Review: Scan 3XS ST15 Steam Machine

by Chris Elt on 16 December 2015, 09:30

Tags: SCAN, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Valve

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacwzw

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Windows Test Methodology

Getting the feeling that the 3XS ST15 would make more sense running Windows? Using Scan's online configurator to add a 64-bit install of Windows 10 takes total system cost up to £929, or £889 if you feel you don't need the Steam Controller. For those of you contemplating such a build, we've run a subset of our usual system benchmarks for comparison against a range of similarly priced machines.


Comparison Systems
System Name Chillblast Fusion Silencio Cyberpower Infinity Hercules Pro Cyberpower Zeus Mini Evo I-970 DinoPC Primal GT2 PC Specialist Mortis Scan 3XS ST15 Scan 3XS Z97 Performance Q10 Vibox Defcon 2
CPU Intel Core i5-4690K Intel Core i5-4690K Intel Core i5-6600K Intel Core i5-6500 Intel Core i5-6600K Intel Core i5-6600 Intel Core i5-4690K Intel Core i5-4590
Overclocked Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No
Max Turbo Frequency 4.3GHz 4.3GHz 4.2GHz 3.6GHz 4.6GHz 3.9GHz 4.6GHz 3.7GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4
CPU TDP 88W 88W 91W 65W 91W 65W 88W 84W
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 612 Ver. 2 Corsair Hydro Series H55 Corsair Hydro Series H55 be quiet! Shadow Rock LP Corsair Hydro Series H80i GT Arctic Freezer 11 LP Thermalright True Spirit 140 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Motherboard Asus Z97-K Asus Z97-P Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi Asus Z170 Pro Gaming Asus H110I-PLUS D3 Asus Z97-K MSI Z97 PC Mate
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Kingston Hyper-X Fury 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Crucial 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Team Elite 8GB DDR3 (1x8GB)
Memory Speed 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1,600MHz 10-11-10-30-1T @ 1,866MHz 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,666MHz 15-15-15-30-2T @ 2,133MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,666MHz 9-9-9-28-2T @ 1,600MHz 11-11-11-27-2T @ 2,133MHz 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz
Integrated Graphics - - - - - - - -
Discrete Graphics Asus GeForce GTX 970 Strix 4GB MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB MSI GeForce GTX 970 Armor OC 4GB Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 ITX 4GB Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 4GB EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 4GB MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 2GB
Sound Card Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio
Primary Storage 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD 120GB Kingston SSDNow V300 SSD 120GB Kingston SSDNow V300 SSD 240GB Kingston SSDNow V300 SSD 240GB Kingston HyperX Savage SSD 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD 500GB Samsung 840 Evo SSD 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
Secondary Storage - 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 1TB Seagate SSHD 1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD - - -
Optical Drive - - - - - - Samsung DVD Writer Samsung DVD Writer
PSU Cooler Master V550 (550W, internal) Corsair VS450 (450W, internal) Corsair CX600M (600W, internal) FSP FSP500-60HHN (500W, internal) Corsair CS650M (650W, internal) Integra SFX (450W, internal) Corsair RM550 (550W, internal) FSP FSP500-60HHN (500W, internal)
Chassis Cooler Master Silencio 652S NZXT Source 340 Cyberpower Zeus Mini II Fractal Design Core 500 NZXT Noctis 450 Fractal Design Node 202 Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Corsair Carbide Series Spec-01
Operating System Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Warranty Five years (two-year collect-and-return including parts, five-year labour) 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) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) 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) One year (three-month collect-and-return, one-year parts and labour)
Date Reviewed April 2015 February 2015 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 December 2015 October 2014 March 2015
Cost As Reviewed £949 £800 £999 £899 £999 £889 £1,249 £630

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
3DMark DX11, run at the Firestrike default test
Alien: Isolation FHD, QHD and UHD, SMAA-T2x, maximum quality
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor FHD, QHD and UHD, Ultra Quality preset
Total War: Rome II FHD, QHD and UHD, Extreme preset
Power Consumption Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator
Temperature Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator

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