Yoyotech Warbird RS10

The newly released Intel Core i5-6600K processor, based on the company’s new Skylake architecture, has shown itself to be a more than capable overclocking candidate, thanks to its unlocked processor multiplier. We’ve seen manufacturers push it from its standard 3.5GHz clock speed all the way up to 4.4GHz after fitting a more robust cooler. The Yoyotech Warbird RS10 is just such a system, with an overclocked Skylake processor and suitably impressive performance.

In our application benchmarks, which involve manipulating large images and encoding and playing 4K video, the Warbird RS10 managed an excellent score of 137, which is what we’d expect from this processor at this speed. It’s cooled by a SilentiumPC Spartan Pro CPU cooler, which runs quietly.

The system would be almost silent if it weren’t for two 120mm fans mounted on the case’s side panel – you’ll need to detach these from the power supply before you can remove the panels. The side panel has an exposed grate without any sort of dust filter, and the vibrations of the fans create some noise, but it’s not too distracting.

The processor is paired with 8GB of 2,400MHz DDR4 RAM split across two modules, and the PC’s MSI Z170A PC Mate motherboard supports up to 64GB in its four slots. The motherboard has six SATA3 ports as well as an M.2 slot for a compact M.2 SSD, but using this will disable two SATA3 ports. One of the SATA3 ports is taken up by the system’s 1TB hard disk. This is plenty of storage for your files but we prefer an SSD system disk or hybrid drive in a PC at this price, as it makes Windows more responsive.

The case has lots of room for extra storage. As well as an additional three 3½in drive bays, it has a dedicated 2½in bay for an SSD. There are also three 5¼in drive bays, two of which are external for an optical drive or memory card reader. A 500W PSU is mounted at the top of the case.

The motherboard also provides expansion potential with its multitude of PCI slots. These include two PCI-E x16 slots – although the second runs at x4 speed – three PCI-E x1 slots and two PCI slots. One PCI-E x1 slot is blocked by the system’s dual-slot graphics card.

The Warbird RS10 gets its gaming power from an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. This capable mid-range card proved itself again in our gaming benchmarks. In Dirt Showdown at 1,920×1,080 with 4x anti-aliasing and Ultra graphics settings, it produced an excellent 84fps. In the more demanding Metro: Last Light, which we run at 1,920×1,080 with Very High quality settings and super-sampled anti-aliasing (SSAA), the graphics card produced 29fps, which is just shy of what we’d consider playable. Turning off the super-sampled aliasing will net you 50.5fps, which is easily enough for smooth gaming.

The front of the case has two USB3 ports and headphone and microphone jacks. There are six more USB3 ports at the back, so there’s no shortage of places to plug in your super-fast USB devices. Gigabit Ethernet is available for wired networking, and there’s a pair of PS/2 ports for older keyboards and mice.

As a complete £700 system the Warbird RS10 is supplied with a keyboard and mouse and an Iiyama ProLite E2283HS monitor. It’s only a 22in panel, which is disappointing when most manufacturers supply 24in displays for systems at this price, and it’s not the most exciting-looking display, either, with a matt bezel and plain tilt-adjustable stand.

What the screen lacks in size and glitz it makes up for with an excellent 1,233:1 contrast ratio and deep blacks, which we measured as a low 0.20cd/m². Its colour accuracy was only average, with the screen covering just 86.9% of the sRGB colour gamut, so it’s not the best choice for colour-accurate work such as photo editing. For any other task, such as watching films or playing games, it will do just fine.

The supplied Zalman ZM-K350M keyboard is comfortable to type on, but you’ll need to get used to its rather spongy keys. It’s also an unorthodox shape, with sections that jut out, rather than a standard rectangular design. The spacebar has a pair of indentations where most users will typically strike the key. There are volume and media controls along the right side and shortcuts to useful applications such as the calculator on the left. The keyboard is paired with a Zalman ZM-M300 wired gaming mouse, which is equally comfortable to use and provides useful back and forward buttons, as well as a pair of programmable buttons for gaming macros.

The Yoyotech Warbird RS10 is a seriously fast PC with a high-specification motherboard and plenty of room for upgrades. Its only weak point is that it’s limited to a simple mechanical hard disk, which means it lacks the snappiness in Windows that an SSD or hybrid drive can give you – as we saw with the Chillblast Fusion Gladiator. However, the Warbird provides an astonishing amount of performance in both applications and games, so it just beats the Chillblast system to an award. It’s a Best Buy. For other options check out our Best desktop PCs and buying guide.

Note: The optical drive pictured is not supplied in the priced specification I reviewed and you need to use the advanced configuration options if you want to add in the monitor that Expert Reviews tested.

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