Event Coverage

Aftershock's new Skylake lineup unveiled!

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - 2 Sep 2015

Aftershock's new Skylake lineup unveiled!

Aftershock's new refreshed machines. From left to right, the Aftershock Hypergate, the S-15, the SM-15 and the SM-17. The Aftershock Tremor and the W series weren't present at the event though they will also be refreshed.

If you're a local PC gamer, you'd probably know the name Aftershock. Makers of quality, customizable notebooks and desktops, the company held a media event yesterday at Group Therapy Coffee at Duxton Road.

At the event, we got a look at the machines the company will be releasing. All of these machines will come equipped with Intel's sixth generation chips codenamed 'Skylake', which are the latest CPUs from the company. In a nutshell, the new Skylake CPUs will offer improved performance, and have better power and thermal characteristics than previous generations. This makes them ideal for mobile machines, as a lower power draw means lower battery life without sacrificing computing power. Less heat generated also means less cooling will be needed, which again helps mobile machines tremendously. Ever complained that your laptop's keyboard's feeling a tad warm from the heat generated or that the fan is spinning far too loudly? Skylake CPUs promise to alleviate these problems, if not eliminate them completely.

Note that the notebooks we were shown came with Aftershock's recommended specifications. In other words, specifications that most customers will order their notebooks in. However, since Aftershock are custom notebook specialists, customers can easily opt for more powerful GPUs, larger capacity drives, or even G-Sync displays, all with a cash top-up of course.

Before we get down to showing you the machines themselves, here are a couple of slides that Aftershock showed during a presentation at the event that will give you a quick overview of their machines. Do take note that the M-15 isn't getting a refresh just yet despite showing up in the slides below.

If you're on a budget, the Aftershock M-15 and the SM series are the machines you should be looking at. They offer decent performance without breaking the bank.

If you prefer more horsepower, Aftershock's S and W series offer exactly that. Aftershocks S series are meant for portable gamers who want lightweight machines but don't want to skimp on power, even on a notebook while the company's W series are meant to serve as desktop replacements due to them being larger, heavier and equipped with desktop CPUs that can be overclocked.

Aftershock's desktop offerings are the Hypergate and the Tremor. The Tremor has a slightly bigger chassis now to fit the liquid cooling option that Aftershock now offers.

 

Aftershock S-15

The Aftershock S-15's a beefier notebook when compared to the SM series notebooks present at the event. The Aftershock S-15 has a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M while the SM series only have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M.

If you're an owner of a previous version of the Aftershock S-15, you'd be pressed to see a difference between the older models and the newer ones. That's because the chassis has remained largely unchanged. Instead, the major changes have been happening on the inside. It's still a gaming notebook with a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display though the new Aftershock S-15 boasts a Skylake CPU, the Intel Core i7-6700HQ (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache), as well as an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M. It's also equipped with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD for storage and comes with Windows 10 pre-installed. The S-15 is a lightweight gaming machine, weighing only 2.43KG when outfitted with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M.

The Aftershock S-15 is unique in that it's the only notebook in Aftershock's new line-up that makes use of DDR4 RAM. Both the SM notebooks' recommended configurations only come equipped with DDR3 RAM. Since this the S-15 is Afershock's best-selling model, we have a special preview of this model right here where you can see how the new S-15 with a Skylake processor performs.

The Aftershock S-15 in the recommended configuration above will be on sale for $2,178.

 

Aftershock SM-15

The easiest way to tell the SM-15 and the S-15 part is to feel the chassis. The S-15's chassis' made out of aluminum, while the SM series have plastic chassis.

Apart from the Aftershock S-15, Aftershock's also revealed that the Aftershock SM-15 and SM-17 will be getting their own Skylake refreshes as well. Like the Aftershock S-15, the Aftershock SM-15 is a 15.6-inch gaming notebook with a Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display.The Aftershock SM-15 will have the same CPU as the Aftershock S-15, the Intel Core i7-6700HQ (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a 1TB HDD and will also come with Windows 10 pre-installed as well. Similar to the Aftershock S-15, the Aftershock SM-15 also weighs 2.4KG.

The SM-15 in the recommended configuration as listed above will be on sale for $1,720.

 

Aftershock SM-17

The SM-17 is the only 17-nch notebook that Aftershock's announced a refreshed for at the moment. Fans of the W-17 and S-17 will just have to wait to see if those models get Skylake upgrades.

If the Aftershock SM-15 isn't the notebook for you, you'd also be interested to know that the Aftershock SM-17 is getting refreshed. The Aftershock S-17 is a 17.3-inch machine with a Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display. Like the Aftershock S-15 and SM-15, the Aftershock SM-17 will make use of the new Intel Core i7-6700HQ (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 cache) processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a 1TB HDD. Similar to the others, Windows 10 will come pre-installed. Unlike the relatively lightweight Aftershock S-15 and SM-15, the Aftershock SM-17 is a much heavier machine, weighing in at 2.9KG.

In the pictures for the Aftershock S-15 and the SM-17, you might notice that the machines has a fingerprint reader in between the trackpad buttons. While the reader won't come standard on the machines (the ones pictured are engineering samples), Aftershock does offer the option for those interested in having them.

The Aftershock SM-17 with specifications as mentioned above is priced at $1,810.

 

Aftershock W series

Apart from the size, there's really not much that's different between the two machines.

While not at the event, we did find out from the Aftershock guys that their W series of gaming notebooks will be refreshed too. Since the difference in display sizes are the only difference between the machines (the Aftershock W-15 is 15.6 inches while the Aftershock W-17 is 17.3 inches), we decided to just create a single entry. And as you would expect, notebooks in the W series will come with unlocked desktop-class processors.

The W series recommended specifications for both machines include a Full HD IPS G-Sync compatible display, an Intel Core i7-6700K (4GHz, 8MB smart cache) processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (8GB VRAM), 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 120GB SSD + 1TB 7200rpm HDD. Note that the SSD and the HDD are part of a launch promotion Aftershock is running. Once it runs out, the recommended configuration will come without the SSD and the 1TB HDD will be changed to a slower 5400rpm model instead of the promotional 7200rpm one. Like the other mobile notebooks, the W series will come with Windows 10 installed as well. The W series aren't as lightweight as the S or SM series, with the Aftershock W-15 coming in at 3.4KG while the Aftershock W-17 comes in at 3.9KG.

Aftershock also told us that the W series will have a port supporting the latest USB 3.1 standard, presumably using the new Type-C plug.

And as we mentioned earlier, what makes the Aftershock's W series so special is it's using an unlocked desktop CPU. The 'K' at the end of the Intel Core i7 processor's name denotes that the CPU's ready to be overclocked. As a result, these notebooks are most suitable for users with high compute requirements.

The Aftershock W-15 will retail for $3,345 and the Aftershock W-17 is going for $3,465.

 

Aftershock Hypergate

As with other Aftershock machines, the Hypergate can easily be customized for the user. This machine has a custom paint job, coupled with the Aftershock branding.

The Aftershock Hypergate's liquid cooling system is entirely optional.

Aftershock's showing its love to its desktop machines too. The company's announced that their Hypergate desktop systems will also be outfitted with Skylake processors. The refreshed Hypergate comes with an ASRock H170M Pro 4 motherboard (which uses Intel's Z170 chipset) and will be kitted with the Intel Core i5-6500 (3.2GHz, 6MB cache) processor with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphics card, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and a 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD  storage system with Windows 10 pre-installed. For users demanding more, the Hypergate can support SLI configurations. It should be noted that the 120GB + 1TB HDD storage on offer is for a limited period only. Once that's over, the system will only come with a 500GB HDD.

The Intel Core i5-6500 is a mid-class desktop CPU, with a base speed similar to the Haswell Intel Core i5-4460. If you're looking for a newer Broadwell comparison, the Intel Core i5-6500 can easily be compared to a Broadwell Intel Core i5-5675C. While the L3 cache is lesser on the Broadwell CPU (4MB compared to 6MB), the base clock speeds are similar, as are the number of cores, threads, turbo speeds achievable and TDP.

If you're truly hardcore, Aftershock now also offers the option to deck out the Hypergate with liquid cooling for the GPU and CPU, as seen in our images. The Aftershock Hypergate with the specifications above will cost $1,685, without the liquid cooling setup.

 

Aftershock Tremor

The Tremor wasn't shown at the event but it's a small form factor PC for users who don't want a bulky desktop.

While the Tremor wasn't at the event, Aftershock did tell us that the machine will be getting its very own Skylake upgrade too. Similar to the Hypergate, the Tremor (which is a small form factor desktop) will come with the ASRock H170M Pro 4 motherboard, and be equipped with the Intel Core i5-6500 (3.2GHz, 6MB cache) processor, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card, 8GB DDR4 RAM and a 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD storage system. And despite the Tremor's small form factor, it is capable of supporting SLI configurations too. The Tremor will also come with Windows 10 pre-installed. Like the Aftershock Hypergate, It should be noted that the 120GB + 1TB HDD storage is an offer for a limited period only. Once that's over, the system will be bundled with a 500GB HDD. 

Like the larger Hypergate, the Tremor can also be customized with Aftershock's new liquid cooling system. The bad news is that the older version of the Tremor (as in those systems that aren't sold with Skylake processors) can't be equipped with liquid cooling as the older chassis simply isn't big enough. The new Tremor has a larger chassis (which looks like the older versions) just so it can be customized with liquid cooling if customers prefer. There's a sliver of hope though. For existing Tremor owners who insist on a liquid cooling setup, Aftershock has said that it is entirely possible to transplant your components to the new Tremor chassis, but for a fee of course. 

The refreshed Tremor costs $1,839, without the liquid cooling system installed.

 

Closing Notes

As you can see, that's quite an extensive refresh and if you have trouble keeping up, here's a handy table depicting all the newly refreshed models - minus the W series notebooks as they are a new development and were not mentioned at yesterday's event. New processors aside, these new machines will also all come pre-installed with Microsoft's new Windows 10 OS.

And if you are a hardcore extremist that insist on the the absolute best, the bad news is that there's no word yet if Aftershock's top dog, the Titan, is going to be refreshed. We've spoken to the Aftershock guys and they've confirmed that there are currently no plans to refresh the behemoth with Skylake CPUs. In the meantime, one can always try out Aftershock's new offerings, all of which have us chomping at the bit to get our hands on them.

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