PCSpecialist Zircon Ultra R Review

Introduction and System Specifications

Introduction

PCSpecialist produce a whole host of systems tailored to suit any pocket depth or user needs. Generally, because of the nature of bell-curves, we review the middle models here at OC3D. High end stuff usually is brought by those with enough money to not really need performance tests. Ultra cheap models, similarly, are so affordable that performance is almost moot.

The middle ground though, that’s where things get interesting. A few extra pounds spent here or there, a slight lean one way or another, can make a massive difference. At the price point of today’s model, the Zircon Ultra R, it’s good to have a focus. This particular system is aimed squarely at the gamers. As you may know if you frequent these hallowed halls, I talk a lot about where you get the best bang for buck.

Money Well Spent

As a general rule, money spent on graphics cards rewards you in a way nothing else does. You’d have to be deep in the performance mines to notice the difference between a Ryzen 5600 and 5600X. Or perhaps between a 5000MHz DDR5 kit and a 6000 MHz one. Graphics cards though, they are pretty cut and dried. There is, however, thanks to AMD, another option. Their X3D processors. These have been designed from the ground up to maximise 3D performance.

When they first appeared the X3D technology was largely used to bridge the gap between AMD and Intel processors in gaming. Now, with the 9000 series performing fantastically across the board, the needs are instead used to maximise your graphics card. All of which gives us a cool way of testing today’s PCSpecialist Zircon Ultra R system. This is, as you can see below, a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Radeon RX 7800 XT system. PCSpecialist also produced a system we tested that combined the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and RX 7900 GRE.

Not, as you can tell, an identical GPU comparison, but we think close enough. Certainly it will be interesting to see if the new AMD 9800X3D can bridge the gap from the RX 7800 XT up to the RX 7900 GRE. Might it even be enough to give us 4K gaming on a 1440P targeted GPU? Let’s find out.

System Specifications

Naturally you can build a PCSpecialist system as you wish, but our review sample and quoted price is for the following :

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
AMD RX 7800 XT
ASUS TUF B650-Plus WiFi
Corsair Dominator Titanium 6400MHz
Corsair RMX 850W
2TB Solidigm P44 Pro M.2
PCSpecialist Frostflow 240 ARGB AIO
Windows 11