Systems

Stormforce Crystal 1070 Ti Gaming System Review

vortez
March 26, 2018 9 Min Read
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Stormforce have sent over their latest system, trapped inside the beautiful Cooler Master H500P and sporting the 8700K CPU and GTX 1070 Ti GPU.


Product on Review: Stormforce Crystal GTX 1070 Ti
Manufacturer: Stormforce
Street Price: £1652.99 @ Ebuyer

The last system we looked at from Stormforce was aimed at the £600 price point, offering great performance within its class; today we kick it up a few gears with a machine priced at over three times that; £1652.99.

The Crystal 1070 Ti packs an Intel i7 8700K processor, with 6 cores and 12 threads, overclocked to 4.8GHz. Along with that is 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a Z370 motherboard, NVMe SSD and HDD storage, and of course, the incredibly capable NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti graphics processor.

All of the above is beautifully encapsulated inside a Cooler Master H500P, a huge case measuring just over half a metre tall and long, and 240mm wide. The front of the case houses two 200mm RGB fans, pushing massive amounts of air into your system, helping to keep things cool and quiet.

At £1652.99, we’re expecting great things from the Crystal 1070 Ti Gaming System. Read on to see how it fares.



Stormforce on the Crystal 1070 Ti:
Introducing the “Crystal i7 8700K GTX 1070 TI” based on the very latest cutting edge Intel Coffee Lake architecture. Equipped with an Intel Core i7 8700K overclocked to a blistering 4.80GHz, powerful hexa core performance combined with the mighty all new Intel Z370 chipset. A huge 16GB of DDR4 RAM runs at a swift 2400MHZ, delivering blindingly quick multitasking performance.

Technical Specifications

Processor

Intel Core i7-8700K 6 Core 8th Generation CPU
Overclocked to 4.8GHz
12MB cache


Memory

16GB Kingston Hyper X Fury DDR4 2400Mhz RAM
Supports up to 64GB
4x DIMM sockets (2 used)


Hard Drive

256GB M.2 NVMe SSD
1TB HDD


Optical Drive

None supplied


Software

Windows 10 Home
30 day trial of Microsoft Office included


Motherboard

ASUS TUF Z370-Plus


Display

N/A


Graphics

GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB
DVI-D
HDMI
DisplayPort


Audio

HD 8-channel audio


Input Devices

Keyboard & mouse not supplied


Networking

ASUS 300Mbps WiFi


Power Supply

500w PSU


Dimensions

Height: 544mm
Width: 242mm
Depth: 542mm


Motherboard Interfaces

1x DVI-D
1x HDMI
2x USB 3.1
2x USB 3.1 Type-A
2x USB 2.0
1x LAN (RJ45)
1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port
3x audio jacks


Expansion

1x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (used)
1x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode)
4x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1 (1 used)
2x 3.5” bays (1 used)


LEDS

Colour-changing RGB fans


Case

2x USB 2.0 (front)
2x USB 3.0 (front)
2x audio jacks (front)
Stormforce watercooler


Warranty / Miscellaneous

3 Year Collect, Repair and Return Warranty

Packaging & Bundle

Stormforce will deliver your system by courier inside a large, outer box. Inside of which is the Cooler Master H500P box, which will hold the case inside perfectly. The package is rather heavy and awkward to carry, so perhaps get a friend to help shifting it around the house.



Included in the box are several instruction manuals, for many of the component parts, as well as a pair of WiFi antennas, a power cord, accessories for the H500P case and some installation media.

Closer Look

The most striking part of the system is almost certainly the front panel, being one, continuous piece of clear plastic, with a pair of massive, 200mm RGB fans tucked in behind.



Above the fans is an angled section with the case IO. We get a pair of USB 3.0, a pair of USB 2.0, headphone and microphone ports and a reset and power switch. This section should be easy to access whether the case is on the floor or on your desk.



The entire side of the case is a single piece of tempered glass, slightly tinted to add a premium feel. The panel is removed using the locking pin at the top-centre.



The rear of the case was used as the exhaust for the 120mm all-in-one watercooling solution for the 8700K, and obviously houses the majority of the PC’s inputs and outputs. The GTX 1070 Ti outputs via a pair of DisplayPort, a pair of HDMI and a single DVI-I port.

On the motherboard’s IO shield, you will find a pair of USB 2.0 ports at the top, a DVI and HDMI output, USB 3.1 Type-C, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, RJ45 network connection and three 3.5mm audio ports.

Stormforce have also added a wireless network card, utilising a 300Mbps connection through a pair of antenna.
The 500W PSU is located at the bottom of the case.

Closer Look (Internals)

There’s certainly plenty of space inside the chassis, allowing the 200mm intake fans at the front to push air through over the components within. The bottom of the case hides the PSU and excess cable length.



The Intel i7 8700K CPU is overclocked to 4.8GHz across all 6 cores and 12 threads, making this quite the powerhouse for some serious work. The CPU is paired with 16GB of HyperX Fury DDR4 memory. The ASUS Z370-Plus TUF Gaming motherboard provides a rock solid basis for all of the components to work together in harmony.

Keeping the 8700K cool, especially with the applied overclock, is the Stormforce-branded 120mm all-in-one watercooling solution, exhausting out the rear of the case.

Providing the oomph required for a responsive operating system is a 256GB Western Digital Black NVMe SSD, with a 1TB HDD providing mass storage, hiding away behind the shroud at the bottom of the case.



Graphics horsepower is provided by the ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti. The 1070 Ti features 8GB of GDDR5 memory and 2432 Stream Processors clocked at 1607MHz.



Hidden behind the shroud at the bottom is the 500W PSU and room for excess cables. There’s also a pair of 2.5” drive cages attached to the top.



With the lights turned down and the RGB LED fans allowed to do their thing, the machine looks excellent! The underside of the motherboard is also RGB illuminated.

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 R15 & Handbrake

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.




Our Handbrake x264 test renders a short clip in a low quality 1st pass and a higher quality 2nd pass. The higher the number, the faster the processor.


Benchmarks: PCMark 8 & 10

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.


Benchmarks: 3DMark & 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: Gaming (1080p)

The Stormforce Crystal uses the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 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 Stormforce Crystal uses the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 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 Stormforce Crystal uses the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 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

We recently looked at a system within a similar price bracket as today’s machine. The OcUK Oxygen Overclocked. The Stormforce Crystal has the Oxygen beaten in almost every single test we threw at it, only losing out in the Handbrake test.

The Cooler Master H500P chassis looks incredible. The massive 200mm fans on the front pull plenty of air through the case while remaining quiet, even at full load. The temperatures did top out at around 80°C on the GPU and CPU, but the system remained almost whisper quiet.

Stormforce offer the Crystal system with a 3 year collect & return warranty, offering complete peace of mind; if anything goes wrong, they collect it from you, fix/replace the offending component and return in full working order.

The M.2 boot drive allows the system to power up within a matter of seconds and provides enough room for a couple of AAA titles and plenty of programs. The 1TB HDD provides ample space for less-demanding programs.

Overall, the Crystal fitted with an 8700K and GTX 1070 Ti offers awesome performance, even at 4K resolutions, for a reasonable price (£1652.99 @ Ebuyer)


We loved the Cooler Master H500P chassis but the internals really impressed us, giving incredible framerates at 1080p and 1440p, with more-than-acceptable levels at 2160p

Pros
+ RGB 200mm fans look brilliant
+ Huge chassis aids cooling and airflow
+ Tempered glass panel
+ Great gaming performance
+ 3 Year warranty

Neutral
+- Pricey due to today’s graphics market
+- Only a slight overclock applied to the 8700K

Cons
– None


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