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Review: Chillblast Fusion Flash

by Parm Mann on 10 November 2011, 17:00 4.0

Tags: Chillblast

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa7zs

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Test methodology

Comparison Systems

System name Chillblast Fusion Flash Wired2Fire Hellspawn Scan 3XS GTK SLI HEXUS high-end self-build Scan 3XS Cyclone SLI
Processor Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.8GHz Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.8GHz Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.7GHz Intel Core i7 980X @ 3.33GHz Intel Core i7 2600K @ 4.7GHz
Cooler Corsair Air Series A70 Titan Fenrir Akasa Venom Intel DBX-B Be Quiet! Dark Rock PRO BK016
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V LE ASUS P8P67 ASUS P8P67 PRO ASUS P6X58D Premium Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4
Memory Corsair XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 Corsair Dominator 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3
Memory timings and speed 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz 8-8-8-20-1T @ 1,600MHz 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz
Graphics card(s) VTX3D Radeon HD 6970 2GB Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (x2 in SLI) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 EVGA GeForce GTX 580 (x2 in SLI)
Sound card Onboard high-definition audio Onboard high-definition audio Onboard high-definition audio Onboard high-definition audio Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
Disk drive(s) 120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD
1TB Samsung HD103SJ HDD
1TB Samsung F3 HDD 60GB OCZ Vertex 2E SSD
1TB Samsung F3 HDD
80GB Corsair Force F80 SSD
1TB Seagate 7200.12 HDD
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)
Optical drive(s) Samsung Blu-ray drive / DVD writer LG CL10LS20 Blu-ray drive Pioneer DVR-S19L DVD ReWriter Pioneer BDR-205BK Blu-ray writer LG BH10LS30 Blu-ray writer
PSU Corsair CX600 Corsair CX600 XFX 650W Corsair HX1000 Corsair AX850
Chassis Fractal Design Define R3 Xigmatek Asgard Lancool PC-K58 Corsair Obsidian 700D Corsair Special Edition White Graphite 600T
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate 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 collect-and-return Two years (hardware), return to base/ labour Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour N/A Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour
Notable extras - - Overclocked GPUs - Overclocked and liquid-cooled GPUs
Price (inc. VAT) £1,134 £1,023 £1,250 £1,850 £3,000

Benchmarks

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

There's not a lot separating the Chillblast Fusion Flash and the Wired2Fire Hellspawn - both are powered primarily by a Core i5-2500K processor overclocked to 4.8GHz and a 2GB Radeon HD 6970 graphics card.

However, while the Wired2Fire option attempts to offer a complete PC package for around £1,000, the Chillblast is a slightly more meaty base unit - it offers solid-state storage, more RAM and a superior Z68 chipset as standard.