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Review: 3.5GHz Intel Core 2 Quad and Radeon HD 4870 X2: the Chillblast way

by Tarinder Sandhu on 26 September 2008, 16:51

Tags: Fusion Gemini, Chillblast

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Final thoughts

 The Chillblast Fusion Gemini takes in tried-and-trusted components, amalgamates them well, and throws in some CPU-based overclocking for good measure.

Housed in a cavernous Antec Twelve Hundred chassis, the vital specifications are excellent for a £1,289-priced PC. Near-3.5GHz of CPU power makes very short work of most tasks, 4GB of quality DDR2 is always a good bet, and the graphics card, Radeon HD 4870 X2, is the fastest one around.

As clichéd as it sounds, the Gemini feels like a system built by enthusiasts for (lazy) enthusiasts, as virtually all the components are leaders in their respective fields.

High on performance and quiet in to the bargain, the Fusion Gemini only falls down, a little, on a couple of aspects. Firstly, the warranty is not insurance-backed, and a relatively small-time PC manufacturer may not be around to fulfil obligations in 18 months' time, especially given today's economic climate and the pre-overclocked nature of the system.

Secondly, Intel's uber-performing Nehalem (Core i7) CPU is just around the corner and it promises Core 2-thrashing performance for a similar outlay, so we'd encourage most users to wait a month or two and let the high-end dust settle.

Overall, though, the Chillblast Fusion Gemini is a wicked-fast, quiet system that will undoubtedly appeal to power users who have little inclination to build a similar machine themselves.

HEXUS Awards

Well, it's super-fast, right.

Gaming HEXUS Labs
Chillblast Fusion Gemini

 

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Chillblast Fusion Gemini can be purchased here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

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


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Posted by staffsMike - Fri 26 Sep 2008 18:58
You know what really grinds my gears?



Obviously anyone who knows me here understands the comic side of that, but genuinely if a “professional” system builder can't be bothered to cable the thing properly.. why would they expect people to pay inflated prices for things they could build themselves (apparently a lot better)?

They've used the holes to go behind the mobo tray for a few bits and pieces but why not the rest of it, I'm sure those cables are long enough and if they aren't then they could have extended them for pennies.

Also the freezer 7 pro is a bit of a weak link for me but I suppose if it does the job it's OK. Looks a bit dwarfed in the 1200 which seems a bit overkill for the basic setup.

And what is wrong with that graphics card lol
Posted by GoNz0 - Fri 26 Sep 2008 19:10
it does look like the viddy cards ripped the pci-e socket out the board ?

it resembles the POS scan tried to fob me off with as a replacement for my 8800gtx !

the banana card as i called it :)
Posted by M_Taylor40 - Fri 26 Sep 2008 21:34
GoNz0
it does look like the viddy cards ripped the pci-e socket out the board ?

it resembles the POS scan tried to fob me off with as a replacement for my 8800gtx !

the banana card as i called it :)

Got to say it definately looks like theres a problem with the graphics card, the PCI-Express port looks fine but the card aint right! if that was my computer id be worryin!
And you had an problem with scan?! from my experience you've been very unlucky! they bend over backwards to help me and wer even happy to accept a return because I ordered the wrong part (Ordering to quick without reading it lol). Out of the computer sites I've used, scan is always the first one I go for.
Apart from the graphics card issue, that is a nice peice of goodness, yeah u can build it urself and save some money, but for anyone who has bothered overclocking, its such a pain in the a$$e I'd happily pay someone an extra £100 to do it all for me, especially if it came with a full insurance backed 2yr warranty. Sadly though as noted, the company goes down and so does your warranty!
Good job Chillblast!
Posted by this_is_gav - Fri 26 Sep 2008 23:01
It's not gonna fall out of the slot just sitting there, but I'd remove it if I were transporting the case somewhere. :P


Nice set of benchmarks Tarinder. Just a question over the boot times though. Where are you stopping the clock? When the OS becomes responsive? When hard drive activity stops?

My Vista install kicks in straight away from when the welcome screen disappears, and I can play to my heart's content, but then a ‘second wave’ of start up programs come along*.

* things like SetPoint annoyingly, so I'm already in a browsing session, checking messages, hit back without any response, then 20 seconds later, when SetPoint's loaded and that back request is answered. Grr. :P
Posted by moogle - Fri 26 Sep 2008 23:17
staffsMike
They've used the holes to go behind the mobo tray for a few bits and pieces but why not the rest of it, I'm sure those cables are long enough and if they aren't then they could have extended them for pennies.

Antec couldn't have made it any easier in that case, it's like they haven't even tried.

this_is_gav
Nice set of benchmarks Tarinder. Just a question over the boot times though. Where are you stopping the clock? When the OS becomes responsive? When hard drive activity stops?

I think he should use the script I posted here

http://forums.hexus.net/operating-systems-applications/140858-hey-vista-leave-my-god-dam-harddrive-alone-2.html#post1521030

All you need to do is set autologin on and run the script and when it gets control again at login it calculates the time for the boot. Although it's the reboot time it gives a good and accurate indication on how long it takes.

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