (red, white, orange, black, green and blue). It’s an attractive look, particularly the red and blue (see main image) versions. The Rhino has plastic moulded handles in case you ever need to relocate it, but it’s a heavy beast and over longer distances the handles will start to dig into your hands, so you don’t want to be moving it far.
While the Rhino is fairly muted when running, it’s not quite as whisper-quiet as the Mammoth. You’ll hear a low whirring sound in a hushed environment, but it’s hardly obtrusive. This is all the more impressive given the Rhino’s very fast performance. Its Intel Core i5 4690K quad-core processor has been overclocked from 3.5 to 4.3GHz. Paired with 8GB of memory, it blazed through our benchmark tests. Although only marginally faster than the (already расу) Mammoth processor, it should easily handle demanding programs for some years to come.
Starting up and waking from sleep is almost instantaneous as the 1TB hard drive also has a small 8GB SSD built in. It’s also no slouch when it comes to 3D performance. The GeForce GTX 960 graphics card is one of Nvidia’s latest and coped impressively with our demanding 3D graphics tests. This is useful even if you have no interest in games because some programs - such as Adobe Photoshop and CyberLink PowerDirector - can use the graphics card to improve performance. Plus, it lets you attach up to four 1080p monitors to use simultaneously, giving you lots of working space.
One downside to the Rhino’s compact size is that the interior is very cramped, making it tricky to upgrade. You’ll need to remove the chunky graphics card and one of the two cooling fans if you want to increase the memory to the maximum 16GB. This process is less intimidating than it sounds, which is handy because it’s also how you add more internal storage. There’s room for two extra hard drives or SSDs, but connecting the necessary SATA and power cables is a fiddly business.
While the graphics card is easy to upgrade, the processor is not due to its sizable water-cooling system, which is difficult to remove. There aren’t any PCI slots (besides the one for the graphics card), but this isn’t a critical flaw because most PCI devices, such as TV tuners, have USB equivalents and the Rhino has plenty of USB ports - six USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0. With 802.11ac already built in you won’t need to add a Wi-Fi adapter.
Strangely for a desktop PC, there’s no DVD or Blu-ray drive built in. You can install one later if you really need one, but, like other upgrades mentioned, this will be a fiddly task. But at least you have the option of choosing Windows 7 instead of 8.1 at no extra cost.
The Rhino isn’t perfect - its diminuitive size reduces the choice of internal expansion options and makes it hard to carry them out. It’s still a great PC though, thanks to its fast performance, quiet operation, attractive looks and useful extras.
A few niggles means it won't suit everyone, but it's still a good choice if you want a powerful desktop PC.
SPECIFICATIONS
4.3CHz Intel Core i5 4690K quad-core processor • 8GB memory • 1TB hard drive • 8GB SSD • 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 graphics chip • Windows 7 or 8.1 • 310x250x340mm (HxWxD) • Two-year warranty