Novatech Ricochet Desktop PC
If you are a game lover with excessive interest in high quality image and sound output Novatech Ricochet is your system. Apart from the usual hardware configurations that are offered the system is stuffed with features like ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2 PCI-E Graphics and 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio sound card for ultimate gaming spree. Considering the upgrade and new add-ons went on building this new version of Novatech PC it is definitely far ahead of its predecessors.
Design wise it has very less to boast about. Modest look and simple design characterises Novatech Ricochet desktop PC. Novatech offers two choices in terms of the colour of this desktop PC: toned down black finish and smooth silver colour.
The image shown below is the black version of Ricochet Gaming Desktop PC with power button enveloped in a shiny silvery ring. CD/DVD drive is fitted at the front end in the same panel where 2 USB ports located. Rest 4 ports are located at the rear end which also accommodates 1 x 10/100 LAN networking port.
Irrespective of the colour of the CPU unit both keyboard and mouse is wrapped in smooth black colour.
Intel Q9550 Core 2 Quad Processor:
At the core of the system resides powerful Intel Q9550 Core 2 Quad processor built using Intel quad-core technology. The processor works at the speed of 2.83GHz. If you go through the list of Intel processors available till date it is worth mentioning that Core 2 Quad processors and Core 2 Extreme are the most powerful ones. As the name implies, Core 2 Quad processors comprises of four physical cores including 65nm and 45nm parts, and it is based on the Kentsfield and Yorkfield cores respectively. In other words, Core 2 Quad houses a pair of Core 2 Duo processor built into one chip. However, if you compare it to AMD processors Core 2 Quad is less efficient than the fully integrated design of Phenom CPU, as core processors cannot intercommunicate directly at the chip level full internal speed. Instead, core processors have to pass data back and forth through the slower front side bus.
NVIDIA MCP73V Chipset Motherboard:
Apart from the powerful state-of-the-art processor the system is built on NVIDIA MCP73V Chipset Motherboard. The NVIDIA motherboard features unique characteristics, such as LGA 775 CPU that supports 2 DDR2 RAM where Front Side Bus (FSB) speed include 533/800/1066/1333MHz, built-in Geforce 7050 Graphics, 1 PCIE x16,1 PCIE x1, 2 PCIs, 8 USB2.0, 4 SATA2.0, 1 IDE, built-in 6-Channel HD-Audio, built-in 1000Mbps network support.
320GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive:
For permanent storage the system is backed up by huge 320GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive spins at 7200RPM. The impressive 16MB cache ensures fast disk access; with the average read seek time of just 8.9 ms for fast disk access. The Serial ATA interface transfers data at the rate of up to 300 MBPS.
This storage unit from Novatech Ricochet Desktop Computer is definitely a huge boast to your digital storage insuring high-performance enabling users to store large amounts of data at a single location. Most importantly with its WhisperDrive™ and SoftSeek™ technologies, CPU noise is reduced to minimum. For easier accessibility it comes with software utility Data Lifeguard Tools™ which makes the hard drive installation, drive management and diagnostics super easy and simple.
This roomy drive also features Shock Guard™. Its main job is to protect the hard drive against damage from knocks and vibrations while it is running.
ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2 PCI-E Graphics:
The graphics hardware of Novatech Ricochet Computer system is taken care of by the VisionTek Radeon HD 4650 Series graphics cards which deliver highest quality gaming performance previously only available in high-end expensive graphics cards. With Radeon HD 4650 Series graphics cards unlimited HD performance is guaranteed because it possess the same engine architecture as the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series that prompts fast frame rates and high resolutions.
You can play HD games and enjoy real life new images which are made possible by 320 stream processing units, 1GB of DDR2 memory, and support for Microsoft DirectX10.1 games and ATI CrossFireX technology. Radeon HD 4650 graphics card not only offers options like watching Blu-ray movies and playing HD content but it brings in new dimension to your multimedia experience. With this break-through energy efficient system take full advantage of Blu-ray’s dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities. That’s not all. Use the sophisticated ATI Avivo HD technology to edit videos and convert them to H.2.64 and MPEG-2 formats. This graphics cards is also capable of boasting up to 3 times the performance of the previous generation of GPUs and deliver a filmic gaming experience. This further strengthened by enhanced anti-aliasing (4X AA) and Anisotropic filtering features which creates imposingly vibrant graphics with utmost clarity and transparency required for next-generation games.
This graphics card is also perfect for business users who spends lot of time in video conferencing or use creative software tools that require fast frame rates and exceptional visual quality.
White balance in the image is controlled by Dynamic Contrast which automatically adjusts the contrast and brightness during scenes to consistently deliver a vibrant picture. When multitasking and working on more on one video files make use of Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2). It frees up your CPU for other tasks so you get unparallel visual experience for the most processing- intensive content. Also, take full advantage of PCI Express 2.0 feature which will prepare your system for bandwidth-hungry games and most of the 3D applications. Other interesting options include Dynamic geometry acceleration, Edit and transfer your videos to a portable video player with new Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT) technology.
5.1 Channel High Definition Audio sound card:
5.1 High Definition audio card with surround sound feature provides surround sound by using in-built five regular speakers and one subwoofer all working together. The surround sound effect is created by two speakers arranged on both the left and right sides of the system, and a center channel situated directly in front and a subwoofer located close to the listener.
Other than producing high quality surround resonance effect the sound card is also capable of playing back more channels at higher quality than the older integrated audio formats. In addition to this, Intel® HD Audio also supports wide variety of latest and greatest audio content. By enabling enhanced custom models, Intel High Definition Audio, available with the Intel® Express Chipsets, will also change how computer users interact with sound. Such as it enables enhanced voice capture facility through the use of array microphones, giving you more accurate speech input. Intel HD Audio supports larger array microphones compare to other audio implementations which has limited support for simple array microphones.
Other Features:
For creating CD/DVD from this desktop PC make use of in-built 22x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner optical drive. The real time access is aided by 4GB DDR2 RAM fitted in 2 x DDR2 Memory slots. Real access speed is 800MHz. Support period of this desktop PC is 12months. Logitech Keyboard and Optical Mouse are the only accessories that come with this system.
Verdict:
With platform-independent and capable ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics cards your system will deliver the power needed for intense applications while carefully preserving energy when the system is idle or when demand is down. The best part of this system is its large storage space which makes it popular among home and business users. Coupled with that is its gaming capabilities enabling vibrant picture with highest transparency and colour balance. Up-to-the-minute Core 2 Quad processor is undoubtedly the best hardware specification of this system guaranteeing maximum speed and performance.
However, the greatest drawback of this Novatech Ricochet Desktop PC (PC-1278) is its constraint on real time memory. With Ricochet’s promise for never ending multimedia experience, 4GB RAM is not at all sufficient. You will feel the pinch during video editing, working on large word files, or simply when running multiple processes. When you experience slow performance during multitasking you should not blame your processor but your memory. Nevertheless, if big storage and rich multimedia experience are your requirements Novatech Ricochet PC is the best bet.
Check other Novatech Desktop PC Reviews, Specifications in this website.
Novatech Ricochet Desktop PC - Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | Novatech |
| Model Name | Ricochet |
| Product Code | PC-1278 |
| Dimensions ( H x W x D) | 420 x 190 x 400mm |
| Available Colours | Black and Silver |
| Hard drive Capacity | 320gb |
| Optical drive | 22x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner |
| Graphics hardware | ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2 PCI-E Graphics |
| Motherboard | NVIDIA MCP73V Chipset Motherboard |
| Memory | Installed RAM: 4GB DDR2 RAM running at 800MHz |
| Processor | Intel Q9550 Core 2 Quad Processor |
| Processor speed | 4 X 2.83GHz |
| Audio | 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio |
| Mouse | Logitech optical Mouse |
| Keyboard | Logitech Keyboard |
| I/O ports | 6 x USB2 (2 Front, 4 Back) 1 x 10/100 LAN |
| Warranty | 12Months |
Leave a Reply