Review: Chillblast Fusion Silencio

Conclusion

Making good use of current-generation components such as a Core i5 processor and GeForce GTX 970 graphics, the Fusion Silencio is a fine example of what a £949 gaming rig should be.

Chillblast's envisioning of a modern gaming rig is one that's sleek, whisper quiet and still able to pack a punch. Such systems have in the past carried price premiums or deficiencies in regards to cooling, but with the current crop of hardware, powerful gaming PCs can run cool and quiet with relative ease.

Making good use of current-generation components such as a Core i5 processor and GeForce GTX 970 graphics, the Fusion Silencio is a fine example of what a £949 gaming rig should be. It's fast, runs cool, keeps quiet at all times and allows the latest games to be rendered with copious amounts of eye candy.

Fusion Silencio is a very capable all-rounder, and there are just a couple of minor blots on the system's specification sheet. These include a power supply that isn't silent at low loads, and if it's choice you're after, you might be disappointed to find a lack of options on Chillblast's configuration page - at the time of writing, GTX 970 is the only GPU choice available.

Bottom line: ready to splurge the best part of a grand on a gaming base unit? The Chillblast Fusion Silencio ticks a lot of the right boxes and comes recommended.

The Good		The Bad
High-performance gaming Keeps noise down to a minimum Factory overclocked to 4.3GHz Good component selection Five-year warranty		PSU could be quieter still Limited configuration options

Chillblast Fusion Silencio

HEXUS.where2buy

The Fusion Silencio base unit is available to purchase from Chillblast.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

Ben Miles, Chillblast Sales Director, has issued the following right2reply:

[April 08, 2014]

Given your feedback I’ve rolled out the option to take a STRIX 980 or a STRIX 960 into the video card slot, and offered customers a semi active PSU in the form of the RM series from Corsair.

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Excellent response from Chillblast there, a Corsair RM550 in there and your choice of 960-980 and that is indeed a fine system for under a grand.
While I love building machines myself, for those of my friends less inclined to do so, I'd happily recommend this.

And that is how a company should react to a review of their product, very well done Chillblast. The machine isn't to shabby either.

The annoying thing about it is that it's a grand and we could build cheaper and quieter ourselves……when you call your premium-priced product “Silencio” I expect it to be silent. Shame hexus didn't do a sound-level test for these boxes…..If you have such a penchant for ultra-quiet systems, why not measure that quietness?

Yet again the scan 3xs build looks hideously expensive when compared to pretty much anything else in it's class. In fact it's bordering on making Alienware look good value.

So if you wanted a quiet gaming machine for good value, where would you buy it from?

shaithis
Yet again the scan 3xs build looks hideously expensive when compared to pretty much anything else in it's class. In fact it's bordering on making Alienware look good value.

Thanks for your feedback on the pricing of our 3XS Performance Q10 system that was reviewed by HEXUS six months ago.

However, you may have missed these points when making your analysis.

According to HEXUS in its reviews ‘Scan's guaranteed overclock and ongoing support are more than enough to warrant the £89 premium’ whereas for the Chillblast system ‘for an extra £20 you're getting a pre-built rig, a guaranteed 4.3GHz overclock and a generous five-year warranty that includes collect-and-return cover for the first two years.’

So, we’re talking about a £89 premium for Scan versus a £20 premium for Chillblast, i.e. a delta of £69.

However, there are some key differences in the offerings from both companies.

For instance:

1. All Scan 3XS systems include professionally tidied cables as standard. This is not included in the review system and Chillblast charges £24.99 extra for this service.

2. All Scan 3XS gaming PCs are covered by a three year warranty which covers both parts and labour. In contrast, Chillblast’s warranty only covers parts for 2 years. To cover your Chillblast system for the same quality of cover as Scan will set you back an extra £99.

3. Scan updates Windows, installs the latest drivers and BIOSes on all its systems as standard, yet this wasn’t included in Chillblast’s review price, and costs an extra £29.99.

4. The 3XS Performance Q10 is typically built and ready for despatch in 5 working days. Chillblast estimates 7-10 days but if you do choose their 4 day express service it’ll set you back at extra £79.99.

So, if you were to configure this Chillblast system with the same services as Scan includes as standard, rather than a £69 delta in favour of Chillblast, you’re actually looking at £253.97 extra for the Chillblast over the review price, which works out as a £164.97 delta in favour of Scan.

I trust therefore you can see that the price of Scan 3XS Performance Q10 is therefore very competitive, as HEXUS wrote in the original review.

Review: Chillblast Fusion Silencio

Conclusion

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