Early Verdict
The Battle Box Ultimate, as we tested it, delivered superb AAA-gaming performance and multi-threaded muscle with its overclocked Ryzen 7 CPU and a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card. Though the chassis was plain, some braided cables and RGB/UV lights spruced things up.
Pros
- +
Fully configurable
- +
CPU overclocking included with cooler upgrade
Cons
- -
No GPU overclock
- -
Plain chassis
- -
Modest storage in test configuration
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Introduction & Product Tour
Traditionally, custom-PC makers send us their most pumped-up configurations based on Intel silicon. AVADirect, in a pleasant change of pace, sent us one of its Battle Box-branded custom desktop PCs with an AMD bent. Our test unit had an AMD Ryzen 7 1700X processor, 16GB of memory, and a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti under the hood.
Can the Battle Box deliver on its promise of ultimate frame rates and performance at the most demanding settings? We’ll find out as we take a look at our first AMD Ryzen-based custom gaming PC.
Exterior
The AVADirect Battle Box Ultimate is an Nvidia-co-branded gaming PC that can be customized to almost anything, with an array of different cases, chipsets, processors, graphics cards, memory, storage, and power supplies from all the major manufacturers. This particular configuration features an NZXT H440 mid-tower ATX chassis, which has black ABS plastic panels and a SECC steel frame. The removable side panels are also metal, and the window on the left side is made of clear acrylic. The solid panel has padding on the interior side to dampen vibrations, and the only customized parts of the chassis are an AVADirect decal on the window and an emblem on the bottom of the front panel. Otherwise, it’s no different from NZXT's retail H440 case.
The front and top panels have some vented red trim that provides airflow and an edgy look, and the NZXT logo is prominently displayed on the red-accented PSU cover that is visible through the side window, especially with the additional CableMod light strip that AVADirect outfitted in this test unit. (This flashy feature adds $60 to the bill; it's a custom remote-controlled RGB/UV strip.)
The top-panel I/O blends seamlessly into the smooth plastic and consists of two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, in addition to headphone-out and mic-in audio jacks. The back of the machine also has gratuitous USB connectivity, with two USB 3.1 Gen2 ports (one Type-A, one Type-C), four USB 3.0 ports, and two USB 2.0 ports. There’s also a PS/2 port, six audio jacks (powered by a Realtek ALC892 NIC), and an RJ-45 interface that gets you online with Realtek 8111H Gigabit Ethernet.
The graphics card features three DisplayPort 1.3 interfaces and an HDMI 2.0 port. The motherboard’s DVI-D and HDMI ports don’t serve a purpose in this particular configuration (the CPU lacks integrated graphics), and you may have to get an adapter if you insist on using a DVI-D connection (say, with an older monitor).
Interior
Under the hood, this configuration of the AVADirect Battle Box Ultimate sports an AMD Ryzen 7 1700X processor on an MSI X370 Gaming Pro ATX motherboard with a 16GB (2 x 8GB) kit of Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4-2400 memory. The CPU is cooled by a Corsair H110i v2 (a 240mm AIO liquid cooler), and the processor comes overclocked at no charge when you purchase the cooling add-on, which tacks on $100 to the bill. (That's around the retail price for the H100i v2.)
An Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition graphics card is seated in the motherboard’s primary PCI Express (PCIe) x16 slot, covering the M.2 interface and its attached 250GB Samsung 960 EVO NVMe SSD. This top-tier graphics card should provide the best frame rates in the latest AAA game titles, and the speedy primary storage should drastically reduce boot times and program load times. The low-capacity SSD won’t hold much more than a few games and productivity apps, though the 1TB 7,200RPM Seagate 3.5” hard drive should provide enough space for a moderate app and game library. The case also has plenty of 2.5” and 3.5” bays available to customize your storage the way you like.
The 750W power supply (an EVGA Supernova G3 80 Plus Gold model) is hidden by the case shroud, and it has plenty of juice for the components inside. The case also sports a dust filter for the PSU that is easy to clean. AVADirect included a set of custom-design, individually braided PSU cables in red for the CPU, ATX, GPU, and SATA power connectors, which contributes a hefty $115 to the total bill. However, once again, this is around what you would pay for a set of these at retail.
The interior is bathed in RGB/UV lighting by the custom CableMod light strips we mentioned, which are remote-controlled LEDs held on by magnets. They line the top side and inner wall of the chassis. This aesthetic bonus contributes $60 to the price, but as the only RGB lighting, it could be worth it if you’re looking to jazz up the otherwise plain components and chassis.
Software & Accessories
AVADirect’s Windows 10 Home 64-bit installation is as clean as a whistle. It completes the installation on the first boot and makes you create user accounts. There are no additional programs or bloatware (unless you count Microsoft’s usual offenders, such as Candy Crush), and this includes overclocking software. The CPU overclock is handled by the BIOS, which is set to an all-core multiplier of 38 for a peak 3.8GHz.
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