Test methodology
Comparison Systems |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| System name | Scan 3XS Cyclone SLI | HEXUS high-end self-build | Scan 3XS GTK SLI | Wired2Fire Hellspawn |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.7GHz | Intel Core i7-980X @ 3.33GHz | Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.7GHz | Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.8GHz |
| Cooler | Be Quiet! Dark Rock PRO BK016 | Intel DBX-B | Akasa Venom | Titan Fenrir |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 | ASUS P6X58D Premium | ASUS P8P67 PRO | ASUS P8P67 |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 | Corsair Dominator 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 | Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 | Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 |
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz | 8-8-8-20-1T @ 1,600MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz |
| Graphics card(s) | EVGA GeForce GTX 580 (x2 in SLI) | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 | EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (x2 in SLI) | Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB |
| Sound card | Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional | Onboard high-definition audio | Onboard high-definition audio | Onboard high-definition audio |
| Disk drive(s) | 120GB Corsair Force GT SSD (x2 in RAID 0) 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green HDD (x2 in RAID 1) |
80GB Corsair Force F80 SSD 1TB Seagate 7200.12 HDD |
60GB OCZ Vertex 2E SSD 1TB Samsung F3 HDD |
1TB Samsung F3 HDD |
| Optical drive(s) | LG BH10LS30 Blu-ray writer | Pioneer BDR-205BK Blu-ray writer | Pioneer DVR-S19L DVD ReWriter | LG CL10LS20 Blu-ray drive |
| PSU | Corsair AX850 | Corsair HX1000 | XFX 650W | Corsair 600W |
| Chassis | Corsair Special Edition White Graphite 600T | Corsair Obsidian 700D | Lancool PC-K58 | Xigmatek Asgard |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Monitor | - | - | - | Hanns-G HH241DPB 24in full-HD |
| Keyboard and mouse | - | - | - | Logitech keyboard and B110 optical mouse |
| Warranty | Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour | N/A | Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour | Two years (hardware), return to base/ labour |
| Notable extras | Overclocked and liquid-cooled GPUs | - | Overclocked GPUs | - |
| Price (inc. VAT) | £3,000 | £1,850 | £1,250 | £970 |
Benchmarks |
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| Geekbench | A cross-platform benchmark used to measure memory and processor performance. | |||||||||||
| Cinebench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. | |||||||||||
| Aliens vs. Predator | 1,920x1,080 resolution, 2xAA, 16xAF, very high quality. | |||||||||||
| Just Cause 2 | 1,920x1,080 resolution, 4xAA, 16x AF, very high quality. | |||||||||||
| 3DMark Vantage | Run at the 'high' preset. | |||||||||||
| Temperature | Noted for CPU idling, under Prime95 all-core load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator. | |||||||||||
| Power consumption | Noted for system idling, under Prime95 all-core load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator. | |||||||||||
| Noise | A PCE-318 noise level meter is placed at the front of the chassis. Noted for system idling, under Prime95 all-core load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator. | |||||||||||
Notes
We've already touched on the tidy build quality of Scan's 3XS Cyclone SLI, but it's worth mentioning the cleanliness of the accompanying software.
By default, the 3XS Cyclone SLI is loaded with a 64-bit install of Windows 7 Home Premium and very little bloatware on top. Out the box, our sample machine arrived with Creative's Audio Control Panel, CyberLink's Blu-ray Suite, 3DMark 11, Performance Test, MSI Afterburner, Acronis True Image 2011 and a trial of Microsoft Office 2011.
What's useful is that Scan's engineers install the latest BIOS, drivers and Windows updates prior to shipping, so you're not presented with a mammoth update on boot. And for backup and recovery purposes, a hidden partition is loaded with a complete system image - allowing the user to restore the machine to its factory default state via the bundled Acronis software.
