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PCSpecialist Predator X99 System review


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The PCSpecialist Predator X99 System arrives doubled boxed. The inner box contains the system, built inside the Corsair Air 540 chassis.
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PCSpecialist protect their systems well. They use sculpted blue foam to hold the components in place, as shown in the image above. Obviously this needs removed before turning the system on for the first time.
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We are big fans of the Corsair Air 540 chassis. We liked it so much that it won our MUST HAVE award way back in June 2013. You can read our full analysis of the chassis, over HERE.
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The new Intel Core i7 5820k processor is cooled by the Corsair H100i Hydro. The Asus X99-S motherboard beats at the heart of this PCSpecialist Predator X99 System.
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The Corsair radiator is mounted at the top of the case in an exhaust position.
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PCSpecialist have installed a Kingston HyperX 3K Solid State Drive, alongside a 2TB Seagate SSHD.
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AMD's R9 295X2 is a frame rate monster, designed for 4K gaming. We have reviewed it some time ago and for the price it offers mega performance.
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The Corsair Carbide Air 540 has plenty of space to hide not only the power cables, but the Corsair RM1000 watt power supply itself.

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5 comments

  1. just from my own price checking with a few upgrades to what they are offering or rough equivalences

    PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/H4FWmG

    Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/H4FWmG/by_merchant/

    CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£279.54 @ Aria PC)

    CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.72 @ Amazon UK)

    Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£191.99 @ Scan.co.uk)

    Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£167.59 @ Amazon UK)

    Storage: Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive (£108.26 @ Amazon UK)

    Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£79.99 @ Aria PC)

    Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 295X2 8GB Video Card (£675.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)

    Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case (£98.95 @ Amazon UK)

    Power Supply: Corsair RM 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£127.99 @ Novatech)

    Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£69.02 @ Amazon UK)

    Total: £1877.64

    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

    Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 16:30 BST+0100

    not sure on value for money but labour costing nearly 425 pounds seems excessive

  2. Robert Thorneycroft

    You will always be able to home build a system for less than a company will sell you one pre-assembled as they are in it to run a business rather than a charity. You also forgot to add in the cost of the OS and thermal compound which brings the current price up to £1951.77
    (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/r9ZwCJ) which is only £226 different from the latest price on the PCSpecialist website of £2178.

    I previously bought a laptop from PC Specialist and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again as their service we exemplary. When you consider the price includes with three years warranty, assembly, OS and driver installation and then the system is thoroughly tested before dispatch the £226 difference seems quite reasonable to me.

  3. agreed you can buy them cheaper as parts but labour and parts for that much is excessive

  4. Adrian Banac Paculanan

    cant buy pc 🙁
    i just have amd athlon x2 processor. and 160gb hdd.

    cant buy expensive pc rig. 🙁
    wishing i can buy one

  5. Just finished a new X99 build. System consisted of:

    Motherboard:Asus X99-Deluxe motherboard
    CPU:. Intel i7-5820K,
    Memory: 32 GB CORSAIR Vengeance LPX Black (CMK32GX4M4A2800C16)
    CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i water cooler
    Boot Drive: ADATA M.2 512 GB SSD
    Storage: WD Black SATA III 3TB
    Powersupply: Hitec 850W
    Case: Corsair Obsidian 550D
    Optical drive: LG BH16NS40
    OS: Windows 8.1 PRO 64
    Total cost in Switzerland about CHF 2250 (GBP 1440)

    This system really screams !!! Using the ASUS AI Overclocking utility, maximum overclock achieved was
    4.7 GHZ with all cores synched (BCLK=100 x 47 multiplier), memory settings set
    to XMP, core CPU voltage @1.3V, input voltage@1.90V. Temperatures stayed below
    60 degrees Celsius, running Prime 95 for 6 hours. I was lucky and I hope you guys can get as good an overclock capable cpu/mobo combination.

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