A gamer serious about the latest and greatest in performance and cooling… but not keen on inflated price tags. Not that our customer asked, but check out our cable management. On point.
Intel i5 9600K with a 240mm liquid cooler (to keep up with the warmer QLD climate perhaps). 16GB of OC RAM, Nvidia’s RTX 2060, and a 500GB SSD + 3TB HDD.
One of the more impressive builds of the week, not your typical purely gaming oriented choices. Instead, a gaming PC for the man who wants a killer gaming PC and a serious workhorse. Check out the pictures.
Inside this beast you’ll find:
Hats off to our customer for giving us the pleasure of building this machine.
![The Division 2 on PC [Gaming Review]](https://evatech.com.au/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/TCTD2_screen_e3_SP2_180611_230pm_1528731119.0.jpg)
With the launch of the much anticipated Division 2 from Ubisoft today, initial feedback from trusted review sites online is trending pretty positive. Being essentially an online RPG, all we’re getting at this stage is first impressions. We’ll have to wait a until people have more time with the game and start reaching some of the deeper buried content until we start to get a full sense of everything it has to offer.
With out a doubt, yes. But does that mean it’s a good game overall? Well that’s were we need to go in to more detail. In almost every way, The Division 2 is an improvement over its predecessor. The world feels more full and interesting, the gun play and visuals are improved, enemy variance is better. Everything just feels like it’s had an extra layer of polish that the first game didn’t get. This all of course was to be expected, but in the world of gaming, it’s not something that can be taken for granted. Happily this time around the developers have delivered on those expectations.
Being a stat and loot driven RPG shooter, the game really needs to success in delivering a meaningful progression system to the player. This means weapon and armour upgrades that actually have a real impact to gameplay. It also means unlocking player attributes that are more than just cosmetic or tiny imperceptible tweaks to an underlying stat system.
The Division 2 does this well, at least in the early hours of the game. To give you an idea, with the level cap at 30, we’re writing this article only having reached level 17 so far. There is still plenty of post ‘end-game’ content after the main story but in terms of meaningful progression you wouldn’t expect it to extend far past the level cap. New items are spaced well throughout the game, level progression actually means something, perks give you noticeable boosts.
Most importantly however (this being a third person shooter after all) is the weapons. This is a game where damage hit points come flying out of enemies when you hit them. Where armour actually makes a difference and hitting an enemy in the head will deal a lot more damage than blasting them in a toe. Damage, fire rate and accuracy of your weapon are probably the most important stats in the game. This makes upgrading your arsenal not only necessary but satisfying and a key driver to keep you playing.
Well as previously mentioned, the all important progression system is a big plus, the visuals are great and the game world is interesting. On top of all that, the gun-play (which is pretty crappy in the first game) is much improved with the audio and animations being punchier and enemy animations actually responsive and timely when getting hit.
Another positive addition to the game, and one we mentioned in the opening paragraph, is a much more varied range of enemies. The combination of size, speed, armour and weapons means you always have to be on your toes. Giant chainsaw wielding melee enemies lurk in narrow corridors while snipers may patrol big open areas. Different factions don’t only look different, but will have different critical hit areas, movement behaviours and weapons. This goes a long way in keeping the game-play feel fresh and less predicable.
The game isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s far from bad. That being said, if you’re after a great immersive Tom Clancy worthy story, you might be a little disappointed. The characters are good but not great and the overarching plot is fairly predictable. There isn’t much in the way of side compelling stories to explore in the world beyond the main mission either. On the flip side, there is some pretty well done small segments of the game that stand out. These mostly centred around some fairly compelling and interesting villains.
Another issue we’ve encountered is the shotgun. It’s a simple game mechanic that hearkens as far back as the original Doom. Devastating at close range, useless and long range. That’s all it needs to be. Somehow in this particular game, it’s only one of those two things. At range the Shotgun is as you would expect, pretty useless. However, close up it’s somewhat effective but it barely deals any more damage that a regular rifle. This makes it essentially useless. A fairly small grievance and one that could easily be fixed in a patch, so at this point we’ll just wait and see.
In conclusion, we were presently surprised. The game is fun, it’s a big step up over the original and the down sides were only minor. This of course won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. For instance, if you’re a WoW player and not a fan of run and gun action shooters, it’s probably not for you. Likewise, if you’re a Call of Duty fan that likes twitch shooters with sub 1 second time to kill, this won’t be for you either. To summarise, if you like this genre blending style of game then you’ll probably enjoy the Division 2. Just don’t shell out $70 expecting it to be something that it isn’t.
Being a very PC-centric game and being built for native 4K support this game can really put a strain on your gaming rig. Especially if you really want to max it out. Ubisoft’s own official hardware recommendations to play at 4K require an RTX2080 TI. Paired ideally with a high end i7-i9 current gen CPU and 16GB of RAM. You can take this with a grain of salt. The publishers recommendations are not always based on actual raw performance. That being said, in this case, they don’t appear to be far from the truth either.
If like most gamers, you’ll be playing at 1080P or 1440P you can get away with a GTX1070 or RTX2060 GPU. Paired with a high end i5 or Ryzen 7 CPU and 16GB of RAM to keep up. Bare in mind this is for high graphics pre-sets at 60FPS. Remember to keep a little headroom if you’re trying to reach higher frame rates on a high-refresh rate gaming monitor.
For you budget gamers out there, the minimum officially supported hardware specs are a GTX670 + i5-2500K with 8GB of RAM. This roughly equities to an i3-8100 and a GTX1050 TI. Expect to need to dial both the in game graphics settings and resolution down low to achieve a smooth frame rate.
The Division 2: Minimum system requirements – 1080p | 30 FPS
The Division 2: Recommended system requirements – 1080p | 60 FPS
The Division 2: High system requirements – 1440p | 60 FPS
The Division 2: Elite system requirements – 4K | 60 FPS
So how do you get your hands on a copy of the Division 2 for PC? Well in Australia it starts at $64.00 on Amazon or JB-Hi Fi. If you have a JB locally you can walk in and grab a copy on the spot. Not in a rush? If you have Amazon prime you get free delivery. Don’t want to leave the house? It’s just a few bucks more on the Epic Games store. Just don’t get ripped off at EB!
Don’t have a gaming PC up to the challenge? Well now you know what sort of hardware you’ll need to hit your desired gameplay experience, the next part is easy. Visit www.evatech.com.au and customise your next dream ‘Division 2’ ready gaming PC today. Australian built, high quality, latest gen gaming PCs built to order and delivered nation wide. Above all, it’s easy, powerful, amazing value and has great built in error checking and performance indicators.
Simply order online and our team will build, test, and deliver to your doorstep anywhere in Australia!
It’s been a while since we’ve done a dive in to how our Evatech custom gaming PCs stack up against the competition. So we headed on over to Harvey Norman’s website, typed ‘Gaming PC’ in to the search box and clicked the first thing to appear. Then we headed over to our own custom PC builder page on our website and configured a system to match spec-for-spec as closely as possible for comparison. How do we stack up? Well, we think it’s pretty clear…
| HARVEY NORMAN’S HP OMEN 880-185A | EVATECH VALKYRIE GAMING PC (ID:138163) | |
| HARDWARE (see screenshots below for full advertised specification) | i7 6-Core 8700K CPU Nvidia GTX1080 8GB GDDR5 32GB DDR4 RAM 512GB SSD + 3TB HDD AC WiFi Windows 10 | i7 8-Core 9700K CPU Nvidia RTX2080 8GB GDDR6 32GB DDR4 RAM 500GB SSD + 3TB HDD AC WiFi Windows 10 |
| PERFORMANCE^ | Approx 20-25% Lower | Approx 20-25% Higher |
| SUPPORT | Foreign call centre reading from a pre-written script addressing a handful of possible issues. | Trained local experts who know what they are talking about and actually built your PC. |
| BLOATWARE (pre-installed unwanted applications) | A lot (15+) | None. Just a clean install of Windows 10 and the latest hardware drivers. |
| WARRANTY | 12 months, or up to 3 years with third party extension. | 3 years, with up to 5 year first party extension. |
| AUSTRALIAN BUILT | Nope | Yes! |
| UPGRADABLE | Nope | Yes! |
| CUSTOMISABLE | Nope | 100% |
| PRICE | $6597 | $3735 |
All the data above is true and accurate as of the 14th of March 2019. Pricing and specifications are subject to change. For the latest pricing and specifications please refer to the website for each retailer compared. ^ Performance metrics averaged based on game benchmark data based on CPU and GPU reviews. Data available online from independent third parties, eg – techspot.com / techpowerup.com / gamersnexus.net
Well, if you were to purchase the Harvey Norman HP Omen gaming PC over our custom Valkyrie you would be paying $2,862 more. What do you get for that huge premium? Older, lower performing hardware with worse customer support and no ability to customise or upgrade without immediately voiding your warranty.
Surely there is something that would justify the price difference, or we have to be hiding something right? Well, the Omen comes with a fancy logo printed on the front of it and can be purchased over the counter (if your local store has stock). The sales-person will be thrilled to key in the order for their KPIs (sales targets) and commission. Likely saying whatever they think it will take to get you to pull out your wallet.
On the other hand our systems, due to their customisable nature, are built to order. This means you’ll need to be a little patient and wait a few extra days before picking it up or having it shipped out to you. We don’t know about you, but a $2,862 saving plus a huge performance boost seems like a pretty good trade off for a few extra days right?
Depending on how far in the future you’re reading this, you may or not may not be able to pull up each PC on the websites. Pricing is of course subject to change over time but we don’t expect it to change significantly. At the time of writing this article we captured screenshots as evidence in case anything does change moving forward. You can find these below, completely unedited, taken at precisely 10:41am 14/03/2019.
It’s simple. With Evatech, you can choose EXACTLY what you want. No need to limit yourself to a few pre-configured systems. You can get exactly what you want, with none of the crap you don’t need. Do it in your own time without any pushy sales-person who barely know what they are talking about. Tailor a system to any budget and if you need professional assistance you can contact us any time for an obligation free expert one on one assistance. No up-sells, no targets, no KPIs, no sales tricks. Just honest, genuine, & professional advise, guaranteed.
Well it’s simple. Just visit our store page at www.evatech.com.au
It’s fast, secure, powerful and has built in performance indicators, guides and compatibility checking to make it easy! Get stuck, have a question or need some advice? Just hit the contact button and shoot us a message. We’ll get back to you ASAP (typically within the hour during business hours). Or give us a call on 03 9020 7017. If you’re a local, drop in to the store at 5/2 Fiveways Boulevarde, Keysborough 3173.
It’s not often our techs will set RGB components to a certain colour instead of the default RGB cycling mode. But they definitely did the right thing for this build. Check out the pictures to judge for yourself.
Configure your own gaming PC just the way you want it. Go on, treat yourself, because you’re worth it.
