A complete desktop system at an attractive price
If you like your PCs solid and simple, you’ll like the look of this one. The robust case (made by Cougar) is as plain as it’s compact, but the bold, chiselled front panel stops it being boring. Thanks to a Mini-ITX motherboard, it’s small enough to fit on a cluttered desk or hide away in a quiet corner.
That’s all well and good, but isn’t the point of a tower PC is that it has room inside for upgrades? This one has a single PCI-Express x16 slot, which is used by the included Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 graphics card. On the plus side, you won’t need a spare slot for a network card because the motherboard has the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi built in, as well as Gigabit Ethernet.
There are no fewer than five free SATA 3 connections for extra drives, above and beyond the 1TB hard drive already fitted. This drive is a hybrid model, with 8GB of flash memory to boost performance, although – as we’ll come to – with underwhelming results. Four 2.5in SSDs and one regular 3.5in hard drive can be accommodated, which should be plenty for most people. You can always add drives externally, plugged into one of the six USB 3.0 ports. You can even squeeze in a DVD writer if you want by mounting a slimline slot-loading drive behind the blank front fascia, with the disc dropping in vertically at the top. The two memory slots arrive full to make up the standard 8GB, so you’d have to replace them both if you wanted to increase it later. Upgrading to 16GB when ordering costs £46.
The GS1 is powered by a 3.2GHz Intel Pentium GS3258 processor. As we know, ‘Pentium’ is Latin for ‘bargain basement’. This chip has just two cores, and it’s far from being 2015’s fastest processor. Let’s be honest: it wasn’t even 2014’s fastest Pentium. Still, at least it’s not a Celeron. In our tests, it was fine for everyday tasks like web browsing, word processing and spreadsheets. Try anything clever, and things slow down a bit. Not surprisingly, multitasking is a weak point.
The GTX 950 graphics card is also slightly off the pace. Unlike systems with integrated graphics, however, it’s quite happy running the latest 3D games at Full HD resolution. You’ll have to turn down the quality settings a bit for the most demanding games, though. This will also help with multimedia tasks such as editing videos, but here again you’ll feel the Pentium struggling somewhat. If that’s likely to bother you, a more capable 3.7GHz Intel Core i3 adds £40, while a 3.4GHz i5 will cost you £103.
Without any customising, the PC costs a reasonable £549. Spend £700 and you’ll get a mouse and keyboard, as well as a 25in LG UltraWide 25UM57 monitor, which would usually cost about £150 as a separate purchase. While its normal widescreen display offers a ratio of 16 wide to 9 tall the UltraWide gives you 21:9. It’s 1,080 pixels high, which is sufficient for Full HD; and at 2,560 wide, it gives you more space to put windows side by side. There’s something rather satisfying about this.
The display is complemented by a slim bezel and a glossy black base, and has a small joystick to adjust settings (you might want to notch up the contrast). Its colour reproduction is excellent, covering 99.6 per cent of the sRGB range. The keyboard and mouse are Thermaltake’s Commander set, aimed at gamers and illuminated with a blue glow. DinoPC would probably swap them if you asked nicely, but don’t be too hasty, because the keyboard’s mechanical switches give a traditional feel that typists will appreciate, and the adjustable repeat rate and mouse sensitivity are useful.
The GS1’s performance is only fair, but as an all-round computer, there’s much to like.
VERDICT
Consider a higher-specification PC if you want more than basic capabilities, but this system is adequate for most purposes and more attractive than your average.
SPECIFICATIONS
3.2GHz Intel Pentium G3258 • 8GB memory • 1TB hybrid drive • Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 • 6x USB 3.0 ports • 2x USB 2.0 ports • 802.11ac Wi-Fi • Gigabit Ethernet port • DVI port • 2x HDMI port • 3x DisplayPort • Windows 10 Home • 291x178x384mm (HxWxD) • Three-year warranty