Reviews - PC Specialist Vanquish Prodigy

[HEXUS]

Right size, right performance, right price. Is this the perfect gaming PC?

Read more.

[Rob_B]

I've been messing with the configurator online, swapping out a few components you can have a nice little machine built witht the 3yr warranty for a not unreasonable amount, I'm quite suprised actually. Downside of swapping out to an mATX mobo (excluding wifi?)

[Mentawl]

Looks suspiciously like the 200mm fan is installed backwards, and is exhausting out the front of the case? o.O

[CK_1985]

That is a fantastic price, but it looks like it's some sort of special offer - as soon as you start messing around with the configurator the price jumps up significantly. In fact, if you use the configurator to build up this exact spec it comes in at £1,079!

At £899 it's a steal though - especially as the website says it actually comes with the 'silver' warranty (one year C&R) rather than the standard warranty as stated in the article (1 month C&R)

[OilSheikh]

Why does Hexus keep showcasing PCs fropm etailers ? Everyone on Hexus knows how to build a PC and are really really good at it.

[b0redom]

Some of us can't be bothered any more. Even though I can and have done it many times previously. It's not worth my time building a new PC from parts. It's one of the reasons I go with Apple gear now.

[AGTDenton]

Why does Hexus keep showcasing PCs fropm etailers ? Everyone on Hexus knows how to build a PC and are really really good at it.

I've always built my own PC's, however, when it comes to say a secondary PC or one you want to take on the road to LAN events, this can often be the best solution. Also nowadays I recommend pre-built machines to friends, I get bored of the constant questions and having to meddle with them.
With the likes of Scan they also offer pre-overclocked solutions which can save time and effort than building and testing your own to achieve the same goals.

Downside of swapping out to an mATX mobo (excluding wifi?)

You could argue that expansion capabilities and perhaps future proofing are the only downsides. So for example should USB4 or SATA4 become available you may not have enough spare slots should you want to utilise these technologies without having to get a new machine.
From what I read performance in mATX is competitive with its bigger brothers so I dont think theres any huge downsides.
Im thinking mATX for a secondary machine...

Impressive pricing for a mini PC. It would have been nice to see some newer or more popular games benchmarked.

PreBuilt i7 computers have come down to the £850 mark. Im also sure I've seen them at £800 as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INDS3-I7-3...item1c2c196531

[b0redom]

Down to £850 for a PC with a noname PSU, a mobo which lists a major selling point as crossfire support, but sold with an nVidia card, and an advert covered with spelling and grammatical errors?

I personally wouldn't touch that with a barge pole, but each to their own.

[grayg1]

Meh... when I saw "PC" and "Vanquish" I got a little excited thinking Platinum Games had started developing PC games

[DDY]

A suggestion if you don't mind Hexus.

Wear gloves when handing the kit because there are unsightly finger/hand prints all over the machines reviewed here!

Unless of course it comes from the builder like that, in which case, review accordingly

[liammcd]

Some of us can't be bothered any more. Even though I can and have done it many times previously. It's not worth my time building a new PC from parts. It's one of the reasons I go with Apple gear now.

If you can afford Apple gear and the software overheads that go with it, why would you bother building your own?

You could always ask Jeeves to do it for you though...

[b0redom]

Errr what software overheads?

I consider myself a fairly advanced user, but the ONLY bits of commercial software software I've installed are VMWare Fusion (which is bucket loads cheaper than the Windows equviliant - VMWare Workstation), and MS Office (which I needed as the relevant bits of change tracking didn't work in OpenOffice/NeoOffice). Oh, and Windows to play some games in.

Once you have more than one Mac in a household it actually becomes much much cheaper to run than Windows. If you buy an App from the OSX app store, you can install it on any other device you own for free (including OSes).

Still, keep on eating the FUD.