Review: PC Specialist Apollo Zen

by Parm Mann on 15 June 2017, 09:00

Tags: PC Specialist, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadilw

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Test Methodology

Comparison Systems - Part One

System Name Alienware Aurora R5 Asus ROG G20CI Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One Pro Cyberpower Infinity X77 Titanium Cyberpower Luxe Xtreme
CPU Intel Core i7-6700 Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6950X
Overclocked No No No Yes Yes Yes
Max Turbo Frequency 4.0GHz 4.2GHz 4.2GHz 4.5GHz 4.7GHz 4.0GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8 10 / 20
CPU TDP 65W 65W 65W 91W 91W 140W
CPU Cooler Alienware Aurora Asus ROG G20CI Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One Cooler Master MasterLiquid 120 XPSC Liquid Cooling
Motherboard Alienware 01NYPT Asus ROG G20CI Asus ROG GR8 II MSI Z270I Growler MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon
Memory 8GB DDR4 (2x4GB) 16GB DDR4 (1x16GB) 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)
Memory Speed 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz 16-16-16-36-2T @ 2,400MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz 16-18-18-36-2T @ 3,200MHz
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Seahawk 8GB MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SeaHawk 11GB MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SeaHawk 8GB
Primary Storage Device 256GB Toshiba XG3 SSD 512GB SanDisk X400 SSD 256GB Intel 535 Series SSD 960GB Corsair Force Series LE 16GB Intel Optane Memory Accelerator 400GB Intel 750 Series SSD
Second Storage Device 1TB Seagate HDD 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD - - 3TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
Optical Drive - DVD Writer - - DVD Writer -
PSU Generic (460W, internal) Asus ROG G20CI (230W + 180W, external) Delta Electronics (230W, external) Corsair SFX 400 Gold (400W, internal) Cooler Master MasterWatt Lite (600W, internal) In Win C750 Modular (750W, internal)
Chassis Alienware Aurora Asus ROG G20CI Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 Nvidia Edition In Win 909
Operating System Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit)
Warranty One year One year One year Two years (parts and labour, to an authorised centre - Scan in the UK) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour)
Date Reviewed December 2016 April 2017 February 2017 March 2017 June 2017 July 2016
Cost As Reviewed £1,385 £2,100 TBC £2,269 £1,999 £4,399

Comparison Systems - Part Two

System Name MSI Trident 3 Arctic PC Specialist Apollo Zen Scan 3XS Gamer Aura Scan 3XS Vengeance Ti Scan 3XS X99 Carbon Fluid Extreme SLI Scan 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI
CPU Intel Core i7-7700 AMD Ryzen 5 1600X Intel Core i5-7500 Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6950X Intel Core i7-7700K
Overclocked No No No Yes Yes Yes
Max Turbo Frequency 4.2GHz 4.0GHz 3.8GHz 4.8GHz 4.2GHz 5.0GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 8 6 / 12 4 / 4 4 / 8 10 / 20 4 / 8
CPU TDP 65W 95W 65W 91W 140W 91W
CPU Cooler MSI Trident 3 Cooler Master Hyper 212X Arctic Freezer 11 LP Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 EK Liquid Loop Corsair Hydro Series H100i
Motherboard MSI MS-B9061 Asus Prime B350-Plus Asus RoG Strix B250F Gaming Asus RoG Strix Z270H Gaming Asus RoG Strix X99 Gaming Asus RoG Strix Z270E Gaming
Memory SK hynix 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)
Memory Speed 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz 15-15-15-51-1T @ 2,133MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,400MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz 16-18-18-35-2T @ 2,666MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz
Graphics MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero ITX 8GB XFX Radeon RX 570 RS Black Edition 4GB Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix Gaming 8GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB in SLI 2x Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Strix Advanced 8GB in SLI
Primary Storage Device 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD 250GB WD Blue SSD 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD 512GB Intel 600p Series SSD 512GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD
Second Storage Device 1TB Hitachi Travelstar HDD 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 1TB WD Blue HDD 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 2TB Seagate Mobile HDD 2TB WD Blue HDD
Optical Drive - - - - Samsung DVD Writer -
PSU Delta Electronics (330W, external) Corsair VS550 (550W, internal) Corsair CX450M (450W, internal) Corsair CX550M (550W, internal) Corsair RM850i (850W, internal) Corsair RM750i (750W, internal)
Chassis MSI Trident 3 PCS SR-620 NZXT S340 Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB Corsair Graphite Series 760T Corsair Crystal Series 570X RGB
Operating System Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit)
Warranty Two years (on-site collect and return) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only)
Date Reviewed April 2017 June 2017 February 2017 March 2017 September 2016 January 2017
Cost As Reviewed £1,799 £949 £1,300 £2,100 £6,500 £3,000

CPU and Storage Benchmarks

HEXUS PiFast Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU.
Cinebench Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible.
HandBrake Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores.

Memory and Storage Benchmarks

AIDA64 Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency.
CrystalDiskMark Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds.

Gaming Benchmarks

3DMark DX11, run at the Firestrike default test.
Gaming A selection of modern titles are tested at various resolutions.

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

Power Consumption Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming.
Temperature Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming.