How we test
Comparison Systems |
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| System name | Scan 3XS SNB-E | Chillblast Fusion Flash | Scan 3XS GTK SLI | HEXUS high-end self-build | Scan 3XS Cyclone SLI |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 3930K @ 4.5GHz | 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 Hydro Series 100 | Corsair Air Series A70 | Akasa Venom | Intel DBX-B | Be Quiet! Dark Rock PRO BK016 |
| Motherboard | MSI X79A-GD65-8D | ASUS P8Z68-V LE | ASUS P8P67 PRO | ASUS P6X58D Premium | Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 | Corsair XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) 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) | ASUS GTX 560 Ti TOP 1GB (x2 in SLI) |
VTX3D 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 | ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 | 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 GT SSD 1TB WD 10002FAEX HDD |
120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD 1TB Samsung HD103SJ 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) | LG CH10LS20 Blu-ray writer | Samsung Blu-ray drive / DVD writer | Pioneer DVR-S19L DVD ReWriter | Pioneer BDR-205BK Blu-ray writer | LG BH10LS30 Blu-ray writer |
| PSU | Corsair TX850M | Corsair CX600 | XFX 650W | Corsair HX1000 | Corsair AX850 |
| Chassis | Corsair Carbide 500R White | Fractal Design Define R3 | 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 |
| Warranty | Two years collect-and-return | Two years collect-and-return | Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour | N/A | Two years (hardware), return to base, parts and labour |
| Price (inc. VAT) | £2,158 | £1,134 | £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
Four comparison systems all offering something a little different. Going heavy on the graphics is the then-£3,000 Scan 3XS Cyclone, equipped with two GeForce GTX 580s. Making use of the excellent Core i5 2500K are the Chillblast Fusion Flash and Scan's own 3XS GTK SLI, and the latter has roughly equivalent graphics to today's SNB-E machine.
It's clear that a large part of the budget is chewed up by the new Core i7 Extreme/X79 chipset combination. It needs to be helluva fast to make sense over Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K machines.
