I've tested the ABS Cyclone Ruby gaming PC, and it could be a good option for creatives too

When it comes to buying a pre-built PC, it can be hard to choose between AMD or Intel CPU options. The ABS Cyclone Ruby is an interesting machine to review, because it’s so similar to the ABS Cyclone Aqua we covered previously - the two machines carry CPUs at the upper end of the two companies' ranges, backed by an Nvidia GPU and 32GB of RAM. This makes them as useful for creative work as they are for the gaming they’re designed for, able to bring that rendering power to bear on graphics and movies, as well as being able to run the neural networks Adobe (and lots of other companies) is so keen on right now.

But is that enough to make it one of our best computers for video editing or top graphic design computers? That's less clear...

Key specifications

Design and build

• Neatly put together
• Gamer aesthetic

ABS has hit a winning formula with its Cyclone series. The simple ATC tower case with its single transparent panel contains a Gigabyte motherboard and GPU board, two sticks of Teamgroup RAM and a Thermaltake air cooler. There are case fans and some RGB lighting as you’d expect, while all the cables are tidily routed out of the way and the PSU is hidden beneath the floor.

Alongside the neatness, build quality is excellent - the side panel detaches with four thumbscrews if you need to, and apart from the magnetically attached top dust cover moving if you push it, there's no play or wobble anywhere in the structure. There's good airflow inside too, with the front and rear case fans lined up with the CPU cooler - which is an air-based tower, a single 120mm fan over a heatsink - to shunt hot air out the back of the case. The GPU has its own fans, and takes up an extra expansion slot with a grille. You may be able to access the bottommost PCIe slot to add an extra card if needed, perhaps for video capture or to add more ports, but otherwise, the bulk of the GPU means any extras are going to need to be USB.

Design score: 3/5

Features

• More fast ports would be nice
• Only Wi-Fi 5

As a fairly basic gaming PC, there's little here that stands out, and as a desktop machine there's no screen to go into detail over.

The best part of the design is that there are three easily accessible USB Type-A ports on the top of the case, right where you can get to them if you’ve put it on the floor under your desk. The worst part is that there's a single USB-C, it’s not a Thunderbolt, and it’s hidden round the back. Still, it’s enough for a camera or SSD if you use a long enough cable.

Networking is similarly basic, with Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4 and gigabit Ethernet. You’ll want to hook it up with a network cable for the best results, but the Bluetooth chip is good enough for your headphones. At least there are plenty of video outputs on the GPU - two each of HDMI and DisplayPort. There are also video sockets on the motherboard connected to the CPU’s integrated graphics, and it’s important not to plug your monitor into those by mistake. You won’t like the results.

Plug it in the right way around, and you’ll get all the benefits of a hot graphics processor, making things like Lightroom AI denoise and GPU effects in DaVinci Resolve go faster, and of course texturing and lighting polygons pretty well too.

Feature score: 3/5

Benchmark scores

We test every one of our laptops using the same benchmarking software suite to give you a thorough overview of its suitability for creatives of all disciplines and levels. This includes:

• Geekbench: Tests the CPU for single-core and multi-core power, and the GPU for the system's potential for gaming, image processing, or video editing.
• Cinebench: Tests the CPU and GPU's ability to run Cinema 4D and Redshift.
• UL Procyon: Uses UL Solutions' Procyon software suite to test the system's ability for AI image generation in Stable Diffusion, its Microsoft Office performance and its battery life.
• Topaz Video AI: We use Topaz Video AI to test the system's ability to upscale video and convert video to slow-motion.
• PugetBench for Creators: We use the PugetBench for Creators benchmarking suite to test the system's ability to run several key tasks in Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve Studio, as well as its performance when encoding/transcoding video.
• ON1 Resize AI: Tests the system's ability to resize 5 photos to 200% in a batch process.

Performance

The Ryzen 7 7700X is a chip from 2022 that was a very popular one for gaming and creative work, but has been surpassed by the Ryzen 9000 series. That doesn’t mean it stops working, of course, and its eight multi-threaded cores are still capable of great results. What it can’t do is keep up, in multi-threaded tasks such as Lightroom or Premiere Pro, with the latest Intel processors - though its single-core performance easily keeps up with Intel and Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. How much this matters is dependent on what you’re doing, and the 7700X here has the benefit of a great big Nvidia GPU lurking behind it, ready to blitz through graphics and AI work.

In the Cinebench 2024 rendering test and Geekbench 6 benchmark the 4070 Super proves its worth, sitting exactly where you’d expect it to in the rankings ahead of the 4060 and behind the 4080 Super. Naturally, the new RTX 5080 gets out in front, and the RTX 5090 takes another step beyond that, but with the Ruby you’re getting a whole PC for less than a single 5090 board, and that has to count in its favour unless you’re upgrading a monster rendering station and have a bottomless budget.

The 1TB M.2 SSD that’s included with the Ruby is a Kingston model that should be running at PCIe 4.0 speeds, but in testing we found it was lagging behind. It’s unclear why this is, and perhaps there's a driver update out there that could give it the extra kick it needs, but at an average bandwidth score of 286MB/s, compared to 381MB/s in the Cyclone Aqua, it looks like something’s wrong.

• Good CPU and GPU performance
• Oddly slow SSD

Performance score: 4/5

Price

$1,699

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883360534C?Item=N82E16883360534C

The Cyclone Ruby is available through Newegg, and is regularly available both at a discount and as a refurbished unit. This makes it good value, especially as it’s possible to pick this PC up for the same sort of price as the Aqua, which has a better CPU but weaker GPU. This means it’s the same price as the most expensive (until you start adding extras) M4 iMac, which comes with less RAM and storage but does have the benefit of having a built-in monitor.

Value score: 4/5

Who is it for?

• Home workers and students

Gamers and creatives alike will enjoy the benefits of a PC like the Cyclone Ruby. While its CPU may be a generation behind, it keeps up well with modern workloads, and the 4070 Super GPU is able to handle any of the kind of workloads modern creative apps can ask for. Whether it’s polygons, movies or neural networks, it can do it all.

Buy it if...

• You want desktop power for not so much money
• You don’t want to pay for the latest generation
• You want to play games too

Don't buy it if...

• Only the latest tech will do
• You don’t want to have to buy a monitor separately
• One fast USB-C port is enough

Also consider

Apple iMac M4

https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/computers/imac-m4-review-apples-beautiful-desktop-computer-keeps-defying-the-doubters

The M4 chip is the real star here, making it a brilliant desktop computer for creatives in particular. And it helps that it looks beautiful too.

MSI Creator A16 AI+

https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/laptops/msi-creator-a16-ai-review-a-creative-powerhouse-with-ai-smarts

The MSI Creator A16 AI+ is a creator's dream. Unfortunately, almost all its performance eggs are in one AI basket, but that's pretty unavoidable nowadays. With MSI AI Engine and Nvidia Studio, this is a laptop that packs a punch.

HP Omen 35L

https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/computers/hp-omen-35l-review-but-seriously-its-all-fun-and-games

Put this on a desk with a pair of 5K monitors and you’ll make video editors and 3D sculptors very happy indeed.