Questions 3XS Torque system

[Grimaudiere]

Hello - please forgive the registration and first post is a new thread, but I wanted to ask a question about a 3XS system I like the look of.

I do amateur video making and want a beefy system to help do that. I was interested in the 3XS Torque 3930K-based system - it costs a lot but should see me happily making movies for about 5 years or more (I hope).

However - some questions:

- I find no internet reviews or feedback on the Torque system for video production on the internet. I wondered if there is any feedback on such a system - including its potential longevity.
- The H100 it uses has got good reviews, but is often described as noisy. What setting does the H100 have to run at? Is it noisy in this configuration?
- I want to run the system with the 5405 RAID card with eventually 4 hard disks in a RAID 5 configuration. 2 of the drives will come from my old system, and 2 I will order with the system. How easy will it be to reconfigure the installed disks to a RAID 5 system? I'll do it straight away after receiving the system, BTW.
- Lastly, some nit-picking on changes and prices - the listing doesn't mention it has been updated for December, but in fact I noticed the following:
The FT01B case offered last month as default is no longer available. The case choice is reduced and the default is now the older TJ07B, which is distinctly more expensive. Is it worth it?

The cost of the Acronis backup software has also gone up significantly, and interestingly, the 2011 version shown on the 3XS build page is not available on the main Scan site and the 2012 version that is available is cheaper! (Only by £1 or so, which for so expensive a computer is negligible, but I find it odd). Is it the 2011 or 2012 version installed, and if the 2011, why the older version if it costs more?

Lastly the cost of the build (as opposed to the components or delivery) has increased from £155 to £180 from last month to this - still pretty reasonable, but it means the system is now almost £100 more in the configuration I would want (though the overclock is also increased from 4.0 to 4.2 GHz in compensation )

Many thanks for any help!!

Grim

[Grimaudiere]

Wellll - silence was the stern reply. Guess the question was too long and boring. Here's my current thinking:

...

- I want to run the system with the 5405 RAID card with eventually 4 hard disks in a RAID 5 configuration. 2 of the drives will come from my old system, and 2 I will order with the system. How easy will it be to reconfigure the installed disks to a RAID 5 system? I'll do it straight away after receiving the system, BTW.

Decided that is a red herring and the motherboard will do level 5 on the SATA 3 interfaces anyway.

- Lastly, some nit-picking on changes and prices

Actually there are loads of odd examples on SCAN's system prices, so my sanity isn't wort trying to understand it.

Which leaves me with the question of the specifics of how the H100 is set up and if there's any reviews etc.

Grim

[Chris P]

Grimaudiere

Apologies for the late reply, I can assure you this is not or usual level of service for support in this section, which seems to have lapsed from the usual standard but will not be an issue in future.

Most of your original queries you seem to have worked out already.

Regarding the System Prices, the Base Price's do change sometimes where we change the basic components, or where we may be more aggressive on the cost.

I am speaking with the Build team regarding the setting required for the H100 cooler and if the are any reviews for this or similar systems and will confirm shortly.

Best Regards

[Chris P]

Grimaudiere

The H100 is set to level 2, the Build dept have said you can here the unit running but wouldn't be classed as noisy at this setting.

Level 3 would be classed as noisy.

Best Regards

[Grimaudiere]

Grimaudiere

The H100 is set to level 2, the Build dept have said you can here the unit running but wouldn't be classed as noisy at this setting.

Level 3 would be classed as noisy.

Best Regards

Many many thanks for your reply. I was out of the country when you did, but just got back to find these replies - much appreciated.

I am now ready to fire up the credit card. But I do notice that the spec has changes again - to using the ASUS board. Shame to have missed the MSI option as I use firewire - but I have an expansion card with an internal connector so that should also serve the front panel. If I did go ASUS, I'd prefer the pro version of this board but I can get that and otherwise the same machine for slightly cheaper (and slightly higher overclock) with the Velocity X79 SLI. All I need to do is downgrade the video card to something more in line with my usage (the single 570 option). Am I missing something or does that make sense?

Thanks,

Grim

[Philipp]

Many many thanks for your reply. I was out of the country when you did, but just got back to find these replies - much appreciated.

I am now ready to fire up the credit card. But I do notice that the spec has changes again - to using the ASUS board. Shame to have missed the MSI option as I use firewire - but I have an expansion card with an internal connector so that should also serve the front panel. If I did go ASUS, I'd prefer the pro version of this board but I can get that and otherwise the same machine for slightly cheaper (and slightly higher overclock) with the Velocity X79 SLI. All I need to do is downgrade the video card to something more in line with my usage (the single 570 option). Am I missing something or does that make sense?

Thanks,

Grim

We can build with the MSI board if required, it was removed from the spec as we had a problem with the board and was awaiting a fix from MSI.... its since been resolved.

In short, we can build with whatever board you like

[Chris P]

Grimaudiere

Please PM me your contact number so we can call you to go through the order and book this is in if you are ready to order.

Best Regards

[Grimaudiere]

Well I did the deed.

I realised 2 things:
- That the case I really wanted wouldn't fit under my desk.
- That I was spending far too much time and having too much fun with spreadhseets designing my perfect computer when I could be having even more fun actually using it.

So I tore up my spreadsheets (metaphorically) and just wrote down the computer I wanted AND was practical and realised that it was almost the Velocity model - so I went with that, just with downgraded video card and upgraded storage. As a gaming machine, this makes it unbalanced (too powerful a CPU linked to to lesser video card), but it is balanced to my needs, which is less gaming and more number crunching and video rendering.

So far dealing with Scan has been impressively polite, efficient and a pleasure. Unfortunately, the delivery date is not until mid-March - hopefully that's due to them doing good business in these difficult times!

And now the waiting, the wating, the waiting ...

[Philipp]

Hello Grimaudiere,

Great news and thank you for your order... We are doing everything possible to bring our lead-times down whilst upholding our usual build and system quality.

If you like we are happy to post some pictures of the build during build and prior to shipping??

Best Regards

[Grimaudiere]

If you like we are happy to post some pictures of the build during build and prior to shipping??

Yes please!

[Philipp]

Yes please!

Not a problem, could you email me your invoice number please.

philipp@scan.co.uk

Best Regards