Internal appearance, warranty, pricing thoughts
Whipping off the side reveals the innards where the cooling dominates proceedings. The motherboard used is a full-size ATX job and that alone gives you some idea of the chassis' generous proportions.
The massive radiator is cooled by six 120mm fans but there's very little cooling in the upper section.
The BFG GeForce 8800 Ultra ships with the fastest engine clock we've seen thus far - 700MHz. Memory speed is up from the default 2250MHz to 2280MHz. Shader speeds, though, is left at stock - 1566MHz.
The cooling kit uses a Swiftech CPU-block to good effect. Our sample system was shipped with a 2.4GHz-rated Intel Core 2 Quad running at a lofty 3.65GHz.
As you may know, the CPU is multiplier-locked (upwards, at least) and a 406MHz FSB is required to ramp up speed to the level that Vadim has achieved.
Vadim has sensibly cooled the northbridge with an attached block. The southbridge, in contrast, is left bare and the fan you see cools the Thermaltake heatpipe-based chipset cooler.
And here we see it in action.
Finishing our tour at the very bottom, here's the pump that keeps liquid circulating around the system. Disappointingly, the pump came loose on our sample.
The last of the fans provide further exhaust to keep the system cool.
Usage and temperatures
We took a look at some key temperatures on the Vadim system:| Memory | 62°C |
|---|---|
| Graphics VRM | 65°C |
| Motherboard VRM (bottom) | 92°C |
| Motherboard VRM (rear) | <80°C |
| Ambient temperature | 22°C |
| CPU idle | 38°C |
| CPU load | 58°C |
| GPU idle | 48°C |
| GPU load with CPU load | 58°C |
The motherboard gets rather toasty, with the VRMs reaching almost 100°C. The CPU temperature looks good on first glance but we noted that the sensor was inadequately placed near the block. The GPU's load temperature is excellent and, most likely, accurate, but, like the CPU's, the sensor is affixed with what looked to be regular Sellotape rather than high-tack thermal tape.
We noted, however, that the system was eerily quiet even when under load and tested in a warm environment, suggesting that the cooling is more than up to the job of keeping the heavily-overclocked components ticking along nicely.
Warranty
Included in the near-£6,000 asking price is Vadim's Premium warranty. Sounds good, doesn't it? However, on closer inspection a Premium warranty is rather limited.
Firstly, it's only two years and we'd expect a machine of this price to be backed by a three-year warranty, even if that entails a slightly higher asking price - what's another £150, right?
What's more worrying is that the buyer needs to pay the delivery costs for the system to be sent to Vadim and returned. We're rather nonplussed by that.
However, if Vadim PC diagnoses the fault as minor, say, the need for new RAM, and the user is experienced enough to remove and fit it, Vadim will courier the new part and take back the faulty item at no extra cost.
Upgrading to a Deluxe warranty for the same period costs a further £128, including VAT. If any problems are diagnosed as minor, Vadim will send out an engineer for a home visit. More serious problems will require the system to be shipped back to Vadim's HQ in London, at no extra charge to the customer. Further upgrading the standard Premium warranty to a three-year Deluxe will cost £213. If you're paying by credit card a 1.9% additional charge will be incurred.
You, the reader, needs to bear these additional costs in mind when gauging overall value. We also need to point out that the warranty isn't backed up by third-party insurance. Vadim PC can be contacted via a local-rate (0845) phone number and its website has a live chat feature for immediate responses.
Vadim also offers the customer a couple of delivery options. For a reasonable £23.50 including VAT you can have it shipped via CityLink. However, if you're in a real need and simply cannot wait, Vadim also offers a same-day TNT service for £69 inc. VAT.
The Express Fragile service takes particular note of how Vadim wants the system shipped (on one side, standing up, etc.) and, as noted, is delivered on the same day as it's dispatched. Taking the Express Build service into account, we reckon that you can have the system in your possession about a week after the order is placed. Vadim also informs us that this SKU will start shipping immediately
Value for money
The question posed here is whether £5,800 can ever be considered value for money? Assuming you wanted this exact specification and were prepared to build it yourself, we reckon it would set you back some £2,500. So why the huge increase in pricing?
Our pricing doesn't include integration and warranty costs but, still, there's some £3,000 to account for.
Vadim charges some £1,175 for the custom airbrushed finish, a further £1,621 for the 32GB SSD hard drive and a cool grand for the liquid cooling and overclocking.
Now, while the finish is good, we don't believe it's worth £1,175. Similarly, we're only too aware that a 32GB SSD can be bought £250. As for the cooling and overclocking, they shouldn't cost £1,000.
Value for money, then? No, not really. And, remember, the quoted price doesn't include a monitor, a set of speakers or even a keyboard or a mouse.