Systems

Aftershock Impulse Review

vortez
March 6, 2019 9 Min Read
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A small form factor mini-ITX gaming PC which carries the Intel Core i5-8600K, NVIDIA RTX 2070 and 16GB DDR4. Does it deliver solid performance?


Product on Review: Impulse Small Form Factor
Manufacturer & Sponsor: Aftershock
Street Price: $2355 AUD

Last August Singapore Systems Integrator Aftershock established a new footing in Australia, seeking to expand their empire of customised desktop and laptop configurations down under. Buyers can benefit from a generous 2 years warranty (with the option to extend to 4 years) and each prebuilt system is built locally in Victoria and undergoes a lengthy 48 hours stress test before being sent out to a customer.

As a stepping stone, investing in a prebuilt system is a great way to enter the world of PC gaming. After all, not all users have the know-how and expertise to pair up compatible hardware and then engage in the task of constructing their first computer system. Prebuilt systems are also a good avenue to take for those who simply want to leave the hard work to the experts.

In the spotlight today is a stylish Mini-ITX based system called Impulse. This configuration may be small but it packs a punch, bringing with it the might of Intel Core i5-8600K, ZOTAC’s RTX 2070 MINI and 16GB DDR4.


Aftershock on their Impulse
The Impulse is our multiple award winning and class defining small form factor PC. Even smaller than your typical console system, the IMPULSE uses all standard desktop components and supports even the most powerful hardware, for a system that is ideal for any minimalist or living room PC setup.

Technical Specifications


The Impulse can be customised according to your own configuration but below are the technical specifications for the system we are reviewing:

OS
Windows 10
CPU
Intel Core i5-8600
Motherboard
ASRock H310M-ITX/AC
Graphics
ZOTAC RTX 2070 MINI
Memory
16GB ADATA 2666MHz DDR4
SSD
1x 256GB Intel SSDSCKKW256G8
HDD
1x 1TB Toshiba HDWL110
Rear Panel Connectivity
– 2 x Antenna Ports
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
– 1 x DVI-I Port
– 1 x HDMI Port
– 1 x DisplayPort 1.2
– 2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Dimension (LxWxH) mm
32.8cm x 12cm x 23.5 cm

Closer Look: External



The Impulse uses a familiar case that we’ve encountered before at Vortez – the Kolink Rocket. As far as small form factor computer cases go, this one is exquisite in its visual appearance and adds a sense of class to any given environment. The gun metal aluminium panels are smudge proof and are engineered to a high standard. Both sides of the chassis are identical, with perforated panels to provide ventilation for the internal components.

Aftershock has marked the case out as their own by attaching their logo.


Further down the front panel there are just three items to consider – a large power button and two USB 3.0 ports. Ideally, we’d have liked to see more than just two ports for functionality, but given the small form factor we understand why this isn’t an option.


Around the back of the case we have a small selection of ports. At the top, there is a three pin socket for the power cable. On the left side there are a variety of options from the rear IOP panel on the ASRock H310M-ITX. These include:

– 2 x Antenna Ports
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
– 1 x DVI-I Port
– 1 x HDMI Port
– 1 x DisplayPort 1.2
– 2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

We also have a ZOTAC RTX 2070 MINI for the graphics card, which supplies 3x DP 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0b and 1x DVI-I. This will allow for multi-screen use and given the technologies, most monitors will be catered for.

Closer Look: Internal



Delving inside for a closer look at the interior, we have to say that Aftershock could have done a better job with the cable management. Space within this chassis is tight, but it could be improved on.

Taking centre stage on the prominent side is the Intel reference heatsink/fan. We’re surprised to see this being used since a low-end thermal solution would be inexpensive to use and would undoubtedly reduce noise levels and improve temperatures.

The foundation of Impulse is based on the Intel Core i5-8600K, which is another strange choice for two reasons – Intel’s 9th Generation has been available since October (6 months ago) and the motherboard choice caps an unlocked CPU, prohibiting it from being overclocked anyway. Nevertheless, the CPU itself with its 6 cores and 6 threads is very capable for general usage and gaming. Aftershock’s motherboard of choice is the ASRock H310M-ITX/ac. This is a basic motherboard but still offers some excellent features even though it conforms to the Mini-ITX form factor. Dual band 802.11ac is available as well as Intel Gigabit LAN.

Matched to the CPU/mobo combo there is 16GB of ADATA 2666MHz DDR4. While this may appear as a ‘no frills’ kit, it still does the job and will be the ideal capacity and speed for a good blend of performance in and out of games. Memory

Powering the entire system we have an SFX power supply from FSP – the Dagger 600W. This unit may not be as widely available as other PSUs but its 80 Plus Gold certified, uses a double ball bearing fan and is modular. Based on the specifications, this model is ideal for the configuration.

Obtaining reliable frame-rates from the latgest gaming titles is no problem for Impulse. 3D performance is left in the very capable hands of the ZOTAC RTX 2070 MINI. This graphics card uses NVIDIA’s new Turing architecture and brings with it a whole host of exciting features like real-time ray tracing and DLSS.


In the storage arena, Aftershock has gone with a twin combo which is a traditional move by many system integrators nowadays. However, rather than utilise PCI-Express driven M.2 SSD storage, Impulse uses a 256GB Intel 545s SSD for its primary storage. This drive uses the SATA interface and is therefore capped at 500MB/s. For the secondary drive we have a 1TB Toshiba HDWL110 (again SATA-based) which will serve as the main storage drive for the games/music/movie library.

Benchmarks: Temperatures

For our first benchmark test we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system while allowing Unigine Heaven 4.0 to run on a 30 minute loop. To report back on the temperatures we use RealTemp and GPU-Z which provide the peak figures.

Benchmarks: Boot Time

In this test we observe how fast the boot into Windows 10 is by using a digital stopwatch.

Benchmarks: Cinebench R15 & x264 HD

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor is.

Benchmarks: PCMark 10

PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: 3DMark TimeSpy & Heaven 4.0

Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for gaming PCs running Windows 10. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, built from the ground up to support new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal benchmark for testing the DirectX 12 performance of the latest graphics cards.

Benchmarks: 1080p, 1440p, 4K Gaming

Impulse uses the RTX 2070 for graphics delivery, in this section we test the latest gaming titles to see how effective the 3D capabilities are. We report on the average framerate using FRAPS or in-game benchmark tool.

Conclusion


Since this is our first outing with Aftershock, first impressions are everything.

It’s important to note that Impulse can be configured to your own specific components from the customisation tool on the website – users aren’t locked to the specification we’ve considered today.

Small form factor PCs are gaining more and more traction in the PC gaming community since there are no mandatory compromises. High-performance CPU coolers, graphics cards, motherboards and other components can all be sourced in their Mini-ITX format – which in turn allows for the creation of pint-sized powerhouses! Aftershock has brought to market one such unit that bears all the hallmarks of elegance in a classy gun metal aluminium computer chassis.

Of the components installed within Impulse, all of the kit is from reputable brands – many of which we’ve had experience with before. The system is without doubt a configuration which offers excellent all-round performance and the reason for that boils down to the Intel Core i5-8600K and the ZOTAC RTX 2070 MINI. Both pieces of kit propel the user experience, whether gaming is on the agenda, watching movies or performing tasks such as photo manipulation.


Our only reservations come with the decision to include Intel’s reference heatsink/fan which is downright offensive to the ears – this cooler can heard even under light system load. There are enough budget focussed coolers on the market to take Intel’s solution out of the equation. Another area which could be regarded as a wasted opportunity is the provision of a SATA-based M.2 SSD instead of a PCI-Express driven SSD. The motherboard supports the latter and yet it wasn’t utilised. As it stands, Impulse has its storage transfer rates capped at up to 500MB/s instead of a possible 2000MB/s.

As far as gaming is concerned, Impulse is easily capable of delivering solid 1080p/1440p performance in the latest triple-A titles. If you wanted to pair this system up with a high-refresh rate monitor then 1080p is probably the more favoured resolution, although 1440p is a possibility but detail presets may need to be reduced from maximum.

Impulse, under the reviewed configuration costs $2355 AUD. After some research, we were able to obtain a similar list of components for approximately $2100 AUD. Of course, buying the kit yourself means you have to build the system yourself too and this defeats the object of buying a prebuilt system in the first place. Factoring in the 2 years warranty and this configuration is reasonable value for money.

The Aftershock Impulse is a stylish, well-designed gaming system which, although small, doesn’t compromise on performance!

Pros
+ Elegant, stylish enclosure
+ Good quality components used
+ Excellent overall performance
+ Decent audio
+ Includes 802.11ac WiFi
+ 2 years warranty

Mediocre
+- Cable management could be better
+- Uses Intel 8th Gen. CPU

Cons
– CPU temperatures get rather high
– CPU cooler loud and ineffective
– SATA-based SSD (500MB/s)

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

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