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The Palicomp Alpha Samurai is a powerful system that uses a Core i5-3570K. It’s been overclocked to a faster speed than we usually see from these processors, bringing it up to 4.7GHz. This meant it got an overall score of 157 in our benchmark tests. That’s among the fastest we’ve ever seen, although it’s worth noting that the same processor easily handles the latest software without overclocking. The extra speed does, however, provide a boost when it comes to tasks such as encoding compressed data formats, including video and audio files.
The Alpha Samurai is also loaded with 16GB of RAM running at 2,133MHz, enough to handle even the most demanding video and image-editing tasks. All four memory slots on the Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard are occupied. It can handle a maximum of 32GB, but upgrades are unlikely to be necessary.
The full-speed PCI-E x16 slot contains a 2GB XFX AMD Radeon HD 7850. It performed reasonably well in our frame rate tests, getting 70fps in Dirt 3 and an almost playable 26fps in Crysis 2, both at maximum quality. The card has two mini DisplayPort outputs, plus one DVI and one HDMI output. It can handle Eyefinity multi-monitor gaming with up to three displays, too. There are also three PCI slots, none of which are in use, and two PCI-E x1 slots, of which one is blocked by the graphics card. There’s also a second PCI-E x16 slot, but it only runs at x4.
This system has a 2TB HDD for storing data alongside a 128GB SSD that provides fast boot times. Both drives are connected to the motherboard’s SATA3 ports, while two SATA2 ports are hooked up to a Blu-ray drive and the external SATA hard disk bay at the top of the case. Although it feels a bit plasticky and looks like an after-thought, the external bay is a brilliant addition to the case, as it means you can access the data on any SATA hard disk without having to install it in one of your internal bays. It’s perfect for data recovery or just an easy way to use a spare internal drive as external storage.
If you want to add internal storage, there’s space to do so in the form of three free 31/2in bays, one externally facing, and two unused 51/4in bays. The case is light, but not particularly flimsy. Although it’s easy to move around, there’s little dust- or sound-proofing, which makes this PC a little bit noisier than most. There’s a particularly loud front intake fan mounted between the disk cage and the front panel, too.
The front panel has the usual audio I/O, along with two USB ports. At the back are six USB ports, including two USB3 ports. It also has PS/2 ports, optical S/PDIF output, three 3.5mm stereo ports for analogue surround sound and a Gigabit Ethernet port.
The keyboard and mouse are a budget wireless set from Logitech. They’re reasonably comfortable and accurate to use. Palicomp’s chosen a great monitor, too. The Asus VS247H is a 23.6in matt widescreen display with HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs.
The Blu-ray drive and 16GB of memory are particularly welcome features, but we’d prefer a more powerful graphics card. We feel that the Chillblast Fusion Vantage strikes a better balance between features and frame rates.
