Test methodology
Comparison Systems |
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| 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 |
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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
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.
