Review: Scan 3XS Z77 Performance Q10

Final Thoughts and Rating

The increased efficiency of today's high-end hardware is such that extreme gaming PCs no longer need to share the characteristics of a small nuclear reactor.

We firmly believe that all consumer PCs - be they of the office, media or gaming variety - should run as quietly and efficiently as possible. Historically speaking, this hasn't been the case for gaming machines where performance tends to be prioritised above all else, so it's great to see Scan Computers producing PCs that offer gaming-class performance mixed with living-room-friendly quietness.

The 3XS Z77 Performance Q10 is certain to be the first of many Q-Series 3XS machines, and looking ahead, we'd like to see Scan become adventurous in exploring passive CPU and GPU combinations, along with smaller form factors that would blur the lines between gaming PC and media centre.

But the big question here isn't whether or not Scan can produce quiet PCs - the evidence is indisputable; the Z77 Performance Q10 is the quietest 3XS system we've ever tested - it's whether or not consumers will be willing to bite. As it stands, the proposition is delicate; do you spend less on a more powerful PC that's loud, or do you pay extra for a gaming machine that sacrifices a bit of performance in order to remain extremely quiet? That's a tough call.

The Good

Ultra-quiet when idle
Excellent gaming performance
Relatively-low power consumption
Top-notch build quality
Three-year warranty

The Bad

Noise levels do increase when gaming
Quiet components come at a premium

HEXUS Rating

Scan 3XS Z77 Performance Q10

HEXUS Awards

Scan 3XS Z77 Performance Q10

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Scan 3XS Z77 Performance Q10 is available to purchase from 3xs.scan.co.uk.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

James Gorbold, from Scan Computers's Technical Marketing department, has issued the following right2reply:

[August 16, 2012 at 17:59]

Thank for publishing such a positive review of our new 3XS Z77 Performance Q10 system earlier today.

We’re really pleased that you found it to be so quiet and appreciated all the effort that had gone into making the system so quiet.

However, following on from your comments on page 5 of the review regarding the choice of power supply, I thought you might be interested in hearing more on why we chose the power supply that we did.

In short, we did evaluate the 600W Corsair GS600 that you mentioned, alongside the 480W Be Quiet! Straight Power Pro E9 CM, which is what ended up inside the Z77 Performance Q10.

However, the Be Quiet! was judged to have a slight edge over the Corsair for the following reasons:

1. The Be Quiet! is rated by 80 PLUS as ‘Gold’ whereas the Corsair is rated as ‘Bronze’. This means that the Be Quiet! draws less power than the Corsair, so is more efficient. In fact, in our own in-house testing the Be Quiet! typically drew between 7W and 15W less than the Corsair, depending on the load level. This has two benefits for the customer: lower waste heat from the PSU and lower electricity bills.
2. The Be Quiet! has modular cables whereas the Corsair has captive cables. This means that the inside of a PC using the Be Quiet! will have fewer cables, which means it will have superior airflow and is easier to build and upgrade.
3. Finally, in our testing, although the fan inside the Corsair does not spin at all at low load levels, the fan inside the Be Quiet! is so quiet we couldn’t actually measure any appreciable noise difference between the two PSUs.

That said, we do recognise that the Corsair is £10 cheaper than the Be Quiet!, so have decided to offer the Corsair GS600 as an option on our configurator.