Final thoughts and rating
Intel's new Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs, launched today, are an evolution of the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture-based chips that have been doing the rounds in many mid-priced PCs for the previous nine months. There's more of everything now - power, caches, performance, energy consumption - yet the Core i7 3930K, the chip which is the beating heart of this Scan 3XS system, is blisteringly fast when taxed to the limit.
Scan saves over £300 by running with the 3930K instead of the largely-similar 3960X EE chip that we have reviewed separately, making total sense for a £2,000 build. Supported by a capable MSI motherboard and a slew of high-quality Corsair kit, Scan's system is tidy, fast and well-thought-out. Graphics, too, are tasty, taking in two overclocked GeForce GTX 560 Tis in SLI, and the system feels very responsive even under utmost load.
Yet you need to think really carefully about what you want from your PC. Jacking up the Core i7 3930K to 4.5GHz requires 1.4V of juice, which in turn pushes power-draw way up for the CPU. Scan's use of the Corsair Hydro H100 cooler keeps the chip's temperatures in check, no doubt, and overall system thermals are excellent, but the £500 platform premium by opting for this chip - CPU, motherboard, memory cost - over an also-overclocked Core i7 2600K machine doesn't reflect in gaming benchmarks.
Bottom line: Scan's done a good job in showcasing just how potent Intel's new Sandy Bridge-E architecture can be. A solid machine in every area, the new chip's and this PC's attractiveness will depend on how just how much you value insane CPU processing speed.
The Good
Fastest PC we've ever tested from a CPU perspective
CPU and GPU overclocking
Excellent cooling and thermals
Sensible array of supporting components
The Bad
Can become noisy when gaming
High power-draw numbers, mainly due to OC'd CPU
HEXUS Rating
Scan 3XS Sandy Bridge-E system
HEXUS Awards
Scan 3XS Sandy Bridge-E system
HEXUS Where2Buy
The reviewed PC can be purchased here.
HEXUS Right2Reply
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