Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: First out of the gates

Always quick to spot an opportunity, Chillblast is the first PC maker to supply us with a system based around Nvidia’s RTX 2060 Super graphics card. And that’s an excellent move: as is plain from our review of the new Super cards, the RTX 2060 Super is a match for the RTX 2070 in all the key areas, without demanding quite as much of an investment.

Buy now from Chillblast

Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: What you need to know

This PC benefits from the Ryzen 7 3700X. Together with two sticks of 8GB of DDR-3200 memory and a gloriously fast Samsung 970 Evo Plus PCIe SSD, this pushed the Chillblast to a spectacular 335 in our benchmarks. That’s a new record for a non-“workstation” PC.

In fact, coupled with Nvidia’s push to attract creative professionals with its Nvidia Studio initiative, and the promise of compatibility with all the leading creative software titles, it’s tempting to consider the Fusion as an entry-level workstation. While it’s a poor choice for CAD applications, where consumer graphics cards simply can’t compare with pro options such as the Quadro RTX, it’s extremely cost-effective if you’re using a CUDA or OpenCL renderer.

Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: Performance

If you’re simply looking for a gaming system, you won’t be disappointed. The Fusion averaged 49.6fps in our toughest test, Hitman 2’s Mumbai benchmark at 1080p with High settings and supersampling at 2x, and made mincemeat of Dirt: Showdown at 4K with a 181fps average.

Metro: Last Light proved tougher, with an 82.2fps average at 4K and 198fps at 1080p, but these figures make it clear that Chillblast provides the RTX 2060 Super with an excellent supporting cast. If you want more gaming speed, it will upgrade you to an RTX 2070 Super for another £140.

READ NEXT: Best gaming PC

Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: Features

You might also consider upgrading the 250GB SSD to 500GB (£40) because, once you start adding games, that space will quickly disappear. Chillblast provides a 2TB hard disk for storing data, but inevitably that’s much slower: for instance, it offered sequential read and write speeds of 220MB/sec and 197MB/ sec, compared to 2,931MB/sec and 2,221MB/sec for the SSD.

Of course, you can add extra disks yourself. While Chillblast has filled the sole M.2 slot available on the Asus Prime B450-Plus motherboard, two empty 3.5in bays and some neat cabling means that it will be easy to add drives. The 600W supply shouldn’t restrict your upgrade options either, while two DIMM sockets lie temptingly empty.

Buy now from Chillblast

Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: Design

Chillblast wraps all this up in its Knight Gaming Case, which has a side panel of tempered glass as its star attraction. It flatters to deceive in some ways – while the front may look like brushed aluminium, it’s actually plastic – but this is a solid and attractive choice. It’s also practical, with three USB sockets on its top, along with two 3.5mm jacks for a mic and headphones.

As Chillblast supplies the Fusion overclocked, relying on a chunky RGB air cooler rather than a watercooling system, it’s no surprise that this PC emits a constant hum. Fortunately, it isn’t an obnoxious sound, and the fact it doesn’t vary in pitch means I soon got used to it. Power draw in idle sits at around 61W, jumping to 290W when everything is pushed.

READ NEXT: Best RAM

Chillblast Fusion Akula RTX 2060 Super Gaming PC review: Verdict

It adds up to an incredibly accomplished system that would have been excellent value even at £1,400. But that could prove to be a salient point, because Chillblast warned us that if component prices rose rapidly due to the dollar-pound exchange rate then it would have to raise the price. That’s fair, so if you’re interested then it may be wise to act fast.