PCSpecialist Rift Elite R Review

Up Close

Like all PCSpecialist systems the Rift Elite R comes complete with all the manuals and cables you would expect to own if you’d brought the parts seperately and built it yourself.

  

Also, as regular readers of our system reviews will be familiar, the internals are protected by an expanding foam insert which molds itself around the internals and ensures that your new system arrives in perfect condition.

  

The LIAN Li 215 has a massive frontal area dedicated to pushing lots of cool air across your components thanks to those 200mm fans, and is also where you’ll get all your fancy RGB effects.

  

Around the back you can spot the many USB ports available to you despite this being a very affordable motherboard option. The ASUS TUF really is a great choice for those who want reliability and reasonable cost. The Gigabyte RX 6600 XT has the usual display combination of DisplayPort and HDMI, all capable of 8K60 should you have the display available to take advantage of such high resolution.

  

Aimed squarely at gamers who want an affordable platform the Rift Elite R is all the system you need it to be and no more. It’s not the first PCS rig we’ve seen built around this design. To call it spartan is perhaps too much, but there is nothing here that is purely aesthetic or overkill for the performance.

  

Around the back with just a single drive there isn’t much to see, although the build team at PCS have done all they can with a non modular PSU.

  

One big change from when we looked at their £999 system is the inclusion of front and exhaust fans which, as we’ll see later, have a huge effect on keeping your temperatures low, even on an air-cooled setup.

  

You aren’t guaranteed to receive a Gigabyte RX 6600 XT, but our review system did. It’s a great card for 1080 and even some 1440 gaming and perfect if you just want to play anything at 1080P.

  

All the lighting comes courtesy of the two front fans in the LIAN Li case and, as you can see, they certainly are bright and colourful. A nice addition considering the affordable nature of the Rift Elite R.