Conclusion
...the Corsair Crystal Series chassis is a visual treat, storage and memory are both blazing fast, and the guarantee of a 5GHz CPU overclock offers plenty of bragging rights.The introduction of Intel's seventh-generation Kaby Lake architecture has given system integrators new ammunition to produce high-end base units touting the very latest in CPU technology.
And while enthusiast users will decry Kaby Lake's lack of performance progression, there's currently no genuine quad-core competitor to the Core i7-7700K in single- or multi-threaded benchmarks. Said chip, overclocked and partnered to a new Z270 motherboard, is the preferred performance duo for the months ahead, and Scan puts it to good use in the 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI.
Build quality is tidy throughout, the Corsair Crystal Series chassis is a visual treat, storage and memory are both blazing fast, and the guarantee of a 5GHz CPU overclock offers plenty of bragging rights. Add a pair of overclocked GeForce GTX 1080s to the mix and you have masses of power on tap.
Plenty of promise, yet it's a sign of the gaming desktop's decay that even at £3,000 there are caveats that need to be addressed. Quiet running has been traded in favour of RGB lights, Kaby Lake is at best a minor upgrade over Skylake, and running a second GTX 1080 shows no real-world benefit in some of today's modern DX12 games. Fixing all these issues is out of Scan's hands, yet it's telling that true enthusiast rigs aren't as easy to configure as they ought to be.
Bottom line: Intel Core i7-7700K base units running at speeds of up to 5GHz will become readily available in the weeks ahead. Scan Computers is fast out of the gate with the 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI, a stylish rig whose potential is best suited to deep-walleted enthusiasts eager to keep-up with the latest in PC hardware.
Stylish tempered glass chassis
Lots of RGB lighting, if that's your thing
Fast NVMe storage and DDR4 memory
Three-year warranty
SLI remains an expensive gamble
Kaby Lake not a giant leap from Skylake
Scan 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI
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The 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI gaming PC is available to configure and purchase from Scan Computers.
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