Stormforce Gaming Onyx i3-12100F GTX 1650 Review: Budget 1080p PC

Prebuilt PCs get a bad reputation, and honestly, a lot of the time that reputation is earned. Cheap PSUs, slow storage, single-channel RAM shoved in to hit a price point. But not every prebuilt is a trap. Sometimes the maths just works out, and for someone who doesn't want to spend a weekend sourcing parts, watching tutorials, and hoping they seated the RAM correctly, a prebuilt makes total sense. The question is whether this particular one is worth your money or whether you'd be better off building something yourself.

The Stormforce Gaming Onyx i3-12100F GTX 1650 is squarely a budget gaming PC. There's no pretending otherwise. The i3-12100F is a capable little processor, the GTX 1650 is the GPU you buy when you want to play games without spending a fortune, and the whole package comes in at a price that puts it firmly in entry-level territory. Whether that's a good thing depends entirely on what you need it to do. This Onyx i3-12100F GTX 1650 review is going to give you the straight answer on that.

There are no owner reviews to draw on here yet, so the analysis is grounded entirely in the spec sheet, what these components are known to deliver, and how the whole package stacks up against building something equivalent yourself. That's actually fine. The specs tell you most of what you need to know with a machine like this.

The H610 chipset is worth flagging here. It's Intel's most basic 12th-gen platform chipset, which means no overclocking support (the 12100F is locked anyway, so that's not actually a loss), limited PCIe lanes compared to B660 or Z690, and typically just a couple of RAM slots. It keeps costs down, which is clearly the point, but it does put a ceiling on how far you can push things later. That's a trade-off worth understanding before you buy.

The 350W PSU is another number to pay attention to. It's adequate for this specific combination of CPU and GPU, both of which are relatively power-efficient. The GTX 1650 doesn't even need a PCIe power connector on most variants, and the i3-12100F has a 58W TDP. So the PSU isn't dangerously undersized for what's in the box right now. But if you're thinking about upgrading to a beefier GPU down the line, 350W is going to become a problem quickly. More on that in the upgrade section.

For everyday tasks, it's more than capable. Web browsing, video streaming, office work, light photo editing, that kind of thing all runs without any drama. Even moderate video editing is manageable, though you'll feel the four-core limit if you're doing anything serious in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. The "F" suffix means there's no integrated graphics, which is why the GTX 1650 is non-negotiable here. Pull the GPU and you've got a very expensive paperweight.

Where the 12100F really earns its keep is gaming. For titles that aren't heavily threaded, four cores at these clocks is genuinely fine. Older and less demanding games won't stress it at all. More modern titles that want six or eight cores might occasionally show a bottleneck, but at the resolution and settings the GTX 1650 is running, the GPU is almost always going to be the limiting factor before the CPU is. So in practice, for this specific use case, the 12100F is a sensible choice. Stormforce Gaming haven't cut corners on the processor, which is more than you can say for some prebuilt manufacturers at this price point.

One thing to be aware of is that the H610 motherboard means you're stuck with whatever RAM configuration comes in the box. No BIOS-level memory tweaking, no XMP profiles that push the DDR4 to its rated speed on some boards. Whether the RAM is running at its full rated speed depends on the specific board Stormforce Gaming has used. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's worth knowing that the platform has limits baked in from the start.

The GTX 1650 carries 4GB of GDDR6 VRAM (on the current revision). That 4GB limit is where things get uncomfortable in 2025. Modern titles are increasingly hungry for VRAM, and 4GB can cause stuttering or forced low texture settings in newer releases. Games like Call of Duty or Hogwarts Legacy will push that 4GB hard, and you may find yourself dropping settings lower than you'd like just to keep things stable. It's the card's most significant weakness, and it's not one that can be patched away.

Ray tracing is effectively off the table. The GTX 1650 doesn't support hardware ray tracing, and even if it did, the performance hit would make it unplayable. NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling is also not available on this card, which is a shame because DLSS 2 and 3 have become genuinely useful tools for extracting more performance on mid-range hardware. You're working with what the rasterisation pipeline gives you, full stop. At 1440p or 4K, this card simply isn't the right tool. Stick to 1080p, keep an eye on VRAM usage in settings menus, and it'll do the job it's designed for without complaint.

For the target audience of this machine, which is someone who wants to play popular multiplayer games, browse the web, and not spend a fortune doing it, the GTX 1650 makes sense. It's not exciting, but it works. And in the context of this whole package at this price, expecting an RTX 4070 would be daft.

The good news is that DDR4 is cheap right now. Adding another 8GB stick to bring the system to 16GB won't cost much, and it'll make a noticeable difference to how the system handles multitasking. Whether the H610 board has a free slot available depends on the specific motherboard Stormforce Gaming has used, which isn't specified in the product listing. Worth checking before you assume you can just slot in an extra stick. If it's a two-slot board and both slots are occupied with a single 8GB module, you'd need to replace it rather than add to it.

Storage is 240GB via NVMe SSD, and that's where things get a bit squeaky. 240GB sounds fine until you install Windows (which eats around 30 to 40GB), a couple of modern games (some of which are 80 to 100GB each), and your usual apps. You'll be managing storage actively from day one. An external drive or a second internal SSD would be a near-immediate purchase for most users. The NVMe interface is the right choice over SATA for the primary drive, giving faster read and write speeds for the OS and primary applications, but the capacity is simply too small for comfortable long-term use without expansion. Again, the H610 platform may limit how many M.2 slots are available for expansion, so check the board specs if you're planning to add storage internally.

The Coolermaster MB320L case is the housing for all of this, and Coolermaster cases generally have reasonable airflow design. The MB320L is a compact micro-ATX form factor case, which means there's less internal volume for heat to dissipate compared to a full-tower build. That's a trade-off you make with any small-form-factor machine. For the GTX 1650 and i3-12100F combination, the thermal load is low enough that this shouldn't be a problem in practice. These are not hot-running components.

Fan noise is harder to comment on without having the machine in front of you, and that's not something we can honestly speculate about in numbers. What can be said is that low-power components in a reasonably ventilated case tend to run quietly. The GTX 1650 is known for being a relatively cool and quiet card. If you're sitting in a quiet room, you'll probably hear the system under gaming load, but it's unlikely to be the kind of noise that drives you mad. That said, budget prebuilts sometimes use cheaper fans that can be noisier than you'd expect, so it's a variable worth being aware of.

Cable management in prebuilts is often where you see the real shortcuts. When a machine is built at volume in a factory, the priority is speed, not aesthetics. Cables might be routed adequately rather than beautifully. For most users this doesn't matter at all, the side panel goes on and stays on. But if you're planning to open it up and start swapping components, you might find things a bit messier than a hand-built custom PC. That's normal for prebuilts at this price, and it's not a reason to avoid the machine.

The RGB in the product name and imagery suggests there's some lighting involved, which is very much a matter of personal taste. The Coolermaster MB320L has a tempered glass side panel on some configurations, which lets you see the internals. Whether that's a selling point depends entirely on whether you care about how your PC looks sitting on your desk. Functionally it makes no difference whatsoever. What matters more is that the case is well-made enough to not flex alarmingly when you move it, and Coolermaster's build quality is generally solid at this tier.

The H610 chipset from Intel supports PCIe connectivity and USB ports as standard. The GTX 1650 typically outputs via DisplayPort and HDMI, which covers the vast majority of monitors people are actually using. If you're running a single 1080p monitor, you'll be absolutely fine. Dual monitor setups are also possible depending on the specific GPU variant installed.

Network connectivity on H610 boards typically includes a Gigabit Ethernet port as standard, which is what you want for stable online gaming. Whether this build includes Wi-Fi is not specified in the product data, so if wireless connectivity is important to you, that's worth confirming with Stormforce Gaming before purchasing. Wired Ethernet is always preferable for gaming anyway. Latency is lower, connection is more stable, and you won't have the Wi-Fi interference headaches that plague wireless setups in busy households.

Windows 11 is the right operating system for this hardware. The i3-12100F is a 12th-gen Intel chip, which is firmly in the supported hardware list for Windows 11. You won't hit any compatibility issues or forced upgrade prompts. The OS will receive security updates and feature updates as normal. For a gaming PC aimed at younger users or first-time PC owners, having everything set up and ready to go is a genuine convenience that has real value.

As for bloatware, Stormforce Gaming doesn't appear to be in the habit of loading machines with third-party software trials the way some larger OEMs do. That said, any prebuilt will have some manufacturer utilities installed. The best advice is to go through the installed programs list when you first set it up and remove anything you don't recognise or need. It takes twenty minutes and makes the system feel cleaner. Windows 11 itself has some built-in apps that can be uninstalled if they bother you, but nothing that meaningfully affects performance out of the box.

RAM is the most obvious and affordable upgrade. Getting to 16GB of DDR4 should be a priority for anyone planning to game seriously, and DDR4 is genuinely cheap right now. The H610 platform supports up to DDR4-3200 officially, and 16GB is a sweet spot that will serve you well for several years of gaming. Storage is the other easy win. Adding a second NVMe SSD or a large SATA drive for game storage would transform the usability of this machine. 240GB is just too small to live with comfortably if you're installing modern games.

The GPU is where the upgrade path gets awkward. The 350W PSU is the bottleneck. The GTX 1650 runs on very little power, which is exactly why 350W is adequate for the current setup. But the next meaningful GPU upgrade, something like an RTX 3060 or RX 6600, needs considerably more headroom. You'd be looking at replacing the PSU at the same time as the GPU, which adds cost and complexity. It's doable, but it's not as simple as just swapping the card. Anyone buying this machine with the intention of upgrading the GPU within a year or two should factor in the cost of a new PSU as part of that plan. The Coolermaster MB320L case should accommodate a standard ATX PSU, so at least the physical swap is straightforward.

The three-year warranty from Stormforce Gaming is worth mentioning here too. Any modifications you make, particularly swapping components, may affect warranty coverage. It's worth reading the warranty terms before you start pulling parts out. The 3-year collect, repair and return warranty covering all parts and labour is genuinely good for a budget prebuilt, and you don't want to accidentally void it by swapping the RAM in the first month.

Sourcing an i3-12100F, a GTX 1650, 8GB DDR4, a 240GB NVMe SSD, an H610 motherboard, a 350W PSU, a Coolermaster case, and a Windows 11 licence individually from UK retailers will cost you more than you might expect. Component prices have been volatile, and the cost of a retail Windows licence alone adds a meaningful chunk to any self-build. When you add up all the parts, a self-build equivalent often ends up costing a similar amount or more, and that's before you factor in the time, the risk of compatibility issues, and the fact that you get no warranty on the assembled system as a whole.

The 3-year collect, repair and return warranty from Stormforce Gaming is a real differentiator. If something fails, you're not hunting down which component is at fault and dealing with separate manufacturer warranties. One call, one collection, sorted. For someone who doesn't want to deal with that kind of hassle, or who doesn't have the knowledge to diagnose hardware faults, that warranty has genuine monetary value.

Against other prebuilts in the budget tier, the Onyx holds up reasonably well. Some competitors at similar prices use slower SATA SSDs instead of NVMe, or pair the i3-12100F with even less RAM. The Coolermaster MB320L is a better case than the generic no-name chassis that often shows up in budget prebuilts. Where the Onyx falls short compared to slightly pricier alternatives is the 240GB storage and 8GB RAM, both of which are below what most people would want for comfortable long-term use. But those are upgradeable, and the core platform is sound.

The i3-12100F is a genuinely good budget processor, and Stormforce Gaming have paired it with a real case from a real brand rather than a mystery chassis. The three-year warranty is the headline feature that sets this apart from many rivals, and for a first-time PC buyer or someone who just wants a machine that works without needing to understand the internals, that warranty is worth real money. The free fast UK delivery is a nice touch too.

The weak points are the 8GB RAM and 240GB storage. Both are too small for comfortable long-term use, and both will need addressing within the first few months of ownership. Budget for a RAM upgrade and an extra storage drive when you buy this, and factor those costs into your decision. The 350W PSU also limits future GPU upgrades, so if you're planning to grow the machine significantly, go in with your eyes open about what that will cost.

Who should buy this? Someone who wants a working Windows 11 gaming PC without the faff of building one, who plays popular multiplayer games at 1080p, and who values the peace of mind of a three-year warranty. First-time PC gamers stepping up from console, parents buying a gaming PC for a teenager, anyone who just wants it to work when they plug it in.

Who should skip it? Anyone who plays modern AAA titles and wants high settings. Anyone planning to run the machine at 1440p or above. Anyone who needs more than 240GB of storage from day one. And anyone who's comfortable building their own PC, because you'll get more for your money if you're willing to put in the time.

As a budget Onyx i3-12100F GTX 1650 review conclusion goes, this is a fair machine at a fair price. Not perfect, but honest about what it is. Current pricing is £429.99, which puts it in line with what you'd spend sourcing equivalent parts yourself once you include a Windows licence. The warranty tips the balance in its favour for the right buyer.