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Many experienced enthusiast users would claim that you can never buy a prebuilt system that is as good as one you can make yourself. As a rule of thumb, this is certainly very true. For example, I have my own way of doing things, and I have specific routines I set in place for every system I build. I am not claiming its rocket science, but there is a clear distinction between being able to build a rig and being able to build something very special.
Cryo are a UK system builder who are at the very top of their game. They select the right components, they then put them together in a careful and cohesive manner, and they clearly take time in routing the cables and ensuring that everything is exactly the way it should be.
The biggest failing of any system builder is sloppy attention to detail in the bios, and I often find a page with a setting which is either wrong, or poorly tuned.
Cryo have a routine in place which works well. They spend time selecting a series of components and they work out bios settings to the nth degree. After the bios settings are tweaked and tuned, every system is hand tailored to the specific hardware installed. Every processor will have slightly different voltage and overclocking demands. How good is this routine? well after tweaking this machine myself for a full afternoon, I could find no setting that could be improved.
Sure, this system could be pushed further, by another 200mhz … to 5ghz, but the temperatures rose to a level that could potentially cause long term hardware issues. Cryo are aware that the 5ghz figure needs more cooling than the modest H70 can deliver, and they will offer the option, at extra cost. So 5ghz is possible, but I was able to see why in this instance that the system wasn't pushed any higher. There is no point chasing a clock rating to try and sell more systems, if they fail after 9 months. Next time you see an advert for a Sandybridge system at 5ghz with a £20 cooler installed, remember what I said.
It is this fine ‘balancing act' that ensures Cryo may often be copied in the UK but rarely matched. I have said before that Cryo are the finest system builder in the country and I will reiterate it today.
The selection of components in this build is inspired, because for the asking price, I can think of no better selection. Corsair memory, liquid cooler and 80 plus gold certified power supply. A 1TB storage drive, with Crucial 128GB C300 SSD as the OS/boot drive. Beautiful Lian Li case with windowed mod.
I would even go as far to say, that for the price, this is pretty much as good a system as you could buy and certainly built to a standard that would satisfy even the most demanding enthusiast user. This is worthy of our highest award.
Would I change anything? Yes, I would, I was slightly disappointed with the Lian Li case fans in the PC-8FIR. I never remember them being this loud before but I can only assume that my ears have tuned to the ultra expensive Lian Li X2000F which is the greatest chassis on the market. If you have the cash, then get Cryo to build this system into the X2000F, I am sure they will oblige.
You can buy directly from Cryo PC over here.
Pros:
- beautiful case colour and window mod
- inspired choice of components with no weaknesses
- price is very competitive, especially with the 3 year return to base warranty
- bios is expertly tuned
Cons:
- chassis is a little louder than I could live with 24/7. fans could be changed easily enough.
Kitguru says: The finest system build we have seen at this price.
Very nice indeed, im impressed. the 3 year RTB option is worth a few quid too.
Now thats what im talking about. that case is lovely. what a great pic on the interior build page at teh top. that pink/red is amazing
shame they didnt use the Antec Kuhler, its better.
It’s not really better long term. Antec use tubes that can cause more evaporation, long term.
Excellent, I like the choice of hardware, most companies use something I dont like somewhere in the mix
Nice build, never heard of them but their site has some good pcs. My cousin might like this system as he normally buys that dell xps crap.
The case is nice lookin but I’ve seen them, they are very small, the x2000 is much nicer but would probably add 200 quid to the price
How long have cryo been in operation? Never heard of them, although I’ve seen the ads here
Thats a hell of a pc build. couldnt do better myself.
Some thoughts on the system and review!
– Why not run the USB 3.0 headder cables round the back of the H70 Considering it’s got a side window? Cable management in general is good, not great.
– The spec page says that the GTX 580 has “Cryo boost”, however GPU-Z screenshots in the review show it is running at stock speeds
– “Cryo have explained that other system builders have copied their BIOS settings” – they may have said that but it has to be nonsense. Any experienced amateur builder would be able to match and surpass this and guides are available on the internet. There simply isn’t a need for any other system builders to copy CryoPCs BIOS settings as they aren’t doing anything extraordinary.
– The Cryo Boost profile is in the BIOS as profile 1, however there really should be a stock factory profile too. Small point but important.
– Game benchmarks. I feel that if you have and can afford a monitor capable of displaying 2560×1600 then you will go for a GPU setup which can flatter the resolution. It would have been more informative to run the benchmarks with the single GTX 580 at 1920×1080 with the settings ramped up to max.
– Thermal Performance. A 2600K will do 4.8GHz no sweat, it shouldn’t need a 1.48 vCore but it’ll cope with the speed fine. The problem is that the H70 isn’t up to the job of dissipating the heat that the CPU is pumping out at 1.48 vCore. Crysis has been used to measure the “maximum load temperature” of the CPU – 80C after 30 mins of Crysis is simply too hot. As in the recent YOYOTech Warbrd PC review and even in the Kobalt G150 lptpo review, Prime95 should have been used here. I would suggest that if the CPU hit 80C after a short gaming run then it would get very close to its thermal limit on Prime95, perhaps this is why Prime95 load
temperatures weren’t reported in the review? This is important for continuity reasons (vs other PC reviews on kitguru like the Warbird) and also because you have stated the PC would be a “rendering powerhouse and ideal for serious 3D duties”. Crysis load temps aren’t backing this statement up, Prime 95 temps and stability are needed.
– RTB warranty should really be Collect and Return – as most other companies offer, if anything goes wrong the components are covered by the component manufacturers warranty anyway but you will have to deal with and pay for all shipping costs. This doesn’t sound like much but it can add up to a lot, especially after 3 years!
– the case is certainaly an aquired taste, there are much better cases available at the moment.
– Also the component selection is reported to be “inspired” – a selection of the best performers in their relative categories perhaps but hardly inspired.
I have to disagree with your opinion that CryoPC are the finest system builder in the country. There are several other companies who have been running much longer than CryoPC and are able to consistantly produce higher quality machines. I feel myself having to say that it feels very much like their kitguru advertising has had an effect on the neutrality of the review, it is in my opinion a little too biasedand that’s why I have posted more than a short comment.
Firstly, id like to say that advertising has absolutely no effect on the outcome of the review. I have been reviewing Cryo systems long before they were advertising on this site and another, so I can assure you, regardless of your views, this has no bearing on the outcome.
In regards to the game benchmarks, people who buy a GTX580 may very well be running at 2560×1600, this is an ideal graphics card to run at this resolution. Its why we use a mixture of resolutions and not often relying entirely on 2560×1600 as only a small percentage of people will have a 30 inch panel due to the price. That said, both AMD and Nvidia sell them for high resolutions. When you consider that a card like the 6790 or 6950 is sold for 1080p support then its only fair to include some benchmarks at a higher resolution.
Cyro boost profile is set up for the speeds sold. I already mentioned the stock settings, a system sold should have this as default.
Prime 95 is a matter for some debate, I am aware other reviewers use it for some testing, but I feel that more real world testing at times is more useful to a potential customer. A person buying this system isn’t going to be running prime 95 daily and it can often create synthetic loads which arent representative of any real world usage.
I am not sure about collect and return I can discuss this with them, but I notice from your IP address that you are from the US but you seem to have some knowledge of the UK market ?
Comments on the case are irrelevant, you can change it and its personal opinion. Lian Li are considered as some of the finest on the market however.
Component selection is excellent, after all its working to a specific price point, of course there are better products on the market, but with every improvement, the price rises. I see very few coolers better than the H70 at this price point, and the same for the 80 plus gold certified power supply which we reviewed on KitGuru last year, which earned our top award, for efficiency, power regulation, cross loading and temperature management it is one of the best on the market. Sure there are better, but again more expensive, causing a price hike on the system.
Your view of disagreeing with me on the fact that I think they are one of the finest system builders in the country is just that, your view. I am quite sure a percentage will disagree with me, but who would you classify in the UK as better? Obviously your IP from Chicago might mean you are relating to system builders in the states, but its interesting to note from my point of view as I have had negative comments before from someone in Cryo reviews who actually worked for a competitor system builder in the UK. Your American IP is interesting in that why would a system builder in the UK be of such particular interest to you?
Sorry if you genuinely feel the review is biased, but I stand by the article, I think its a fantastic system and better than many of the systems we have seen for review, both now and throughout the last 10 years, which is the length of time I have been doing this.