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Review: CCL Elysium iCue Gaming PC

by Parm Mann on 27 March 2020, 14:01

Tags: CCL Computers, Gigabyte (TPE:2376), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaejuz

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Conclusion

...with a price tag of £1,790, it is touch and go whether or not you could build the same system for less.

It is our experience that system integrators and PC builders have a tendency to try too hard when seeding base units for review. Attempting to go that extra yard raises expectations and, with an increase in complexity, inevitable niggles tend to occur.

For those reasons, the CCL Elysium iCue Gaming PC is a refreshing step back to basics. Component choices are decent throughout - you really can't go wrong with a Core i7 CPU, RTX 2070 Super GPU and 1TB SSD - and CCL's implementation runs cool, quiet and efficient.

Gameplay is excellent at either an FHD or QHD resolution, and with a price tag of £1,790, it is touch and go whether or not you could build the same system for less. A guaranteed CPU overclock might have been nice, and the Intel chip doesn't offer the many-core prowess of its Ryzen competitors, but as a modern gaming rig there's not a lot to dislike.

Bottom line: want to upgrade quickly and with minimal fuss? The CCL Elysium iCue Gaming PC is worth a look.

The Good
  
The Bad
Decent component choices throughout
High-quality FHD/QHD gaming credentials
Runs cool, quiet and efficient
Competitive pricing
  
No factory overclock on CPU
Cable management could be better
Multi-core performance unexceptional



CCL Elysium iCue Gaming PC

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The Elysium iCue Gaming PC is available to purchase from CCL Computers.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Posted by Tunnah - Fri 27 Mar 2020 20:24
Any system that goes with Intel over AMD atm simply isn't worth looking at - it's either underspec'ed or overpriced.
Posted by Gentle Viking - Fri 27 Mar 2020 21:02
TMG:


Too Much Glass.
Posted by philehidiot - Fri 27 Mar 2020 23:24
I have to agree that intel is a poor choice these days. There will be people who insist on Intel and fine, there's a market for that. Unfortunately since my last Intel PC's lifespan was cut short due to performance hits from security updates, the risk part of the value proposition isn't good at all. I can't in good conscience buy an intel based machine given both that and their awful business practices. They made this bed by holding back on R&D thinking they were unbeatable. Yes AMD has some issues but they're mostly driver related and are problems which can be fixed.

The other major issue for me is the price and the suggestion one would buy this for 1080P gaming. At nearly 2K these prices are insane for anything other than 4K performance in my book. I know this isn't the fault of the system integrator but you can build AMD based systems which would be just as good for gaming for less.
Posted by edmundhonda - Sat 28 Mar 2020 16:08
Exactly. It's ~£1600 in parts at retail (not including a Windows license), so the issue isn't CCL putting an unreasonable margin on it, just the parts they specced: £350 for the CPU, £190 for the EOL motherboard and £120 for the entirely underutilised AIO cooler.

A cynical person would assume the parts are chosen on margin rather than end user value.
Posted by philehidiot - Sat 28 Mar 2020 18:51
I do have an issue with my previous post, re-reading it.

“one would buy”

One? Who am I the bleedin' Queen?

I think it's a PC for those who must have Intel and believe an AIO cooler is going to help unleash some performance from it. My Intel set up did not benefit at all from the AIO cooler. The Ryzen one definitely is benefiting.

Frankly for the price I'd be wanting a 2080 in there at least, paired with an appropriate AMD Ryzen 5 which would be more than enough to not bottleneck that GPU. But…. I'm not a fanboy for any particular company. Intel is behind AMD for now and the Ryzen chips combined with a B series mobo makes a fantastic value proposition for a gaming platform.

There are some workloads where the Intel chip will be beneficial enough to warrant the cost, but gaming isn't one of them.

That mobo should have PCI-e 4.0 for the price. That it doesn't limits the useful lifespan somewhat. Again, not an issue in a more sensibly priced / specified machine but definitely an issue in one costing nearly 2K.