Test Methodology
Comparison Systems - Part One |
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| System Name | Alienware Aurora R5 | Asus RoG G20CB | Cyberpower Luxe Xtreme | DinoPC BX-01 | MSI Vortex G65 6QF SLI | PC Specialist Fusion Curve |
| Overclocked | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-6700 | Intel Core i7-6700 | Intel Core i7-6950X | Intel Core i7-5930K | Intel Core i7-6700K | Intel Core i7-6700K |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.0GHz | 4.0GHz | 4.0GHz | 4.5GHz | 4.2GHz | 4.2GHz |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 | 10 / 20 | 6 / 12 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 |
| CPU TDP | 65W | 65W | 140W | 140W | 91W | 91W |
| CPU Cooler | Alienware Aurora | Asus RoG G20CB | XPSC Liquid Cooling | HeatKiller IV Pro in custom loop | MSI Vortex | PCS FrostFlow 340 Series |
| Motherboard | Alienware 01NYPT | Asus RoG G20CB | MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon | Asus X99-Pro/USB 3.1 | MSI Z170 MS-1T11 | Asus Z170I Pro Gaming |
| Memory | 8GB DDR4 (2x4GB) | 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 (4x8GB) | SK hynix 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Kingston HyperX Savage 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
| Memory Speed | 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz | 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz | 16-18-18-36-2T @ 3,200MHz | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz | 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz | 13-15-15-39-2T @ 2,666MHz |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB | Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB | MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SeaHawk | 2x MSI GeForce 980 Ti 6GB in SLI | 2x MSI GeForce 980 8GB in SLI | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 8GB |
| Primary Storage Device | 256GB Toshiba XG3 SSD | 128GB SK hynix SSD | 400GB Intel 750 Series SSD | 512GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD | 2x 128GB Samsung SM951 SSDs in RAID0 | 512GB Intel 600p SSD |
| Second Storage Device | 1TB Seagate HDD | 2TB Toshiba HDD | 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD | 4TB Seagate Desktop HDD | 1TB Hitachi Travelstar HDD | 1TB WD Black HDD |
| Optical Drive | - | DVD Writer | - | - | - | |
| PSU | Generic (460W, internal) | Asus RoG G20CB (230W + 180W, external) | In Win C750 Modular (750W, internal) | Corsair RM850x (850W, internal) | MSI Vortex (450W, internal) | Enhance 450W FlexATX (internal) |
| Chassis | Alienware Aurora | Asus RoG G20CB | In Win 909 | Corsair Carbide Series 600C | MSI Vortex G65 | Fusion Curve |
| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
| Warranty | One year | One year | Three years (one-month collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour) | Three years (six-months collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour) | Two years | Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) |
| Date Reviewed | December 2016 | January 2016 | July 2016 | March 2016 | April 2016 | October 2016 |
| Cost As Reviewed | £1,385 | £1,500 | £4,399 | £3,799 | £2,998 | £2,449 |
Comparison Systems - Part Two |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Name | PC Specialist Liquid Series LS-M01 | Scan 3XS Gamer Aura | Scan 3XS X99 Carbon Fluid Extreme SLI | Scan 3XS Z170 Vengeance Q | Scan 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI | Vibox Rapture Chaos MX1 |
| Overclocked | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-6700K | Intel Core i5-7500 | Intel Core i7-6950X | Intel Core i7-6700K | Intel Core i7-7700K | Intel Core i5-6600K |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.6GHz | 3.8GHz | 4.2GHz | 4.4GHz | 5.0GHz | 4.5GHz |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 4 / 8 | 4 / 4 | 10 / 20 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 4 |
| CPU TDP | 91W | 65W | 140W | 91W | 91W | 91W |
| CPU Cooler | Custom Liquid Loop | Arctic Freezer 11 LP | EK Liquid Loop | Noctua NH-D15S | Corsair Hydro Series H100i | NZXT Kraken X61 |
| Motherboard | Asus Maximus VIII Hero | Asus RoG Strix B250F Gaming | Asus RoG Strix X99 Gaming | Asus Z170 Pro Gaming | Asus RoG Strix Z270E Gaming | MSI Z170A Gaming Pro |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 (4x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Patriot Viper Xtreme 16GB DDR4 (4x4GB) |
| Memory Speed | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,666MHz | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,400MHz | 16-18-18-35-2T @ 2,666MHz | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz | 16-18-18-36-2T @ 2,800MHz |
| Graphics | EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Superclocked ACX 6GB | Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix Gaming 8GB | 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB in SLI | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 8GB | 2x Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Strix Advanced 8GB in SLI | MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB |
| Primary Storage Device | 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD | 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD | 512GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD | 256GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD | 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD | 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD |
| Second Storage Device | 2TB WD Black HDD | 1TB WD Blue HDD | 2TB Seagate Mobile HDD | 2TB Seagate Hybrid HD | 2TB WD Blue HDD | 2TB WD Black HDD |
| Optical Drive | - | - | Samsung DVD Writer | - | - | - |
| PSU | Corsair RM850x (850W, internal) | Corsair CX450M (450W, internal) | Corsair RM850i (850W, internal) | Corsair RM650x (650W, internal) | Corsair RM750i (750W, internal) | Super Flower Leadex Gold (750W, internal) |
| Chassis | Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 | NZXT S340 | Corsair Graphite Series 760T | Corsair Carbide Series 400Q with Noctua Redux fans | Corsair Crystal Series 570X RGB | NZXT Noctis 450 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
| Warranty | Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) | Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) | Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) | Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) | Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) | Two years (90-day collect-and-return, two-year parts, lifetime labour) |
| Date Reviewed | May 2016 | February 2017 | September 2016 | June 2016 | January 2017 | September 2015 |
| Cost As Reviewed | £2,299 | £1,300 | £6,500 | £1,770 | £3,000 | £1,850 |
CPU and Storage Benchmarks |
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| HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU. | |||||||||||
| Cinebench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. | |||||||||||
| HandBrake | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores. | |||||||||||
Memory and Storage Benchmarks |
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| AIDA64 | Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency. | |||||||||||
| CrystalDiskMark | Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds. | |||||||||||
Gaming Benchmarks |
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| 3DMark | DX11, run at the Firestrike default test. | |||||||||||
| Gaming | A selection of modern titles are tested at various resolutions. | |||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming. | |||||||||||
| Temperature | Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming. | |||||||||||
