SkyTech Blaze [RX580 Version] Review

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The SkyTech Blaze [RX580 Version] Blaze is a compact prebuild PC with intriguing looks and muscular performance both at daily computing workloads and entry-level gaming. It sports a hard-hitting combo of AMD Ryzen 3 1200 and AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB Card making it a good contender for gaming. Hence, it makes it to our top list for entry-level budget gaming desktops.

How did SkyTech manage to deliver some a slick rig at this price? Let’s see.

SkyTech Blaze — Design

The full story of the ST-BLAZE-1200-RX580-4G is not only told by its components but also by its case. The case is a Thermaltake Versa H18 case which comes with big enough space for components, as well as enough room, for future upgrades. The front face has a meshed grille-like surface (that looks and feels like a grate) that lets out the red RGB lighting from three circular LED lights inside the case.

It also doubles up as an inlet for air to flow through hence helping out with temperature control. That in itself is new since most desktops have a polished plastic face or at worst a metallic plate. It gives the PC a straight-from-hell monster vibe which is beastly and fits the gamer aesthetic theme. Moving on, the rest of the case is made of aluminum with exceptions of the left side that has a see-through glass panel.

Generally, it’s a neat design that enables easy access to the interior. The left side panel has fours screws which allow tool-less access to the interior. A large case means you won’t be pushed around for space. The SkyTech Blaze is a semi-tower with plenty of space inside if you’re one to tinker with the components.

SkyTech [RX580 Version] Blaze front ports

Features

The SkyTech Blaze, at 15.4 x 8.1 x 15 inches when upright, is barely comparable to the tower SkyTech [SkyTech 2080] Oracle X (18.7 x 8.27 x 18.5 inches, 31 pounds)we recently reviewed. It exalts a smaller footprint compared to the CyberPower’s Gamer Xtreme GXiVR8520A desktop (18.5 x 7.9 x 17.9 inches, 26.6 pounds) a few inches in either direction.

There is no liquid cooling inside, just a stock fan for the CPU, that does its job well nonetheless. Looking through the side wind window on the panel, you can see the A320M AM4 Motherboard and the 500 watts 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply.

Internals aside, the one aspect that stands out just from looking at the SkyTech Blaze from a distance is the red RGB color scheme lighting the case’s interior. The understated RGB lighting means that it’s not going to distract you while you game.

That’s because the lights can’t be adjusted or made to pulsate. It just gives off a consistent red that creates a stunning ambiance for gaming… which if you’re like me and love setting the mood, is a welcoming setting.

SkyTech [RX580 Version] Blaze glass side

Connectivity

There is an ample supply of ports on the SkyTech [RX580 Version] Blaze desktop. Apart from the grate front panel, the front face is flush except for the power button, a single USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, a microphone jack, and headphone jack.

As usual, the rear holds the bulk of the ports. There are four USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a single Dual-link DVI port, 3 DisplayPort, and a single HDMI port. I’m glad SkyTech included at least three DisplayPorts and an HDMI port to cater for external monitor connection.

This desktop doesn’t come with a monitor, but you can always connect to one, better yet a triple monitor setup for your office or gaming station.

SkyTech Blaze — Performance

SkyTech equipped this PC with an AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (4-core) processor, a good pick for entry-level gaming and general computing. The Ryzen 3 1200 has a base clock speed of 3.1 GHz and the ability to jump to 3.4GHz when overclocked.

The CPU has 4 cores and 4 threads and no hyperthreading (SMT). Released in March 2017, the chip is the lowest in the Ryzen 3 series which includes others such as Ryzen 1700, 1700X and 1800X.

Compared to team blue chips, the AMD Ryzen 3 1200 compares to Intel’s i3 lineup (Intel i3-7100 CPU). While the entry-level Ryzen CPU is massively handicapped compared to their middle-class Intel i3 brethren due to lack of cores and threads, they perform better than the i3-7100 processor.

Overall, the AMD Ryzen 3 1200 offers excellent computational performance and entry-level gaming performance. At this point, I know you’re asking yourself whether this is a good CPU for this PC, considering it’s 2 years old. Well, yes. It might be picking up some dust but it works just fine for casual home use and gaming.

Memory and Storage

Since the SkyTech [RX580 Version] Blaze is built as a workhorse for video editors, creative professionals, and gamers, it handles plenty of demanding tasks at ago. That translates to plenty of memory to handle such workloads as well.

SkyTech equipped this PC with an 8GB DDR4 memory which is more than sufficient for the above tasks and more. Well, you can also upgrade to 16GB memory to handle more intensive workloads but as it is, it should handle less demanding tasks like word processing and web browsing with aplomb.

Also well represented is a 1TB hard disk which should be sufficient for data hogs looking to save data, media files, movies, and video games.

We appreciate that SSDs are fast enough to keep boot-ups, software loading and game-loading times reasonable snappy. But there is no SSDs installed here. However, you can add at least a 128G8 GB or 512 GB option.

Graphics Performance

As far as gaming is concerned, the Ryzen Blaze desktop brags of an AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB Video Card to handle gaming and graphics-intensive tasks. Truth be told, the card is a solid pick for multi-core computing, 1080p gaming at high settings, or 1440p play if 60fps isn’t your aim.

Its main competitor is Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 card but the RX 580 surges ahead delivering the “fine wine’ promise in a few aspects. Overall, the resolution that works marvelously for this GPU is mostly Full HD (1080p) which means a steady rate of frames per second and minimal to no tearing.

It’s among the best graphics card we could recommend for entry-level gamers looking to get into gaming. That’s unless you have some extra spare cash you can spend on an RTX 2080 Ti or RTX 20 series card.

Here are some gaming runs results to get a feel of how t performs on 1080p gameplay.

Our Take

The SkyTech [RX580 Version] Blaze is an entry-level gaming PC with a few drawbacks, but boasts decent performance and is reasonably priced. While it skimps on features such as USB Type-C, that’s becoming common for future-proof computers, it compensates with a host of great features. For instance, the AMD chip works fine at this price point backed by an efficient AMD RX 580 graphics card. The SkyTech Blaze [RX580 Version] represents value that’s hard to pass by. The CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8060A7 remains our Editors’ Choice for entry-level gaming desktop PCs.

The Review

SkyTech Blaze

4 Score

The SkyTech Blaze [RX580 Version] is a small gaming desktop PC that boosts strong performance, thanks to Nvidia's latest GeForc GTX 2060 graphics card and a capable AMD Ryzen processor.