A complete Windows 10 PC at a reasonable price
Gamers are a funny lot. When they’re not lurking in dark rooms full of empty pizza boxes or out committing heinous game-inspired crimes, they’re provoking PC manufacturers to build ever-wackier desktop PC cases with shark-fin grilles, water-cooling pipes, LED lights and curvy orange bits. Frankly, they’re a bad influence and a menace to society.
That may or may not be entirely true, but on this occasion the rest of us might have to grudgingly admit that gamers have done us all a favour. CCL had gamers in mind when building this system, officially listed as a ‘Complete Gaming PC’. In reality, however, it’s a complete PC full stop, at the far from exorbitant price of £700, including keyboard, mouse and monitor. If that wasn’t enough, it has a good graphics card and comes in a sleek cuboid case.
While it’s mercifully free of any expensive PC-cooling equipment, the Nebula does have a more discreet way of assisting air circulation: it sits raised off the ground on a small plinth. That means its fans can work from below as well as behind, even if you place it on a carpeted floor. If you prefer it on your desk, it runs quietly enough so as not to disturb you. The exterior feels well made, with contrasting matt and glossy black surfaces, and the panels pop off without the need for tools. Yes, there are a couple of orange bits, at the bottom left and top right, and yes, they light up.
On the right-hand side are two USB 3.0 ports, along with headphone and microphone jacks, while round the back are another four USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports for the Microsoft keyboard and mouse. There are also two DVI ports, and an HDMI port and DisplayPort, in case the supplied Asus VE247T monitor isn’t quite enough. The screen isn’t the most exciting, with a middling contrast ratio, but decent colour reproduction. Once you’ve tried the built-in speakers, you’ll be pleased to note the optical digital audio jack and connections for anything up to 7.1 surround systems.
Inside, the Nebula’s motherboard is in the mini-ITX format and sits horizontally, leaving limited room. There’s only one full-size PCI-Express x16 slot, and it’s occupied by the Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 graphics card. You may want to swap this in future, but bear in mind any replacement must be 200mm or less.
We were delighted to see a fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi card taking up the remaining half-size PCI Express slot. Many desktop PCs leave out wireless networking unless you pay extra, but here you get the latest and fastest available. With no more slots, though, this isn’t a PC you’d buy for its upgrade potential. Nor is there a DVD drive, or anywhere to install one. But doubling the installed 8GB of RAM would be easy, because it comes as one module, leaving a spare slot for one more. The 1TB hybrid drive, combining a hard drive with some flash memory, should be enough for most purposes.
The quad-core 3.2GHz Intel Core i5 processor is from Intel’s Haswell range, which is now two generations behind the times, but it’s still a solid mid-range performer. In our tests, it coped well with challenges like 4K video. If it struggled anywhere, it was with multitasking, where spending £40 on an extra 8GB of RAM could help. The GTX 960 had no problem with demanding 3D games, managing playable frame rates even with high-quality settings at 1920x1080-pixel resolution.
It’s all very impressive, but don’t tell the gamers. Let’s keep this chunky, capable little system for ourselves.
VERDICT
As long as potential for expansion isn't your priority, the Nebula is a great desktop PC, even if you don't play games.
SPECIFICATIONS
3.2GHz Intel quad-core i5 4460 • 8GB memory • 1TB hybrid drive • Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 • 6x USB 3.0 ports • 2x USB 2.0 ports • Gigabit Ethernet port • 802.11ac Wi-Fi • 2x DVI ports • HDMI port • DisplayPort • Windows 10 Home • 330x260x260mm (HxWxD) • Three-year warranty