It took a short while but system integrators finally have current generation mainstream graphics cards they can fit into their pre-built PCs, meaning you don’t have to settle for older, slower options. CyberPowerPC has put these new options to good use in Ultra R87 Pro, a rig the brand has clearly purpose built to whet the appetite of value-oriented gamers.
CyberPowerPC Ultra R87 Pro
£999.60
Pros
- High-value price
- Solid FHD & QHD performance
- Great connectivity
- Reasonably quiet under load
- Five-year warranty
Cons
- Oddball CPU
- No dust filters
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How we test and review products.
The configuration I’m reviewing costs just £999.60, including shipping. Having lived with the system for some time, there are a few quirks and compromises made to achieve this price point but none major. Nonetheless, I’m more than happy with the value and performance Ultra R87 Pro offers at such a reasonable price.
Specifications
Headlining Ultra R87 Pro is Ryzen 7 8700F. This octa-core Zen 4 processor, complete with 16 threads, boasts a maximum boost clock of 5GHz, all while running on a mere 65W. These aren’t powerhouse specifications by any means, but the chip carries enough performance under its proverbial belt to keep up with the rest of the system.
| CyberPowerPC Ultra R87 Pro specs | |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 8700F |
| CPU cooler | AMD Wraith Stealth |
| Motherboard | MSI Pro B650-S WiFi |
| GPU | ASRock Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB Challenger OC |
| RAM | 32GB (2x16GB) Corsair Vengeance Black RGB DDR5-6000 |
| SSD | 1TB WD_Black SN7100 |
| PSU | InWin B65E 650W (80 Plus Bronze) |
| Other features | 2.5Gb Ethernet Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 6E |
| Case | CyberPowerPC Amethyst Curve White |
| Price | £999.60 |
This choice of CPU does come with some limitations, though. For example, Ryzen 7 8700F PCIe support tops out at Gen 4, meaning it’s up to the chipset to provide Gen 5 expansion. This is less of a present concern for a system like this, but it could present challenges later if you pursue aftermarket upgrades.
Placing less focus on the processor makes sense in a system like Ultra R87 Pro. However, I would’ve greatly preferred a Ryzen 5 7600 or Ryzen 7 7700 in place of Ryzen 7 8700F. Such CPUs don’t share the same shortcomings and are comparable in cost as individual components and via CyberPowerPC’s configurator.
I’m far keener on CyberPowerPC’s choice of graphics card for Ultra R87 Pro. Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is more expensive than the 8GB variant, but that extra dough is worth spending to double your VRAM. The model in this system is ASRock Challenger OC, a small and perfectly capable cooler design that offers a slight 160-170MHz overclock.
16GB of VRAM gives the Navi 48 GPU at the heart of Radeon RX 9060 XT room to breathe as it tackles the pressures of higher resolutions, larger textures, and demanding graphical effects such as ray tracing. These aren’t accolades that 8GB cards at comparable prices share without caveats or compromise.
To sweeten the deal further, Radeon RX 9060 XT supports all of the latest features of AMD’s performance enhancement suite. Chief among them is FSR 4, the latest iteration of the brand’s upscaler that can greatly boost performance while providing image quality comparable to Nvidia DLSS.
For storage, Ultra R87 Pro arrives with a 1TB WD_Black SN7100. The Gen 4 SSD offers maximum sequential read and write speeds of 7,250MB/s and 6,900MB/s, respectively. That’s plenty of throughput for gaming, keeping load times to a minimum, and ensuring Windows 11 feels responsive while browsing File Explorer and the like.
Similarly, the system features capable RAM too. It’s difficult to miss the Corsair Vengeance Black RGB sticks as their LEDs shine brightly through Ultra R87 Pro’s tempered glass window. With 32GB of capacity and speeds of 6,000MT/s, this kit is more than up to the task of tackling the system requirements of modern games.
Keeping all these components juiced up with ‘leccy is an InWin B65E 650W power supply. This wattage is actually above AMD’s recommendation of 650W for the GPU in question, providing a good amount of overhead and room to upgrade down the line. This is a non-modular model, but there’s enough room in the case to keep any cables you don’t need out of sight and out of mind.
All these components call MSI Pro B650-S WiFi home. This motherboard forgoes some premium niceties to keep costs down but offers a solid base for Ultra R87 Pro to operate from, while also providing plenty of connectivity for your peripherals.
On the board itself, you’ll find a PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot for your graphics card alongside a PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x1. While I typically find little use for additional PCIe headers, I am happy to see MSI Pro B650-S arrives with two PCIe Gen 4 M.2 slots, making it easy to upgrade storage.
Looking round the back, the array of USB ports is impressive for an entry-level board. There’s not a single 2.0 connection in sight, with MSI outfitting the motherboard with more modern options, namely four USB-A 5Gb/s, three USB-A 10Gb/s, and one USB-C 20Gb/s. As its name suggests, Pro B650-S WiFi arrives with wireless connectivity baked in. Support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 should more than satisfy the majority, each proving stable and speedy in my tests.
Finally, let’s talk case. This is CyberPowerPC’s fourth iteration of its Amethyst Curve White chassis, which introduces an RGB LED strip that trails along the bottom of the panoramic tempered glass panel. Switching on the system, I’m a fan of the panda aesthetic on display as black and white materials create a pleasing contrast.
Opening up the case’s chamber doesn’t require tools, as the glass panel swings outward on a hinge. If you’re careful, you can get in to the PC without smudging up the front of the system but I’d keep a cloth handy just in case. I’m also happy to see CyberPowerPC provide excellent cable management round the other side.
Ultra R87 Pro ships out with four fans, one up the rear and three on the side, with room for more on the roof. These blowers look and sound the part, with RGB LEDs and a noise profile that isn’t invasive. Unfortunately, none benefit from a dust filter, so expect to open up the chassis for regular cleaning for optimal appearance and performance.
It’s impossible to match Ultra R87 Pro exactly in a DIY build on account of the system’s case and power supply. However, using comparable off-the-shelf parts, I was able to put together a rig for £982.62, with a Windows 11 Home licence pushing the price beyond that of CyberPowerPC’s offering.
With the above in mind, it’s difficult to argue with this system’s asking price of £999.60. The numbers quite literally add up, with the cost feeling even more reasonable once you account for building, shipping, and warranty coverage.
On paper, Ultra R87 Pro is practically a no-brainer for anyone in search of a new PC for under £1,000. Without spoiling too much, I’m happy to report this remains the case in real-world usage too.
Performance
Ultra R87 Pro is the first pre-built PC to pass through the Club386 test suite to feature a Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB graphics card. It understandably doesn’t have the horsepower to keep pace with more-expensive systems, but does have value on its side, so keep that in mind as we walk through comparison charts below.
I’ve made no changes to the default Windows ‘Balanced’ performance plan, and thankfully didn’t have to enable XMP myself as CyberPowerPC took care of that prior to shipping. No need for tweaks out of the box gets a gold sticker from me.
Here are the specifications of each system that I’ll be comparing Ultra R87 Pro to, along with links to their respective reviews:
- AWD-IT Evolv X2
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
- MSI Pro Z890-S WiFi PZ
- 32GB DDR5-6000
- 2TB Kingston NV3
- CyberpowerPC Ultra XT
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
- MSI MPG X870E Edge Ti WiFi
- 32GB DDR5-6400
- 2TB Corsair MP700 Pro
- CyberpowerPC Ultra 5080 Pro
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
- MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WiFi
- 32GB DDR5-6000
- 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade
- PCSpecialist Nebula Ultra R
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
- Asus Prime Z890-P WiFi
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
- 32GB DDR5-6000
- 2TB Solidigm P41 Plus
- CyberpowerPC Infinity Z890 Pro
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
- MSI Z890 Gaming Plus WiFi
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super
- 16GB DDR5-5200
- 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade
CPU
Ultra R87 Pro expectedly finds itself at the bottom of the Cinebench 2024 chart given the PC’s weaker processor relative to the other systems. However, CyberpowerPC does realise the full potential of what Ryzen 7 8700F offers.
In both single-core and multi-core benchmarks, the CPU hits its advertised maximum boost clock of 5GHz. The bundled AMD Wraith cooler does a solid job of staving off any thermal throttling, but temperatures do get a touch toasty with a peak of 94°C.
RAM
Putting Ultra R87 Pro’s RAM through its paces in AIDA64, the memory operates with plenty of bandwidth. Meanwhile, latency provides a welcome win for the system through a combination of tight timings and low CPU overhead.
Storage
Passes of CrystalDiskMark see SSD speeds fall slightly short of those advertised. While sequential reads are fairly close, writes are far lower. This is likely a consequence of the storage itself rather than any fault of Ultra R87 Pro.
SN7100 doesn’t feature any DRAM and thus can prove temperamental in this regard. Regardless, there are no noticeable hiccups while installing or loading games and applications on this drive.
Apps
Ultra R87 Pro comes within spitting distance of Nebula Ultra R in PCMark 10, with just 44 points separating the two systems. That’s no mean feat considering the £1,000+ difference in cost between the two.
The faster speed of CyberPowerPC’s choice of SSD contributes much to the tightness of this race. If this PC had more processing power to fire off, I could easily see a higher chart position manifest.
Gaming
Working in tandem, Ryzen 7 8700F and Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB muster enough performance to pip past 15k in 3DMark Time Spy. This is a respectable score for such specifications, but I can’t help but wish Ultra R87 Pro had a more conventional CPU to push performance further.
| Game | FPS @ 1080p (Min. / Max.) | FPS @ 1440p (Min. / Max.) |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin’s Creed Shadows (RT) | 34fps / 39fps | 27fps / 31fps |
| Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail | 73fps / 136fps | 55fps / 89fps |
| Forza Motorsport (RT) | 53fps / 64fps | 42fps / 49fps |
| Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord | 122fps / 203fps | 87fps / 134fps |
| Rainbow Six Siege X | 144fps / 190fps | 90fps / 119fps |
Across the Club386 game benchmark suite, Ultra R87 Pro only stumbles but forgivably so under the strain of Assassin’s Creed Shadows running at 1440p with maximum settings, complete with ray tracing. Tag in FSR for some assistance and the system has no problem delivering a 30fps+ experience in Ubisoft’s latest.
Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB shines brightest at 1080p, firing off frame rates in the region of 200fps in esports games such as Rainbow Six Siege X despite the pressure of the game’s Ultra+ preset. Meanwhile, the graphics card keeps performance above water in Assassin’s Creed Shadows with solid frame rates given the settings at play.
It’s important to note that several of these results are only possible thanks to the GPU’s memory capacity. Were CyberPowerPC to swap out the 16GB model for the 8GB variant, we’d trade playable experiences for slideshows in some games. As such, I’m thankful the brand has the sense to outfit Ultra R87 Pro in this manner.
| Cyberpunk 2077 | FPS @ 1080p (Min. / Avg.) | FPS @ 1440p (Min. / Avg.) |
|---|---|---|
| Native | 19fps / 22fps | 11fps / 13fps |
| FSR 3.0 (Quality) | 36fps / 42fps | 22fps / 26fps |
| FSR 3.0 (Q) + Frame Generation | 71fps / 81fps | 43fps / 49fps |
Although Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB is an entry-level graphics card, it’s still capable of running Cyberpunk 2077’s extremely demanding path tracing preset albeit not natively. Turn on FSR in ‘Quality’ mode and you’ll find yourself zipping around Night City with every morsel of eye-candy possible north 30fps at 1080p. This same feat is possible at 1440p too, albeit with FSR running in ‘Balanced’.
Unfortunately, neither frame rate is comfortably high enough to warrant using FSR Frame Feneration. However, a more aggressive upscaling quality preset does provide the necessary performance to keep latency in check. With that ~60fps threshold met, FSR-FG notably improves motion clarity.
At the time of writing, Cyberpunk 2077 does support FSR 4 but AMD is yet to release the necessary driver to enable support for the feature in game. Once the update arrives, though, you can expect broadly similar performance to the frame rates above but with far superior upscaled image quality.
Vitals
Examining thermals, Ultra R87 Pro coolly ticks along when pressure is highest on the GPU. In the face of Cyberpunk 2077, Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB ran at a peak temperature of 64°C.
Operations heat up when the system calls upon the multi-core performance of Ryzen 7 8700F. Pushing the processor to its limits in Cinebench 2024, the chip runs hot at 94°C. This temperature isn’t so high as to trigger thermal throttling but the value is perilously close.
| Idle | Load (Max.) | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU temperature | 28°C | 94°C |
| GPU temperature | 49°C | 64°C |
| Noise | 34dBA | 42dBA |
| Power consumption | 69W | 176-308W |
Power draw for a system of this calibre is expectedly on the lower side. Ultra R87 Pro doesn’t pull much ‘leccy from the wall under load, as CPU-intensive workloads pull 176W at most and throwing a GPU into the mix raises the ceiling to a modest maximum of 308W.
CyberPowerPC tunes the fans in Ultra R87 Pro well, keeping the system cool without noise creeping up to invasive levels. Peaking at 42dBA, the system isn’t silent but won’t spoil the relative quiet of your room either.
Conclusion
Gaming PCs don’t have to be expensive to deliver a great experience, as CyberPowerPC proves with Ultra R87 Pro. For just under £1,000, the cost of this configuration is more than fair and packs almost everything you could want from a modern system at this price.
This is a generally solid set of specifications, with Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB proving the standout. That’s not forgetting the high quality RAM and SSD contained within this system too. Ryzen 7 8700F does an admirable job, but swapping in a more capable processor would make this assortment of parts practically bulletproof from a performance and value standpoint.
Whether you’re after a relatively inexpensive upgrade from your older rig or in search of your first gaming PC, I can heartily recommend Ultra R87 Pro.
