Reviews - Scan 3XS OC PC system review. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 SLI graphics

[HEXUS]

We take a close look at the Scan 3XS SLI OC PC. Money well-spent?

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[kalniel]

Good review and great system - they've really put the money where it's needed IMHO, a very well balanced system in that respect.

I don't agree that a max CPU temp of 81 is a too high however - if it's stable and not going to rise any further then it's still got at least 17C before any throttling will kick in. If you're worried about room heating effects then having a better cooler won't help that (if anything it'll just make transferring of heat from the computer to the room even more efficient). So I think SCAN have got it spot on to be honest - keeping an air cooler on the CPU also helps surrounding components get some air and might aid overall stability.

[Tarinder]

I don't believe it's getting too hot; it's just a bit toasty.

The 81°C is fine and the system is completely stable. However, the ambient temperature is 20°C. My concern is what happens when it rises to nearer 30°C in the summer months?

This is not a criticism of the Scan system: it works just fine. I just think adding the better-performing Corsair Hydro H70 makes sense. The £25 upgrade should lower temps and not be as affected by the heat put out by the graphics cards.

[kalniel]

I don't believe it's getting too hot; it's just a bit toasty.

The 81°C is fine and the system is completely stable. However, the ambient temperature is 20°C. My concern is what happens when it rises to nearer 30°C in the summer months?

This is not a criticism of the Scan system: it works just fine. I just think adding the better-performing Corsair Hydro H70 makes sense. The £25 upgrade should lower temps and not be as affected by the heat put out by the graphics cards.

Fair point - I can't see the case temperatures so don't know what the limiting factor is for heat extraction. Upgrading to water cooled GPUs would be a better solution if they are raising case temperatures significantly more than can be countered by case cooling, but that's probably a bit more expensive/adds complexity.

Of course, if one isn't concerned with round numbers then going for a marginally smaller overclock means you don't need anything like the volts on the 950. 3.8+ghz is usually reachable on stock voltage, at 3.6-3.7 you can actually undervolt fine.

[Jay]

If only my CCA wasn't going ot cost me £2000

[kingpotnoodle]

I don't believe it's getting too hot; it's just a bit toasty.

The 81°C is fine and the system is completely stable. However, the ambient temperature is 20°C. My concern is what happens when it rises to nearer 30°C in the summer months?

This is not a criticism of the Scan system: it works just fine. I just think adding the better-performing Corsair Hydro H70 makes sense. The £25 upgrade should lower temps and not be as affected by the heat put out by the graphics cards.

I would like to hope they test their PCs stability in a room @35 degrees to see if it works or not.

Not even hard to do, small room & temp controlled fan heater...

[leepen@scan]

Just a note to add that's totally non-work related experience...

i7 950's at 81c is absolutely fine. I've built about 5 i7 machines over the course of the last 18months and with 1.35v and 20x200 you always reach low-mid 80's with these D0's (and that's true of 920's and 930's also in my experience). Akasa Eclipse 62, Antec 1200 & Lian Li PC60FNBW cases - makes very little difference to the CPU temp providing you've a Prolima (or an Akasa Venom if you're on a budget) and the Chill Factor 3 paste. Arctic Silver hits about 3.8Ghz before breaching 89c...

In the summer months I found that temps were similar and I used to live above a shop, you basically couldn't wear clothes it was that hot. Same CPU temps. A H70 would be a gorgeous addition and might knock a few degrees off, but it's not stated there also whether it's the Tjunction or Tcase temp which they've used either...

The old 920 C0 stepping would give you 3.4Ghz at similar temperatures, god bless revisions!