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Braebo have chosen to use a CM Storm Scout II case for this particular system. This is a decent mid-range gaming case which offers solid build quality. For more information on the case, please see our review here.
This case has a generous selection of front panel connections which are cleverly disguised behind a small plastic flap to keep dust at bay. From left to right we find 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, two USB3.0 ports and two USB2.0 ports. The power and reset buttons are located directly above these alongside a button to control the case lighting.
Moving round to the rear of the case we can see there are a plentiful selection of rear I/O connections. From top to bottom we find a PS/2 connector, two USB2.0 ports, four USB3.0 ports, two further USB2.0 ports, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, five 3.5mm audio connectors and an optical S-PDIF connector. Braebo have thoughtfully attached blanking clips to the onboard video connectors and the un-necessary connectors on the video card (as the monitor is supplied with cable) to prevent confusion during installation.
The CM Storm Scout II case is painted entirely black inside which complements the aesthetics of the components nicely. Braebo have chosen to base the system around a quality Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard.
Braebo have selected what appears to be a Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM to cool the overclocked Intel Core i7-3570K. This has been boosted to 4.5 GHz. We are also impressed with Braebo’s choice of graphics card, the MSI GeForce 660ti TwinFrozr which features a very good quality custom cooler. We reviewed a similar model last year here.
It does appear that Braebo has cut corners in a couple of areas when it comes to component quality. While the 500W PSU is Cooler Master branded, it’s quite clear that it is one of their cheap and nasty budget GX Lite models. The dull grey finish and tangle of un-braided cables hardly inspire feelings of quality.
The appearance of the included RAM doesn’t inspire confidence either. We have never heard of the ‘Hyperam’ brand and the lack of heat-spreaders shows that this is a far cry from enthusiast memory. It is rated at 1333 MHz which is a little slow. We would prefer to see Braebo using at least 1600 MHz memory considering the other component choices.
It’s very good to see Braebo including a 128 GB solid state drive in this system but it isn’t exactly a performance model. The Verbatim Black Edition 128 GB is a SATA II unit which falls far short of the latest SATA-600 SSDs in terms of performance. There is also a 2 TB 7200RPM hard drive included for extra storage.
Despite the bare power supply cables, Braebo have done a good job at managing the cables in the system as they are very neat and tidy.
£1500 is very expensive for that really.
Yeah, not a great selection of components. especially the memory. thats not really forgiveable in 2013.
£1,500? I dont think so, I could build a much better system for that price.
Nothing I really like about that build, I normally like the pcspecialist builds you feature on this page, and the mesh one was even nice, but this ? nah. pass.
I am glad that didnt get an award, because its pants. The whole build looks like its sagging inside and the component selection is dire. unnamed memory? entry level PSU and poor cooling, for £1,500? serious? id have gave it 5 out of 10. not 7, but as I said, no award, so im letting you guys off with it.
TBH i would rather have a gaming laptop than a gaming pc these days.oo00 that reminds me i’ve just bought a samsung seris 7 gaming laptop.laptops for the win in my book 🙂
wow, thats a system I wouldnt have myself. a last gen SSD, crap memory and an entry level cooler master PSU? temps are terrible too.
Thats embarassing. thumbs down from me.