Our console gamer recently got hands on with an Aftershock Voltron: Level 10 Ultra PC featuring an Intel i9 12000KF, a Gigabyte RTX 3090 Gaming OC 24GB GPU, 64GB of Gigabyte Aorus RGB 6000MHz DDR5 RAM and a 2TB Gen4 Aorus M.2 NVME. Here's his honest opinion and how he feels it compares to playing on console…
Here’s a full list of specs to start:
Case | Gigabyte Aorus C700 Glass ATX Black |
Motherboard | Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Ultra (WiFi) DDR5 |
CPU | Intel Core i9 12900KF - 5.2GHz - 16 Cores 24 Threads |
RAM | 64GB Gigabyte Aorus RGB 6000MHz DDR5 (4x16GB) |
GPU | Gigabyte RTX 3090 Gaming OC 24GB |
Cooler | Gigabyte Aorus WaterforceX 360mm ARGB |
Primary Storage | 2TB Gen4 Aorus M.2 NVME (7000MBs - 6850MBs) |
Secondary Storage | 8TB Seagate Barracuda 5400RPM 3.5” |
Fans | 5x Gigabyte Fans (2x ARGB) |
WIFI | Next Gen Intel Wifi 6 + Bluetooth 5.1 |
Power Supply | 1000W Corsair 80+ Gold Modular RM1000x |
OS | Windows 11 |
Cost | |
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Primary Display | Gigabyte G27QC-A 27” QHD 165Hz / 1500R Curved |
Secondary Display | LGC1 OLED 4K TV |
Let me start with an introduction on me, I am of course a gamer, and while I have dabbled with Gaming PC’s in my past I’ve never really owned anything that is necessarily “current tech” my old PC I built in 2012 and while it was OK at the time, it very quickly became pretty obsolete. Since then I have upgraded it slightly here and there but nothing major and got myself a gaming laptop in 2020 which while its very capable as a gaming device. It doesn't exactly excel either which is why I do almost all of my gaming on my various consoles. I have a PS5 and Series X as well as a few other (less capable) consoles. So naturally when the offer to review a beast of a rig with a 3090 presented itself, of course I was interested. Not only to see for myself what all the hype is about, but to see how it compares to the likes of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Now I know that there's technically a HUGE difference between a “next gen console” and a top of the line PC, but what does that mean in terms of actual performance? And is it a noticeable enough difference to justify an upgrade? I'll be pushing the Voltron as hard as I can to see what it's truly capable of.
First of all, let's talk about aesthetics, and well the Voltron is an absolute beast. It's hands down the most “gamer looking” PC I've ever seen in person. It's super angular and honestly looks like an alien pod of some sort. Maybe it is? Who knows… In terms of size it's pretty damn huge, it's definitely not something you could own if you were short on space that's for sure. It's got all the RGB you could ever want and the ability to turn them on or off or adjust them to different colours and patterns. The build quality of the Voltron is incredible, the cable management, the durability of the case and the airflow is all top drawer. A user benchmark test did show that my CPU was being throttled at around 92% but aside from that everything worked seamlessly together.
Now while this is going to be primarily a review for the Voltron, I do want to also compare it to consoles and weigh up the pros and cons of owning a PC over a console to provide anyone thinking of making the switch as much information as possible…
Before we get in to any comparisons, here are a few of the most popular and/or demanding games with an in depth look at things like FPS and CPU temps: (All in 2560 x 1440)
| Warzone | Dying Light 2 | Rust |
|---|---|---|---|
FPS | 164 | 127 | 148 |
99% FPS | 144 | 116 | 114 |
Render Latency | 5.6ms | 7.6ms | 5ms |
CPU Usage | 32% | 35% | 22% |
CPU Temp | 52 degrees | 51 degrees | 52 degrees |
GPU Usage | 89% | 100% | 67% |
GPU Temp | 71 degrees | 76 degrees | 75 degrees |
| AC Valhalla | Flight Simulator | CyberPunk 2077 |
|---|---|---|---|
FPS | 99 | 62 | 107 |
99% FPS | 91 | 56 | 101 |
Render Latency | 7.1ms | 8.8ms | 5.6ms |
CPU Usage | 34% | 38% | 31% |
CPU Temp | 52 degrees | 53 degrees | 52 degrees |
GPU Usage | 97% | 100% | 100% |
GPU Temp | 74 degrees | 76 degrees | 76 degrees |
As you can see, the Voltron managed to keep the CPU and the GPU at a very consistent temperature. The CPU at around 52 degrees and the GPU at around 74 degrees. Both of these temps are right in the range of what you’d want and very rarely fluctuated more than a few degrees even after fairly intensive sessions.
On the note of comparison, you need to be aware of the fact that PC is very different to console, and where as console for the most part is plug and play, PC takes a little knowhow to truly get the best out of your games, you'll have the occasional technical issue that prevents you from booting a game or that causes your system to crash. These are all part and parcel of PC gaming unfortunately. If you don't have the technical knowledge on how to troubleshoot and fix issues then I'd honestly recommend sticking to a much more user friendly console setup. But if you do have the patience and knowledge required, then there is so much to be gained by owning a high end PC.
Another comparison (and probably the last) to console gaming and it's an important one. Its performance! We all know that consoles have come a long way and the PS5 and XSX are both great machines. PC’s, however, have come even further. We also know that the “next-gen” consoles are technically capable of upto 4K 120fps, in reality there's only a very small handful of games that run at this level and you're much more likely to see either 4K60 or 2K60 depending on the games you're running. On the Voltron however, thanks to the power of the RTX 3090 I was able to get some of even the most graphic intensive games to run at 4K120. Games such as Warzone, Apex Legends and Death Stranding.
As a primarily console gamer, there is one thing I noticed about the gaming performance on the Voltron compared to console even more than the boost in frames. This was the overall quality of the image, even at technically lower resolution compared to my PS5 for example there was just so much detail that was missing in the PS5 versions of my games. This was down to the fact I was able to crank the settings all the way up to max, that meant the textures, the detail, the draw distance, the lighting, just every single detail was cranked up to a 13 which made every single scene and every single game look super clean and extremely detailed. In certain scenes this is mildly noticeable and in others it's like night and day compared to the quality of the consoles. Games like Resident Evil Village for example look phenomenal even in 2K resolution compared to the Playstation 5's 4K. Here's a couple of images showing exactly what I mean.
Screenshot Comparisons
As you can see the level of detail in the PC version is in a ballpark of its own. That being said though, as a gaming machine, the Voltron is hands down the best machine I've used to this point. Not without its problems but, it plays games in the best way possible. Its smooth, its extremely detailed and while it is a bit more complicated than console gaming, It is absolutely the best way to experience your favourite games. Now the biggest question is, is it worth the price? Is the difference between console gaming a big enough one to justify an increase of over 10x the price? Personally, I could never justify it as a gaming machine only, not when a next gen console will cost you just $750 compared to the almost $9000 the Voltron will set you back. However if you're specifically looking for an all in one "command centre" to do a combination of top of the line gaming, heavy video editing and content creation for a stream or Youtube channel then the console simply isn't it and you wont get much better than the Voltron.
3DMARK SCORE
Time Spy | 19,503 |
Here's a full list of notable games I tested and the average FPS I was able to achieve with max settings enabled, meaning every game looked the absolute best it possibly can.
1920 x 1080 - Max Settings
Game | FPS |
|---|---|
Assassins Creed Valhalla | 109 |
Microsoft Flight Simulator | 76 |
Death Stranding | 201 |
CyberPunk 2077 | 109 |
Apex Legends | 264 |
Resident Evil 2 REmake | 266 |
Metro Exodus | 137 |
Destiny 2 | 300 |
Grand Theft Auto V | 202 |
Call of Duty Warzone | 214 |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 111 |
Dying Light 2: Stay Human | 162 |
Rust | 171 |
2560 x 1440 - Max Settings
Game | FPS |
|---|---|
Assassins Creed Valhalla | 99 |
Microsoft Flight Simulator | 62 |
Death Stranding | 164 |
CyberPunk 2077 | 107 |
Apex Legends | 211 |
Resident Evil 2 Remake | 209 |
Metro Exodus | 117 |
Destiny 2 | 251 |
Grand Theft Auto V | 171 |
Call of Duty Warzone | 164 |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 98 |
Dying Light 2: Stay Human | 127 |
Rust | 148 |
3840 x 2160 - Max Settings
Game | FPS |
|---|---|
Assassins Creed Valhalla | 72 |
Microsoft Flight Simulator | 60 |
Death Stranding | 116 |
CyberPunk 2077 | 84 |
Apex Legends | 144 |
Resident Evil 2 REmake | 108 |
Metro Exodus | 92 |
Destiny 2 | 160 |
Grand Theft Auto V | 102 |
Call of Duty Warzone | 132 |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 70 |
Dying Light 2: Stay Human | 78 |
Rust | 97 |
As mentioned above, the Voltron, however, is not just a gaming machine. It's also an extremely powerful workstation. Meaning things like video editing, or rendering will be made super easy on this thing. For example, one thing that I personally have had a lot of trouble with in the past is working with the WebM videos my PS5 records in. Converting and editing these video files is something that I have struggled to do reliably in the past. Well, the Voltron makes absolutely short work of it. Converting a 59 minute 4K WebM file to MP4 or similar takes just 11 minutes 2 seconds compared to my usual 80+ minutes on my gaming laptop. The biggest surprise though is the Voltrons ability to simultaneously edit, convert and render videos in lossless quality. A 32 minute 4K WebM video file with various effects and lossless rendering took me just 30:24 minutes. My normal computer struggles big time with this task and would usually take over 2.5 hours. This is down to the boost the RTC 3090 gives compared to most GPU’s. Honestly, this saved time is priceless for anyone looking to edit video and create content for a stream or Youtube channel.
As well as testing what I could myself, I naturally also ran the Voltron through some benchmarking tests. I've already mentioned the 3DMARK score that this thing got, but I also ran it a few times through the UserBenchmark.com tests and here's the results compared to some other decent gaming PC's and laptops
| Gaming | Desktop | Workstation |
TEST 1 29/04 - 12pm | 252% | 115% | 310% |
TEST 2 29/04 - 8pm | 248% | 112% | 307% |
Here are the scores of some other computers including my every day gaming laptop which rarely misses a beat for me but struggles when gaming at resolutions over 1080p...
| Gaming | Desktop | Workstation |
HP Omen Laptop | 42% | 85% | 40% |
MSI H310 Gaming Infinite | 88% | 94% | 80% |
Here's a full list of videos I edited with the Voltron and time it took to complete:
Video details | Time Taken |
|---|---|
60min 1080p file - 4K upscale + WebM to MP4 conversion | 20 minutes 55 seconds |
59min 4K file - 8K upscale + WebM to MP4 conversion | 63 minutes 14 seconds |
59min 4K file - WebM to MP4 conversion | 12 minutes 14 seconds |
32min 4K file - WebM to MP4 + Lossless rendering + (10 total effects) | 30 minutes 24 seconds |
I know it's obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway, the Voltron obviously performs every day tasks flawlessly. There's no lag or slowing no matter what you're doing, as you would expect from a PC with top of the range tech.
Here are some specs in terms of how the Voltron performs as a workstation and personal computer. One thing I noticed was that while the Voltron does everything else extremely quickly. for some reason start up and boot took way longer than they should have. My gaming laptop for instance took just 34 seconds to do a full restart loop compared the to Voltrons 69 seconds. Data transfer and things like opening files are supercharged compared to every other PC I've used to date.
Task | Time taken |
|---|---|
File transfer from internal NVMe to internal HDD - 10GB | Average - 24.99 seconds |
Cold Boot | 42.54 seconds |
Restart | 1 minute 9.60 seconds |
Shut Down | 7.8 seconds |
Overall, the Voltron is an absolute beast. As I've said, its the single best PC I've used to date. Its a gaming and working powerhouse, its built well and looks good. PC gaming will always come with some troubleshooting that you don't necessarily get on console. But if you have the patience and a basic knowledge its well and truly worth your perseverance. It will do everything you need it to do and it will do it relatively flawlessly. The only drawback I see is the price, which will simply be out of a lot of peoples reach, however if its not, then definitely check this one out.
