While it’s great putting together your own gaming PC, nothing can quite compare to the peace of mind of having it put together by professionals. Today we look at The Reign VIPER MK II from Novatech, a pre-built system boasting plenty of high-end hardware.
Product on Review: Novatech Reign VIPER MKII
Manufacturer: Novatech
Street Price: £1929.98
Cable management, component compatibility, operating system setup and the entire build process are all hurdles to overcome if you construct your own PC, an often-daunting task, but system integrators, like Novatech, take all of this hassle away and add on a warranty to boot.
Today we’re going to unbox and test Novatech’s VIPER MKII, part of their Reign range of gaming systems; specifically designed for 1440p or 2160p gaming with powerful components.
Providing the processing grunt is a 9th generation Intel Core i7 9700K CPU with 8 cores at up to 4.9GHz. That processor is paired to 16GB of Corsair memory and an NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 with full real-time ray-tracing support.
Providing storage is a duo of SSDs, one NVMe for improved throughput and one SATA for a cost-effective, yet still very fast, mass storage solution.
All of that is neatly packed away inside a Mini-ITX NZXT H200 Matte Black chassis with added RGB lighting and a tempered-glass side panel.
Priced at £1929, the VIPER MKII needs to impress greatly to command such a price-tag, but with free tech support for the life of the machine and a 3-year warranty for peace of mind, there’s certainly added value there. Let’s open it up and examine the machine more closely.
Technical Specifications
Processor
9th Generation Intel Core i7 9700K 3.6GHz 8 Core Processor
Cache: 12MB
Clockspeed: 3.6 GHz
No. of Cores: 8
Memory
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel Memory
Speed: 3200Mhz
GB: 16GB
Hard drive
Samsung 860 QVO 2TB Solid State Drive (up to 550MB/s R | 520MB/s W)
Interface: SATA
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB NVME M.2 SSD (up to 3500MB/s R | 2300MB/s W)
Interface: NVMe
Case
NZXT H200 Matte Black Mini-ITX Tower PC Case
Colour: Black
Dimensions: W: 210mm H: 349mm D: 372mm (with feet)
Drive Bays 3 1/2″: 1
Drive Bays 5 1/4″: 0
Drive Bays 2 1/2″: 3
Form Factor: Mini-ITX
Graphics
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 WINDFORCE 8G Graphics Card GPU
Clock speed: 1620 MHz
Memory Clock Speed: 14000 MHz
Max Resolution: 7680×4320@60Hz
Number of displays Supported: 4
Power Supply
CORSAIR RMx Series RM750x (2018) 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI Z390 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Form Factor: Mini-ITX
Form Factor: 17.0cm x 17.0cm
CPU Support: Support for 9th and 8th Generation Intel® Core Processors
Chipset: Intel® Z390 Express Chipset
Audio: High Definition Audio
LAN: Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
USB: 1 x USB Type-C port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
RAID: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
SATA Ports: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
PCI-EX: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
Memory Slots: 2x
Max Memory Capacity: 32GB
OS Compliance: Windows 10 64-bit
Cooling
NZXT Kraken M22 120mm Liquid Cooler with RGB Lighting Effects
Lighting
Akasa Vegas MB Magnetic LED Strip Light
9th Generation Intel Core i7 9700K 3.6GHz 8 Core Processor
Cache: 12MB
Clockspeed: 3.6 GHz
No. of Cores: 8
Memory
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel Memory
Speed: 3200Mhz
GB: 16GB
Hard drive
Samsung 860 QVO 2TB Solid State Drive (up to 550MB/s R | 520MB/s W)
Interface: SATA
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB NVME M.2 SSD (up to 3500MB/s R | 2300MB/s W)
Interface: NVMe
Case
NZXT H200 Matte Black Mini-ITX Tower PC Case
Colour: Black
Dimensions: W: 210mm H: 349mm D: 372mm (with feet)
Drive Bays 3 1/2″: 1
Drive Bays 5 1/4″: 0
Drive Bays 2 1/2″: 3
Form Factor: Mini-ITX
Graphics
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 WINDFORCE 8G Graphics Card GPU
Clock speed: 1620 MHz
Memory Clock Speed: 14000 MHz
Max Resolution: 7680×4320@60Hz
Number of displays Supported: 4
Power Supply
CORSAIR RMx Series RM750x (2018) 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI Z390 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Form Factor: Mini-ITX
Form Factor: 17.0cm x 17.0cm
CPU Support: Support for 9th and 8th Generation Intel® Core Processors
Chipset: Intel® Z390 Express Chipset
Audio: High Definition Audio
LAN: Intel® GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
USB: 1 x USB Type-C port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
RAID: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
SATA Ports: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
PCI-EX: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16
Memory Slots: 2x
Max Memory Capacity: 32GB
OS Compliance: Windows 10 64-bit
Cooling
NZXT Kraken M22 120mm Liquid Cooler with RGB Lighting Effects
Lighting
Akasa Vegas MB Magnetic LED Strip Light
Packaging & Bundle
The outer box arrives with a loosely wrapped plastic band which definitely helps to carry it through your home but it did also cause some fairly extensive damage to the outer box, though that wasn’t helped by the relatively thin cardboard used by Novatech.
However, to remedy that somewhat, between the inner and outer boxes are an abundance of packing foam wotsits that definitely help to protect the system. Overall, we believe it would take quite a knock from even the worst of couriers and still arrive safe and sound; very important when dealing with a tempered glass side-panel.
Alongside the NZXT H200 chassis box is a Novatech printed parcel.
Inside that is all of the manuals for the components inside as well as a kettle lead, all of the additional cables for the Corsair PSU and driver installation media.
The relatively tiny NZXT H200 chassis arrives loaded up with packing material and a difficult-to-ignore notice on the window which explains what you need to do before setting up your system.
Closer Look
The front fascia of the H200 case is a singular piece of smooth black plastic with a small NZXT logo. Air is drawn in at the sides through small “drill-hole” vents.
The side of the chassis is made up almost entirely of one piece of tempered glass, with the Novatech Reign logo etched into the centre.
The enclosure measures up at 210mm wide, 350mm tall and 370mm deep.
The front I/O is neat and tidy with only a power button, a pair of USB 3.0 ports and audio in/out. There’s also a tiny HDD activity LED.
Remaining on the top of the case, towards the rear is a 120mm exhaust/intake (depending on your preference). In this instance, it’s set up as an exhaust with the airflow being drawn in at the front.
Taking a quick look at the rear I/O, starting with the motherboard we get:
1x USB 3.1 Gen.2 Type-A
1x USB 3.1 Gen.2 Type-C
2x USB 3.0
1x HDMI 2.0
1x DisplayPort 1.4
2x USB 3.0
1x Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi antenna connections
5x 3.5mm audio ports
1x SPDIF optical audio out
Then moving onto the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 we have:
3x DisplayPort 1.4
1x HDMI 2.0
1x USB Type-C VR connection
As you can see here, the RTX 2070 fully populates both of the available PCI-E expansion slots.
Closer Look (Internals)
Opening up the side and removing the packaging, we can see how neatly arranged the system is with a dark theme throughout.
Novatech have chosen the Gigabyte Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi Mini-ITX motherboard as a basis for the VIPER MKII, a tiny motherboard that packs quite a punch.
Under the NZXT Kraken M22 all-in-one watercooler is an Intel Core i7 9700K with a base clock of 3.6GHz and Turbo frequencies of up to 4.9GHz for excellent gaming performance. The Kraken M22 cooler operates with a single 120mm fan and radiator, mounted on the front of the case to draw in cool air.
To the right of the CPU, providing plenty of capacity for games or demanding applications is a 2x 8GB set of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 memory clocked at 3200MHz.
Below that is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card from Gigabyte, sporting 2304 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR6 memory and, of course, supporting the latest real-time ray-tracing and DLSS standards from NVIDIA for improved gameplay and graphics in the latest titles.
The Gigabyte RTX 2070 rocks a triple-fan cooler and full-length backplate to keep things cool and quiet during lengthy gaming sessions. Novatech have neatly wrapped up the PCI-E supplementary power.
For the first time in a long while, we see a machine with an all-SSD approach to storage. You won’t find spinning media in here which means quick access to your entire library, regardless of which drive you save to. There’s a 250GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe drive for the operating system and your most used applications with a 2TB Samsung 860 QVO SATA SSD for larger capacity storage.
Finally, removing the case side from behind the motherboard, the cable routing can be inspected. It’s very reasonable and allows the panel to removed easily.
Perhaps a little overkill for the build, particularly with there being no way of adding a second GPU, there’s a Corsair RM 750x 80PLUS Gold rated power supply to feed all of those components. The Gold rating is nice and will help to save money on your bills over time with the increased efficiency.
Benchmarks: Temperatures & Boot Time
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.
In this test we observe how fast the boot into Windows 10 is by using a digital stopwatch.
Benchmarks: Cinebench R20 & Handbrake
Cinebench is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s hardware capabilities. Improvements to Cinebench Release 20 reflect the overall advancements to CPU and rendering technology in recent years, providing a more accurate measurement of Cinema 4D’s ability to take advantage of multiple CPU cores and modern processor features available to the average user.
HandBrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs. We run an x264 benchmark through HandBrake to measure the system’s video processing speed. Results are delivered in a first pass and second pass format.
Benchmarks: PCMark 10, Unigine Heaven & 3D Mark
PCMark 10 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 10 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.
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.
Extreme performance and stability test for PC hardware: video card, power supply, cooling system. Check your rig in stock and overclocking modes with real-life load! Also includes interactive experience in a beautiful, detailed environment.
Benchmarks: Gaming (1080p)
The Reign VIPER MKII uses the NVIDIA 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.
Benchmarks: Gaming (1440p)
The Reign VIPER MKII uses the NVIDIA 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.
Benchmarks: Gaming (2160p)
The Reign VIPER MKII uses the NVIDIA 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.
Conclusion
An NVIDIA RTX 2070 with a powerful triple-fan cooler from Gigabyte paired to an Intel Core i7-9700K is, as we’ve seen in previous system reviews, a powerful combo with a great ability for gaming at 1440p and even, as our graphs show, some 4K as well.The 9700K with its massive 4.9GHz single-core Turbo frequency monstered through the Cinebench R20 single-thread test with a score of 499 while still maintaining a respectable multi-thread result. The 4.9GHz Turbo speed will be most beneficial when playing fast-paced games where outright framerates can improve your reaction times.
The NZXT’s tiny stature will ensure the case won’t dominate your desk and thanks to the stylish design, it’ll suit almost any setting. However, that small size is also its downfall with a restricted air intake at the front; that same intake is drawing in warm/hot air through the NZXT Kraken M22 radiator meaning the components inside, barring the Intel Core i7-9700K, are breathing pre-warmed air. Not ideal operating conditions by any stretch. The H200 has room for a second 120mm fan at the front so we’ll suggest to Novatech that an NZXT fan be placed there to help the system breathe.
Storage, propped up by two solid state drives, is an excellent choice from Novatech. This provides the user with a vast 2TB 860 QVO drive for installing larger games and storing media libraries, while the 250GB 970 EVO Plus gives massive sequential read and write speeds with incredible IOPS ratings alongside. This makes the operating system particularly snappy no matter what application you’re loading.
Novatech’s 3-year warranty comes as standard with the VIPER MK II along with lifetime free tech support on the phone, should you ever need a hand overcoming an issue.
All of that wrapped up for £1920 represents very decent value when compared to the components on their own, totalling roughly £1750 + a Windows 10 licence and a 3-year warranty. Not a bad deal at all. Novatech haven’t cheaped out in any area either, using only high-quality components.
The chassis looks great, the whole system performs remarkably well in all of our tests with very playable framerates at 1080p and 1440p with even 4K gaming permitted thanks to the power of the RTX 2070.
Pros
+ NZXT H200 + all-black theme gives a fantastic appearance
+ Quiet under load
+ Small enclosure
+ Suitable for high-resolution, high-framerate gaming
+ Good cable management
+ 3-year warranty
+ Peace of mind and professional build quality is essentially free
Cons
– Poor temperatures which is likely due to restricted airflow
+ NZXT H200 + all-black theme gives a fantastic appearance
+ Quiet under load
+ Small enclosure
+ Suitable for high-resolution, high-framerate gaming
+ Good cable management
+ 3-year warranty
+ Peace of mind and professional build quality is essentially free
Cons
– Poor temperatures which is likely due to restricted airflow
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