System Build

[vicar]

Looks good

[Andy14]

Could you publish a photo with the front open so I can see all the Blu-Ray / DVD / Card drives / etc ?

It's looking very elegant !

I see on another thread that you run the 3dMark06 and Vantage tests as part of testing. Could you please post those results here ?

Again... Thankyou for the great service !

[Philipp]

Its just stress testing tonight, Ill grab some pics in the morning

If I forget for any reason, just give us a nudge over email...

Cheers

[AntaresUK]

Andy14 do let us know how your system performs and what games you play on it. I have similar gaming requirements to you - I play at 1900x1200 and I am looking for a PC that will allow me to max out all the settings.

[Andy14]

I've heard a rumour that Scan test the systems with 3DMark06 and Vantage and if they do then Phil will I'm sure post those test tesults to the forum.

Right now I'm mostly playing WoW. This game does not make use of SLI at all and is also not the most intensive game out there. I will be running it at 1920 x 1200 though and with every setting turned on.

For most people out there the 295 will be a better fit than the overclocked 285 I have chosen. For me I prefer to avoid possible driver issues of SLI, get the fastest single GPU experience possible and heat the house a bit less.

Happy to feed back and information that I can.

Any questions - just ask.

[NightOwl]

Hi Andy, I read in your system specs that you are intending to install Win 7 beta as your OS - I would be very interested to hear your feedback on how you get on with this. In particular I'm keen to know how you get on with drivers and if there are any compatibility issues (I'm assuming most Vista drivers would work with Win7, for instance, but is that really the case?).

I'm sure you have been through some of the same thought processes as myself regarding the OS - in my case I am still running XP and am not overly keen on shelling out for Vista if Win 7 final is just 6-12 months away. I'm just debating whether to save myself the hassle, sod the expense, and just cough up for Scan to install Vista for me or whether to do it myself and set up a dual boot system with Win 7 and XP (falling back on XP when the beta expires or if things go wrong with the beta). My XP licence is just the 32-bit version but I don't mind losing out on 64-bit for just a few months later on, I really would rather skip Vista at this stage, if I can, and just move on to Win 7 when it's finally released as it sounds far superior.

Decisions, decisions! Anyway... any feedback or thoughts on your Win 7 experience would be most welcome!

[Andy14]

No problems at all - I'd be happy to post my experiences on install through to use.

Personally Win7 was one of the big reasons I justified this PC to myself as I really don't want to mess with my present PC or set-up and dual-boots. Therefore I can now run the old machine and the new side by side.

I don't mind Vista, never have. I'm not one of these people that think Microsoft have an easy job, that they are evil or that Google is in fact the son of god born unto us again.. However for me Vista has had a few big issues that drives me to Win7 beta.

Firstly it's very very slow to boot. My system has a virus checker (I've tried 2 and not the whole suites - just the VC), office and a few obligatory drivers for Scanner / Printer / Keyboard / etc, yet it's 2 minutes (ish) from entering my password to being able to use the system. This on the 64 bit version on a 3Ghx 6600 with 4Gb of RAM.

And secondly I've known it crash (although not since last install) and the login times to get so slow that it's unusable (whereupon I've done a reinstall).

In the above respects XP was much better.

So now it's time to try Win7. If it lives up to much of the promise then I'll quickly switch to it being the primary PC. If it's unstable or slow then it's back to Vista as I've already got a spare licence at home and not afraid to use it .

I'm also going to try installing from USB Memory Stick and have this all prepared. Will let you know how it all goes.

[Andy14]

Phil just notified me that the "system got 20k in 3d Mark o6"

Superb result I think !

[Singh400]

Here we go

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/BuildPhotos/An...Antec_P182.jpg

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/BuildPhotos/An...tec_P182_1.jpg

The front still has the protector on hence looking bubbly

Love these cases, they have a really nice finsh on the front and side panels that pictures just dont show

Cheerios

Holy crap, that some sweet cable management God wish I could do that on mine

So did you build this yourself then Philipp or do you have dedicated technicians?

[Philipp]

Nooooooo I am far to impatient for something like that,

We just have the best technicians on the planet

[Andy14]

From my present system. Assuming that they are run with the same settings then the new system is almost twice as fast as my present one.

(This test was run almost 2 years ago)

[Andy14]

Phil you forgot my piccy with the front open. I wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten my Blu-Ray drive

[Singh400]

Nooooooo I am far to impatient for something like that,

We just have the best technicians on the planet

I have to admit, that is some impressive work. Even though I can do my own builds, I would def. consider asking the 3XS team to do my next build for me.

[Philipp]

Phil you forgot my piccy with the front open. I wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten my Blu-Ray drive

Sorry Andy, had to leave the office early....

I get you a pic in the morning

[Andy14]

Sorry Andy, had to leave the office early....

I get you a pic in the morning

Remember that getting it in the post tomorrow is more important than the piccies though

Have to agree with what everyone is saying, it's a work of art inside.

[NightOwl]

Re. Win 7 beta:

Thanks, Andy, I would appreciate hearing about your experiences and thoughts on the matter. Good luck with the USB install!

I've got the beta downloaded and burned to disk - I just hope it bloomin' works when the time comes! hehe.