CyberPower Infinity i5 Hercules review

CyberPower has packed a lot into the Infinity i5 Hercules: there’s an overclocked Intel Core i5-760 processor running at 3.36GHz, a 24in Full HD monitor and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics chip that can handle the latest 3D games. All this comes in a well-constructed tower case that’s a testament to CyberPower’s attention to detail, and backed up by a three-year warranty.

It’s worth studying the warranty in more detail, however. The standard warranty covers parts for a year and labour for three, and you have to pay to return the PC for service after the first month. You can upgrade to silver, gold or platinum to increase the length of time during which CyberPower will pay for carriage, but it will only ever cover parts for one year.

The PC arrived stuffed with bubble packs to protect the internal components during transit. Three quiet and efficient Akasa case fans direct air flow through the case, and all the cables are neatly bundled and tied away. There are plenty of free drive bays, and a couple of free expansion card slots, and the two free DIMM sockets mean you won’t have to throw away the old DIMMs if you want to upgrade the memory from the fitted 4GB.

While the 1TB hard disk gives you plenty of room to store your files, there aren’t any FireWire, eSATA or USB3 ports to cater for fast external drives. You do get eight USB ports, however, and the budget Logitech keyboard and mouse are both PS/2 models and so don’t use up USB ports. The keyboard has spongy keys that don’t provide much feedback, but it was comfortable enough to type on. The mouse is a simple two-button model with a scroll-wheel.

By increasing the front side bus, CyberPower has increased the clock speed of the Core i5-760 from 2.8GHz to 3.36GHz, resulting in a performance increase of about 20 per cent overall. Scores of 171 in the single-threaded image-editing test and 145 in the multi-tasking test show the Infinity i5 Hercules is capable of handling any application.

Gamers will be happy with the results of our 3D tests. The Hercules managed nearly 70fps in Call of Duty 4 and 37fps in Crysis, so it’s capable of playing any modern game. Even at the monitor’s native resolution of 1,920×1,080, Crysis ran at over 30fps in High detail with 4x anti-aliasing switched on, which goes to show why we consider the 5770 to be the minimum specification for the serious gamer.

It’s a shame then that CyberPower has chosen to ship the Hercules with an HKC monitor. This is the 24in version of the 22in model we’ve seen with a few PCs, and it’s just as poor. Our white screen test, conducted side-by-side with a BenQ G2220HD, highlighted how dull and uneven the backlight is, with a strong blue cast: while the BenQ monitor showed a bright white screen, the HKC looked grey in comparison, with a slightly brighter patch in the centre of the screen.

However, you can save £136 if you buy the Infinity i5 Hercules without the monitor, which gives you enough money to buy a replacement, such as the BenQ G2220HD mentioned above. It would however be simpler to opt for Eclipse’s Solar i76r577 instead, which isn’t overclocked but has a far better monitor and better upgrade potential.