Review: Vadim Fusion LQX PC - a sight to behold at £5,800

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Vadim has created a beautiful-looking PC that's sure to wow everyone who lays eyes on it. But their eyes will start to water once they realise just how much it costs.

We fully understand that premium PCs are about more than just the constituent parts but it's difficult to recommend a system that costs as much as a new Ford Fiesta yet ships with a single graphics card and no monitor. Yes, the paint finish is esoteric and the solid-state hard drive is the first we've seen integrated into a system but - and it's a big but - the features and the pricing are well out of balance.

The aesthetics and cooling don't justify the near-£6,000 price-tag and it seems to us plain illogical to pay out that amount for a level of gaming performance that can be bettered by a system using a pair of stock-clocked Ultras.

We'd like to say this is a one-of-a-kind system that will appeal to folks who have just won the lottery. However, even if you happen to be that lucky you'd surely expect more performance for your money - especially graphical?

No matter how good the spec of the system - and, generally, it is good - we're sure that there is better value elsewhere, even in the ultra-high-end premium sector.

Bottom line? A fast, gorgeous-looking machine that's undone by price-tag that, to our way of thinking, simply isn't justified.

HEXUS.certification

The HEXUS.certification denotes that the machine passed our stringent testing without failure. It isn't a recommendation to buy.

Vadim Fusion LQX Intel 775G2 SLI

HEXUS Where2Buy

HEXUS Right2Reply

Vadim Chobanu, the eponymous owner of Vadim Computers, was kind enough to submit a HEXUS Right2Reply, which takes the form of a Q and A.

HEXUS: Why did you opt for the ultra-expensive MTRON SSD drive when the Samsung equivalent is significantly cheaper?

Vadim: Vadim Computers is focussed on performance and stability. The current generation of Samsung SSD drives do not come close to the MTRON's performance (100MB/s read, 80MB/s write). Indeed, our internal testing highlighted that even 4 Samsung SSDs in RAID0 fail to match the performance of a single 32MB MTRON. We choose the best, and the MTRON is it.

HEXUS: Nearly £6,000 for a base unit and no Ultras in SLI? Why not?

Vadim: NVIDIA chipsets are, in our experience, woefully unstable at high speeds. Vadim ships overclocked systems that need to be super-stable at all times, and, believe me, 30 per cent (yes, 30 per cent) of our NVIDIA-based overclocked systems are subject to one issue or another- be it general failure of the hot-running ASICs (common), killing memory or some other part of the system. We simply do not recommend using a core-logic that isn't suitable for long-term overclocked longevity. Intel's P35 chipset, on the other hand, has a much lower failure rate when subjected to overclocking.

We have tried a number of NVIDIA nForce680i SLI-based motherboards - both reference and non-reference - and the problems are inherent to the chipset. Take a look at this thread on the forums, if you will. Vadim Computers still retails overclocked SLI systems but we do warn our customers that it might be unstable.

HEXUS: The custom paintjob and watercooling seems improbably expensive?

Vadim: It's a unique characteristic of the PC and something that you will keep when upgrading in the future, so, yes, whilst expensive, it's a long-term investment. We can airbrush any image as long as you own the copyright. On a related note, we don't charge a penny for upgrading your hardware in the future, other than the cost of the items themselves, and our watercooling system is absolutely top-notch.

HEXUS: Can this base configuration be made any cheaper, then?

Vadim: Yes, we have a similar SKU that ships with two SLI'd, overclocked GeForce 8800 Ultras, a simpler airbrush, and two Western Digital Raptors instead of the SSD drive. The price drops to £4,600 and you can find that system here.

HEXUS: We mentioned that the warranty does appear to be a little stingy.

Vadim: The standard warranty on this system is what we term our premium warranty. Vadim covers the customer from any expense during the first two weeks, should the system be DOA for any reason. Vadim Computers is an enthusiast-oriented company that cares for its customers - seriously, and we will bend over backwards to ensure that our customers receive a first-class service in all respects. Vadim has a 0208 telephone number for sales and support and a one-hour reply via email, as well as a 24/7 forum. Each build is tasked to a particular engineer who oversees it from start to finish and knows the system inside out.

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