This machine won’t set any records but it will play all the latest games at good settings for a reasonable price. It also comes with some great features like 2tb of hard drive space on an ssd + 8gb of fast ddr4 ram.

You get one of the fastest graphics cards on the market in this package, make no mistake about that! You get nvidia’s brand new gtx 1080 which is simply awesome. Unlike other companies you do not have to choose between cpu and gpu performance here as sky tech has equipped the blaze ii with a six core intel cpu. You can consider it the best gaming PC under 500 that can perform better for any graphics complex title release this year.

The SkyTech Blaze II Hardware

Processor

The processor in the skytech blaze II has an  Intel Core i7-6700k 3.5Ghz CPU  which has been factory overclocked to 4GHz. This is one of intel’s top-end chips and it is able to handle anything that programmers will throw at it for years to come. At this time (july 2016) there are only three CPUs from any company that can outperform the i7-6700k which are: Nvidia 1080, titan X from Nvidia and AMD fx 8350 8 core. The reason I have listed these three items as competitors is that they are close in price or cost less than 6700k and they are much more expensive than the i7-6700k that is inside the blaze ii.

The processor (cpu) is only part of a pc’s speed, video cards play an important role in how fast a game will run and also what settings it can be played at. The skytech blaze II comes with nvidia gtx 1080 8gb which is awesome for today’s games and if you want to play on ultra or maxed out settings this card has no competition currently available as far as price / performance goes . You could get two of these graphics cards for the price of one titan x from nvidia right now so if money is not an issue then this machine would definitely be worth your consideration.

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Memory

Skytech has outfitted this machine with 8gbs of DDR4 ram. This is the newest type of memory for computers, also known as ultra-fast ddr4 ram . Even if you wanted to add more memory later on, it would be pretty expensive to do so since most pc makers are now using this same speed of ram in their systems. Some high end gaming builders prefer using two or three sticks instead of one big stick like this system uses which will allow them to have two slots still free for adding more ram later on. However I doubt that anyone planning to spend under $1500.00 dollars would want anything more than 8 gb s so I doubt that any gamer reading this review has considered a dual channel configuration.

Graphics card

The gtx 1080 is the most powerful graphics card made by nvidia to date . The only cards that will outperform it currently are their titan X and fx 8350. GTX 1080 has 2560 cuda cores which handle all modern games at ultra resolutions and fps (frames per second) with ease. This GCU (graphics processing unit) allows for a big boost in performance when compared to other GPUs out there on the market now. For one you won’t have to worry about spending $500 or more on upgrading your graphics card every year if you don’t want to as this card will last far longer than any others out there right now in terms of how fast it can run the newest games .

Storage

The blaze ii comes equipped with 2tb of storage space in the form of an ssd + 8gb of fast ddr4 ram. You not only get to have a lot of storage but at very high speeds too when you use the ssd as your primary drive. It is hard to believe that this pc configuration doesn’t come with a hdd (hard disk drive) even though its pretty cheap to buy one separately right now, especially when you consider that 8gb is quite useless for modern gamers . Even if you don’t have money for additional storage and cant get it included from the start then there are many ways of adding more space later on. One such way would be to upgrade to an m2 sata solid state drive which is super easy to install and cost-effective too. The other benefit of using an ssd for your games is you wont have to worry about defragmenting it or getting a HDD (hard disk drive) defragmentation software as this ssd by itself works so much faster than traditional hdd’s that there is no need for these extra programs.

Some gamers can be hesitant to buy a pc with only one hdd because they want the option of adding more storage space later on but in reality once you get pass 15-20gb of data on any modern hard drives, they are slower than windows or linux operating systems so don’t even think about buying another copy of windows again and installing it onto your second hard drive as you’ll be wasting your time.

Motherboard

Skytech has outfitted this machine with a premium motherboard from MSI gaming . It is a full ATX form factor which will allow you to fully upgrade your system later on and the only slots that are used right now for graphics cards, ddr4 dimm modules and sata connections are all at the front with just one pci express slot in use. This will simplify upgrading later when you want to add more drives or memory for example but it means that if you wanted to have two graphics cards such as gtx 1080’s then you would not be able to do so because of the lack of space between these graphic card slots here. Still this is an excellent motherboard for gamers

PSU ( power supply )

The skytech blaze II uses a corsair psu and is 80+ gold certified which means that it will supply you with stable power as it supplies its power to the entire system. There are no problems or issues related to this PSU (power supply unit) right now. Also the cables are well made, not too long nor too short and both modular and black in color so its almost impossible for them to stand out anywhere other than where they should be. If you need something portable, the best tablets for gaming is also the option that you might leverage.

Conclusion

The Skytech blaze II pc has impressed me with how much bang for the buck there is here, especially when you consider that some retailers sell computers with many less watts of juice compared to this one for more money . The lack of an hdd instead of a ssd may disappoint some people but I think this is a good move on the company’s part because any gamer will not need more than one hdd and even if they do go for an upgrade to an m2 sata, it won’t be that expensive in reality. So I’d recommend this pc for anyone looking for a new gaming computer or thinking of upgrading from their old ones.