Overclockers UK Evolution Envy Mini S System Review

Overview

 

We’ve seen a few Gaming systems here at pcG from various online retailers, but this is the first system that we have seen from online giant Overclockers UK. If anyone has the both the knowledge and the components then surely it is them! And here today we have said Gaming system, in the form of the Overclockers UK Evolution Envy Mini S.

This mini Gaming system is part of Overclockers new Evolution Pro Gaming PC Range and is housed in a Phanteks Evolv ITX case, with a Super Flower 550W Power Supply providing the power. This powers up an MSI Z97I-AC motherboard, that’s home to an Intel Core i7-4790K overclocked to 4.5GHz and 8GB (x2 4GB) of 2400MHz memory. The CPU itself is cooled by a OcUK Techlabs AIO Liquid Cooler. Storage is provided by way of a two Samsung 850 EVO SSDs (x1 120GB & x1 1TB). Graphics horsepower is provided by a single Nvidia GTX 970 in the form of a KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent “Infin8 Black Edition”. Add to this a touch of OCUK illumination and we should have quite the Gaming Rig! Let’s get it un-boxed and take a closer look…

 

 

 

Despite its small size the Evolution Envy Mini S arrived at pcG in a very large cardboard box, that itself was housed in an additional cardboard frame. Overclockers obviously take their packaging seriously then! Always good to see… That outer frame was secured by way of two packing bands, that handily acted as handles!

With the outer cardboard frame removed we can see the inner box and of course a handful of Haribos, as is Overclockers way… 😉

 

 

That inner box is simply the Phanteks Evolv ITX box that no doubt hides the Evolution Envy Mini S within. In addition to this Overclockers also provide a basic Welcome Pack to help you get started.

 

At the time of writing the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S can be found here, starting at approximately £966. As standard it comes with an OcUK Standard System Warranty – 3 Year (24 Month C&R + 12 Month Labour).

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Overclockers UK

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

 

First impressions of the Evolution Envy Mini S were along the lines of, wow I’ve seen this before. Not the system that is but the case, I took a look at a Phanteks Evolv ITX earlier in the year and had concerns about its cooling capacity. I certainly hope that’s not a problem for this system!? But as I also noted in my review of the case, the Evolv ITX is one good looking little Case, that’s almost a little stealthy thanks to its size and its angular looks. And, this is only likely to be further enhanced by way of Overclockers Evolution ITX Lighting Bundle (in green)! 🙂

 

 

Both side panels are secured by way of two thumb screws, with each thumb screw also featuring a rubber (anti-vibration) washer. With the left side panel removed we can more easily see the layout within the Evolution Envy and very clean and tidy it is too! This is both thanks to the design of the case and the tidy install performed by OCUK. In fact at first I didn’t think the system had been cabled up as I couldn’t see any cables! 😉 But rest assured it’s all there and damn good it looks too! The OcUK Techlabs AIO Liquid Cooler cleverly hides most of the cables that are behind the unit at the top. What I can also see here is that OCUK have not just added (the much needed) fan to the back of the Phanteks EVOLV ITX case, but they’ve added a 140mm (illuminating green) fan at that, good work guys! The only thing that lets it down a little are some coloured cables and plugs coming from the Power Supply, that just lets down the overall look a little.

Looking at the Evolution Envy Mini S from the opposite side we can see that OCUK has put in a fair amount of effort to keep all of that cabling in check. No easy task in a case as small as this one! What we can also just make out here are the two Samsung 850 EVO SSDs in the bottom left corner. This is the perfect setup for Gaming with a single 120GB SSD for the Operating System (OS) and a 1TB (that’s right folks 1,000GB!) SSD for your Games and storage! Not a hard drive in sight; ok so it’s going to cost, but OCUK I still applaud you… 😉

 

 

Removing the front panel (because you can and it’s very easy, though don’t use it as a handle!) reveals the intake air filter and the large non-illuminating 200mm fan hiding beneath. Here you can also clearly see the front panel that comprises of x2 USB 3.0 ports, Audio (headphone & microphone) and a reset button.

The bottom of the case also features a smaller air filter for the Power Supply, that can be slid out from the back of the case. Also note how the case sits up off of the surface (by approx 15mm) due to the two legs, that also feature (anti-vibration) rubber feet.

Looking at the back of the case it’s soon apparent that the system (courtesy of that MSI Z97I-AC motherboard) has support for WiFi. Over on the left we have the main I/O shield with not only WiFi but also dual LAN ports too! There’s also a host of other useful ports including x4 USB 3.0, HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort. To the right of this we can see the 140mm fan that OCUK has opted to fit, good news as this case comes with no exhaust fan as standard. And it is nice to see that OCUK didn’t opt for a simple 120mm fan; the installed fan is a BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro (with green illumination). Below this we can see the two expansion slots filled by the KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent “Infin8 Black Edition”. And, at the base of the case we find the Super Flower 550W 80Plus Gold rated Power Supply.

 

 

The Graphics Card used in the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S system is slightly hidden from view thanks to that Phanteks panel that helps to hide the GPU’s power cables. The chosen card for this system is based on an Nvidia GTX 970 and is actually a KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent “Infin8 Black Edition”, a Graphics Card that we gave a Gold award to back in March! The card itself boasts a Core Clock of 1178MHz and a Boost Clock of 1329MHz, as well as 4GB of GDDR5 memory. This is a truly great Graphics Card and one that will easily cope with resolutions up to and including 2560×1440.

The All in One (AIO) liquid CPU cooler that’s installed in the Evolution Envy Mini S is a bit of a mystery as it features no logo or brand names that I can see. What we do know though is that is sports a 240mm radiator with two 120mm fans and looks like it uses a Corsair mounting system!? Overclockers simply label it as a
OcUK Techlabs AIO Liquid Cooler! It looks good to me…

 

 

Looking at the system from the side allows us to see where the system gets it cool air from, especially important as it’s this fan that will help keep that Graphics Card cool. A task made more difficult due to its proximity to the top of the PSU shroud. The fan itself is a Phanteks 200mm fan with a maximum rotational speed of 800RPM. Also note that (sadly!) this fan has no illumination.

Finally we turn our attention to the Power Supply a 550W rated unit made by Super Flower. This particular model (Golden Green HX 550W) features NON-modular cables and has been awarded an 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating. Although I have to say that I’m not a lover of its internal coloured cables and or its coloured plugs.

 

When looking at the components list for the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S it reads as close to perfection as most Gamers are likely to want (in this price range). Looking at the system from an aesthetics point of view it’s almost perfect too! The system is housed in a cool (thanks to additional fans) small case that also happens to look good, and also happens to feature some custom (green) lighting! So far so good then… 😉

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

After some initial testing with Windows 10 it was time to push the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S through our suite of Gaming benchmarks. All of these benchmarks were run at stock settings (i.e. the PC was in the same state that it was sent to us in, no modifications were performed).

 

Benchmarks Used:

 

 

Games played during testing:

• Fallout 4
• Victor Vran

 

Hardware Performance

 

• Overclockers UK Evolution Envy Mini S Gaming PC Results – (stock settings)

Benchmark	Result
Batman: Arkham Origins	197.00 FPS
Tomb Raider	97.80 FPS
Metro Last Light	86.63 FPS
UNiGiNE Heaven	1394
3DMark (Fire Strike)	10371

 

The benchmarks show that the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S has put in a good performance in our suite of Gaming related benchmarks. The main reason for this is of course that Nvidia GTX 970 based Graphics Card. This really is the card of choice now for Gaming at anything above and beyond Full HD (1920×1080). But, please bear in mind it’s still not quite enough for Gaming at Ultra Wide (3440×1440) or 4K (3840×2160) resolutions. Of course here in the Evolution Envy we are also not dealing with a standard GTX 970 either! This is a factory overclocked example in the form of a KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent “Infin8 Black Edition”. With a Boost Clock of 1329MHz (I saw 1392MHz in testing) it packs a fair punch above any beyond a regular Nvidia GTX 970.

Of course this graphics horsepower is also backed up by a quad core (with hyper threading) CPU in the form of an Intel Core i7-4790K. It doesn’t stop there though as Overclockers have overclocked this example to 4.5 GHz. This is further backed up by the 8GB of 2400MHz of RAM that’s more than enough for modern day gaming. In fact I was able to play Fallout 4 at 2560×1440 at maximum detail settings with a frame rate that was constantly over 50 frames per second, and that equates to a good Gaming experience… 🙂

The storage setup aboard this particular Evolution Envy Mini S is also top rate, with two Samsung 850 Evo SSDs; one 120GB for the OS and a further (massive) 1TB for your Games and storage. With read speeds of 540Mbps and Write speeds of 520Mbps this is a True Gamers dream. No more waiting to get onto the Battlefield… 😉

Acoustically while Gaming the OCUK Evolution Envy Mini S is also quite quiet with very little noise with approximately 41dBA being emitted from the four fans that are inside that Phanteks Evolv ITX case. Yet temperatures were still kept in check with the Graphics Card maxing out at 73 degrees Celsius during Gaming.

Quite simply the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S is one-off the best (True Gamer) systems that I’ve tested here at pcG. Every component has been carefully selected and each one from the Motherboard to the Graphics Card and from the Case to the Storage setup has benefits for Gamers.

 

NOTE: Since being sent this sample for review Overclockers UK have upgraded the specifications of the system to now include a Skylake CPU and motherboard in the form of an Intel Core i7-6700K (4.5GHz) and a Gigabyte Z170N-WIFI (Socket 1150) ITX motherboard. I’m sure that this will only enhance the system further, but pcG will be taking a look at the upgraded system early in the new year.

 

Final Thoughts

 

There’s no doubt then that the guys over at Overclockers UK know how to put a Gaming system together! By carefully selecting a logical set of components for the Evolution Envy Mini S OCUK have put together a real Gamer’s system, yet still manged to keep the overall package both small and cool.

When the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S arrived at pcG and the system was found to be extremely well packaged, with the system itself being in a box, within a box, that was also in a cardboard frame. Safe to say everything was found to be in good order. Once out of the box it was soon apparent as to why this Gaming system has its Mini name, as the system itself is housed in a small Phanteks Evolv ITX case. It’s a good looking system thanks mainly to that Evolv case as it shows off (via its left side window) everything you would want to show off, and cleverly hides the rest. 😉 Turning the system on also reveals the illumination, in this case (haha, get it!) green, courtesy of an addition 140mm green LED fan and a single green LED lightning strip housed within. It therefore looks even better when powered up, but if you don’t like green OCUK offer various other lighting options also.

That case houses some real Gamer hardware too; from the MSI Z97I-AC motherboard to the quad core (with hyperthreading) Core i7-4790K, and from the overclocked Nvidia GTX 970 to the impressive twin drive 1TB+ storage setup. This system pretty much has it all for Gaming at Full HD (1920×1080) and even (2560×1440) resolutions, at maximum detail settings at 60FPS! If you were looking for a system for greater resolutions such as 4K (3840×2160) or Ultra Wide (3440×1440) then you would need to up that GPU to a Nvidia GTX 980 or equivalent.

As you can see from the benchmarks the Overclockers Evolution Envy Mini S posted some pretty impressive numbers thanks to its overclocked KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent “Infin8 Black Edition” Graphics Card and its overclocked Intel Core i7-4790K running at 4.5GHz. Cooling was also good thanks to that additional 140mm fan at the back of the Phanteks Evolv ITX Case. During Gaming and testing the maximum GPU temperature was recorded at just 73 degrees Celsius. While gaming noise was also kept at a decent level with our test equipment recording 41dBA, fine while Gaming with a headset that’s for sure.

There’s no doubt then that Overclockers UK have put a together a damn fine Gaming system in the Evolution Envy Mini S, the parts alone are all top notch. Add to this the build quality that was as good as I’ve seen in a system and the additional lighting and OCUK have, what I would call, a real Gamers system on their hands. But as always good things don’t come cheap…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Overclockers UK for providing this sample for review