1080 TO4KRESOLUTIONS TESTEDBENCHMARKED IN ALIEN: ISOLATION, SHADOW OF MORDOR,BATTLEFIELD 4 AND CRYSIS 3CARDS FOR EVERY BUDGET, FROM 126 TO 600

3D PRINTING: HOW TO PRINT YOUR OWN PC PARTS

THE BEST SELLING MAG FOR PC HARDWAW RE, OVERCLOCKING, GAMING & MODDING / ISSUE 140

Graphics card megatestGear up for the latest games

MA

Y 2

01

5/5

.99

15CARDS TESTED

PLUS

FIRST LOOK: PARVUMS NEW MINIITX CASE

WelcomeCustom PC Issue 140

3

DONT TRY THIS AT HOMEThe information in this magazine is given in good faith. Dennis Publishing Limited cannot accept any responsibility for loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer that may occur as a result of following or attempting to follow advice given in the magazine. If things do go wrong, take a break.

Custom PC is produced by Mr Freelance Limited, and published monthly by Dennis Publishing Ltd, 30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD, a company registered in England number 1138891.

Entire contents ' Dennis Publishing Ltd licensed by Felden.' Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited. Custom PC is a trademark of Felix Dennis.

EditorialEDITOR

Ben Hardwidgeeditor@custompcmag.org.uk

LABSMatthew Lambert,MikeJennings

MODDING EDITORAntony Leather

GAMES EDITORRick Lane

ART EDITORBill Bagnall

www.billbagnalldesign.com

PRODUCTION EDITORJulie Birrell

CONTRIBUTORSGareth Halfacree,JamesGorbold,

Jim Killock, PaulGoodhead,Simon Treadaway,TracyKing

PHOTOGRAPHYAntony Leather, GarethHalfacree,

Mike Jennings

Publishing &MarketingGROUP PUBLISHER

Paul Raynerpaul_rayner@dennis.co.uk

LICENSING MANAGERCarlotta Serantoni

Carlotta_Serantoni@dennis.co.uk+44 (0)20 79076550

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Nicole AdamsNicole_Adams@dennis.co.uk

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+44 (0)20 79076132

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Dennis Publishing LimitedTel: 020 7907 6000 fax 020 7907 6193

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COMPANY FOUNDERFelix Dennis

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4

CUSTOM PC/ ISSUE 139

Highlights20 Parvums first mini-ITX

case Parvum has now officially brought its two-tone, flat-packed acrylic case design to the mini-ITX world. We put it through its paces.

24 NZXT and Razer chassis One of our favourite case manufacturers, NZXT, teams up with Razer to make a very fancy ATX chassis.

58 Mid-range gaming PCs Looking for a new gaming rig for around a grand? We cast our eyes over two such systems from Box and Cyberpower.

76 Grow Home Rick Lane explains why Ubisofts plant-climbing oddity is an unmitigated delight.

84 Digital heists Jim Killock asks if the GCHQ hacks targeting Google, Gemalto and other law-abiding companies are genuinely in the public interest

86 The PC modders guide to 3D printing Ever wanted to print small, unique PC parts that you just cant find anywhere else? Antony Leather looks at what types of 3D printers available, and why owning one can be worthwhile for PC enthusiasts.

94 Hobby tech Gareth Halfacree investigates maker-community game Spacehack, and also reviews the new AMD-based Gizmo 2 hobby board.

102 How to make a 3D printed fan grille Following on from our modders guide to 3D printing, Antony Leather takes you through the whole process of designing and printing a custom fan grille from scratch using TinkerCAD.

ContentsWelcome to Issue 140

40 Graphics card megatest Few areas of PC tech move faster than graphics cards, but the past year has been especially volatile. Nvidia has released a raft of new Maxwell-based GPUs, with the high-end GTX 980 and 970 in the autumn joined by the mid-range GTX 960 in January. Meanwhile, AMD has been busy cutting prices virtually every one of its chips is now significantly cheaper than at launch, posing a significant threat to Nvidias new chips. As such, we decided it was time to conduct a massive GPU group test to find out which GPUs offer the best bang per buck for your budget. Weve enlisted some new games in our test suite, including Shadow of Mordor and Alien: Isolation, and looked at dual-card setups and several budget cards too. Whatever your budget or gaming requirements, this test will tell you which GPU is the best for you.

24

COVER STORYP40

20

108100

94

Cover guideRegulars8 From theeditor

10 Tracy King

12 Letters

14 Incoming

34 How we test

38 Custom kit

58 PC head to head

62 CPC Elite products

73 Inverse look

80 The engine room

84 Digital rights

94 Hobby tech

100 Customised PC

102 How to guides

108 Readers drives

112 Folder of the month

113 Your folding milestones

114 James Gorbold

8640

Reviewed this monthHardwareCPU COOLER17 Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT

MOTHERBOARD18 MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

CASES20 Parvum Systems X1.024 NZXT H440 Special Edition

GAMING LAPTOP26 Dino PC Phoenix 17.3in GTX 980M SLI Gaming Laptop

GPU COOLER30 Arctic Accelero S3

GAMING HEADSET32 SteelSeries Siberia V3

Custom kit38 Patriot FUEL iON Galaxy S4 Case & Stand38 Patriot FUEL iON Car Mount38 Death Star Ice Mould 39 Divoom Voombox Ongo39 PNY LM300039 QDOS Portland

Graphics card Labs test42 AMD Radeon R9 270X42 AMD Radeon R9 280 43 AMD Radeon R9 285 46 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 48 AMD Radeon R9 280X 48 AMD Radeon R9 290 49 Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 51 AMD Radeon R9 290X 52 Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 53 AMD Radeon R9 295X2

Mid-range gaming PCs58 Box Cube Blizzard58 Cyberpower Infinity Achilles XT

Ga74767678

29 PRODUCTS REVIEWED

76

Reg lars

86

20

ngLiglv

Homless Sea

76

8

OP IN ION

GRAPHICSEQUALISER

Thanks to AMDs price cuts, theres never been a better time to buy a high-spec GPU, says Ben Hardwidge

BEN HARDW IDGE/ FROM THE EDITOR

As Iwrite thiscolumn, theresabizarrelyheateddebateonTwitterandFacebookabout thecolourofadress inabadlytaken,overexposedphoto.Somepeoplesaythe

dress is blue and black; others say its gold and white. Andeveryone who sees the dress as anything other than the colourschemeparsedbyyourbrain isclearlyahereticwhoneeds tobeburned, along with people who can make Magic Eye pictureswork. To me, it looks blue and black, and a quick check inPhotoshop confirmed it was indeed blue and black. Theresnothing quite like hard mathematics to challenge your perception,andthatsparticularlytruewithourgraphicscardLabs thismonth.

As always, we determined the scoresscientifically using a complicated Excelspreadsheetthatanaccountanthelpedustoputtogether.Wefeedtheframeratesfromeachtestinto the spreadsheet, and it awards points forminimum frame rates that hit our 25fps,30fpsand60fps targets,as its theminimum thatyounotice when your game slows down, rather than the average.The spreadsheet is intended to reward cards that offer a real-worldbenefit,soyouknowthatupgradingtoonecardwillmakea game playable that isnt possible on another card.After all, ifone card drops down to 9fps, and one drops down to 6fps, the9fpscardisntbetterinausefulwaybothresultsareunplayable.

Onceallthescoresarein,thespreadsheetthencalculatesvaluefor money,based on the frame rate targets hit for the cheapestprice we can find for that GPU online. For the first time, wevealso incorporatedefficiency intothefinalscorethistimearound,as noise and power consumption are increasingly becoming abigger deal. It only makes up 10 per cent of the score, so

performance and value are still the key factors,but we wantedawaytorewardGPUsthatarepower-efficient,aswellasofferingagoodbangperbuck.

But its bang per buck thats the most important factor. Theall-important question is which card offers the best balance ofminimum frame rates for the money, and AMDs recentaggressive price cuts have completely obliterated the GPUlandscape.Just lastmonth,wehad theRadeonR9270X listedasour affordable 1080p GPU of choice, but the Radeon R9 280 isnow so cheap that the R9 270X is effectively redundant. It isnt

that the R9 270X is now a bad GPU (it will stillhandle games fine at 1080p), its just the bangperbuck ratio isnowsoskewedby thecheaperR9280 that itsscore takesahammering.

Perhapsmore interestingly,though,NvidiasGeForce GTX 960,and even the GTX 970,havealso been hit hard by these price cuts, despiteefficiency now being a part of our scoringsystem. The GTX 970 is still a great, power-

efficientGPU,but itcostsmore thanAMDsRadeonR9290,anditsonlya littlecheaper thanAMDssingle-GPU flagship, theR9290X.TheseAMDcardsmightbecomparativelyold,andpower-hungry,butat theircurrentprices, theyreveritablebargains.

We didnt quite believe the scores when we saw them, but Iassureyouthattheyrecorrect.TheGTX970 isanewandefficientGPU,and itblewusawaywhenwefirstsaw it,butAMDdroppingthepriceof itsfastestGPUshasseriouslyhammered itsbangperbuck ratio.

Whether thissituation issustainable remains tobeseen,butat themoment,thanks toAMD, theres never been a better time to buy a top-spec GPU.

Ben Hardwidge is the editor of Custom PC. He likes PCs, heavy metal, real ale and Warhammer 40,000. editor@custompcmag.org.uk @mandogfish

The Radeon R9 280is now so cheap that

the R9 270X iseffectively redundant

10

OP IN ION

STOCKANDBULLIs stock market trading via a fun app really just superstitious

thinking seeping into technology, asks Tracy King

TRACY K ING/ SCEPTICAL ANALYSIS

Orlando stared at the screen. His stocks wereperforming well, but he wasnt in the lead. Hiscompetitors, brokers and wealth managers from

several of Britains finest firms were making more moneythanhimand,withonly threemonths togo,Orlandohad toact fast, and act smart. He picked up his mouse and took adeep breath. Three months later, his risks paid off. Orlandowas declared the winner of The Observers Portfoliochallenge,turninga4percentprofitonan initial investmentof 5,000, double the profit of the professionals. Which is odd,because Orlando is a cat.

The Observers 2012 experiment wasntremotelyscientificorevenparticularly fair,butit illustrates a common question with stockmarket trading: can you perform just as wellwith random selections as carefully studiedstock picks? The Random Walk Theory positsthat stocks and shares are random, that nopatternemergeswithstudy,soyoucantpredictthe market based on the past.

Incasinos,blackjack tablesdisplayarunningtallyofwhichnumbershavecomeup.Gamblersuse it to try topredictwhichnumber ismore likely,orperhapsdue,tocomeupnext.This is,ofcourse,completely irrational.Leaving aside the small margin for dealer manipulation,previous numbers have absolutely no bearing on futurenumbers.Youknowall this,Iexpect.Peoplewhounderstandprobability are agog at people who buy lottery tickets.Andyet the National Lottery presenter will tell viewers howfrequently a particular number has been drawn,as thoughsomehow theballs themselvesare imbuedwithamenext!will and memory of past performance.

Whether or not stock market trading is an exact scienceremains up for debate, the subject of many scientific papers

and even a Nobel prize,and certainly all those analysts andfinancialmanagersaredoingsomething.Imnotparticularlyconcerned about what that something is, as I dont have abroker and dont play the market (although I do have a cat).Whatconcernsme iswhetherornotsuperstitious thinkingis seeping into our technology. In January, I read an articlepraising the accessibility and fun of market trading appssuch as Bux, which promises the excitement of the stockexchange in your back pocket, which could easily be thestrapline for a casino app.

At the start, Bux gives you pretend moneycalled funBux, so you cant just wade in andthrow500ofrealcashonAmazon.Thatpartlyreassured me, and partly screamed youredabbling in a serious world,and this colourfuljaunty app is possibly going to bankrupt you.I installed it anyway,and immediately put 150funBuxon Netflix, because I love Netflix, andthe same amount on Tesla Motors, becausetheyre cool.

I sneered at the opportunity to pretend-invest in HSBC or Yahoo, and then deleted the

appbecause itwasclearmydecisionswerebasedonpersonalbias and absolutely no data whatsoever. Had my funBuxstocks performed well, no doubt I would have experiencedboth pleasure and some post-hoc rationalisation along theI totally know what Im doing lines and maybe progressedto investing real money.

In the end, amateur trading via technology seems tobe akin to casino gambling, and its arguably no more orless scientific.

Although stock prices are influenced by data,by the timethepricehaschanged,youre too late to takeadvantageof it, so its best left to the experts, or possibly the cat.

Gamer and science enthusiast Tracy King dissects the evidence and statistics behind popular media stories surrounding tech and gaming @tkingdoll

I put 150 funBux onNetflix, because I loveNetflix, and the same

on Tesla Motors,because theyre cool

12

FEEDBACK

LettersRAID tomeasureI just want to say I love themagazine. Ive been collecting andsubscribing for at least ten yearsnow! I need some advice on storageand backups. Im a photographer,but I cant get faster than a 1-2Mb/sec upload where I live,so onlinebackup isnt viable. I would like tobuild a new drive to hold backups,but Im not sure which route to take.I plan to go with a NAS system,butwhat RAID system should I use, ifany? I really want to get betterspeeds and take advantage of myGigabit Ethernet connection.Wouldhybrid drives make a big differenceover normal drives? Any help wouldbe greatly appreciated! JAMES LAWSON

Ben:I feel yourpain, James, as Ive justmovedaway froma flatwhere Icouldonlygeta1Mb/secuploadconnection,and itwasa royalpain.The first thing tosay is that theres littlepoint inputtingahybridharddrive inaNASbox,as inmostcases, thenetworkspeedwillbethe limiting factorover thespeedof theharddrive. IwouldbuyaNASboxwithspace for twoharddrives (Synologyboxesaregreat forsoftware featuresandeaseofsetup,although theycanalsobecomparativelyexpensive),andthen install two identicaldrives in RAID 1 (mirrored)configuration.

Youllonlybeable touse thecapacity ofoneof thedrives,but theseconddrivewillmirror itexactly,so ifoneharddrivegoesdown, youcanstill keepyoursystemgoingwith thesecondonewhileyouget it replaced itminimisesdowntime.On topof that, IwouldalsoplugaUSBexternalharddrive into theNASbox, andset upadailybackup to it.You thenhaveeverybasecovered foryourdata,givingyoubotha backupanda failsafe if one of your drives breaks.

PitterplatterI was at the early stages of orderinga new hard drive for my PC,and,asone would expect, I consulted theyour Elite list first. It recommendsthe 2TB Seagate BarracudaST2000DM001,and indeed it hasdonewell forquitesome time. Ievenfaintly recall the drives under test,and the major reason for theimpressive read/write figures wasdown to the fact that the drive onlyhad two 1TB platters,making accessreally speedy.So far,so good.

However, this drive ships in twoconfigurations.One is blindinglyfast as tested, with two 1TB platters,

but the other is nowhere near asfast,with three 666GB platters.Bothdrives ship under the same modelnumber,and theres no guaranteethat your dealer will know whichtype their supplying.

There is a very obscure letterchange in one of the product codescarried on the drive case,and thegooddrive also has a deeperindent on the underside althoughit will be hard to tell the differencewithout the two drives sitting side by side.

I know you publish yourrecommendations in good faith,and will be as concerned as me todiscover that two vastly differentperforming drives have the samemodel number.Could I advisereaders to be extra-careful whenordering this drive,and be preparedto send an RMA if the unit supplied is incorrect?

I also have one final questionregarding hard drives in general.Myboot drive will now always be a solidstate drive,but some people say Iwouldnt need a secondary drive asfast as the aforementioned twin-platter Seagate drive. Is there any truth in that?RICK BILLSON

Ben:Thankyou forbringing this toourattention,Rick aquickGoogleshowsseveralpeople reporting thesameissue,and itsdisappointing tohear thatSeagatemaybeshipping triple-platterdriveswith thesamemodelnumberasthe fast two-platterdrives Ill try tolook into this further to findout if theres away toguarantee youll get a two-platterdrive.

Toansweryourquestion though yes, its less important tohavesolidstatestorage forgeneraldata files. Inanidealworld,everythingwouldbesolidstate, but even today, solid state storage

Please send us your feedback and correspondence to letters@custompcmag.org.uk

Withadual-bayNASyoucansetup twodrives inamirroredarray,creatinga failsafe tominimisedowntimeif one drive breaks

Ouroriginalreviewsample

ofSeagatesBarracuda

ST2000DM001hadtwo1TBplatters,rather than three666GB platters

13

Send your feedback and correspondence to letters@custompcmag.org.uk

WHENS THE NEXT MAG COMING OUT?

Issue 141 of Custom PC will be on sale on Thursday, 16 April, with subscribers receiving it a few days beforehand. Visit http://tinyurl.com/CPCDates to see the release dates for the rest of

the year.

isveryexpensive in termsofcostpergigabytecomparedwithaharddrive,somostpeoplecompromise.

Whereyounotice thedifferencewithsolidstatestorage iswithboottimes,app loading timesand theresponsivenessof theoperatingsystem foreverythingelse,aharddriveusuallydoes the job fine.

Frommypersonalperspective, thespeedofaharddrive is largely irrelevantnow,as Ihaveadecent-sizedsolidstatesystemdrive,andstoreallmydataonaNASdrive,and thenetworkconnectionis the limiting factor there,even ifyoureusinga triple-platterharddrive.However, Ialsocompletelyunderstandwhypeoplewould feelshort-changedby receivinga three-platterdriveinsteadofa two-plattermodel.

DAC to the futureI was interested to read your comments about Cambridge External DACs, not knowing much about audio. Im only interested in good-quality stereo audio, so this might be upgrade for me at a later date. I was wondering if, when you review sound cards next, maybe youcould include external DACs too? DAVE

Ben:IfweeverdoasoundcardLabsagain thenwellbesure to includesomeexternalDACs,yes. Ifhigh-qualitystereosoundquality isyourpriority then thatsdefinitely theoption Idchoose.

Giftof themodsAfter subscribing to Custom PCmagfor many years, I finally felt inspiredto actually get up and mod.When Ibought my Cooler Master HAF-Xcase, I wasnt bothered about it nothaving a 3.5in front-facing drive bay,as I was never going to use a floppydrive again.

However,when I decided to getan internal card reader, it was in a3.5in drive size.The HAF-X hasmetal- grilled bay blankers,whichlook really cool, and I didnt want to get a plain plastic adaptor, so I decided to use the one I would have replaced with the drive and mod it.

Firstly, I got out my Ryobi multi-drill (other Dremel-type drills are available!) and started to cut a slot with the drill. Sparks flew everywhere, and I was a little terrified, so I then got out my side cutters instead.

I cut out a hole in the middle, and the excess was bent around a 4mm piece of Perspex to create a slot. I then fixed it to the reader using black Sugru, which also hides the metallic gray sides poking out.

While it wont win any modding competitions on its own, Im really chuffed with what Ive achieved! Im also really chuffed about seeing my 600,000 Folding@home milestone in the April issue.CATFLAPS

Twitterhighlights

FollowusonTwitterat@CustomPCmag

RiponLaptopsExcellentguide toED!Amusthavegame foranyPCGamer!

limivorous I thoughtHDDcaddiesweremeant tobe ridged.Howonearthdidyoumanage tobend

oneon the frontof thesubscribers issue?

Antony: Iwouldsay thatsagoodspotCraig,but itsactuallyprettyobvious,so Ihaveno ideahow Imissedit. Iwasprobably focusing toomuchongetting therightangle for thephoto anyway,considermywristslapped!

kajun_chengNew issueof@CustomPCMagarrived.About to read itwithmy

#BeverageApprovedmug!

DrSDClarke Cant wait to get my hands on one of those Falcon Core 51s... 200! Bargain :)

Ben: Yes, thank you to the many of you who pointed out the price of the Falcon PC in Issue 139, p62. This was actually a bigger cock-up on our part than it initially looks, as weve explained on p14.

While it wont win any modding competitions on its own, Im really chuffed with what Ive achieved!

Ben: This what its all about! Well done for giving it a go I find modding even small parts is really satisfying. You get the exact computer part you want, you cut down on waste and you get all the fun of playing with rotary drills too (theyre not that terrifying when youve used them a fair bit). If any other readers want to send in photos and details of small mods theyve done, wed love to see them.

14

COMING SOON/ NEW KIT

IncomingWe take a look at the latest newly announced products

CORRECTION

FalconCore51ProSLIGamingPCInour reviewof theFalconCore51ProSLIGamingPC (see Issue139,p62),wemistakenlyprinted thepriceof themachineas2,000 (or2,00assomeofyouspotted).Theprice is, in fact,1,899 incVAT wegot itwrong andsincerelyapologise toFalcon for theerror,whichaffectfinalscoreawarded to themachine.Falcon isalsoofferinganupgrade toa two-yearcollectand returnwarranty foranextra50,matching thewarrantyontheOverclockersUltimateFinesseBlackhole featuredin thesamehead toheadsection.Youcanorder theFalconCore51ProSLIGamingPCnow fromhttp://tinyurl.com/FalconCPC

SPEED

24/25DESIGN

20/25

HARDWARE

23/25VALUE

21/25

OVERALL SCORE

88%

wrong,anded the

%

BitFenix introduces water-cooling casesBitFenix has previously wowed us with its Prodigy cases, enabling you to build a decent-spec mini-ITX rig, and its latest Aegis chassis is aimed at people wanting to build a water-cooled micro-ATX machine. The Aegis has room for either two 280mm radiators, or a 360mm and 240mm radiator combination. There are mounts for up to eight 120mm fans (or five 140mm spinners), and the case also sports the very fancy (and customisable) 2.8in TFT ICON display that we first saw with the BitFenix Pandora. The Aegis is also available in several colours, including black, blue, red, white and yellow, and can be pre-ordered for 80 inc VAT from www.overclockers.co.uk now.

New Fractal fansAcclaimed case maker Fractal Design has just announced a load of new fans, aimed at a variety of PC cooling situations. First off is the Dynamic Series range, which comes in 120 and 140mm flavours, and are available in an all-black or black and white finish (pictured). The Dynamic fans feature hydraulic bearings and what Fractal calls aerodynamically shaped thin stator struts, which the company says mimic the design often found on aeroplane wings to reduce turbulence. The 120 and 140mm models will be priced at 8.99 and 9.99 inc VAT respectively.

Meanwhile, the Silent Series R3 fans are designed to offer affordable, quiet and effective cooling, and are available in all-black and black and white finishes. There are more sizes in this range, though, with 40, 50, 50, 80, 92, 120 and 140mm models, starting at 4.99 and going up to 7.99 inc VAT.

aregoAfter a mysterious silence about Steam machines and controllers since last year, Valve has announced plans to show off a bunch of new Steam devices at the Games Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this year. The company says the demo will encompass steam machines with the final Steam controller, as well as new living room devices and a previously-unannounced Steam VR system.

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16

ReviewsOur in-depth analysis of the latest PC hardware

Reviewed this monthCorsair Hydro Series H110i GT p17 / MSI Z97i Gaming ACK p18 / Parvum Systems X1.0 p20 /

NZXT H440 Special Edition p24/ Dino PC Phoenix 17.3in GTX 980M SLI Gaming Laptop p26 /

Arctic Accelero S3 p30 / SteelSeries Siberia V3 p32 / Custom kit p38

17

CorsairsnewHydroSeriesH110iGTcooler isanabsolutemonster,usingahalf-heightdouble140mm-fan radiator

and twoCorsairSP140L fans that can ramp up theirspeed to2,100rpm.

Ifyouhaveaparticularly largecase thatcanhouse theentirecoolerwith fans internally,youllencounterno issues.Otherwise, though,youllneeda twin140mm fanmount insideyourchassis ideally in the roof anda largeenoughgapatoneend toallow the tubing topass intoyourcase, alongwithadecent-sizedgapbetween your motherboardandcaseat the top.

Screwsare included tomount theH110iGTwith theradiatoror fans first toyourcase,with theoptimalsetupbeinga roof locationwith the fansbeneath,blowingairthrough the radiatorandoutof thecase.Thepumpsectionlooksa littledifferent toprevious i-seriesCorsaircoolers,but the simple-to-installmountingmechanism isbasically

thesame,withabackplate,mounting plate,pinsand thumbscrews.

Corsairhasalsoenhanced theaesthetics,withanRGB-illuminatedpumpsection, insetstripson theradiatorshowing theCorsair logoand tubescovered in thickbraid; itdefinitely looks lessgeneric than itspredecessors.AsingleSATApowerconnectorpowers thepumpand the

two fans.Beingan i-seriescooler, theH110iGTalsoworkswithCorsairsLinkcontrolsoftwarebyconnecting the pump section toamotherboardUSBheader.

The fanandpumpspeedareadjustable,and the levelof controlandmonitoring isexcellent.Youcan tie the fanspeed toseveral inputs, including theCPUorH110iGTsinternal temperature,andmonitor temperatures over time andcontrol thepump lighting.

InourLGA1150system, theH110iGTmatched theH105withadeltaTof47C,and itwas7Ccooler than theH75 too. RaijinteksTritoncoolercooleda littlebetter,but itwasnoisierat itsmaximum fanspeedsetting,although theH110iGT is alsonoisyatmaximumspeed.Reducing theH110iGTs

fansandpump tominimumspeedsaw itoperateatwhisper-quiet levels, but the delta T only roseby5C.

OurLGA2011systemhas recentlybeenthrougha revamp,soweonlyhavecomparativeresults forCorsairs H75 and H105 coolers at the present time.

Evenso, theHydroH110iGTbeat theH105by1Candwas9Ccooler than theH75.On low fan speedsettings, itstillmanaged to tameouroverclockedCore i73960X, with the delta T rising by just 3C.

CorsairHydroSeriesH110i GT/ 101inc VATSUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk/ MODEL NUMBER CW-9060021-WW

/ SPECIFICATIONS

Compatibility Intel:LGA2011,LGA2011-v3,LGA115x,LGA1366,LGA775;AMD:SocketAM3+,AM3,AM2+,AM2,FM2+,FM2,FM1

Radiatorsizewith fans (mm)322x140x52(WxD x H)

Fans2x140mm

Stated noiseUp to 43dB(A)

CPU COOLER

ConclusionThehugeH110iGToffersgreat looks,customisable lightingandsuperbcooling. In fact, inLGA2011systems,onlyacustomwater-coolingkitwouldofferbettercooling.Youllneeda largespace inyourcase to mount the radiator,and itsoverkill formostLGA1150systems,but itsvery effective cooler for LGA2011 systems.ANTONY LEATHER

VERDICTMonstrous cooling and comparatively modest noiselevels. A great cooler for LGA2011 systems.

INTEL LGA1150

0 15 30 45 60

47C

52C

47CCorsair H105

Corsair H110i GT

Corsair H110i GT

INTEL LGA2011

0 10 20 30 40

36 C

39 C

37CCorsair H105

Corsair H110i GT

Corsair H110i GT

Lower is betterHigh fan speedFixed fan speed Low fan speed

LGA115x

LGA2011

COOLING

39/40

COOLING

39/40

VALUE

25/30

VALUE

27/30

DESIGN

25/30

DESIGN

25/30

OVERALL SCORE

89%OVERALL SCORE

91%

Youllneeda twin140mm fanmountinsideyourchassis ideally in the roof

LGA115xLGA2011

ELITENEWENTRY

P62

REV IEWS/ NEW KIT

18

We first tooka lookatMSIsZ97IGamingACback in Issue131,where itpickedup an Approvedawarddespitesome

reservationsover its layout. ItstillboastedanexcellentEFI,anumberof featuresandareasonableprice tagof109,sowhile itcouldbetricky tocable-tidyasystemusingone, itstilloffered fiercecompetition.Thankfully,MSIhasnowseen fit to refresh itwithanewdesign,launching theZ97iGamingACK to replace it.

TheACK retails fora littlemoreat115,butyougetmore foryourcash.Thepreviousmodel lackedbothSATAExpressandM.2,but theACKnowsportsanSSD-capableM.2port.LikeAsusZ97i-Plus, theM.2port is locatedon therearof thePCB,whichpotentiallymakes it tricky toaccess,althoughmostpeoplearent in thehabitof removing theirSSDs or hard disksona regularbasis.Sadly, its limited to

SSDsup to60mm in length, though,whichlimitsyouroptions.TheresalsoasecondsmallerM.2porton the topsideof thePCB,which isoccupiedbyaKiller1525802.11ac Wi-Fiadaptor thatsconnected to two antennason the rear I/Opanel.

The restof thespecificationhasntchangedmuch.Therearestill fourSATA6Gbpsports,RealtekALC1150-based8-channelaudio,withan isolatedPCBandtheusual twoDIMMslots thatsupportup

to16GBofRAM.Whathaschanged, though, is the layout. Infact,apart fromasimilarcolourscheme, theZ97iGamingACKisalmost unrecognisablecompared to itspredecessor.TheCPUsockethasbeenmovedupacoupleofcentimetresthePCB togivemoreclearancebetween itand the16xPCI-E slot. Meanwhile, thePCHchipset isnow locatedat the

bottomof thePCB,while theVRMheatsinksitsat the top, instead of behind the rear I/Opanel.

Themostusefulchanges, though,comefrom thenewport layout.TheSATA6Gbpsports, forexample,havemoved from theirawkwardspotat the topof thePCB,withtwonow locatedalong the rightedgeandtheother twobehind theDIMMslots.The24-pinATXconnector isbetterplaced too,andsitson the rightedgenext to theDIMMslots,asdoes theUSB3header.Thebestnews is that the8-pinEPSconnector isroughlywhereyoud find itonothermotherboardsnow too, insteadofstuckannoyinglybehind the rear I/Oports,while the frontpanelconnectorsnowsitmuchcloser to the likely locationof thefrontofyourcase.Mini-ITXcasesvaryconsiderably in their internal layout, of

MSIZ97iGaming ACK/ 115inc VATSUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk

/ SPECIFICATIONS

ChipsetIntelZ97

CPUsocketIntelLGA1150

Memorysupport 2slots:max16GBDDR3 (up to3200MHz)

ExpansionslotsOne16xPCI-E3

SoundRealtekALC11508-channel

Networking KillerE2205GigabitLAN,Killer1525802.11acWiFi + BluetoothV4.1

OverclockingBaseclock90300MHz,CPUMultiplier8-80x;maxvoltages,CPU2.1V,RAM2.7V

Ports4xSATA6Gbps (Z9,6xUSB2,6xUSB3,1xLAN,3xsurroundaudioout, line in,mic,opticalS/PDIFout,2x HDMI,1xDisplayPort,2xWi=Fiantennaports

Dimensions (mm) 170 x 170

LGA1150 MOTHERBOARD

course,but these improvementsshouldmake tidying your cablesandbuildingyourPCmucheasier.

Overclocking toolsareprettysparse though; theres justaclear-CMOSbutton locatedamong the rear I/Oports nopoweror resetbuttons.However,youllhave to forkoutashedloadmorecash forAsusMaximusVII Impact togetmoreof these features.MSIdoes includea fewextrafeatureselsewhere, though,suchaswhat itclaims tobe theworlds firstcombinationofKillerLANandWi-Fi.Youcanuse theWi-Fiadaptor toconnectseparately to the Internetformundane taskssuchasvideostreaming,while leavingtheEthernetport free for low-latencygaming. ItsanichefeaturebutpotentiallyusefulatLANparties.TheresalsoadedicatedUSBport forexternal audio DACs that offers a stable5Vpowersupply.

PerformanceOutof thebox, theZ97iGamingACKdidntperform thatwell,partlybecauseof itsmediocreuseof theCPUsTurboBoost feature,where itwasoften200MHz lowerunder loadthanotherboardsweve tested.MSI includesanoption for enhancing theTurboMode, though,which improvedperformanceconsiderably weve listed thedefault resultsin thegraphs.Overall, itsscoreof 2,394was less than100pointsshortof theMaximusVII Impactand less than50pointsshyof theAsusZ97i-Plus.Therewasalsoa1fps difference in theminimum frame rate inSkyrim.

In termsofoverclocking,our targetof4.8GHzwasa littletrickier thanusual tohit,mainlydue toourCPUgettingquite toastyasweapproachedourgoal.Avcoreof1.28Vwas needed forastable4.8GHzclock higher than itspredecessor,although theCPUwas just inchesaway fromthrottlingso this figure is tobeconsideredamaximumoverclockandnota frequency touseeveryday.Thatsaid,MSIhas reallynailed itsEFIs recently,and theZ97iGamingACKsEFI isnoexception. Its lessclutteredandeasier tousethanGigabyteEFIsweveseen recently,andwhile therearefewer features than your average Asus ROG board, its just as well laid out.

Itsalmostunrecognisablecompared to its predecessor

19

VERDICTA vastly improved layout over the Gaming AC, with good looks and a decent EFI.However, it gets hot when overclocked and the similar Asus Z97 I-Plus is cheaper.

OVERALL SCORE

85%SPEED

35/40VALUE

26/30

FEATURES

24/30/ TEST KIT3.5GHz IntelCore i7-4770K,16GBCorsairVengeanceProDDR31,866MHzDDR3memory,128GBOCZVector150SSD,NvidiaGeForceGTX7803GB,CorsairProSeries Gold HX750 PSU, Windows 7 64-bit

GIMP IMAGE EDITING

0 650 1,300 1,950 2,600

2,505

2,530

2,557

2,051

2,091

2,097Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

0 1,200 2,400 3,600 4,800

4,232

4,538

4,444

3,490

3,645

3,596Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000

1,826

1,780

1,760

1,641

1,673

1,638Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

0 750 1,500 2,250 3,000

2,854

2,949

2,920

2,394

2,470

2,443Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

HANDBRAKE H.264 VIDEO ENCODING

HEAVY MULTI-TASKING

OVERALL

CPC MEDIA REALBENCH 2007

Stock speed Overclocked

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM1,920 x 1,080, 16x AF, 0x AA

0 45 90 135 180

fps152

fps172

fps159

fps171

fps152

fps169

fps96

fps115

fps97

fps114

fps97

fps114Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

SHOGUN 2: TOTAL WAR CPU TEST1,920 x 1,080, default settings, no AA, no AF

0 12 24 36 48

fps34

fps42

fps36

fps43

fps36

fps42

fps28

fps36

fps30

fps36

fps30

fps34Asus Z97I-Plus

MSI Z97i Gaming AC

MSI Z97i Gaming ACK

Stock speed min Stock speed avg Overclocked avgOverclocked min

HOWWETESTPAGE 34

1

The improvedlayoutmeans therearenowSATAportslinedupon the rightedgeof the PCB

2

TheresanM.2porton the rearofthePCB,althoughitonly takes60mm-long SSDs

3

AsecondsmallerM.2port isoccupiedbyaKiller1525802.11ac Wi-Fi adaptor

1

3

However, theACKalsogetshotwhenoverclockedand itsM.2port iscomparativelyshort.Meanwhile,AsussimilarZ97i-Plusalsohasagreat layoutandEFI,andcostsa little lessmoney too, although the MSI board has better looks.

TheAsus remains theslightlybetterbuyat106 incVATfrom www.overclockers.co.uk,but theMSI isstilla fine motherboard for9 more if you prefer its looks.ANTONY LEATHER

2

Performancewasmorecompetitiveonceoverclocked,although theoverallscoreof2,854waswayshortofAsusMaximusVII Impactand theACKspredecessor.However, itwaswithinstrikingdistanceof theZ97i-Plus. Itwasslightlyfaster than the latter inSkyrim too,althoughonceagain, theImpactwason top.Therewerenogremlinswhen itcame totheSATA6Gbpsspeed tests,with readandwritespeedsof546MB/secand522MB/sec respectively,although theM.2speedwas toosmall forour testSSD.Powerconsumption resultswerepolarising;at idle, itoffered the lowestnumbersweveseen,butwasa littleon thehighsidewhenoverclocked,drawing209Wcompared to itspredecessors 167W,mainlybecause of the higher voltage needed.

ConclusionMSIsZ97iGamingACKhasan improved layout, loads of features, a great EFI and a reasonable price.

20

REV IEWS/ NEW KIT

Werehuge fansofParvumsmicro-ATXS2.0.Parvumhasbeenworking itsacrylic magic inotherways recently too,and

weveseenATXandmini-ITXprototypesonvariousforumsover the last fewmonths.Thecompanyssecondcase is finallyhereand,at100, theX1.0 isntcheap foramini-ITXcase. In factwecanonly think of oneor twoexamples thatcostmore.

Also,aswith theS2.0, thecasearrives flat-packed,soyouhave tobuild ityourself,although inouropinion, thisadds to theexperienceofbuilding yourPC.Thatsaid,youllneeda fairamountofpatience,especiallyasyouhave to install thecasearoundyourhardware insomecases.Thankfully,theX1.0 isconsiderablysmaller than theS2.0,so itsgenerally mucheasier tobuild. In fact, its

dimensionsof250x310x244mm (WxDxH)make itoneof thesmallestcasesweveeverreviewed,being lessdeep thaneventhepositivelymicroscopic Cooler MasterElite130 too.

Aswith theS2.0, theX1.0 isavailableina rangeofcolourcombinations,includingamixofblackwith red,blueorwhite.Thecolouredsectionsare

overlaidbyeitherblackorwhite fascias,althoughParvum Systemswill likelycater toyourneeds ifyouwantadifferentcolour too.TheX1.0uses thesame fantasticmatt-coatedGerman-made acrylic as the S2.0, which looksand feels fantastic.

Despitebeingsosmall, theres room fora280mmgraphicscard in thecase too,althoughCPUcoolerheightis limited to150mm,which restrictsyou to low-profileheatsinksorall-in-one liquidcoolers.Thankfully, the front120mm fanmountwilleasilyaccepta120mm-fanall-in-

one liquidcooler,and theresenough room fora full-height radiatorplus two fansaswell,although theresno room for a dual-fan radiatoranywhere.

Meanwhile,yourmotherboardwillbemounted invertedwith thegraphicscardat thetop,pointingdirectlyata largeairvent in theroof.Theresvery littleclearance in thisarea,sothereareno fanmounts,unlike theS2.0,whichsported twin120mmmounts in thisposition.However, thissituationdoesmean thegraphicscardwillhaveeasyaccess tocoolair.Theresa rear80mm fanmount too,whileParvumincludesoneof itsown three-speedF1.0120mm fans foruse in the front fanmount.

Perhaps themost interestingmove, though,is that theX1.0usesSFXPSUs,with thePSUmount located behind the motherboard. These

ParvumSystemsX1.0/ 100 inc VATSUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk/ MODEL NUMBER PARV-X1CR

/ SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions (mm)250 x 310 x244(WxDxH)

MaterialAcrylic

Availablecolours Black/red,black/blue,black/white,white/black

FrontpanelPower,2xUSB 3

Drivebays2x2.5in

Form factor(s)Mini-ITX

Cooling1xfront120mmfan(1x120mm fan included),1x80mm rear fanmounts (fannot included

CPUcoolerclearance150mm

Maximumgraphics card length 280mm

M IN I ITX CASE

powersuppliesare farsmaller than theirmorecommonATXcounterparts,andSilverStonenowoffersmodels ratedatup to600W.Retailerwww.overclockers.co.uk currentlyoffersvariousbundleswith thecaseandanSFXPSU,withanX1.0and450WSFXPSUsettingyouback164 incVAT.

Theobviousdownsidehere is thatyoucant transplant youroldATXPSU,butweve found that the latestSilverStoneSFXPSUsare just as stable and power-efficient as their largersiblings.

As farasstoragegoes, theres room for two2.5indrives,whicharesuspended froma lateralsupportbeambehindthemotherboard trayandscrewed intoplace.However, inaddition to thebasicdrivemounts, thereareother fewcreaturecomfortswith theX1.0.Perhaps themostglaringomission isdust filters for thePSUandgraphicscard asaresult,youllcertainlyneed tocleanyourhardware regularly.Cable routing isalsobasic,but its fairlyeasy tobuildaclean system inside theX1.0,especiallyas thePSUand2.5in mountsarehiddenbehind themotherboard tray.

TheX1.0sbuildprocess isalsoslightlydifferent to thatoftheS2.0, in thatyouneed toconstruct the frontandmiddlesection first, followedby thepowerbuttonandUSB3ports,and then installyourhardwarebefore finally fitting the rearpanels inplace.The reason for thisprocedure is that the rear panelacts tosecureyourgraphicscard inplace,whichmeansyoullneed to remove thatpanel whenever you want toextractyourgraphics card too.

PerformanceWe installed the included120mmfanasanexhaust, as its farbetter tohaveoneexhaust fan thanasingle intake.However,even this fandidnthelp theX1.0 thatmuch in theCPUdeltaTgraph,where its resultof61Cwasoneof thewarmest mini-ITX case temperatures weve seen. This test

TheX1.0usesSFXPSUs,with thePSUmountbehind the motherboard

21

wasconductedwithoursmall, low-profile testcooler,though,plus theF1.0 fan includedwasalsoveryquietindeed,soa largerheatsinkorevenanall-in-one liquidcoolerwould improve thesituationsignificantly.Thankfully, theGPUdeltaTof44Cwasexcellent, thanks to thegraphicscard fanpointingdirectlyat theX1.0s roofvent.Adjusting the fanspeed from12V to5Vmadenodifference to theGPUdeltaT, but the CPU delta T rose by 3C.

ConclusionTheX1.0 isnta run-of-the-millcase,butneither is itaseasy touseormaintenance-freeasyouraveragemass-manufacturedenthusiastcase.Coupledwith theneed forSFXPSUs, limitedwater-coolingpotential,a lackofdustfilters and a requirement to half-dismantle the case to

1

The frontmountwilleasilyaccepta120mmall-in-one liquid cooler

2

ApairofUSB3portsandapowerbuttonare theonly front-panel features

3

Yourgraphicscardwillpointdirectlyata largeair vent in the roof

VERDICTA fantastic-looking case thats great for modders, but beprepared to assemble the case yourself, and to sacrifice water-cooling options and creature comforts.

OVERALL SCORE

77%COOLING

21/30DESIGN

28/30

FEATURES

13/20VALUE

15/20

removeyourgraphicscard or SSDs, its clear the X1.0 will havenicheappeal too.

However,youcantbeat theX1.0s looks formodders,and someof theX1.0-basedprojectsweveseenonline,courtesyofexperiencedPCmodders, look fantastic.ThiscasewillstandoutatLANevents,and thegorgeousacrylicalsomakes itpleasant to touchaswell it isntoftenyou can useeitherstatementaboutothermini-ITXchassis.

Youneed tobeawareof theX1.0sshortcomings, though,and for this reasonwedebatedwhetherornot togive it an Approvedaward. Ifadistinctiveappearanceandcustomisationoptionsaremore important toyou thancreaturecomfortsandshortbuild times,buildingandowninganX1.0-based PC will be a rewarding experience. ANTONY LEATHER

CPU LOAD DELTA T

0 16 32 48 64

61C

62C

64C

48C

54C

54CCooler Master Elite 130

Corsair Obsidian 250D

SilverStone Raven RVZ01

Parvum Systems X1.0

Parvum Systems X1.0

Parvum Systems X1.0

GPU LOAD DELTA T

Lower is betterLower is better0 13 26 39 52

44C

44C

44C

49C

46C

48CCooler Master Elite 130

Corsair Obsidian 250D

SilverStone Raven RVZ01

Parvum Systems X1.0

Parvum Systems X1.0

Parvum Systems X1.0

High fan speedFixed fan speed Low fan speedMedium fan speed

1

2

3

24

REV IEWS/ NEW KIT

Weveseenplentyofgreatcases fromNZXToverthepastyear. Its55S340pickedupanApprovedaward inour recentbudgetcaseLabs,and iteven

managed to includeaPSUcoverdespite its lowprice tag.ThePhantom530wentonebetterandgainedaPremiumGradeaward inour lastpremiumcaseLabs too.Here,werelookingatoneof thecompanysH-seriescases theH440,whereNZXThas teamedupwith Razer to create a Special Editionof thispopularcase.

ThestandardH440 retails for90 incVAT,but theSpecialEditioncostsa fairbitmoreat125.Sowhatdoyouget fortheextracash?Themostobviousextra isagreenRazerlogo on the frontof thecase.Theresanother logo inside the

caseon thePSUcover too,although itsonlyvisible through thesidewindow. These logosmakeuppartofanextensive lightingsystem thatalsoilluminates the rearof thecase, thepowerbutton, thebottomof thecaseanda fairamountof thesurfaceonwhich thecasesits much likeastreet-racing car outofFast&Furious.

Youcan turnoffall the lightsusingaswitchat the rear,ordisconnect individual lightsvia internalcables.The lightingeffect is reallywellbalanced,beingsureto turnheads,whilealso remaining relativelysubtleandnot too in-your-face.Our favouritepart is the internalRazerlogo,whichappears tobe floating thanks toa tintedsidewindow thatsalsoexclusive to thisSpecialEdition.Anotherfeature that reallysets thisversionapart from thecheaperone is thepaint finish.Theentirecase insideandout has

beencoated inamattblack finish,with justafewglossydetailsaround theedges.Thiseffect looks fantastic,and italsohelps tomakethe lighting look tasteful,as itdoesnt reflect it.

Meanwhile, the frontpanel is locatedat thetop,andsports theusualaudio jacksplus twoUSB2and twoUSB3ports, with the latter beingcolouredgreen.

Thereareno largeventson theH440SpecialEditionand, like thestandardmodel,airisdrawn into thecase throughsidevents,withasimilarsetup in the roofwhereair isexpelled.Both the frontand roofpanelsare removable,allowingyou toaccess the trio of 120mm fan mounts ineach location.

TheH440 reallyexcelswhen itcomes towater-coolingsupport too.Aswellas triple120mm fan radiatorsupport, therearedual140mm fanmounts in the roofand front too,againsupportingdouble120mm-fan radiators.However, the roofsectionwillbe limited toahalf-height radiatordue to theproximity to themotherboard. The front section is riddled with

NZXTH440SpecialEdition/ 125inc VATSUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk/ MODEL NUMBER CA-H440W-TH

/ SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions (mm)220 x 475 x510(WxDxH)

MaterialSteel

AvailablecoloursBlack/green

FrontpanelPower, reset,2xUSB3,2xUSB2,stereo,mic

Drivebays6x3.5in/2.5in,2x2.5in

Form factor(s)ATX,micro-ATX,mini-ITX

Cooling3x120mm/2x140mm front fanmounts (3x120mmfans included),3x120mm/2x140mm roof fanmounts (fansnot included),1x120/140mm rear fanmounts(1x140mm fan included)

CPUcoolerclearance180mm

Maximumgraphicscardlength 294mm (406mmwithout drive mounts)

ATX CASE

drivebays,whichyoullneed to remove inorder to fitaradiator in the front,butonce theyreout the way you can housea full-heightmodelhere too.

Outof thebox, this frontsectionsports three120mm fans,and the roofsection isvacant,but there isone140mm fan inthe rear120mm/140mm fanmount,which isalsoagoodlocation foranall-in-one liquidcooler. Ifyouregoing tobeair-cooling theH440SpecialEdition, thenaCPUcoolerheight limitof180mmwillallowyou touseanycooleryou fancy.Graphicscardsare limited to294mm in length,though,or406mm ifyoureable togiveuponeof the frontdrivebays.A ten-port fanhub isalso includedbehind the motherboard tocater for the H440 Special Editions numerous fanmounts.

However,usersofopticalmedianeed tobeaware that,asthe frontpaneluses thesameclean,drivebay-freedesignas theminimalistS340, thereareno5.25inbays,soyoucant fita5.25indrive. Internally, theH440SpecialEditionusessix individualdrivemounts locatedbehind the frontfans thatsupporteitherasingle3.5inor2.5inharddiskorSSD.Thesemountscanalternativelybe removed to make way for radiatorsor largegraphicscards.

Inaddition, thereare two further2.5inmounts locatedontopof thePSUcover thatcanshowoffyourshinySSDs.The PSUand frontsectionalsosport large, removabledustfiltersaswellasnoise-absorbingmaterial,and thecasegenerallycaterswell forcable tidying too.There isntawholeheapof roombehind themotherboard tray,butyoualsohave thewholeof the PSU cover to stash your cables.

PerformanceThe fansproved tooffersubstantialairflow in thecasewithout making too much of a din but, despite our initial

TheH440 reallyexcelswhen itcomes towater-cooling support

25

concernsover the lackof largevents, theCPUdeltaTof53Cwasactually fairlygood. ItmatchedFractalDesignsDefineR5on itshighest fanspeedsettingandwasonly2Cwarmer thanNZXTsownPhantom530.

TheSilverStoneFT05offers thebestairflow results in thistest, though,withaCPUdeltaTof42C.TheGPUdeltaTof46Cwasmorecompetitive,however,and itsclear the trioof fanspointingat theGPUdoagood job,comingclose tomatching thebest resultsweveseenandbettering themajorityofcasesweve tested.

ConclusionTheonlypartsmissing from theH440SpecialEditionarea fancontrollerandawayofmountinganopticaldrive.SilverStonesFT05 includesbothof these featureswithout

1

The internal Razer logo appears to be floating, thanks to atinted side window

2

Two 2.5 mounts sit on top of the PSU cover perfect for showing off SSDs

3

Youll find a ten-port fan hub sitting behind the motherboard

VERDICTSilverStones FT05 is better for air cooling, but the H440 Special Editions great extras and dashing good looks make it a cracking choice for a fancy water-cooled rig.

OVERALL SCORE

86COOLING

25/30DESIGN

28/30

FEATURES

17/20VALUE

16/20

impacting on its similarly sleek aesthetics, while also offering superior airflow.

Apart from these issues, though, the NZXT offers good cooling, especially for graphics cards; its more water cooling-friendly than the FT05 and also looks fantastic. The additional elements the Special Edition offers are worth the extra outlay too, and help it to compete well with other cases in its price range.

If youre building an air-cooled system, SilverStones FT05 is the better buy, costing a similar amount of money, while offering better air cooling and fan control. However, if youre after some extra pizzazz, or if youre looking to build a fancy water-cooled rig, the H440 Special Edition is an absolutely cracking case.ANTONY LEATHER

CPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE

0 15 30 45 60

53 C

53 C

42C

49CCorsair Obsidian 450D

SilverStone FT05(high speed)

Fractal Design Dene R5 (high speed)

NZXT H440Special Edition

GPU LOAD DELTA T TEMPERATURE

0 15 30 45 60

46C

53 C

43C

45CCorsair Obsidian 450D

SilverStone FT05(high speed)

Fractal Design Dene R5 (high speed)

NZXT H440Special Edition

Lower is betterLower is better

1

2

3

ELITE NEW ENTRY

P 62

26

REV IEWS/ NEW KIT

Wereused togaming laptops thatcompromise inorder tobalance temperature,cost,weightandbattery life,butDinoPCs latestPhoenix laptop

castsasidenotionsofbalance. Itdeploys twoGeForceGTX 980MGPUs inSLI todelivermaximumgamingpower.

EachGPUhas1,536streamprocessors,acoreclockof1,038MHzandaboostspeedof1,127MHz,andeachhas8GBofGDDR5memoryclocked to5,000MHz (effective).TheGTX980Malsouses theGM204architecture thesameMaxwellhardware that underpins the desktop GTX 970and980cards.

The restof thespecification issimilarly impressive.TheCore i7-4710MQ isa top-tier Intelprocessor thatdeploysHaswellhardwareat2.5GHz,and itspairedwith16GBofDDR3memory.Thestorage is flat-out too.DinoPCbootsWindows8.1 froma250GBSamsung850EVOSSD, and itsbackedupbya1TBharddisk fordatastorage.

Theresadownside to theDinoPCsmonsterspecification though.ThePhoenixweighsawhopping4.6kg twiceas muchas theGigabyteP35Xv3 (see Issue138,p30),and its53mm thick again,more than twiceasthickas theGigabyte. Itwill takeagoodeffort to lug thismachine toaLANpartyon foot, and youll want a sturdy backpack tokeep itsafe.

Thedesign ismodest too.Mattmaterial isusedthroughout,with few flashyextras theresabacklitkeyboard,but thats it. Its looksdontstandout,but thisheavyweightmachinehasexceptionalbuildquality wed beconfident travelling toand fromLANeventswith it.

Meanwhile, the right-handsideservesup twoUSB3ports and aneSATAport,and the left-handedgehas four

audio jacksandacard reader.ThemachinealsohasaDVDwriter,whileanotherpairofUSB3connectorsandanHDMIoutputsitonthe rear. Ithasaccessible internals too; theharddrivesitsbeneathonesmallpanel,andremovinga largerslabgrantsaccess to thememoryslots,dual-band802.11acwirelesscard,sparemSATAslotand thecoolinggear.

On theplusside, theDinoPCscolossalsizegives it roomhas room fora full-sizekeyboardandnumerickeypad,and itsatraditionalunit thateschews themoremodernScrabble-tiledesign.Thebase issolid, thekeys feelconsistentunderyourfingers,andweweresoon typing rapidly.

Thekeys feelwell-made too,althoughtheyalso feelsoftwhenyoupress them,without thesnapofapropermechanicaldesktopkeyboard,but thats tobeexpected ina laptop.Meanwhile, the touchpad islarge,but we dont recommend using it for

DinoPCPhoenix17.3inGTX980M SLIGaming Laptop/ 1,999 incVATSUPPLIER www.dinopc.com

/ SPECIFICATIONS

CPU2.5GHz IntelCorei7-4710MQ

Memory 16GB1,600MHzDDR3

Graphics2xNvidiaGeForceGTX980M8GBGDDR5

SoundOn-board

Screensize17.3in1,920x1,080

StorageSamsung850EVO250GBSSD,1TBhard disk, DVDwriter

Weight 4.6kg

Ports4xUSB3,HDMI,GigabitEthernet,eSATA,4xaudio

Dimensions (mm)418x288x53(WxDxH)

OperatingsystemWindows8.164-bit

Warranty Three years return to base

GAMING LAPTOP

gaming thesurfacehas toomuch friction,whichmeantthat fingerswipes feltsluggish, and there are no physical, clickablebuttonseither

PerformanceTheGTX980MGPUsdelivered ridiculousspeed. InBattlefield4, theDinoPC returnedaminimumof92fps three times faster thanmost recentgaming laptops,puttingit faraheadof theGigabyte,whichused one GTX 980M and didntdropbelow50fpsat1080p.

InCrysis3, theDinoPCs61fpsminimumalso trouncedthe37fpsscoredby theGigabyte an incredible result,asconsistentlymaintainingabove60fps in thisgame is no mean feat foradesktop, letalonea laptop.

Interestingly, theextraGPUdidntmakemuchdifferenceinBioShock Infinite,where theDinoPChitminimumandaverage frame ratesof78fpsand133fps,while theGigabytemanaged77fpsand102fps, although both these results are excellentanyway.

ThepairofGPUs,high-endprocessorand16GBofRAM alsomeant that thePhoenixbeat rivals inapplicationbenchmarks however,withsomany laptopsdeployingsimilarhardware, thegap isntwide.TheDinoPCsoverallresultof93,007 is thebestweveseen froma laptop inournewbenchmarks,but it isnt farahead theGigabytescored 88,611.TheDinoPChas thegrunt toget through thetoughestsoftware,butother laptopsaresimilarlycapable.

Weexpected thepowerfulhardware tostruggle inthermal tests,but theDinoPCsheftycoolinggear, thanks tothe largerchassis andMaxwellsefficientdesign helpedtheGPUs tocope.Theirmaximum temperatureof85C ishot,butnot toastyenough to throttle,andexcessairwaspumped from the rear without heating up the chassis.

27

GIMP IMAGE EDITING

HANDBRAKE H.264 VIDEO ENCODING

LUXMARK OPENCL

HEAVY MULTITASKING

0 12,000 24,000 36,000 48,000

46,439Dino PC Phoenix

0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000

189,785Dino PC Phoenix

0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000

100,032Dino PC Phoenix

0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000

115,801Dino PC Phoenix

SYSTEM SCORE

0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000

93,007Dino PC Phoenix

BATTLEFIELD 41,920 x 1,080, Ultra Detail, 4x AA

BIOSHOCK INFINITE1,920 x 1,080, Ultra Detail with Depth of Field

Minimum Average

CRYSIS 31,920 x 1,080, Very High Detail, 0x AA

CPC REALBENCH 2014

0 30 60 90 120

116fps

64fps

92fps

50fpsGigabyte P35X v3

Dino PC Phoenix

0 35 70 105 140

133fps

102fps

78fps

77fpsGigabyte P35X v3

Dino PC Phoenix

0 30 60 90 120

110fps

59fps

61fps

37fpsGigabyte P35X v3

Dino PC Phoenix

Thenoisewasntbadeither.Whengaming, the fansrampedup,butweveheardworse theDinoPCwillbedrownedoutbyaheadset.Thebiggest thermal issuecamefrom theprocessor,which toppedoutat97Cduringstresstesting.Thatsonlya fewdegreesshortof thepointatwhichtheCore i7CPUwillbegin to throttle,so itsworthbearing inmind ifyou intend topush thechip for longperiodsof time.

Meanwhile, thismachines17.3inscreenhasanativeresolutionof1,920x1,080 asetupwithprosandcons.Thesensible resolutionmeans therearentanyscaling issues,but thepixeldensityof137ppi isntas impressiveassome othermachines theGigabytes15.6inpanelhadaresolutionof2,880x1,620andadensityof212ppi,whichmeans itsgraphicswillbesharper.On theplusside, though,this laptopwill runanycurrentgameatmaximumsettings at itsnative resolution,andneverdropbelow60fps.

Thepaneloffers inconsistentquality too.Thecontrastratioof1,250:1 isagoodstart,and itsbolsteredbyasuperbblackpointof just0.26cd/m2.Thoseresultsmeandeepblacksand richcolourselsewhere.ThedeltaEof7.11 isway behind theGigabytes3.66 too,and the7,913Kcolourtemperature iscool.That latter figure follows through to thesRGBcoverage levels thisscreendisplays83.2percentofthesRGBgamut,with richer colours such as reds, pinks and purples fallingshort.

Viewinganglesarentgreateither,withbrightness lostfromsideandverticalviewpoints,and thebacklight isinconsistent 15percentof itsbrightnesswas lostalong thetop-rightedge,and13percentvanishedon the left-handside.Thespeakersaremixedaswell.Theyhavedecentvolumeand thumpingbassprovidedbyasubwooferunderneath,but the topend is intrusively loud and tinny, squeezing out mid-range tones.

VERDICTNever drops below 60fps at its native resolution, whichis an incredible feat for a gaming laptop, but you sacrifice weight and screen quality in the process.

OVERALL SCORE

80%SPEED

25/25HARDWARE

19/25

DESIGN

18/25VALUE

18/25

Ofcourse,DinoPCsconcentrationonpowermeans that battery lifesuffers.We ranagamebenchmarkwith thescreenat100percentbrightnessand thePhoenixexpired after just28minutes anew record low foragamingmachine.Dropping thescreenbrightness only added a coupleofminutes to this total too.

ConclusionDinoPCsPhoenix is incredibly fast ingames,neverdroppingbelow60fpsat itsnative1080p resolution.However, itsalsoexpensive,costinghundredsofpoundsmore than the lighterandmoreattractiveGigabyte.Thatmoneymightgrantyoumoregaminggrunt,but itsat theexpenseofqualityelsewhere.Thescreenquality ismixed,and thePhoenix isahefty lump too. If rawportablegamingpower isyourpriority then theDinoPCPhoenix is thekingofthecastle,but itcomeswithcaveats,and ifyourewilling tosacrificea few frame rates,youcangeta lightermachinewithabetter-quality screen for less money elsewhere.MIKE JENNINGS

HOWWETESTPAGE 34

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Thanks to improving thermalefficiency,graphicscardssportahugevarietyofcoolers thesedays,withsome recentGeForceGTX960andGTX970

cardsusingsemi-passivecoolers thatonlyspinup their fansduringgames.Arctic, though,claims itsaftermarketGPUcooler, theAccelero S3, offers a passive experience even duringgames.

ItwontcopewithaGTX980,butwitha135WTDP limit,a120WGTX960shouldbesurmountable.TheAcceleroS3 isalsocompatiblewitha rangeofothergraphicscardsalthoughsome,suchas theGTX650Ti,shouldonlybeusedin well-ventilatedcases. Itcanalsobeused tocoolmuch

morepowerfulmodels,but requiresanoptional fanmodule toboostcooling.

Theheatsinkcomes in twomainparts.Themainsectionsitsatop thePCBandsports four6mmheatpipes,whilea largeheatsinksitson the rear,dealingwithexcessheat from the farsideof thePCB.Sadly, thehugesizeof thesecomponentsmeansyoullneedasizeablecase.Theheatsinkprotrudes

outwardsbynearly60mm from thesideof thePCB,and theAcceleroS3wontworkwithmostmini-ITX motherboards either,as it fouls theDIMMslots.

Installation isalsocomplicated. It isntparticularlyclearwhatcomponentsyouneed touse foraparticulargraphicscard,and thenyouhave todealwithamassofwashers,screws and thermalpads inaddition toa largemetalsupport

bracket tocopewith the700gweight.Theworstpart isdealingwith theprotectiveplastic film that protectscomponentson the rearof thePCBfrombeingshortedby theheatsink,which you tediouslyneed tocut tosizeyourself.

WeusedaLianLiPC-A76WXcaseandaKFA2GTX960MiniOCasour testsubject.Thestockcooler toppedoutatadeltaTof53Cunder load,although itwasntparticularly loud.TheAccelero S3didmanage tokeep the temperatureatasteady 62C, but only when installed in a case

ArcticAcceleroS3/ 35 inc VATSUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk/ MODEL NUMBER dcaco-v8300001-gba01

/ SPECIFICATIONS

Compatibility Seewww.arctic.acfor fullGPUcompatibility list

Heatsinksize (mm)135x230x42(WxDxH)

FansNone (optionalS3Turbomoduleavailable)

TDP limit135W

GPU COOLER

witha front fanpointedat it.Theheatsinkwasdefinitelyworking,butwithout the fan, the temperatures quickly skyrocketed tounsafe levels.

Arctic lists theGTX960asbeingable tobecooledwithlittleairflow,but itactuallyneedsa fairamountofdirectairflow youre really justmoving theactivecooling job toa case fan, rather than theGPUcooler.Thissetupmighttheoretically result inaslightlyquieterPCbut,given the lownoise levelsofsomanycardswithactivecoolers (especiallywithsemipassivemodes), there wont be much difference.

ConclusionIfyoualreadyhavea largecasewithplentyofairflow, theAcceleroS3caneffectivelycoolaGTX960,albeitatacomparatively toasty temperature.However,activelycooledcardsbasedonNvidias latestGPUs run fairlyquietlyanyway, even ingames.EvenwithAMDGPUs, theAcceleroS3smassivesize, fiddly installationand lacklustre,case-dependentcoolingmeanyourebetter off buying a graphics cardwithabettercooler instead. ANTONY LEATHER

VERDICTAn interesting idea,but theAcceleroS3 is too largeand fiddlyand relies heavily on case airflow.

OVERALL SCORE

60%

COOLING

25/40VALUE

18/30DESIGN

17/30

GPU DELTA T

0 16 32 48 64

53C

62C

FAILAccelero S3(no case fan)

Accelero S3(front case fan)

GTX 960 stock cooler

Lower is better

Themainsectionsitsatop thePCBandsports four6mm heatpipes

HOWWETESTPAGE 34

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Ifyouvebeen intoPCgaming forany lengthoftime,youmaywellbe familiarwithSteelSeriesSiberiaheadset. Itsbeenamid-rangestaple in the

market formoreyears thanwecare to remember,and theV3versionhere isanupdate to theV2version we saw a coupleofyearsago (see Issue118,p74).

Given theSiberiaspopularity, itsunderstandable thatSteelSerieshasnt radically tinkeredwith the formula. The V3sports thesameall-plasticconstructionof itspredecessor,andopts forasimilar floatingheadbandarrangement too.Thisheadbandhasbeen tweakedandslimmeddownslightly, though, helping the headset to tip thescalesat only255g.

Elsewhere,otherpartshavealsobeen refined in thesamegentle fashion.Theearcupshave retained theirdistinctivecircularshape (whichwillbeagripe ifyouhavelargeears),but the inlaiddetailinghasbeenchangedandrecoloured,giving theheadsetmorecontrastandmaking itlookmoreattractive.Theearpadshavealsoseenasubtleupgrade fromnormal foam tomemory foam,which should help them hug the contoursofaheadbetter.

Themicrophone,whichhandilyretracts into the leftearcupwhennotinuse,hasbeenslimmeddown too,butwerehappy tosee itson thesamestylestiffwireboomaspreviousmodels,as thismakes italmostinfinitelyadjustable.Furthermore,SteelSerieshas fittedadedicatedmicrophonemuteswitchon thebackof the leftearcup ahandyaddition,

as retracting themicrophonedoesntautomaticallymute it. Internally,SteelSeriesclaims tohavecompletelyredesigned theacousticchamberandaddednewdriverunits. Itsalso reduced thenumberofcomponentswithin eachspeaker,again trimmingdown theweight.

Otherwise, though, theresvery little to theSiberiaV3 itdoesnthavean in-line remote,USBsoundcard,carrycaseor replaceableearpads,andwhile itspleasant tonotbebombardedbyextrasandquestionable fripperies, itsunusual toseea70headset without at least a couple of nick-nacks in thebox.

Inuse, theSiberiaV3 isextremelycompetent. Itsfantasticallycomfortable towear, thanks to its lightweight

floatingheadbandsetup.Folkswithexceptionallylargeheadsmaywant tonote that there isnt loadsofgive in theheadband evenournormal-sizedheadshad theelasticon theheadband extended almost to itsmaximumextent.

Audio is roundedandbalanced,withnooneareaof themixdominatingoverly.Therewasasmidgenofbias towards thebass tones,buttheresalsonodenying thatsuchanarrangementlends action games a satisfyingly meaty tone. Mid

SteelSeries Siberia V3/ 70 inc VATSUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk

/ SPECIFICATIONS

Cup typeCircumaural

ConnectionWired,3.5mm jacks

Driver(s) Notstated

Frequency response10Hz to28KHz

Impedance 35 Ohms

GAMING HEADSET

andhigh toneswerealsogood,although theynoticeablylacked thedistinctaccuracyandsparkleexhibitedby theHyperXCloudheadset inback-to-back testing.Thats lessofaconcern ingames,but itsworthbearing inmind ifyoulisten toa lotofclassicalmusic throughyourcans.As theresnoaccompanyingsoftware,youcant tweak themixeither(aswaspossibleon theCorsairGamingH1500), unless you delve into theWindows audio settings.

ConclusionTheSiberiaoffersgood looks,soundandbuildquality,andits lightandcomfortable towear too. Ifyoubought it,youwouldntbedisappointed.Wewould,however,be remiss ifwedidntmention that theElite-listedHyperXCloudhasundergoneapricecrash (thanks to the impending releaseoftheCloud II),meaning itcanbehad foras littleas55.Thats 15 less than theSiberiaV3and,with itssuperioraudioqualityandbundled extras, it offers better value right now. PAUL GOODHEAD

VERDICTAsupremelycompetentandpleasantly lightweightheadset,but itsupagainststiffcompetition in this price bracket.

OVERALL SCORE

79%

SOUND

35/40VALUE

18/30DESIGN

26/30

SteelSeriesclaimstohavecompletely redesigned theacoustic chamber

HOWWETESTPAGE 34

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Howwe testThorough testing and research is the key to evaluating whether a product is worth buying, and deciding whether or not theres a better alternative

TESTS:Weuse theCustomPCMediaBenchmarks (orCPCRealBench2014onLGA2011-V3),CinebenchR11.5andavarietyofgames.Wealso test thepowerdrawof the testPCwith theCPU installed.These tests revealabroad rangeofperformancecharacteristics, from imageediting togamingandvideoencoding to3D rendering.We runall testsatstockspeedandagainwhenoverclocked to itshighest frequency.*Pleasenote:We testAMDFM2+APUsusing theon-boardgraphics,not theNvidiaGeForceGTX7803GB

s er they offer sufficient speed for the price. Part of a CPUs speed score comes from how E e t h a

We judge CPUs on whether they offer sufficient speed for the price. Part of a CPUs speed score comes from how overclockable it is. Every type of CPU is tested in thesamePC,so all resultsaredirectlycomparable.

Graphics cards are mainly evaluated on how fast they are for their price. However, we also consider the efficacy andquietness of the cooler. Every graphics card is tested in thesamePC,so all resultsaredirectlycomparable.

Thegraphicscardwere reviewing

4.2GHz Intel Core i5-3570K

AMDFM2+APU

IntelLGA1150

CPU

NvidiaGeForceGTX7803GB

Gigabyte G1 SniperA88X

AsusMaximusVIIRanger

256GBPlextorM5Pro

16GBCorsairVengeancePro

1,600MHzDDR3

Windows764-bit

8GB Corsair Dominator 2,400MHz DDR3

Asus Maximus V Extreme

Windows 7 64-bit

IntelLGA2011 -v3

CPU

AsusRampageV

Extreme

16GBCorsairVengeanceLPX2,133MHzDDR4

AMD FM2+

INTEL LGA2011V3

COMMONCOMPONENTS

INTEL LGA1150

+

+

+ + + +

+ +

= SCORES

PROCESSORS

GRAPHICS CARDS

+ + + +8GB G.Skill RipjawsX

1,600MHz DDR3 (CPU testing)

16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2,133MHz DDR3

(GPU testing)

512GB Crucial MX100

240GB OCZ Vector

150

+ ++

35

The Awards

EXTREME ULTRASome products are gloriously over the top. These items of excellent overkill earn our Extreme Ultra award.

PREMIUM GRADEPremium Grade products are utterly desirable wed eat nothing but beans until we could afford them.

PROFESSIONALProducts worthy of the Professional award make you and your business appear even more awesome.

APPROVEDApproved products are those that do a great job for the money; theyre the canny purchase for a great PC.

CUSTOM KITFor those gadgets and gizmos that really impress us, or that we cant live without, theres the Custom Kit award.

TESTS:Weuse theCustomPCMediaBenchmarks (orCPCRealBench 2014onLGA2011-V3)andseveralgames,andalso test thespeedsof theboardsSATAports.We try tooverclockeverymotherboardwe reviewby testing foramaximumQPI,baseclockorHTTaswellasoverclocking theCPU to itsmaximumair-cooled level.We runour testsatstockspeedandwith theCPUoverclocked.*Pleasenote:We testAMDFM2+motherboardsusing theon-boardgraphics,not theNvidiaGeForceGTX7803GB

2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6750

2GB of Corsair 1,066MHz DDR2

250GB Samsung SpinPoint P120S

Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP

TESTS: By using the fast PC detailed on the left, we can be sure that any limitations are due to the graphics card on test, rather than being CPU limited. We test the four games (above) at their maximum detail settings, in their highest DirectX mode, at several resolutions. High-end cards should be able to sustain playable frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440, while 1,920 x 1,080 is more important for mid-range cards; we also test at 3,840 x 2,160 for 4K monitors, and try to overclock every graphics card we test to assess the performance impact.

Motherboards are evaluated on everything from layout and features to overclockability and value for money. Every motherboard is tested with the same components, so all resultsaredirectlycomparable.

IntelCore

i7-4790K

IntelCorei7-5960X

Motherboardon test

Motherboardon test

Plextor M6256GB

16GB CorsairVengeancePro

1,600MHzDDR3

32GBCrucial 2,133MHz DDR4

AMDA10-7850K

Motherboardon test

16GBCorsairVengeancePro

2,133MHzDDR3

Nvidia GeForceGTX 780 3GB*

Windows 7 64-bit

INTEL LGA1150

INTEL LGA2011V3

AMD FM2+

COMMON COMPONENTS

+

+

+ + +

+

Our benchmark suite simulates how people really use PCs, and a higher score is better. You can download the suite from http://tinyurl.com/CPCbenchies

= 1,000

MOTHERBOARDS

CUSTOM PC MEDIA BENCHMARKS

240GB OCZ Vector

150

+ + +

+ + +

REV IEWS / NEW KIT

38

CustomKitPaul Goodhead checks out the latest gadgets, gizmos and geek toys

ICE MOULD

DeathStar IceMould/ 10 inc VATThe firstquestionwewereaskedwhen the Death Star Ice Mould landed in the officewas, Why?, towhichouronly response was, Why not? After all, whats more jolly thanseeingamini replicaof the most powerful battle station to ever graceagalaxy farawayslowlychilldown your chosen beverage? The resulting cubeevenplinksandcracksdramatically when you first pour liquids over it, as if a mini iceLukeSkywalker isdumpingproton torpedoes into a tiny ice exhaust port.

Ataround thesizeofa tangerine,youll need to check you have a glass wide enough toaccommodate the finished Ice Star, of course, but otherwise, its a sure fireway togeekupany liquid refreshment.EPISODE1 EPISODE VSUPPLIER www.firebox.com

PHONE CHARGING K IT

Patriot FUEL iON Galaxy S4 Case & Stand/ 56 inc VAT Car Mount/ 39 inc VATPatriot is straying a long way from its storage roots with the FUEL iON range of phone chargers, but that hasnt stopped the company from making some bold claims about them. Based on using magnets to hold a charging connection between the case and a stand, Patriot claims it can offer a charge speed twice as fast as competing Qi wireless chargers. The claim bore up under testing too after 15 minutes, the FUEL iON charged our test phone to 14 per cent battery compared to 7 per cent on our Qi Pad.

However, while you dont have to plug in wires, the metal contacts still have to touch for charging to commence. Happily, the magnets that hold thecontacts inplacearestrong,soyouonlyneed toposition themroughly in the rightplace tosee thecasepop intoplace.Themagnetsalsomean thecha

which isadefiniteadvantageonadesk,andalsoenablesyou touse add-onssuchas thecarmount,whichholds thephone inplacewhile itscharged.

Naturally,buying intoaproprietary technologysuchasFUEL iON hasdisadvantages onceyoure in,youre locked in,soPatriotcan chargeyouwhat itwants foraccessories (39 for thecarmount is outrageous),andyoureunlikely tobeable tochargeyourphoneat yourmateshouse,asyoumaybeable todowith theQiPad.Asa technology, though, itdelivers,as longasyourehappy tobuy into it.

CASE&STAND:FALLBACK CHARGE

CARMOUNT:EDISON TESLASUPPLIERwww.amazon.co.uk

gGalaxy S4 Case

& Stand

Car mount

39

Seen something worthy of appearing in Custom Kit? Send your suggestions to paul_goodhead@dennis.co.uk

BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

Divoom Voombox Ongo/ 60 inc VATBluetooth speakers are ten a penny these days, so odd features are creeping into the market as brands attempt to make their products stand out. The Ongo, for example, is bundled with a bike handlebar mount a questionable addition at best. We cant work out exactly who would think it suitable to inflict their musical tastes on everyone within earshot while cycling, but we know wed rather not meet them.

Interestingly, the speaker itself is good. Its ruggedised and water-resistant, and its a good size too small enough to be discreet, but still large enough to provide a surprisingly decent bass response.Therewas lessvolumeavailable thanweexpected,but theresenoughqualityonoffer to justify the60askingprice.CLANGIN BANGIN SUPPLIER www.maplin.co.uk

PHONE CASE

QDOS Portland/ 25 inc VATIf you have a shiny new iPhone 6, then QDOS would like you to consider clothing it in its new Portland case. Available for both the normal and oversized models, the Portland is really two cases. The inner case is rubber and fits tightly around the phone, while the second outer case (which clips around the inner case) is made from stiff plastic, with hinges running through it both vertically and horizontally. Therefore, unclipping two neighbouring edges of the outer case instantly creates a simple stand for the phone. Voil!

Annoyingly, theentireescapadeis letdownbythesmoothplasticof theoutershell itsslippery ifyourewearingglovesandlookscheap too.

Canwehaveaversionwithasoft-touch finishplease?GASBILL PORTLAND BILLSUPPLIER www.qdossound.com

POWERPACK

PNY LM3000/ 30 inc VATThe LM3000 is the latest addition to PNYs ever-growing range of portable power packs, and

its also one of the easiest to use, thanks to its integrated micro-USB and Apple Lightning connectors, which cleverly spring out of the sides when needed. Integrating the output

connectors in this way means theres no need to carry a charging cable at all times, although you still need a cable to charge the pack itself. With 3000mAh on tap, the LM3000 charged our test Nokia phones battery once fully, then by 8 per cent a second time around. Thats

hardly likely to get you throughamusic festival,but itwilldo for a weekend away.FLAT FULL

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

Featured this issueHowwetest / p41AMDRadeonR9270X/ p42AMDRadeonR9280/ p42AMDRadeonR9285/ p43Budget GPUs/ p44

NvidiaGeForceGTX960/ p46AMDRadeonR9280X/ p48AMDRadeonR9290/ p48NvidiaGeForceGTX970/ p49Dual-GPU graphics explored/ p50

AMDRadeonR9290X/ p51NvidiaGeForceGTX980/ p52AMDRadeonR9 295X2/ p53Results/ p54

FewareasofPC technologymove faster thangraphicscards,but thepastyearhasbeenespeciallyvolatile forNvidiaandAMD.Thegreen teamhas releaseda raftofnew

Maxwell-basedGPUs,with thehigh-endGTX980and970 in theautumn joinedby its latestcard, themid-rangeGTX960, inJanuary.

Meanwhile,AMDhasntbeenbusy launchingnewGPUs itsR9200-seriesofchipsarrivedayearbeforeNvidiasMaxwellchipsandwas fullycompletedbySeptember lastyear. Insteadofunleashingnewhardware, though, itsbeencuttingprices virtuallyeveryoneof itschips isnowsignificantlycheaper thanat launch.AMDspricecutsandNvidiasnewcardsbothsignificantlychange the landscape,which iswhyweve locked every top-end and mid-range GPU into our test rig.

Thekey toour tests is findingwhichcarddelivers thebestbangperbuck,as itsnogoodspendinghundredson the fastestcardaround ifitsbarelyanyquicker thanaGPUthats200cheaper.Weve testedat1080p,2,560x1,440and4K todiscoverwhichcardoffers thesmoothestplayand thebestvalueat these three resolutions,andwevealsoenlistedsome new games, including Shadow of Mordor andAlien: Isolation.

Gamingat4K isstill tricky forevenpowerfulcards,soweveinvestigatedmulti-GPUsetups.Then,at theotherendof thescale,weveexploredseveralbudgetcards to findout ifyouhave tospendmore than100 togetsmooth1080pgaming, or if its better to save a littlemorecash foramid-rangecard. MATTHEW LAMBERT AND MIKE JENNINGS

New GPUs and massive price cuts we lock and load our new benchmarks to find out which GPUs offer the best bang for your buck

Graphics cardsLABS TEST

40

41

Allourgraphicscards testsareperformedonahigh-end IvyBridgesystem,which features

anAsusMaximusVExtremeLGA1155motherboardandanIntelCore i5-3570K runningat4.2GHz.Alongside thesecomponentsare8GB (2x4GB)ofCorsairDominator2,400MHzDDR3RAManda 256GBSamsungSSD840ProSSD.Meanwhile,powercomes fromaLEPAG16001,600WPSU,capableofpoweringup to fourhigh-endgraphicscards in SLI or CrossFireconfigurations.

Weve testedeachcard in fourgames.ForAlien: Isolation,we record the first60secondsof thebuilt-inbenchmark (themostdemandingsection).OurBattlefield4testusesa60-secondsequence from thestartof thesingle-playercampaignmissionTashgar,whileCrysis3 is testedusingacustom,60-secondmacro-recordedplay-through from thesingle-playermissionRedStarRising.Finally,we record35secondsofMiddleEarth:ShadowofMordorsbuilt-inbenchmark.We recordevery testusing the freelyavailableFRAPS tool toensureaccuracy,andeach test isperformed three times forconsistency.

Gamesare testedat1,920x1,080(1080p),2,560x1,440and, forhigher-endcards,3,840x2,160 (4K).Typically,eachgame is testedat itshighestdetailpresetwithv-syncdisabled.However,at4Kresolution,anti-aliasing isdisabled inBattlefield4,andShadowofMordor isdropped fromUltra toVeryHigh,as thetestsareotherwise toodemanding foranycards toachievemeaningful results. Wealso leave anti-aliasing disabled at all

How we test

resolutions inCrysis3, again because its overlydemanding.

Scoring standardsWeveadoptedascientificallycalculatedweightedscoringsystem forGPUgroup tests thatsdesigned tohighlightmeaningfuland real-worldperformancedifferences.ThePerformancecomponentof the finalscores iscalculated throughapoint-basedsystem,withpointsallocatedbasedon theminimum frame rateachievedineach test.We focusonminimum framerates,as its thismetric thatyoull reallynoticewhenyourgamesslowdown.

Weconsideraminimumof30fps tobe the ideal target forgames to remainsmoothandplayable.Assuch,aminimumof30fpsormore isworth threepoints. Ifaminimum resultexceeds60fps,weawardonebonuspointson top,as60fps is thegolden goal, while a result of between

25fpsand29fps (whichweconsider tobeon theborderlineofplayable) receivesonepoint.Weuse thesepoints tocalculate a Performancepercentage foreachresolution;1,920x1,080carries theheaviestweightingof the finalscore (25percent), followedby2,560x1,440 (20 per cent)and4K (15percent).

TheValuescore (30percent) is thencalculatedbydividing the totalperformancepointsby thecheapestavailablemodelofagivenGPUat the timeofwriting.The final10percentcomes from theEfficiencyscore, which isbasedonhowwell thecardperformsacross the testscompared to its powerconsumptionunder load.

While thisscoringmethodappearsconvoluted, itputs theonuson real,usefulperformance incurrent-generationgames.Afterall, ifonecardmanagesaminimumframe rateof4fps,andanothermanages9fps, the latter carddoesnt really win, asbothareultimatelyuseless in thatgame.Likewise,youwontnotice thedifferencebetweenacardgetting110fpsand116fps.

Wevealso included results forUniginesValleybenchmark,ademandingDirectX11test. Its runat2,560x1,440atUltradetailwithanti-aliasingdisabled.Our result is theaverageof three runs.Finally,weve tested eachGPU inFolding@home (GPGPUfloatingpointcalculations)usingFAHBench, whichuses theOpenCL framework.Asweveprioritisedperformance in realgames,neitherUniginenorGPGPUperformance factors intotheoverallscores, but their results can be found on p54.

Unigine Valley

Alien: Isolation Battlefield 4

Crysis 3 Shadow of Mordor

42

LABS TEST / GRAPH ICS CARDS

TheR9270Xhasbeenour topoptionfor1080pgaming

since its release inOctober2013,when itcostaround155.AMDs recentpricedropsmean itnowcosts just126,gettingyouaPitcairn-basedGPU that firstappearedin theRadeonHD7870,so itsreallyacut-downversionof theSouthern Islandsarchitecturethatstillunderpins theR9280and280X.

TheR9270Xhas1,280streamprocessorscompared to the1,792and2,048 inAMDsmoreexpensivemid-rangecards,and the2GBversionweve testedhasa256-bitmemorybus narrower than thatofAMDspricierGPUs.Theolderarchitecturemeans theR9270Xmissesoutonsomesoftware features too,withnosignofTrueAudioorMantlesupport.

TheR9280 isoneofseveralAMDGPUs that recyclesolderhardware in thiscase, its theRadeonHD

7950Boost.TheresnonewGPU, then,butthepriceof140 is20 less thanNvidiasGTX960.The28nmTahitiGPUused for thiscardhas1,792streamprocessorsdivided into28computeunits,and itsstreamprocessorsareclocked to933MHz higher than theoldercard,perhaps,but lower thaneveryotherchipinAMDsmid-rangeGPUstack.

Thememorysituation isbetter.TheR9280has3GBofGDDR5memoryanda384-bitmemorybus better than theR9270XandR9285,bothofwhichhave2GBofmemoryandnarrower interfaces.However, theuseofanolderarchitecturemeans theresnosignofTrueAudioorFreeSyncsupport toget thesefeatures,youllneed tobuy theR9285.

The increasedpowerandmemoryperformancehelped theR9280 todeliverasolidsetof1080p results. ItsAlien: Isolationminimum frame rateof66fps is6fpsbetter

AMDRadeon R9 270X 2GB / 126 inc VAT

AMDRadeonR92803GB/ 140 incVAT

SUPPLIERwww.ebuyer.com

SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com

Primarily designed as a 1080p card, the 270X showed its abilities in our

game benchmarks. In Alien: Isolation, its minimum of 57fps is only 3fps short of the magic 60fps top target, and in Battlefield 4 it never dropped below 36fps still a very respectable result.

Crysis 3 and Shadow of Mordor are the two

than our gold standard for perfectly smooth gameplay, and in Battlefield 4, the R9 280 never dropped below 39fps another result thats beyond one of our key targets. In Crysis 3, we recorded a minimum of 35fps, and 38fps in Shadow of Mordor.

Those 1080p results are all smooth, and the 280 almost carried its good form up to 2,560 x 1,440. In Alien and Shadow of Mordor,

toughest games in our current suite, and in both, the 270X returned

minimums of 28fps. Thats above our base-minimum target of 25fps, so these games are playable on the 270X, but its not quite enough to grasp our ideal playable frame rate of 30fps. To get perfectly

smooth play in tougher games, you may have to turn down quality settings.

However, AMDs recent price drops mean this GPUs

main competition now comes from the R9 280, which costs just 14 more. Thats a small leap, but the R9 280 goes beyond 30fps in every 1080p game test a feat the R9 270X cant manage. The R9 270X doesnt have the power for playing at higher resolutions either. In Alien: Isolation at 2,560 x 1,440, the 270X maintained a minimum of 34fps, but in our other three games, it languished below 25fps.

the R9 280 hit minimums of 44fps and 30fps respectively good enough for smooth play. In Battlefield 4 at this higher resolution, the 280 also managed a borderline playable 26fps, but it languished to 21fps in Crysis 3.

The R9 280 also delivered the best power consumption figures of both the R9 285 and 280X, with our system consuming 255W at peak load with the R9 280 installed, ducking

43

VERDICTStill a good 1080p GPU,but AMDs price cutsmean there are nowbetter options.

AMDsRadeonR9285 isostensibly thenewestGPAMDscurrent range,but

oneof thestrangest. Ithas thesamnumberofstreamprocessors,andsameolderHD7950-basedarchitetheR9280, but thosestreamprocearedivided intoamoreparallelarrangementwithawider frontendR9285alsohasnt replaced theold280,which isstillwidelyavailableaasimilarprice to theR9285.

The revisedstreamprocessorarrangement isnt theonlyareawheR9285differs from theR9280.Thcardhas lessmemory 2GBcomptheoldercards3GB and itsacceswitha256-bit interface, rather thanbitbus.TheR9285smemory isclolittle faster,butwerenotconvincedbitofextraspeed isenough tohelpovercome thedeficiencieselsewhe

Thisopinion isbackedup inourbenchmarks.The tinypricedifferenrevisedarchitecturedidntsee theRdeliveranyperformanceboostsoveoldercard.TheR9285playedAlienIsolationataminimumof59fpsandrestofour testgameswithminimubetween32fpsand38fps.Theyreresults thatmeansgameswillalwaplayableat1080p,but itsnobetter thantheR9280.

The285also failed to impressat2,560x1,440.At thismoredemanding resolution,thenewerAMDcardonlygotbeyondour30fps target inAlien Isolation inourotherthreegames, its24fpsminimumswere justbehind the25fps figureweconsider thebareminimum forplayability.Again, thesefiguresmake itslower than theolderRadeonR9280.

Littlestoodoutaboutefficiencyeither.OurPCdrew269Wwith theR9285installed higher than theR9280s255W,despite the latterpartbeing faster,and itsmuchhigher than theMaxwell-basedGTX960spowerconsumption,whichdrew just228W from themains.

ConclusionAMDsarchitecturalchanges to theR9285result inamoreparallelstreamprocessor

AMD Radeon R9 2852GB/ 144 inc VATSUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com

ahigherspeed,whencompared to the 9280, but these changes clearly hinder the R9 285s performance.

The R9 285consistently falls behind AMDs R9 280 and, at 1080p, its no better than Nvidias GTX 960. The R9 285 is a reasonable 1080p card, but the R9 280 is faster and a tad cheaper, making it a much better buy. MJ

OVERALL SCORE

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The 270Xs older architecture means its efficiency is comparatively uncompetitive too. Our systems 104W idle power consumption with the 270X installed wasnt anything to shout about, and its 238W peak was similarly high for the frame rates on offer.

ConclusionThe 270X remains a good card for 1080p gaming if you already have one, theres nothing to worry about. However, AMDs recent price drops have now made the R9 280 a far better affordable option. It only costs 14 more and, for that money, you get a card that never drops below a 30fps minimum at 1080p. MJ

well below the 280Xs 326W. Its still more power-hungry than the GTX 960 though Nvidias newer hardware definitely has the upper hand when it comes to efficiency.

ConclusionThe R9 280 has seen a significant price cut, and that means its revised 140 price is now just 14 above the R9 270X, while offering more consistent 1080p pace. It offers much more bang for your buck than Nvidias GTX 960 too, despite costing 20 less. The lower price and solid 1080p performance make the 280 our new 1080p card of choice, and the worthy winner of an Approved award. MJ

1920 SPEED

13/25VALUE

25/40EFFICIENCY

5/10

2560 SPEED