SkyTech Shiva Gaming PC Review

With origins from a performance-first boutique PC maker, the Skytech Archangel gaming PC is an impressive entry-level gamer for the budget audience. It packs some high-end features such as the GeForce GTX 1660 6GB graphics card that helps crank your gaming cred to the max. You will also love the slick design, minimal RGB, fast boot times, smooth performance and affordable price tag.

Pros

• Attractive design with RGB-lit interior
• Great performance
• Affordable price
• Ample supply of ports
• Tool-less access
• A spacious case for upgrading

Cons

• Lacks USB Type-C port

The new wave of GeForce GTX and RTX video-card line refreshes from GeForce has kicked off a revision of gaming desktops from boutique PC manufacturers. SkyTech one of the few PC underdogs has released a refresh of its mid-tower build, the Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer. With an attractive all-white design with glass panel, it’s a great desktop computer for space-strapped gamers looking to start off in the gaming field.

Under the hood, the PC packs a feature-rich assembly: a Ryzen 5 2600 processor, 16GB DDR4 memory, 500GB SSD storage, and GeForce GTX 1660 6GB graphics card. In this review, we take a quick glimpse at what this performance-oriented PC is capable of.

Skytech Archangel Desktop Specs

Processor	Ryzen 5 2600 6-Core 3. 4GHz (3. 9 GHz Max Boost)
Memory	16GB DDR4 SDRAM
Storage	500GB SSD
Graphics Card	GeForce GTX 1660 6GB
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Dimensions	16.40 x 8.30 x 17.90
Weight	19 pounds
Warranty	1 year

Design and Features

The Skytech Archangel gaming PC occupies that sweet spot between budget builds that won’t be able to satisfy some of the more demanding hardcore gamers and those ridiculously overpriced rigs that most people are unable to afford. And as such, it is adorned with a build that is neither too exotic nor too bland.

The chassis comes in an all-white finish with not much frills except for glass side panel and RGB-lighting. In a world where RGB has been done to death and has now entered the afterlife, it’s refreshing to know that the Skytech Archangel exercises restraint. SkyTech only opted the outlet fans to have the RGB strip and no-where else.

One of the elegant touches on the Skytech Archangel is glass side panel that houses the component-facing side of the PC. The glass panel opens up with the unscrewing of four thumbscrews on the sides of the glass. With such a tool-less design, it’s easy to access the boards whenever you want to make any repairs. Also, thanks to the upgrade-friendly design of the system unit and the motherboard, you’ll easily be able to build upon it

At 16.40 x 8.30 x 17.90 inches and 19.00 pounds, the Skytech Archangel casts a wider net than it’s predecessor the SkyTech Archangel [Ryzen and 1050Ti] desktop (20.2 x 8.5 x 18.2 inches, 26 pounds). The iBuyPower Trace2 9250 Gaming desktop (21.6 x 21 x 12.7 inches,29.8 pounds) also has a smaller form-fit compared to our unit. Overall, the dimensions are neither too compact nor too large for a mid-tower case.

Ports

The port system is just as healthy as the design and performance. But before we dive in, SkyTech offers a complimentary RGB keyboard and mouse just as is common with desktops nowadays. They both are very standard so we recommend upgrading to wireless keyboard and mouse. You’ll find a single HDMI port, 4 USB 3.1 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and an HD Audio and Mic jack.

The GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card brings to the table a DisplayPort 1.4 ready port, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

SkyTech also includes an 80 Plus Certified 500 Watt Power supply unit and Windows 10 Home operating system in the system.

Performance – Makes a Strong 1080P and 1440P Case

For the price the Skytech Archangel sells for, it’s great to know there is a good blend of high-end components including a cuttings edge AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor, 16GB DDR4 memory and GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card. Just from a single glimpse through the glass side panel, it’s easy to see the inside is assembled very cleanly; this is part of the reason you would buy from a boutique vendor.

The cables are wrangled and tucked away as neatly as possible, better than most non-professionals could manage on their own. The neatness both looks better and should improve airflow, and it allows easier access to the components.

Powered by a Ryzen 5 2600 processor, the Skytech Archangel blasts through everything you throw at it. It easily shreds through 40 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos without any hassle. That’s all because the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is an excellent performance and productivity processor, with decent gaming performance too. But we’ll deal with gaming a little bit later on. The CPU has a base clock speed of 3.4GHz and Turbo clock speed of 3.9GHz.

With its 16GB DDR4 memory, six-cores and 12 threads, it is very capable of handling office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet work, web browsing, and videoconferencing. If you’re into multi-media, it should allow you to edit videos, render 3D effects, compose soundtracks, and stream all your gameplay simultaneously, all without compromising your rig’s performance.

Storage

As far as storage goes, the computer also includes a 500GB Solid-state drive (SSD). The SSD will be able to store a few of your favorite games, allowing you to enjoy blazing-fast load time in those games. If you like spending your time in multiplayer games, the SSD is exactly where you should install them. You’ll always be the first one to load or reload and that little competitive advantage is often all you need to best your opponents.

However, if you’re like me who loves an ample amount of hard drive storage available, we recommend installing a mechanical hard drive as well. An HDD should go a long way in ensuring you have enough space to save all your games, multimedia files, music, and movie catalog.

Remarkable Gaming Prowess

Armed with an GeForce GTX 1660 with 6GB of VRAM, the Skytech Archangel is a capable gamer capable of dabbling in some 1080p and 1440p gaming, but before we get into that, a brief history of the RTX 2060 card.

If by now you’ve not heard of the GeForce GTX 1660 series cards, then this is for you. The RTX 2060 is a fast mid-range graphics card in the GeForce Turing lineup. It is based on a TU106 chip and features Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs (1080, 1070, 1060) based on the company’s Pascal architecture.

The reason the card is so famous is that it is one of the best cards suited for 1920×1080 to 2560×1440 in demanding games.

If you’re into 4K gaming, it should deliver but only at reduced frame rates per second. On the F1 (2019) benchmark, the Skytech Archangel nailed 127 fps on ultra-high 1920 x 1080 settings and 99 fps on 2540 x 1440p settings. It hit 55 fps on 4k (3840 x 2160) settings for the same game. The Skytech Archangel soared to the triple digits on the Apex Legends (2019) benchmark (Ultra, 1080p), hitting 98 fps on 1440 p and speeding past 50 fps on 4K (3840 x 2160).

Since the graphics card takes up a large chunk of the price here, we’re glad it makes up for that with impressive gaming performance. It’s pleasing to know most games played at more than 60 fps on ultra-high 1080p settings.

The Skytech Archangel Gaming PC earns a perfect score of 10 on the SteamVR performance test.

Conclusion

While the Skytech Archangel Gaming PC isn’t the ultimate gaming battle station, it certainly is among the best under $1000 gaming PC. It most especially is a good fit for those who are willing to spend a little extra for that high-end performance but aren’t willing to break the bank for unnecessarily expensive hardware.

In short, the Skytech Archangel packs more than you could ask for from a budget gaming PC. SkyTech has been known for equipping their PCs with the right hardware, and with this PC they didn’t fall short of the mark. The Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer is assembled without including any unnecessary junk that drives up the price. What you get in return is a solid rig for an affordable price.

Are there other alternatives?

There are more than a few under $1000 gaming desktops in the market right now. But the desktops that come close to the Skytech Archangel include the CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR GXiVR8080A8 desktop. It is a more expensive system (closer to $1500 at the time of writing) that could serve you if raw performance to price ratio is your main goal. Inside, the CyberpowerPC packs the latest components including a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super GPU.

A second option is the iBuyPower Trace2 9250 desktop. It is $100 cheaper but rocks the RTX 1660 Ti graphics card. It maxes out with an Intel Core i7-9700F (8-Core), Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM and 256GB SSD + 1TB hard drive storage. For the most part, the iBuypower Trace2 9250 is a professionally-built gaming PC for the budget user.

Should you buy it?

Yes. For its all-round excellent, it easily makes outstanding gaming and productivity desktop. It’s an impressive leap from its predecessor SkyTech Archangel predecessor with its incredibly powerful performance and a gorgeous design. We easily recommend it for users who want to save money on a gaming PC without compromising on performance.