Test Methodology
Comparison Systems - Part One |
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| 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 |
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| System Name | MSI Trident 3 Arctic | Scan 3XS Gamer Aura | Scan 3XS Vengeance Ti | Scan 3XS X99 Carbon Fluid Extreme SLI | Scan 3XS Z170 Vengeance Q | Scan 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-7700 | Intel Core i5-7500 | Intel Core i7-7700K | Intel Core i7-6950X | Intel Core i7-6700K | Intel Core i7-7700K |
| Overclocked | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.2GHz | 3.8GHz | 4.8GHz | 4.2GHz | 4.4GHz | 5.0GHz |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 4 / 8 | 4 / 4 | 4 / 8 | 10 / 20 | 4 / 8 | 4 / 8 |
| CPU TDP | 65W | 65W | 91W | 140W | 91W | 91W |
| CPU Cooler | MSI Trident 3 | Arctic Freezer 11 LP | Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 | EK Liquid Loop | Noctua NH-D15S | Corsair Hydro Series H100i |
| Motherboard | MSI MS-B9061 | Asus RoG Strix B250F Gaming | Asus RoG Strix Z270H Gaming | Asus RoG Strix X99 Gaming | Asus Z170 Pro 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 32GB DDR4 (4x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) |
| Memory Speed | 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz | 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 | 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz |
| Graphics | MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero ITX 8GB | Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix Gaming 8GB | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition | 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB in SLI | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 8GB | 2x Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Strix Advanced 8GB in SLI |
| Primary Storage Device | 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD | 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD | 512GB Intel 600p Series SSD | 512GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD | 256GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD | 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD |
| Second Storage Device | 1TB Hitachi Travelstar HDD | 1TB WD Blue HDD | 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD | 2TB Seagate Mobile HDD | 2TB Seagate Hybrid HD | 2TB WD Blue HDD |
| Optical Drive | - | - | - | Samsung DVD Writer | - | - |
| PSU | Delta Electronics (330W, external) | Corsair CX450M (450W, internal) | Corsair CX550M (550W, internal) | Corsair RM850i (850W, internal) | Corsair RM650x (650W, internal) | Corsair RM750i (750W, internal) |
| Chassis | MSI Trident 3 | NZXT S340 | Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB | Corsair Graphite Series 760T | Corsair Carbide Series 400Q with Noctua Redux fans | 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 (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) | 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 | February 2017 | March 2017 | September 2016 | June 2016 | January 2017 |
| Cost As Reviewed | £1,799 | £1,300 | £2,100 | £6,500 | £1,770 | £3,000 |
CPU and Storage Benchmarks |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 3DMark | DX11, run at the Firestrike default test. | |||||||||||
| Gaming | A selection of modern titles are tested at various resolutions. | |||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| 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. | |||||||||||