The ABS Master gaming PC has a lot to offer, including 1440p gaming, excellent rendering performance, and high productivity. 1440p gaming, excellent rendering performance, and high productivity.

For example, we had problems getting the RAM clock set correctly, but otherwise the numbers speak for themselves.

First of all, let me explain how the ABS Master arrived. The packaging may seem a bit excessive, but don't worry. We are writing this review from our office in the UK, and the PC arrived across the Atlantic in double packaging, with an outer box stuffed with huge pouches, polystyrene couching, and Styrofoam pillows.

Inside the case was also a GPU brace mount to keep the pre-installed Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (opens in new tab) (Gigabyte model) from wobbling. I think the mounts shifted a bit during shipping, but all the packaging prevented any damage.

Out of the box, the Intel Core i5 12400F (opens in new tab) and Gigabyte RTX 3060 Ti combination performed well for the price, but RAM speed was a definite hurdle. With mediocre memory throughput and memory copy scores, I questioned the spec sheet: it said 16GB DDR4-3200, but the system was only clocked at 2,400MHz; I thought the OLOy Blade RAM was where ABS cut corners, but after speaking with the PR I was informed that "users need to turn on XMP in the BIOS."

I found that System Builder takes care of that step for me, as the average user is generally unaware of XMP. I myself did not think to check before benchmarking. Since nothing is indicated, what you see here is the benchmark as it ships from the machine without any extra steps.

Nevertheless, they do not pose a significant threat to ABS Master's gaming capabilities.

Despite the slower RAM speeds, it performed well on the PC Mark 10 synthetic productivity benchmark. Most of this productivity score is due to the core components, but the included Intel 670P SSD is not a bad choice either. It may be a bit old, but we have seen worse numbers in the FFXIV load time benchmark. Sadly, 512GB is a bit small for the size of today's games, but there is room to install another SSD or replace the boot drive with a larger one at a later date.

Along with productivity, the ABS Master has reasonable single-core and multi-core scores on Cinebench R23. And while video encoding performance was a bit disappointing, 12th generation Intel processors still rate well in CPU-intensive gaming benchmarks.

System Performance

Hitman 3 Dartmoor averaged 93 fps even at 1440p ultra graphics settings. This is with the highest sim quality setting; Metro Exodus Enhanced lagged slightly behind at 54 fps at the Ultra graphics setting, and similar results were seen in other game benchmarks.

At 1440p, Ultra, and DX12 on (open in new tab), ABS Master averaged 61 fps in the Warhammer 3 battle benchmark; FarCry 6 averaged 90 fps and F1 22 46 fps. In short, not a bad gaming score overall: compared to the $99 more expensive iBuyPower and RTX 3060, it improved by 14 fps in Metro, 23 fps in FarCry, and a whopping 28 fps in Hitman Dubai.

Certainly, some settings may need to be lowered to take full advantage of the high refresh rate monitors, but in general we were pleased with the core components ABS chose.

Gaming Benchmarks

However, the Deepcool Matrexx 50 case is not very appealing. We are convinced that this PC would have scored better in thermal tests with a more well-ventilated case. Still, the glass front matches well with the rows of rotating RGB fans.

The case also comes with several peripherals. While saving up to buy the best gaming keyboard (opens in new tab) and the best gaming mouse (opens in new tab), these are not of the highest quality, but help make life easier for the new PC gamer. Gamdias' mouse is ultra-thin and rubber coating, but they will rub off quickly. Audio controls on the keyboard are a plus, but don't expect a great experience from a free peripheral.

Considering this machine has an RTX 3060 Ti, costs $1,400, and combines great gaming and productivity, it puts the more expensive iBuyPower Gaming RDY SLMBG218 we tested to shame. Sure, the latter has better RAM and SSD, but it's $100 more GPU-wise.

As for the ABS Master, we would have appreciated if the RAM was a bit faster. A larger SSD would not be bad either. Nevertheless, despite its minor flaws, the ABS Master is a great mid-range gaming PC considering its price. However, I don't think these peripherals have much to do with my opinion. Frankly, I'm trying to kick them out of my head.