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Many of the pre-configured systems we review are supplied with a plethora of applications installed which really should be left in the hands of the end user. This is certainly not a concern with the PC Specialist Vortex as the company have only installed the bare minimum of drivers and software, including Nero 9 Essentials and a trial of Microsoft Office 2010.
Windows 7 Home Premium with Service Pack 1 is installed, and PC Specialist have customised the system overview to highlight customer support information. Handy in an emergency if the literature is misplaced.
The Windows Experience Index is a decent way to get a quick overview of how a system will perform. The Vortex XT-270FB scores 7.6 out of 7.9 points, being held back by the AMD HD7970. Never thought I would say that in a review!
CPUz gives a good overview of the system, highlighting the 4.8ghz overclock state with the Core i7 2700k. We have reviewed this processor before, it is a 32nm design, which runs at 3.5ghz in a default state. All ‘K' series processors are completely unlocked and the 2700k is supported with an 8MB level 3 cache.
The Kingston HyperX memory runs at 1600mhz with timings of 9-9-9-27 @ 1T.
The HD7970 Tahiti core operates at 925mhz, and the 3GB of GDDR 5 memory runs at 1375mhz (5.5Gbps effective) which is connected via a 384 bit interface for over 264GB/sec of bandwidth. The card features 2,048 stream processors, is fully PCI E Gen3 compliant (up to 32 gb/s of data bandwidth) and incorporates new AMD Powertune and ZeroCore power technology. There are dual geometry engines, eight render back ends, 32 color ROPs per clock and 128 Z/stencil ROPs per clock.
very nice build indeed. They could have saved a few quid with the 2600k, as it hits the same speeds. maybe used a slightly better SSD?
I like that CPU cooler, seems brilliant. dont think our local store has them however.
normally I have a chuckle at systems you review, such as the ever crap DELL, but when the insides were opened, that is a better wiring job than I could do.
Nice pictures by the way.
It is a very good system, no doubt about it, but I think to be a successful system builder in the UK (i mean really successful) then you need to do something different. Something no one else is trying.
Dell and Alienware may get slated, however they have their own case designs which you cant get elsewhere (alienware anyway). This is why Dell bought them out, they work well as a system builder and offer something that no one else can.
I dont mean to sound like im discrediting PC SPECIALIST, but really I think anyone can make a system like this in, pick good components, and a nice case and get the best motherboard for overclocking then copy settings over. Its not that hard.
In closing, good review, nice system, but nothing that I will remember in a day or two.