Specs and discussion
| Scan 3XS SLI 480 OC PC | |
|---|---|
| Chassis | SilverStone Temjin TJ09 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3 Cache, 2,400MHz QPI, LGA1366) @ 4.0GHz (20 x 200MHz BCLK) |
| Cooler | Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 |
| Mainboard | ASUS P6TD Deluxe X58 LGA1366 |
| Memory | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR DDR3-1,600 @ 8-8-8-20-1T |
| Hard disk(s) | Boot: Corsair Nova V128
SSD Storage: 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB, 32MB cache, 7,200rpm, in RAID1 |
| Display | None, optional extra |
| Graphics hardware | Dual
ASUS GeForce GTX 480
1,536MB in SLI |
| Optical drive 1 | LG combination Blu-ray
reader and DVD-ROM combo-drive |
| Optical drive 2 | None, optional extra |
| Sound hardware | Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium |
| Speakers | None, optional extra |
| Modem | None |
| Networking hardware | 2x 10/100/1000, Marvell
88E8056 PCI-E |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit |
| PSU | Corsair HX 1000W |
| Input devices | None, optional extras |
| Additional software | Acronis True Image Home 2010, rest to be confirmed |
| Notable items | Pre-overclocked CPU, dual GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards, Akasa multicard reader |
| Included warranty | Two years; first year on-site and second year labour and extended parts warranty |
| Price | £2,749.00, including VAT |
| Shipping | Free for HEXUS.community members* |
Discussion
One should expect cutting-edge components when spending approaching three grand on a base unit. Scan uses a significant chunk of that budget - over £900, in fact - on two GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards from ASUS. Tied together in two-way SLI, performance promises to be sharp, going by our previous results.The ultimate PC would contain Intel's six-core goliath chip, the 980X Extreme Edition, but Scan makes a decent compromise between fantasy and pragmatism by opting for a quad-core Core i7 920 - now costing under £200 at retail - and then overclocking it to 4GHz.
We feel that any base unit over £1,000 needs to be outfitted with an SSD, or two, and the choice of a 128GB Corsair Nova as the boot drive is good. Two 1TB spindle-based drives are arranged in data-replicating RAID1, meaning that the storage subsystem is 'limited' to 1TB. Appreciating just how comparatively cheap these drives are now, it's a good move, and one can add an additional 1.5TB drive as supplementary storage for £70 or so.
The choice of chassis is of greater import than normal when housing two wattage-burning GTX 480s in SLI. Based on our previous findings, the GPUs' fans hit in excess of 3,500rpm when under gaming load, and the only method of mitigating the assault on one's ears is to have efficient, directed airflow over the cards - helped, of course, by good chassis design. We'll investigate how the Scan and SilverStone Temjin TJ09 combination handles the question of noise.
Warranty is standard for a high-end Scan system, that is, one year onsite (next-day call-out) and labour for the second year along with any extended warranties the parts may ship with.
The system takes a total of four days to build and qualify from the point that engineers begin assembly, according to Scan, and the company employs a 10-step process that includes a 24-hour stress-test (48 hours if overclocked) and a number of quality control checks. Assembly is an ongoing business, naturally, and it's possible to have a system despatched within a couple of days of ordering.
Aimed at the enthusiast who engages in lots of gaming, chances are that they could build a similar system for themselves, so how does the value proposition play out? We totted the individual component costs and arrived at a figure of £2,600, including VAT, which excludes the building, overclocking, stress-testing and warranty. You could choose different components - and Scan's online configurator enables you to do exactly this - but we feel that the £150 premium over the cost of components is more than reasonable.
But parts do not a computer make, so let's head on over to see how they've been integrated.
