Cyberpower Ultra 55 Pro

What this back-to-basics gaming PC lacks in flare it regains in its quiet running and compact chassis

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PRICE £833 (£999 inc VAT) from cyberpowersystem.co.uk

Sadly, we don't all have £999 to lavish on a graphics card such as the AMD Radeon RX 7900 S XTX (see p60). Some would argue that it isn't the best way to spend a grand anyway, especially when you can buy a well-rounded PC such as the Ultra 55 Pro for the same price.

If you're looking for thrills, however, then move along. This is a system where every penny is geared towards performance, so there's now t fancy here. If you want to change the default white of the four 120cm fans then you'll need to use the compact remote control. Even the case is basic, although there is a tempered glass side through which you can admire the assembled components.

The chief one is Asus' Prime B550M-K motherboard, which is another pared-down choice: there's Gigabit Ethernet rather than 2.5GbE, no USB-C port, and no built-in Wi-Fi. Cyberpower makes up for this last omission by adding an Intel Wi-Fi 6 PCI-E card, with the only drawback being that there are no more slots available. Expansionists must make do with two empty DIMM sockets and one spare M.2 slot.