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The Wired2Fire Diablo Predator is certainly a system worthy of recommendation. For the modest asking price of £899.95 you get an overclocked Core i5 3570k (@ 4.7ghz), Nvidia GTX660 and Corsair branded Solid State Drive, memory and power supply. Wired2Fire also include a large mechanical storage drive, keyboard, mouse and 23.5 inch IPS monitor with the bundle.
First impressions of the Diablo Predator are poor because the Xigmatek Asgard Pro is not the most eye catching chassis on the market, although the strengths are more than skin deep. The chassis is well built, reasonably quiet and offers plenty of positions for additional fans, if you want to enhance the airflow further.
With a cool title like Diablo Predator we had expected a case with slightly more visual impact, out of the box. An angry looking ‘Devil' or some miffed Demons on the side panels, or even a simple red paint job would have paired with the name well. In this regard I can't help but feel completely disappointed. It is after all, just a simple black Xigmatek chassis with no modifications or aesthetic enhancements.
Wired2Fire haven't populated all the positions with fans which may put some people off, particularly when the Core i5 processor is running in such a high state of overclock. To be fair however, the Core i5 3570k doesn't generate a lot of heat and the Xigmatek Achilles cooler handles the job reasonably well. Personally I would opt for a Corsair H80i to drop the temperatures by 5-7c under load, although this would add to the overall system cost.
Wired2Fire set the system up well in the Bios, raising the voltage of the processor a little to get stability at 4.7ghz. Everything else was perfect, although we noticed that the memory was only running at 1,333mhz and not 1,600mhz which we would assume was a one off glitch for our review system. Unfortunately we can only review what we get, so it does need to be pointed out.
This system is ideal for a gamer who wants to play the latest Direct X 11 games at 1080p. At 4.7ghz, the 3570K is also suitable for more serious duties, such as video editing and 3D rendering. Obviously spending extra for the Hyperthreading enabled 3770k would be a good option, but again, the price of the system would increase substantially.
We have no concerns with the GTX660, it is a capable graphics card which delivers commendable performance while sipping power at the socket. This system under extended gaming load only demanded 225 watts of power, which is an excellent result.
The inclusion of fast 120GB Solid State Drive for boot duties, and mechanical 1TB drive for backup and storage is an ideal configuration and one we recommend ourselves.
If you can look past the dull appearance, there is actually a very fine system underneath. For the reasonable price and with a decent 23.5 inch IPS monitor included we feel the Diablo Predator system earns a ‘Worth Buying' award from us.
Pros:
- Good state of overclock.
- excellent all round performance.
- Strong bundle.
- reasonable asking price.
- IPS monitor included in the price.
Cons:
- memory was misconfigured to 1,333mhz in our review sample.
- A few extra fans wouldn't have gone amiss.
- A slightly better CPU cooler would help reduce load temps.
- Very dull appearance for a system called ‘Diablo Predator'.
Kitguru says: A well built, balanced system.
Its nothing special really. seems to be well routed and a nice build, but its rather dull IMO.
Good selection of components throughout, shame about the case though, I hate xigmatek fans, they are always so loud. I had to replace several for a friend as they made such a racket. I would have prefered to see a corsair case and cooler rather than xigmatek. forget the monitor. hopefully they allow some adaptions of the core build with better cooling, lower noise.