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Review: Scan 3XS Gamer iCue RTX

by Parm Mann on 21 April 2021, 14:01

Tags: SCAN, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaeqhy

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Conclusion

...keen pricing makes it a safe choice for mid-range base units priced comfortably below the £2k mark.

Scan's 3XS Gamer iCue RTX does a decent job of showcasing Intel's new Core i5-11600K processor in a positive light.

The 125W six-core, 12-thread chip brings some much-needed competition to AMD's rampaging Ryzen, and keen pricing makes it a safe choice for mid-range base units priced comfortably below the £2k mark.

For £1,600, Scan's system pairs the 11th Gen chip with a sensible supporting cast that includes GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD and a customary 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory. Motherboard support for 2.5GbE Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 is a bonus, but there are some limitations to be aware of. The B560 chipset is unlikely to offer much in terms of CPU upgrade paths - upcoming 12th Gen Alder Lake represents a clean break later this year - and with the standard air cooler, the Intel chip runs hotter than we'd like.

Bottom line: fed up of trying to source stock for a new 2021 build? Scan reckons at least 20 3XS Gamer iCue RTX base units are ready to be assembled. For that reason alone it's worth a shout.

The Good
  
The Bad
Core i5-11600K and RTX 3070 are a safe bet
Well-suited to high-quality QHD gaming
USB-C, 2.5GbE and Wi-Fi 6
1TB of fast PCIe 4.0 storage
Three-year warranty
  
CPU gets toasty under load



Scan 3XS Gamer iCue RTX

HEXUS.where2buy

The 3XS Gamer iCue RTX gaming PC is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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Posted by LSG501 - Wed 21 Apr 2021 14:21
You know something's gone seriously wrong somewhere when it's easier and maybe even cheaper to buy a full system than it is to buy just a gpu…. and that's assuming you can even find it in stock on it's own.
Posted by ilh - Wed 21 Apr 2021 14:32
You know something's seriously wrong somewhere when “…keen pricing makes it a safe choice for mid-range base units priced comfortably below the £2k mark.” is chosen for the conclusion quote. £1600 for a mid-range is ludicrous or am I just way off the mark thinking of the days when you could knock a grand off that to get a mid-range price?
Posted by Tunnah - Wed 21 Apr 2021 15:15
I simply cannot fathom why anyone would own an Intel CPU nowadays. It makes about as much sense as owning an AMD when core2duo first started..and for the 15 or so years after that (wee bit hyperbolic..but not much).

Insane amounts of power and heat for equal or less performance of the AMD part, not to mention I think the AMD chipset is also better than the Intel version ? Not too sure on that nowadays, I think Intel are caught up now. Still tho.
Posted by excalibur1814 - Wed 21 Apr 2021 16:42
Just be warned that Scan (Scam) do (unless they've changed) charge you a re-stocking fee in the event that you return the item. Personally, I don't trust the company, but many people haven't experienced any issues.

I returned Mavic Pro (years back), that suffered sensor issues etc. Apparently, nothing wrong with it, according to Scan. Well… no. I even sent them proof as it was known issue with the drone at that point in time. Thankfully, it was later fixed with a firmware update. They tested it… found nothing wrong. Sure they did.
Posted by philehidiot - Wed 21 Apr 2021 16:42
ilh
You know something's seriously wrong somewhere when “…keen pricing makes it a safe choice for mid-range base units priced comfortably below the £2k mark.” is chosen for the conclusion quote. £1600 for a mid-range is ludicrous or am I just way off the mark thinking of the days when you could knock a grand off that to get a mid-range price?

I think the “mid range” has shifted. I don't class 4K gaming capable as “mid range” given that's the highest resolution monitor widely available. I think the addition of the “extreme high end” parts have skewed what we can class as mid range. Additionally, for even a powerful gaming PC, a stupidly strong CPU just isn't required except for certain, specific games.

Looking at how they've chosen to benchmark tells me what is low, mid and high end for a “proper” gaming PC (you can make a potato machine, but it's not really for proper gaming). If it can comfortably run at 1080P, it's a low end. 1440P, mid range and comfortable 4K gaming is for the high end. Those looking at silly priced GPUs are the exception and we shouldn't allow our perception of the marketplace to be skewed in order to increase the money we spend out of proportion to the increasing cost of parts.

I don't think you can now build a mid range gaming PC for £600. I think that's low end these days. But a grand? Yeh, definitely.

The main factor I've excluded from the above is parts availability. I know scan is operating a waiting list system for these parts, so they have to increase the cost of the system to make the whole thing worth their while. Otherwise, why not just sell it to the hoards thrusting money at them for a nice mark up?

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