It’s all fine and well having an extreme Intel-based, overclocked bundle to help drive your gaming to higher levels of performance, but what if you simply require an entry-level bundle that costs less than £200?
CCL may have the answer for you in the form of its Alpha Brilliant Motherboard Bundle. This package consists of an Asus A88XM-E motherboard, 8GB of Kingston 1600MHz ValueRAM and an AMD 3.6GHz A8-6600K CPU.
The Asus A88XM-E is an AMD FM2+ socket micro-ATX motherboard with two DDR3 DIMM slots for a maximum of 32GB, a single PCIe x16, PCIe x1, a standard PCI slot and six SATA connectors. The rear IO backplate houses two PS/2 ports, DVI, VGA, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, along with three audio jacks.
The board itself is fairly basic and lacks some of the pizzazz and glamour of the more extreme examples we’ve so far had. However, that’s not to say it lacks too much when it comes to casual gaming. Granted, you won’t be running GTA V in 4K with blistering frame-rates, but on the other hand you’ll get a decent motherboard that’s ideal for a younger person’s first gaming PC.
The quad-core AMD A8 processor is a surprisingly good unlocked APU. Various tests and benchmarks have already proved you’ll get a good frame-rate on medium settings in the likes of Bioshock Infinite and Sleeping Dogs, considering its budget heritage. It’s also worth noting that although you won’t be enjoying the highest gaming frame-rates or scoring the best benchmark scores with this CPU and motherboard package, HD video will play perfectly well.
Overclocking should yield a top speed of around 4GHz with the Asus motherboard, but you’ll need to make sure you have decent cooling in place. Either way, you’ll get more megahertz for your money if you’re willing to play around.
If overclocking isn’t your thing (which it isn’t to a lot of users), then for just £199.99, the Alpha Brilliant bundle from CCL is a decent enough choice. The RAM is certainly ample for the motherboard and processor, and offers a good boost in performance at this level. And the entire package is cheap enough to consider adding a dedicated GPU, which will naturally improve the gaming potential further.
The lack of a cooler is a tad annoying, as you’ll need to stick with the stock unit. The addition of a slightly better cooler, even a cheaper model can yield some good results and would make for a more attractive bundle. On the whole, though, it’s good enough for entry-level gamers.
Although the CCL Alpha Bundle isn’t the most extreme or powerful of the group, it does a good enough job at an affordable price. It’s ideal, we think, for a younger gamer or those who occasionally dip their toes in the gaming world.