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A custom pre-built gaming PC like the Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 is going to save you a lot of work if you\u2019re not technically savvy or simply don\u2019t have the patience to put together a modern-day puzzle. With its Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card and AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, you\u2019re getting solid mid-tier performance. And it\u2019s all packed away in an easy-to-open glass case with shiny RGB components.<\/p>\n
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Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 \u2013 Hands-on Photos<\/h3>\n<\/span><\/output><\/p>\n
That said, it\u2019s not without issue. Upgrading or replacing components is likely going to take moving a few things out of the way, as it\u2019s a bit crowded on the motherboard. Even if you don\u2019t plan on upgrading, you\u2019ll either be annoyed by the finicky RGB lighting or the fact that the power button and front ports are at the very bottom of the tower, making floor placement very awkward. These may not be dealbreakers for some, but you should know what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n\n\nPurchasing Guide<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 is available now starting at $1,599. That\u2019ll get you an Intel i7 14700F, an RTX 5070 12GB, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. If you want the model that I reviewed (AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD), that\u2019ll bump you up all the way to $2,299. These are active sale prices, both of which will increase by $400 if they go back to MSRP. So keep in mind that if you see them at a higher price, there\u2019s a chance they\u2019ll go on sale for less.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n
Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 \u2013 Case Design and Build Layout<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 isn\u2019t terribly bigger than your average mid-tower, coming in at 18.3 x 20.6 x 9.4 inches. A good chunk of the sides are wrapped in tempered glass and RGB LEDs, with light bars found around the case, on the seven case fans, the two RAM sticks, and the PSU shroud \u2013 the GPU is the only component left out of the fun. The rest of the case is painted black, which isn\u2019t my favorite gamer aesthetic, but it does allow the rest of the RGB to shine. <\/p>\n
Breaking into this rig is pleasantly easy. The glass panel pops off with a little pressure, held in by several pegs and a larger clip. The RTX 5070 isn\u2019t terribly large, but it doesn\u2019t leave a lot of headroom for one of the two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots that are available just beneath it. If you did want to plug something in there, it\u2019d need to be relatively thin, and I\u2019d worry about how tight it would be squeezed up against the GPU. All the cables are neatly tucked away, but you\u2019ll need to work around a few things to replace some components. For example, the CPU fan cables are blocking the RAM and the SSD sits very snugly between the CPU and the motherboard\u2019s heatsink.<\/p>\n
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Popping open the panel on the opposite side was just as easy, held in place by the same mechanism. All the cables are zip tied and lined up cleanly on the front, but of course, there\u2019s a mess of wires down by the 850W Gold PSU. The PSU is non-modular, too, so if you need to replace a cable, you\u2019re going to have to buy a new PSU and play connect the dots. <\/p>\n
The front glass panel pops off easily from the top and slots back in just as smoothly. You\u2019ll find the front connectors just below the glass panel, near the power button. There\u2019s a headphone jack as well as two USB 2 Type-A and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C slot. The placement for the power button as well as the ports is mighty annoying if the PC is placed on the floor as opposed to your desk.<\/p>\n
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On the back, you\u2019ll find two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, five USB 2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, an RJ-45 Ethernet, and three audio ports. There are also connectors for Wi-Fi 6 extenders as well as an HDMI and DisplayPort on the motherboard, which are helpful for troubleshooting. There was a sticker on the back blocking the ports and pulling it off left a sticky residue in places, which is very silly, but you\u2019ll need to clean it up.<\/p>\n
Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 \u2013 Software<\/strong><\/h2>\nFortunately, there\u2019s no real bloatware clogging up the metaphorical pores of the Skytech Gaming Blaze 5. However, it does come packaged with the SignalRGB app, which is a slightly annoying app that gives you access to the system\u2019s RGB lighting settings as well as control over your fans and the ability to monitor hardware performance. You do have to customize the monitoring interface yourself. And it asks you to create an account to get access to more lighting features. And then<\/em> it asks you to sign up for a Pro account ($6 per month) to remove the ads. Yes, there are ads in your RGB lighting configuration app. Like I said, it is an annoying app to deal with.<\/p>\nI also noticed some issues with the RGB lighting overall. There\u2019s no direct setting to turn off the RGB \u2013 only to pause or dim the effect, both of which do disable the lighting. However, the lighting will occasionally flicker back on and then off again. And when starting the PC, the app doesn\u2019t remember that you disabled the lighting so it\u2019ll kick back on. Another issue I noticed is that the RGB lighting occasionally stutters when active, like it\u2019s skipping a beat. <\/p>\n