Palicomp Intel i7 Elite review

There’s no denying the Intel i7 Elite cuts an imposing figure. Its Thermaltake Core V51 Window mid-tower case measures 540x236x560mm, so there’s plenty of space inside. However, considering what’s included in terms of components there’s really no need for such a gargantuan case.

We could understand the choice if Palicomp had filled it with fans to keep the system cool, but none of the mounts in the top of the case, which can accommodate either two 200mm fans or three 120/140mm fans, are filled. The 120mm exhaust on the back and two 120mm intakes on the front are reasonably quiet though.

Granted, you’re left with plenty of scope for the biggest graphics card and multiple storage drives should you ever feel the need to upgrade, but with how well the system performed, that might be a long way off. For this reason we would have been happier if Palicomp had used a slightly more space-saving case. The Core V51 otherwise isn’t bad to look at, and the large viewing window on the side shows off all the components within, but its perforated front panel might be divisive.

As the name suggests, the i7 Elite is based around a quad-core Intel i7 processor, specifically an i7-4790K that has been overclocked to 4.7GHz. It’s cooled by a Zalman CNPS9900A CPU cooler, which is more than capable of handling the additional head generated by the processor. It’s a particularly tall cooler at 152mm, which may go some way to explain the choice of case, but an all-in-one water cooling loop would be just as effective without taking up so much room.

In our taxing 4K benchmarks, the overclocked processor acquitted itself very well, achieving an overall score of 160. Its image and editing scores were both very close, at 155 and 152 respectively. It particularly excelled at multitasking, scoring 168. This was helped in part by the system’s 16GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory. Two of the four RAM slots on the Asus Z97-PRO Gamer motherboard are empty, so you have the option of adding even more, up to a maximum of 32GB.

An overclocked Nvidia GTX 980 goes a long way to explain the cost of the system, but it admittedly provided fantastic gaming performance. It made light work of Dirt Showdown, managing 155fps at 1,920×1,080, 4x anti-aliasing and Ultra graphics. Even in Tomb Raider with maximum graphics settings it managed a silky 69.6fps. Metro Last Light: Redux as always proved the most taxing with its super-sampled anti-aliasing, yet the Intel i7 Elite still managed to provide an excellent 55.3fps with the game set to Very High quality at 1,920×1,080 resolution. If you’re looking for a gaming system that will serve you well for a few years, the Intel i7 Elite should have you covered.