Specifications and thoughts
Specifications
| Ultraviolet Genesis XOC | |
|---|---|
| Chassis | Customised SilverStone Technology TJ-07 tower |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700* overclocked to 3.5GHz (13 x 270MHz FSB) |
| Mainboard | eVGA nForce 680i SLI Black Pearl Edition with pre-attached waterblocks |
| Memory | 2GiB (2 x 1GiB) OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper @ 783.4MHz - 4-4-4-12-2T |
| Hard disks | 2 x Western Digital Raptor 150GiB in RAID0 Seagate 750GiB 7200.10 for storage |
| Display (as shipped, available as optional extra) | 22in Samsung 226BW Flat Panel Display - DVI-D and VGA (2ms) - 1680 x 1050 native resolution |
| Graphics hardware | 2 x eVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra Black Pearl Editions in SLI (655/2250) |
| Optical drive 1 | Lite-On LH-20A1S (20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + LightScribe) |
| Optical drive 2 | None, optional extra |
| Sound hardware | Creative Labs X-Fi Gamer Fatal1ty Pro |
| Speakers | None, optional extra |
| Modem | None |
| Networking hardware | 2 x 10/100/1000 from nForce 680i SLi
Texas Instruments two-port FireWire400 controller |
| Ports (usable) | 14 x USB2.0 (4x front, 6x rear I/O, 4x fly-bracket), 2 x FireWire400 (front and rear), 2 x RJ45 (Gigabit), audio, optical/coaxial S/PDIF-out, PS/2 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows Professional, 32-bit with SP2 |
| PSU | NorthQ Giant Reactor 1000W |
| Input devices | Logitech G15 gaming keyboard
Razer Copperhead mouse |
| Additional software | Nero 7 |
| Extras | Alphacool LCD system-monitoring display Innovatek watercooling Pre-overclocked |
| Included warranty | Two years, return-to-base |
| Price | £4,534, including VAT |
| Shipping | Included in price |
One look at the specification and it's clear that the Ultraviolet Genesis XOC is aimed at the reader wanting an ultra-high-end system but who'd prefer to have someone else build and configure it.
Ultraviolet currently retails three different Genesis models in its range - all using the excellent SilverStone Technology TJ-07 chassis. Our review model, the Genesis XOC, is the current top-end offering.
Ultraviolet opts for eVGA's nForce 680i Black Pearl motherboard. This ships as standard with four pre-attached waterblocks - one each for the CPU, SPP, MCP and VREG. Our system had an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6750 processor but the shipping Genesis XOC will carry a QX6850.
The quad-core processor is pre-overclocked to 3.5GHz, thanks to some heavy-duty liquid cooling. Graphics grunt is also by way of eVGA (notice a trend here?), with two SLI'd GeForce 8800 Ultra Black Pearls operating at 655MHz core and 2250MHz memory. They're liquid cooled, too. Indeed, such is the focus on cooling these hot-running components that two radiators are used.
OCZ's Reaper PC1066 DDR2 RAM provides decent bandwidth and latency but we'd like to see 4GiB on such a high-end model. Ultaviolet offers this as a cost option, we note. A couple of RAIDed Western Digital 150GB Raptor drives offer speedy access while a 750GiB Seagate completes the storage provision and will do for most users' needs.
Audio is also good, courtesy of a Creative Labs X-Fi Gamer Fatal1ty Pro sound card - though no speakers are provided as standard. Input devices are predictably good, as well, and a funky front-mounted Alphacool LCD panel can be programmed to monitor a number of system variables.
The downside to such a specification is the price - all £4,534 of it. Yes, that is the price for a system that ships without a monitor or speakers. Clearly, Ultraviolet is wooing the money-no-object crowd but that's a hell of a lot of money even for a top-flight specification.
The Genesis XOC had better look like a million-dollar PC, then....