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 Welcome Custom PC Issue 142

Editorial
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Ben Hardwidge
editor@custompcmag.org.uk
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3
 C U STO M P C / ISSUE 142

Contents Welcome to Issue 142

86 Build your dream PC COVER STORY

There’s a mass of exciting hardware and P86
modding techniques now, resulting in
some extremely swanky PCs. Whether
you’re keen on choosing the right
colours, super-fast hardware, building a
powerful water-cooling system or all of
the above, there are plenty of ways to
make your PC stand out from the crowd.
To show you how it’s done, we’ve built
a Titan X-powered X99 rig with an
8-core Core i7-5960X, 16GB of DDR4
memory and a Rampage V Extreme
motherboard for under £4,000. This
setup also includes a custom high-end
water-cooling system, complete with
hard acrylic tubing. Whatever your
budget, though, this feature aims to
inspire you to see how far you can push
your PC building skills – not everyone
can afford a Titan X and 8-core CPU, but
even a modest PC can benefit from
imaginative thinking.

Highlights 40 26
10 SATA Express dies before
it arrives
In a brand-new regular column,
Taiwan resident Richard Swinburne
says why he’s thankful that the
connector designed to replace SATA
has failed to take hold.

14 Introducing Custom PC
RealBench 2015
The wait is finally over! Our new
benchmark suite, in association
with Asus, is now ready for you to
download. Here, we take you
through its key features, with the
chance to win a new motherboard.
16 Enemies of Minecraft
Fearmongers are lining up to tell us
that Minecraft is bad for kids, but
their evidence is wanting, argues
Tracy King.
40 Speakers and headsets Labs
Great audio is an oft-neglected
aspect of a great PC, but a quality
headset or speaker set can make
movies, gaming and music far more
enjoyable. Over 23 reviews, we find
the best audio gear for your PC.
80 Inside Unity 5
Rick Lane revisits the Unity engine,
which is now capable of some
stunning graphical feats, including
real-time global illumination.
94 Hobby tech
Gareth Halfacree puts the Tsunami
and the Banana Pro through their
paces, and also analyses the current
Arduino rift.
102 How to mod a graphics card
waterblock
Don’t want to fork out for a new
waterblock for a new GPU, such
as a GeForce GTX 960? Antony
Leather shows you how to mod
your old one to fit.

4
 43
PRODUCTS
94 108 Reviewed REVIEWED
this month
Hardware
CPU COOLER
19 DeepCool Assassin II
MOTHERBOARD
20 Asus Sabertooth X99
CASES
22 Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX
26 BitFenix Aegis

100 76 MONITOR
28 Samsung S34E790C
GAMING KEYBOARD AND MOUSE
32 CM Storm Octane
Custom kit
38 Libratone LOOP WIFI BT4.0
38 Adidas iPhone 6 booklet case
38 Olloclip 4-in-1 Lens for iPhone
6/6Plus
39 GoPro HERO4 Black
39 Club3D 10m USB 3.0 Active
Repeater Cable
39 Microlab T2
80 102
Headset Labs test
42 Antilion ModMic
42 Asus Strix 2.0
43 Asus Strix 7.1
43 Beyer Dynamics MMX 300
44 CM Storm Sirius-C
44 Corsair H1500
46 Func HS-260
46 HyperX Cloud II
48 Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma
48 Roccat Kave XTD Stereo
49 Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analog
49 Sennheiser G4ME ZERO
Regulars Cover guide 50 SteelSeries Siberia V3
50 Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 320
8 From the editor
10 Richard Swinburne
86 14 Speakers Labs test
12 Letters 52 Acoustic Energy Aego M
53 Creative GigaWorks T3
16 Tracy King 53 Creative T3150
17 Incoming 54 Edifier R980T
54 Edifier R1600T
34 How we test 55 Harman/Kardon Nova
38 Custom kit 56 Microlab F60BT
56 Microlab X1
58 PC system reviews 57 Razer Leviathan
62 CPC Elite products
PC system reviews
73 Inverse look
58 Stealth 1.0
80 The engine room 60 Computer Planet i7 Low Noise
84 Digital rights Gaming PC
94 Hobby tech Games
99 For the win 74 Pillars of Eternity
100 Customised PC 76 Battlefield Hardline
76 Mortal Kombat X
102 How to guides 78 Dyscourse
108 Readers’ drives
Hobby tech
112 Folder of the month
94 Tsunami
113 Your folding milestones 98 Banana Pro
114 James Gorbold 80 40

5
 OPINION
B E N H A R DW I D G E / FROM THE EDITOR
GORGEOUS PCs DON’T
HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE
Not everyone can afford a £4,000 dream PC, but Ben Hardwidge thoroughly
recommends customising and water-cooling your rig
irst there was a heavy thud, then there was an ‘uh,
F erm, Ben?’ from the removal guy. I went outside to
see a big dent in the side of my cherished Antec P182
SE, and the door hanging off, its hinge broken into several
pieces. To make matters worse, my Corsair H80’s pump started
making a funny noise when I switched it on. My PC still worked,
but there was no joy in sitting in front of it any more, with its
sorrowful door coming off whenever I needed to switch it on.
I tolerated my miserable old box of bits for a while, and toyed
with the idea of buying a completely new PC,
but the reality of me being the sole breadwinner
of a family with a newborn baby put paid to I wanted a custom
that idea.
The alternative was to rehouse it and change
water-cooling loop and
the cooling system – an idea I wasn’t sure was a machine I could
worth the cost, but that I now realise was
worth every penny. Not only was I going to
proudly pat on the head
replace the case and closed-loop cooler, but I
was going to build a custom water-cooling loop and create a
machine I could proudly pat on the head (yes, I’m afraid I
genuinely do this).
I’ve bemoaned the unadventurous designs of PC cases
before, and in an ideal world, I’d have used a Parvum S2.0, or
even a mini-ITX rig, but my lack of funds meant I had to stick
with the ATX Ivy Bridge system I already owned. As such, I
settled on a Fractal Design Define R5, along with an XSPC
Photon reservoir/pump, a 240mm radiator, all the necessary
waterblocks and tubing, some Blueberry Mayhems coolant,
loads of Monsoon fittings and some LED strips.
Ben Hardwidge is the editor of Custom PC. He likes PCs, heavy metal, real ale and Warhammer 40,000.
8
The total cost was admittedly over £100 more than the cost
of a new case and closed-loop cooler, but the end result has me
beaming with pride every day. I removed all the drive bays
except the 5.25in ones, as I still like to have an optical drive. I
don’t like optical media but, even today, the only way to get
true lossless audio is often to do a lossless rip from a CD, and
that requires an optical drive. Also, new-release boxed games
are bizarrely often a tenner cheaper than the Steam equivalent.
So, with my one SSD behind the motherboard, and all the
3.5in bays removed, I had plenty of room to
mount the Photon reservoir at the front. Plus,
unlike my old Antec case, the Fractal R5 (as with
most new cases) has buckets of space and holes
for cable routing. You can barely see any cables
in the finished PC – just a lovely, blue custom
water-cooling loop and all my components.
In real terms, what I’ve got is a case door that
works, the ability to overclock my components
slightly higher and less fan noise. More importantly, though,
I have a gorgeous-looking computer that I’ve customised
myself, and which is a pleasure to switch on every day. It felt
great to tinker with custom water cooling again – like building
a model or any other hobby, it’s just fun.
So don’t worry if you can’t afford the 8-core CPU or GTX Titan
X used in our Dream PC feature (see p86). That’s the beauty of
having a custom-built PC – you can pick and choose what you
want in it. If your rig is looking a little drab and dreary, but you
can’t afford loads of new kit, I hope our feature inspires you to
turn it into something really special.
editor@custompcmag.org.uk @mandogfish
 OPINION
R I C H A R D SW I N B U R N E / VIEW FROM TAIWAN
SATA EXPRESS DIES
BEFORE IT ARRIVES
The connector designed to consign SATA to the obsolescence bin has
failed to take hold, and Richard Swinburne is thankful
his month,Intel has launched its super-fast,prosumer
T 750 Series SSD, available as a PCI-E card and a 2.5in
drive, although both provide the same performance.
You’ll be familiar with 2.5in SATA SSDs, but there’s no SATA
connector on the 750 Series. Instead, there’s a sexily named
‘SFF-8639’ connector that adds a wider matrix of pins to
transmit a full 4x PCI-E 3 signal, giving you a bandwidth of 32Gb/
sec versus your – let’s be fair – rather tame SATA 6Gbps interface.
Now these figures might sound mighty tasty, but such
bleeding-edge kit comes with a hefty price tag,
and when your average 256GB SSD price is
dropping like a rock (Phison Electronics’ To make matters
chairman reckons a 256GB SSD will hit $60-80
US by next year), justifying a cost of almost $1
worse, it could only
US per GB is a royally tough ask. push out a bandwidth
On the plus side, as 2015 progresses, PCI-E
SSDs will flood the high-end market, with
of 10Gb/sec
SandForce, Marvell, Intel and Phison committed
to launching new chips, so prices will come down. But wait,
step back a minute – how exactly do you connect these fancy
2.5in drives to your motherboard if they don’t plug into a SATA
port? Do they use the new-fangled SATA Express connector?
Actually, no. They require a server-style ‘mini-SAS HD’
connector that can either be adapted from your motherboard’s
M.2 slot or, in future, you’ll begin to find them integrated onto
motherboards (you heard it here first!) But wasn’t SATA Express
meant to be the new connector that kicked out SATA?
Nope, it’s dead and, you know what? I’m glad it failed. The
SATA-IO crowd is a gaggle of very intelligent techies who
sometimes make poor decisions for us on the DIY front. When
Richard has worked in tech for over a decade, as a UK journalist, on Asus’ ROG team and now as an industry analyst based in Taiwan
10
they aren’t thinking up forgettable names for their connectors,
they’re designing superfluous connectors. First-gen SATA?
Pointless – the plastic plugs easily fell out after a couple of uses.
Thankfully, this error was corrected, and the design was revised
into a wraparound socket with cables that clipped into place,
but even now, the SATA connectors on the drive side are often
flimsy and easy to break.
Now it’s round three, with SATA Express bringing back IDE-
sized connectors that need three SATA-sized cables between
your motherboard and drive. That’s going to
look great in a neat, tidy rig, isn’t it? When it was
revealed, you could hear the collective PC
community smacking its head against its desk.
Plus, to make matters worse, it could only push
out a bandwidth of 10Gb/sec, meaning you
could strap together two readily available SATA
drives in RAID 0 (using only two cables) and get
almost identical performance. Why would
anyone want SATA Express, I thought? And, well, no one did.
Sensibly, in the last year, M.2 connectors sporting a very
healthy 4x PCI-E 3 connection are increasingly becoming the
drive style of choice, and with 3D/stacked NAND chips from
Samsung, Intel, Micron and Hynix hitting the market, we’ll get
more capacity than ever on those tiny sticks.
Admittedly, there are rumours of SATA Express hard drives
in the works, but by the time a traditional spinning disk design
threatens to break the SATA 6Gbps barrier, large-capacity SSDs
will have made them utterly redundant. So, from case modders,
performance enthusiasts and anyone who likes a neat-looking
rig, goodbye and good riddance, SATA Express.
@Bindibadgi

Please send us your feedback and correspondence to
letters@custompcmag.org.uk
Give us a pixel count
I’m currently considering an
upgrade to drive the resolution that
I’m now running (5,760 x 1,200).
However, with the range of options
now available to people, the
traditional view of quoting
standard resolutions and frame
rates may be a little too limiting.
Would it not be possible to show
the performance in frames per
second of a GPU against the total
pixel count that it’s driving? This
figure would give those of us who
are running other resolutions a
good idea of how it’s likely to
perform. For example, would I be
better off going with a single GTX
980, or should I go for two GTX 970s
in SLI? For the record, I’m going to go
for the 2 x 970 option.
RICHARD
Ben: I understand your dilemma,
Richard, and unfortunately we can’t test
at every single resolution possible.
Sadly, though, the solution you propose
could end up being very misleading, as
the ratio of frames per second to the
total pixel count isn’t a linear scale – it’s
affected by all sorts of factors, not just
the number of stream processors, but
also the size of the frame buffer, the
number of ROPs and so on.
Sadly, you can’t extrapolate that a
card handling 3.7 megapixels at 60fps
will handle double that number at
30fps, to use an extreme example, as
the frame rate for some cards falls off
dramatically after you hit a certain wall.
You can get a fair idea though – your
setup has a significantly lower pixel
count than a single 4K display, so a pair
of GTX 970s will handle it fine.
Can I upgrade?
I’ve had the same PC for around four
years now, and after reading your
reviews on the new types of RAM
12
F E E D B AC K
Letters
A pair of GTX 970 and graphics cards, I’ve been looking
cards will handle into upgrading my current system. I
5,760 x 1,200
gaming fine currently have a Gigabyte GA-870-
UD3 motherboard, an AMD Phenom
II X4 970 Black Edition, a Corsair GS
800W PSU, a 250GB Western Digital
hard drive, 8 GB of Kingston Hyper X
Blue 1,333MHz RAM (single-channel)
and a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870.
 After reading your magazine, I
figured my system must use around
450W of power during use.
However, I’ve never upgraded an
existing system, and I’m looking to
upgrade my RAM and graphics card.
I want to install a dual-channel 16GB
Corsair 1,333MHz kit, but I’m not
sure my system will support it. I also
want to change my graphics card for
a Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Vapor-X.
 I know I would probably need a
new PSU, mainly for the graphics
PEDANTS’ PARADISE
Didn’t know you
measured
temperature in
FPS now (Issue
140, p25)!
MATTHEW
VAUGHAN (UPTHESADDLERS+MRSLIPPERY)
Ben: Argh, no idea how that wasn’t spotted. Thanks for
pointing it out. I’m now off to bury my face in my
keyboard.
card, and I would need to uninstall
the current AMD software installed
for my card. What I would like to
know is whether my current
motherboard and CPU and PSU
could handle this upgrade, and the
jump from single-channel to dual-
channel RAM (the manual says it
supports dual-channel RAM). Is this
a feasible upgrade? I’m still enjoying
Skyrim at High settings.
CHRIS BURDEN
Ben: I’m confident that your current
system will handle all those upgrades
fine, Chris. The Radeon R9 280X does
use more power than the Radeon HD
6870, but nowhere near enough to
push your 800W power supply to the
limit, and that Corsair GS model has all
the connectors and 12V current needed
to handle such a card easily.
Your board will also handle dual-
channel RAM fine, and at a higher
frequency than 1,333MHz too. If you’re
paying for a memory upgrade, I’d be
tempted to buy a 1,866MHz kit while
you’re there – your motherboard will
support it. Just check your motherboard
manual for the DIMM slots you should
use, and any BIOS settings you need to
tweak, to enable dual-channel mode.
And yes, uninstall your current graphics
drivers before installing your new card
and installing the new ones. Good luck
with your upgrade!
Something for the subs
I need to get something off my
chest. I’ve just received my latest
edition in the post and on p36
there’s the standard enticement to
subscribe to the mag. Okay, fine, I
understand that you need to keep
or increase the number of
subscribers to ensure the mag
remains viable. But come on, what
about your loyal minions who have
supported your mag for the last five
Cheers for the DIY
3D printer guide, it’s
something I’d really
like to get into
years? Surely you can do something
for us too?
 Rant over, cheers for the DIY 3D
printer guide, it’s something I’d
really like to get into. More please.
DAVE
Dust devil
One thing that always gives me
grief is keeping my PC clean every
year. I have an Antec 1200 case,
which was the mutt’s nuts some
years ago, and I have to remove 24
thumb screws and disturb all my
nicely routed cabling just to access
the three dust filters. Keeping a case
clean can be a right nuisance and,
judging by your last Labs test on
cases, it looks like the manufacturers
are still not getting dust filters right.
The dust filters should be easy to
access and effective at keeping the
case clean. If PC cases have lovely
large windows, then having a dust
fest on show is annoying. Are there
any cases on the market that are
easy to clean? How do some of the
best cases on the market stack up
with 12 months’ worth of dust, and
how much trouble would it take to
keep them clean? 
Laptops are worse. I decided to
clean the heatsink on my son’s
laptop, which had been whining
away on full fan speed. I spent
half the day dismantling the
internals just to get close to the
clogged-up heatsink. Even then,
the vacuum cleaner failed to
suck up much of the dust.
Maybe laptops are
designed to be thrown
away when they’re
clogged up with dust.
MARK GARDNER
Send your feedback and correspondence to
Twitter highlights
Follow us on Twitter at @CustomPCmag
hans_gruber1 New shiny PC on my
desk, waiting to be tested, but where be
the CPC benchmarks? Can only find the ye
olde 2007 ones!
Ben: And, as if by magic, here they are, on the
next page!
carbontwelve Hurray, I passed the 1
million points mark in @foldingathome
I look forward to seeing it in @CustomPCMag
soon :)
Ben: Congratulations, and thank you for folding
for our team!
davido_labido Who likes white and
purple? I do! That’s why I made this!
Ben: Wow, that’s some beautiful work there –
we’ll see if we can get your work featured in a
future Readers’ Drives feature.
AChatwin Surprised you didn’t test an
M2 along with the SSD roundup.
Ben: We had a couple of early samples in the
lab for testing in that group test, but the
performance results were so erratic and
unpredictable that we decided we couldn’t
Ben: I share your frustration, Mark.
Gathering dust is sadly the price you pay
for an efficient intake/exhaust airflow
system. My top tip is to
gently use a large paintbrush
(the sort you get from B&Q)
to clean out the dust from
heatsinks, and out of
crevices. Dust filters are
WHEN’S THE NEXT MAG COMING OUT?
getting better though.
I bought a Fractal Design Thursday, 18 June, with subscribers receiving it a few
Define R5 recently, for
example, which has great
letters@custompcmag.org.uk
print them. We hope to review more M2 drives
in the near future.
craigthebeard So I finally bought a NAS
from @
OverclockersUK
on your
recommendation
@CustomPCMag.
Rubbed my beard
on it, as you do.
Ben: Enjoy! And
congratulations
on a very
fine beard.
Zimtok5 You have been sporting the
outdated Twitter logo in your Letters
section for a long while. Mind updating it?
Ben: Oh no, we have! Consider that fixed from
this issue onwards.
TheNo1Hozza Well after some modding
the Makibox A6 can product a nice 3D
print, Issue 140 has changed my life.
Ben: Excellent, glad our feature inspired you.
removable dust filters, including a
massive one under the bottom of the
case, and another covering the front fan
mounts. They won’t completely keep
dust out of your PC, but being able to
easily remove them for cleaning makes
maintenance easier.
Issue 143 of Custom PC will be on sale on
days beforehand.
13

Custom PC
in association with
The wait for our new test suite is finally over. Ben Hardwidge
walks you through the latest Custom PC benchmarks
e know, we know, it’s about bloody
W time. The delay between our new
benchmark suite’s launch and the
launch of the Media Benchmarks 2007 suite
was starting to look a bit like the wait for
Half-Life 3. But, thanks to the lovely folks on
Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) team, we
now have a suite of new real-world
benchmarks ready for you.
Gimp
As before, we’re using Gimp as the basis for
our image editing test, but the new test is
much bigger than the previous one, using
lots of large images, and it also uses a much
more recent version of the software, so it
will take advantage of optimisations for
newer hardware. Unlike the Media
Benchmarks 2007 Gimp benchmark, this
test also spreads its workload across more
than one CPU core, although it’s still much
more sensitive to clock speed increases than
to more CPU cores.
Handbrake H.264 video encoding
We also chose to stick with Handbrake for
our video encoding test, but we’re now
using a much more recent version of the
14
CO M M U N I T Y / TESTING
software, which takes full advantage of
many CPU cores, pushing them to 100 per
cent load. This heavily multi-threaded test
gives you a good, real-world indication of
the difference made by having multiple
CPU cores.
OpenCL hard as a benefit of its APUs, we
wanted our benchmark suite to give a
reflection of GPU compute power.
We now have a way of measuring how
the GPU compute power of an AMD APU
compares with that of an Intel CPU with
integrated graphics.
However, given that 3D rendering is a
very specific workload that not everyone
will use, and as OpenCL support isn’t
standard in most software, this section is
Luxmark OpenCL given a lower weighting, making up just a
We’ve introduced a GPU compute test in the quarter of the weighting of the other tests
form of a Luxmark render using OpenCL. in the final score. It’s there to give an idea of
This section is the only synthetic part of the potential GPU compute performance, but it
test, although the Luxmark renderer is doesn’t dominate the final test result.
based on the real LuxRender physically
based rendering software. With some major Heavy multi-tasking
packages, including Photoshop, now taking We’ve also overhauled our multi-tasking
advantage of OpenCL, and AMD pushing test. Instead of performing a large file
CHROME WARNING
At the moment, Google’s Chrome
browser flags up the RealBench 2015
download as potentially harmful, and
we’re aware of this issue. The file is
perfectly safe, however – please
ignore this warning.

compression operation while playing a
windowed video, the new multi-tasking
test now plays back a full-screen 1080p
video, while also running a Handbrake
H.264 video encode at the same time.
The scores
The scores for RealBench are quite different
from those in the Media Benchmarks 2007
suite. RealBench 2015 breaks down the
individual scores for each test, and then
gives you a total system score, as well as a
percentage reference score. You can think
of the latter as a little like the scores from
our Media Benchmarks 2007 suite, though,
where a score of 1,000 came from our
reference test rig.
RealBench 2015 provides a separate
reference score for Intel and AMD systems,
so you can see whether your system is
slower or faster than our reference
systems. On an Intel system, the 100 per
cent reference score comes from a stock
speed Core i7-4790K, with 16GB of Corsair
2,400MHz DDR3 memory, a 240GB OCZ
150 SSD, an Asus Maximus Gene VII
motherboard and an Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB graphics card.
On an AMD system, the 100 per cent
reference score comes from a stock speed
A10-7850K APU, with 8GB of Corsair
2,133MHz DDR3 RAM, an Asus A88X-Pro
motherboard and a 256GB Plextor M5 Pro
SSD, using the APU’s integrated graphics.
The leaderboard
There’s nothing like a bit of competition
among hardware enthusiasts, so for the first
time in several years, we’re launching a
leaderboard, which Asus is kindly hosting.
Take your browser over to www.asus.com/
campaign/Realbench, where you’ll be able
to download the new benchmarks and view
DOWNLOAD
FROM
WWW.ASUS.COM/
CAMPAIGN/
REALBENCH
the latest results
on the leaderboard.
Along with your
system’s scores, the RealBench 2015 app
will also post your system’s specifications,
thanks to an Asus-skinned version of CPU-Z
that’s integrated into the app, so you can’t
cheat and lie about your overclock!
However, bear in mind that CPU-Z parses
the system specs before the tests start, so if
you have a power-saving technology that
changes your CPU clock speed, such as
SpeedStep, enabled then the leaderboard
will post wildly inaccurate clock speeds.
In short, don’t enable features such as
SpeedStep if you want your overclock
recorded accurately.
To post a score on the leaderboard, you’ll
need to go to Save Upload File in the Results
menu in the RealBench 2015 app, and save
your results in the form of an RBR file.
You then need to select Offline Uploads
at www.asus.com/campaign/Realbench,
sign up for an Asus account and upload
your file.
At the moment, the top result (a
whopping system score of 201,406!) comes
from the dream PC that Antony Leather
built for this issue’s main feature (see p86).
We’ll be impressed if anyone can beat that
score, and we’ll be printing a part of the
leaderboard in the magazine from this
point onwards.

WIN! an Asus Z97-Pro

Gamer motherboard
O
ur pals at Asus are kindly offering a Z97-Pro Gamer GameFirst II is an innovative traffic-shaping technology that
motherboard to three lucky winners who get their PC reduces lag by prioritising game-related data, while SupremeFX
into the top 100 on the leaderboard this month. We’ll provides near-lossless audio with a remarkable signal-to-noise
randomly select three users from the top 100 and, upon receiving ratio (SNR) of 115dB.
verification in the form of an RBR file, Asus will send them a fantastic Meanwhile, the board’s on-board resettable fuses protect the
new motherboard. ports and DRAM against over-current and short-circuit damage,
Asus’ Pro Gamer series is an increasingly expansive line of while its exceptionally high-quality,
motherboards for gaming enthusiasts, sharing some Japanese-made 10K black-metallic
of the bespoke features of Asus’ ROG
boards, including LANGuard and Intel
3 capacitors offer greater temperature
endurance and improved lifespan than
Gigabit Ethernet, GameFirst II,
BOARDS TO standard capacitors.
SupremeFX audio and Sonic Radar II.
BE WON! The Z97-Pro Gamer also has Asus’
Support for the latest M.2 (using two exclusive Digi+ VRM technology to
PCI-E 2 lanes) and SATA Express enhance performance, increase
interfaces, which is common to 9-series efficiency and ensure reliability.
motherboards is also included. The Z97-Pro
Gamer is overclockable too, so you can pair it
with a Pentium G3258 for some budget
overclocking action well into 4GHz territory.

15
 OPINION
T R ACY K I N G / SCEPTICAL ANALYSIS
ENEMIES OF MINECRAFT
Fearmongers are lining up to tell us that Minecraft is bad for kids,
but their evidence is wanting, says Tracy King
f Lego was the giant of our childhoods then
I Minecraft is the Goliath of today’s young generation.
Simple blocks towering – literally and figuratively
– over the heads of babes. Awe-inspiring, stimulating,
colourful, fun and frustrating in equal measures. To conquer
a world with no story is to conquer boredom itself.
I still have Lego, and I play a lot of Minecraft. More than many
middle-aged professional adults, possibly. But not more than
the kids of my peers, whose Minecraft achievements put my
own to shame. Where I use Minecraft as a sort of grown-up
dolls’ house (I happily admit I mostly play in
peaceful mode), I see kids aged 3-16 creating
impenetrable fortresses from which to defend
their loot and kill Creepers. My friend’s toddler That’s going to result
thinks his avatar, Steve, is called ‘Minecraft’, and in an entire generation
laughs hysterically when he falls in lava.
And so, of course, along must come the
of murderers, or
busybodies, the fearmongers, meeting trouble worse, architects
halfway. If young people love Minecraft then
we must find a way to make Minecraft bad.
Young people, after all, don’t know what’s good for them.
They’d eat sweets all day if you let them, so why are you letting
them play a design-and-build video game all day? Clearly,
that’s going to result in an entire generation of murderers, or
worse, architects.
Quartz, an online magazine, recently published a
delightfully alarmist headline – ‘We’re ruining our kids with
Minecraft.’ It turned out to be nothing more than ‘churnalism’,
a copy-pasted press release about a new study written by –
you guessed it – the authors of the study, a‘strategic consultant’
for the commercial sector, and the CEO of a company that
makes ‘ride-on toys that foster outdoor active play’. Lads, your
bias is showing.
Gamer and science enthusiast Tracy King dissects the evidence and statistics behind popular media stories surrounding tech and gaming
16
Another recent headline, this time by the BBC, asks:‘Should
parents ever be worried about Minecraft?’ The author, Joylon
Jenkins, says,‘Minecraft’s champions say it’s very creative and
that I should just look at the things kids are making on it. I
concede the point but say that it’s two-dimensional, and that
children should be exercising more than their mouse fingers.
The other side asks why it’s any worse than reading for hours
at a time. Because, I say, reading allows you to imaginatively
inhabit other minds.’
Jenkins has an answer for everything. I’m reminded of Carl
Sagan’s example in which he claims to have a
dragon in his garage. Show me, I demand,
otherwise I don’t believe you. It’s invisible, he
retorts. Then let me see the footprints, I insist.
Ah, but it floats. Infrared sensor? No, her fire is
a special heatless sort.
‘Now, what’s the difference between an
invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits
heatless fire and no dragon at all?’ asks Sagan.
‘If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no
conceivable experiment that would count against it, what
does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to
invalidate my hypothesis isn’t at all the same as proving it
true. Claims that can’t be tested, assertions immune to
disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may
have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What
I’m asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence
of evidence, on my say-so.’
Jenkins, Quartz, the Turkish government – which allegedly
plans to ban Minecraft – all fail to offer evidence, beyond a
few fringe anecdotes, that Minecraft is in any way bad for kids.
The claims they make are vague, woolly, unprovable, invisible
dragons in the garage.
@tkingdoll
 CO M I N G S O O N / NEW KIT

Incoming
We take a look at the latest newly announced products

Fractal removes optical drives 8Pack develops GTX 980 card

Following in the footsteps of NZXT, Overclocker 8Pack has helped to develop a new GeForce
Fractal has decided to test the GTX 980 card in conjunction with KFA². According to
optical-free water with a brand- retailer Overclockers, the unique component selection
new case that has no 5.25in process enabled 8Pack to get hold of the best GPUs and
drive bays. The Define S is memory chips, along with ‘uprated capacitors and VRM
otherwise very similar to the components.’ The end result is a card with a boost clock of
Define R5, but its slight redesign at least 1,440MHz, but Overclockers claims the card often
means it can accommodate a boosts to 1,480MHz, and that the memory consistently hits
420mm radiator in the roof, and over 2,050MHz (8.2GHz effective) when overclocked too.
a 360mm model in the front. Comparatively, a reference GTX 980 is rated to boost to
Like the R5, the Define S also features two 2.5in drive just 1,216MHz, with the memory running at 7GHz (effective).
bays behind the motherboard, but the new case also The card is available at a price of £600 inc VAT from
introduces three 3.5/2.5in bays positioned vertically by www.overclockers.co.uk now.
the motherboard tray’s front partition, saving on drive
clutter by the front fan mounts. Estimated retail prices
will start at £65 inc VAT, with
a windowed version costing Intel announces 18-core CPUs
an extra £5. We’re hoping to While PC desktop land is still limited to 8-core chips,
review the Define S in the Intel has seriously beefed up the core count in its
next issue of Custom PC, latest Xeon CPUs for highly parallel enterprise
and you can read columnist workloads, cramming 18 cores into one chip. The
James Gorbold’s thoughts new Xeon Processor E7 v3 range can also feature
on the declining need for up to 45MB of last-level cache in one CPU, and can
5.25in drive bays on p114. handle up to 1.5TB of memory per CPU socket.

AMD plans high-power CPUs and GPUs

After years of focusing on the cheaper
end of the CPU market, AMD says it
has plans for a new high-performance
CPU core in its new Zen architecture.
Tech website Ars Technica reports
that, at the AMD Financial Analyst Day
in May, AMD CEO Lisa Su said, ‘It’s
extraordinarily important to ensure
that we have competitive, high-
performance cores.’
She added that ‘ we have tremendous x86 heritage, and 300-series parts for OEMs. However, there are also plans for a
opportunity to lead in that area. We are absolutely going to invest in new GPU architecture later this year, which the company says will
high-performance x86’. feature high bandwidth memory and superior 4K performance.
The new CPUs are scheduled to be released in 2010, and will use Ten years ago, the AMD64 architecture dominated the PC
a new socket, dubbed AM4, which will support both DDR4 and enthusiast world, consistently trouncing Intel’s NetBurst
DDR3 memory. The new core promises a completely new high- architecture in our tests. However, the company’s Bulldozer
performance design, as well as a new high-bandwidth, low-latency architecture, where two integer cores share a floating point unit, has
cache system, as well as improvements in energy efficiency. so far failed to compete with Intel’s current designs, in terms of both
Not only that, but AMD has also hinted at its plans for new GPUs. performance and efficiency. A return to form for AMD, providing
Firstly, some of its current 200-series GPUs will be rebranded as some much-needed competition to Intel, would be very welcome.

17
 Reviews
Our in-depth analysis of the latest PC hardware

Reviewed this month

DeepCool Assassin II p19 / Asus Sabertooth X99 p20 / Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX p22
BitFenix Aegis p26 / Samsung S34E790C p28 / CM Storm Octane p32 / Custom kit p38

18
 HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34

C P U CO O L E R

DeepCool Assassin II/£60 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

D
eepCool’s £60 Assassin II is a monster, wielding a
120mm fan at the front and another 140mm fan
sandwiched between two nickel-plated heatsinks,
meaning it measures 143 x 158 x 167mm (W x D x H). There’s
a mass of eight heatpipes, all with a 6mm diameter, which
pass through a contact plate rather than making direct
contact with the CPU heatspreader. The fans sport fluid
dynamic bearings, which spin particularly smoothly and
quietly, and the fan section is detachable too, so you can
clean it or even spray the blades with paint fairly easily.
A four-channel fan hub is also included, which can power
up to four PWM fans using a motherboard header to reduce
cable clutter. It’s a neat touch, but we can’t help thinking it
added several pounds to the cost when a simple Y-splitter
would suffice.
Of course, the Assassin II’s sheer size means that it’s
incompatible with a number of smaller cases but it does
LGA115x
have the advantage of allowing DIMMs up to 40mm in LGA2011
height to be used, with standard-height DIMMs sitting at
around 31mm for comparison. There’s
room for 5mm extra room if you nudge
There’s a mass the front fan up a little too. Our G.Skill Ripjaw IN T EL L GA 1 1 50
test memory fitted fine, so Corsair’s
of eight heat-
DeepCool Assassin II 55°C
current Vengeance memory will squeeze Noctua NH-D15 51°C

pipes, all with a under it too.

Installing the Assassin II is straightforward,
Noctua NH-D15
Corsair H75
52°C
54°C

6mm diameter but you’ll almost certainly need to remove

your motherboard from its case, especially if
0 15 30 45 60
Lower is better
IN T EL L GA 2 0 1 1
you’ll be using non-LGA2011 motherboard.
DeepCool Assassin II 47°C
Mounting plates secure to the motherboard and then a
Corsair H75 45°C
further plate straddles the heatsink’s contact plate and
12 24 36 48
screws it into place. You’ll need a fairly long screwdriver to 0 Lower is better
reach between the heatsinks to get at the screws too. Fixed fan speed High fan speed Low fan speed
Cooling ability was on the money, if not spectacular, with
the Assassin II nearly matching the similarly priced Corsair LG A 1 1 5 x
H75 in both our test systems. The air cooler to beat is the
COOLING DESIGN
Noctua NH-D15, but while we only have results for our older OVERALL SCORE

83%
LGA1150 rig here, the NH-D15 cooled noticeably better. The 35/40 24/30
Assassin II’s trump card is undoubtedly low noise though. VALUE
At full speed, it was barely audible above our test system
hardware and with PWM enabled, it was silent at low loads, 24/30
although the NH-D15 is also very quiet.
LG A 2 0 1 1
Conclusion COOLING DESIGN
OVERALL SCORE

/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA2011,
LGA2011-v3, LGA115x,
LGA1366, LGA775; AMD:
Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+,
AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1
Heatsink size (mm, with fans)
143 x 158 x 167 (W x D x H)
Fans 1 x 120mm, 1 x 140mm
Stated noise 17.8-27.3dB(A)
85%
The Assassin II isn’t too tricky to install, it looks
good and keeps up with all-in-one liquid
36/40 25/30
VALUE
coolers, in terms of cooling ability and noise.
The Noctua NH-D15 is a better cooler, but it also 24/30
costs £18 more. VERDICT
The main issue with the Assassin II is its size, A good-performing and quiet air cooler, but its
but if you have room in your case for it, and you monstrous size means you’ll need to check your case’s
want a quiet and powerful cooler, the Assassin II clearance first.
is a formidable force.
ANTONY LEATHER

19
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT
LG A 2 0 1 1 -V 3 M OT H E R B OA R D
Asus Sabertooth X99/£285
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk
A
sus’ TUF series of motherboards has
produced some corkers over the years, but
with overclocking performance narrowing in most
fields, it can be tricky to justify the extra cost of any premium
motherboard over its cheaper mainstream counterparts. At
£285, the latest addition to the TUF family – the Sabertooth
X99 – certainly sports a premium price tag as well, but it
justifies its cost with a plethora of additional features.
For example, there’s an Android app that enables you to
view the motherboard’s power status and view POST code
displays by connecting your smartphone to a dedicated
USB port on the I/O panel. It also sports arguably the best
automatic fan control software available – Thermal Radar 2.
This software enables you to control individual fan profile
curves, or even match them with one of the included
thermal probes. The software can also tap into Asus
graphics card cooling fans. There are seven 4-pin fan
headers too, so you can cater for most
cases without needing fan-splitter cables.
An Android app It’s also clad in the usual plastic Thermal
Armor found on previous TUF boards, and
lets you view the whether you like its appearance is down to
your own personal taste, but at least you
power status can remove it. However, in our opinion,
the Sabertooth X99 is probably the best-
looking TUF motherboard we’ve seen,
despite the Thermal Armor still making an appearance,
along with beige-coloured ports and DIMM slots. It’s a beast
of a motherboard and it weighs over 1.5kg too. This weight is
mostly due to a large metal backplate that protects the PCB,
and is connected to the rear of the VRMs with a thermal pad
to aid cooling. A small fan is also included that you can attach
to the Thermal Armor to aid cooling of the VRMs.
Of course, a lot of the TUF ethos is about durability, so
Asus makes a song and dance about the more durable
chokes and capacitors, while the
motherboard itself includes numerous
/SPECIFICATIONS
covers for expansion slots, DIMM slots
Chipset Intel X99
and connectors to protect against dust.
CPU socket Intel LGA2011-v3
What’s more, the covers are black, so
Memory support Eight slots: max you can hide nearly all the beige details
64GB DDR3 (3,200MHz - OC) if you don’t like the look of them.
Expansion slots Three 16x PCI-E 3, The Thermal Armor does present
one 4x PCI-E, one 1x PCI-E one or two issues when it comes to
Sound Realtek ALC1150 8-channel practicality though. For starters, the M.2
Networking 1 x Intel I218V Gigabit LAN, port is hidden underneath it, with a
1 x Realtek 8111GR Gigabit LAN
screw-fitted latch covering it next to the
Overclocking Base clock 80 –
300MHz, CPU multiplier 12 – 80; max 1x PCI-E slot. Some of the ports can be
voltages, CPU 2V, RAM 1.9V a little fiddly to access too. That said, we
Ports 8 x SATA 6Gbps 1 x M.2 , 8 x USB were pleased to see that the M.2 port
2 (X99), 8 x USB 3 (X99), 2 x USB 3.1 supports up to 110mm SSDs, while
(ASMedia) 2 x LAN, 4 x surround audio
out, line in, mic, optical S/PDIF out layout is generally very good, with all
Dimensions (mm) 305 x 244 seven fan headers mounted on the
edge of the PCB, for example.
20
inc VAT
Three-way GPU setups are supported as well, although
as with all X99 systems, your total PCI-E bandwidth will
depend on your choice of CPU. The cheaper Core i7-5820K
only has 28 PCI-E lanes and, as a result, the third slot can
only offer up to 4x speed in three-way modes with this chip.
Also, while a 40-lane CPU will allow for 8x speed in the third
slot, this slot will be disabled if you use a PCI-E M.2 SSD.
Thankfully, this situation will only be an issue for a very small
minority of people.
Perhaps the Sabertooth X99’s most stand-out feature,
however, is its next-gen interface support. Firstly, it has two
USB 3.1 ports. If you remember when USB 3 hit the shelves,
there was a distinct lack of compatible devices and the same
is true for USB 3.1 at the moment. The new standard has,
however, proved itself in testing, with our own sequential
tests showing speeds of around 800MB/sec compared to
around 400MB/sec for USB 3. The Asus Sabertooth X99
also supports all current NVMe Express storage devices,
including the latest 2.5in SFF-8639 SSDs from Intel, some
of which promise over 1GB/sec read speeds.
Performance
The stock speed benchmark results were mightily
impressive, most likely due to the Sabertooth X99’s fairly
aggressive CPU Turbo mode, which saw the CPU remain at
the maximum Turbo frequency throughout most of our
testing. It was streets ahead of all the other boards we’ve
tested in our video encoding and multi-tasking tests, with
the resulting system score being a good 9,000 points ahead
of its nearest rivals.
The downside is that this performance comes at the price
of power consumption. The SATA 6Gbps speeds were on
the money too, with 550MB/sec read and 515MB/sec write
speeds coming from our Samsung 850 Pro test drive.
Meanwhile, the Sabertooth X99’s EFI was the usual slick
Asus affair, and overclocking proved to be an easy task.
Hitting 4.2GHz was simple, requiring a vcore of 1.28V with
little other tweaking.
We gunned for 4.3GHz, which we eventually managed
to get stable, but not without a hefty vcore of 1.32V and a
System Agent voltage of 0.95V. This overclock also saw the
peak power consumption rise to 466W, although this isn’t
the highest we’ve seen. Here, the Sabertooth X99 again
 HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34

1
2 Three-way
graphics card
setups are
3 supported

2
Asus’ plastic
Thermal Armor

made a strong showing in our benchmarks, gaining the

highest video encoding score we’ve seen.
Conclusion
The Sabertooth X99 has a wealth of useful features, from its
Thermal Radar 2 fan control suite in the EFI to active cooling
for the motherboard. There’s also good overclocking
potential and, while USB 3.1 devices are all but non-existent
at the moment, it’s a useful feature to have for the future.
Of course, you pay a premium for all the gadgetry; £285
is £100 more than the price of some cheaper yet still
capable X99 boards. As such, this isn’t an X99 motherboard
for the budget-conscious. Perhaps more importantly,
though, the price tag is within spitting distance of Asus’
superb X99 Deluxe, which costs around £20 more, while
1 covering makes
another appearance
3
A pair of USB 3.1
ports are provided
on the rear I/O plate
the also good X99 Pro costs around £20 less. However, they
lack the Sabertooth’s full range of next-gen storage
support, so it’s swings and roundabouts. The X99 Deluxe’s
aesthetics and cracking feature set means it’s our favourite,
but the Sabertooth X99 is a worthy addition to your shortlist,
especially if next-gen interfaces are a top priority.
ANTONY LEATHER

C P C MEDI A REAL B E N C H 2 0 0 7

GI MP I MAGE EDI TI N G S H O GU N 2 : T O T A L W A R CP U T ES T
1,920 x 1,080, default settings, no AA, no AF
Asus Sabertooth X99 49,938 60,064
ASRock Fatal1ty 32 fps 37 fps
X99M Killer 48,598 58,960 Asus Sabertooth X99
MSI X99S SLI-Plus 41 fps 48 fps
49,245 58,450
32 fps 38 fps
0 16,000 32,000 48,000 64,000 ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer 39 fps 46 fps
HANDB R AKE H. 26 4 V I D E O E N C O D I N G
Asus Sabertooth X99 415,831 500,292 32 fps 39 fps
MSI X99S SLI-Plus
ASRock Fatal1ty 39 fps 46 fps
X99M Killer 401,199 464,218
MSI X99S SLI-Plus 399,544 464,949 0 12 24 36 48
Stock speed min Stock speed avg Overclocked min Overclocked avg
0 130,000 260,000 390,000 520,000
H EAVY MULTI - T A S K I N G T O T A L S YS T EM P O W ER CO N S U M P T IO N
Idle
Asus Sabertooth X99 188,366 215,423
Asus Sabertooth X99 78W 114W
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer 171,108 197,254 ASRock Fatal1ty 60W 71W
MSI X99S SLI-Plus X99M Killer
171,390 197,899
MSI X99S SLI-Plus 66W 71W
0 60,000 120,000 180,000 240,000
0 30 60 90 120
S YS TEM S C OR E Load

Asus Sabertooth X99 166,475 197,141 Asus Sabertooth X99 230W 466W
ASRock Fatal1ty ASRock Fatal1ty 228W 484W
X99M Killer 157,278 182,480 X99M Killer
MSI X99S SLI-Plus 157,093 182,373 MSI X99S SLI-Plus 238W 435W

0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 0 125 250 375 500

Stock speed Overclocked Lower is better
C I N E B E N C H R 15
Asus Sabertooth X99 1,405 1,693
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer 1,331 1,686
MSI X99S SLI-Plus 1,396 1,632

0 450 900 1,350 1,800

Stock speed Overclocked

SPEED FEATURES
OVERALL SCORE VERDICT /TEST KIT

86%
38/40 25/30 Bulging with features and next-gen
interface support, but its looks aren’t for
3GHz Intel Core i7-5960X, 32GB Crucial
2,133MHz DDR4, Plextor M6 Pro 256GB SSD,
VALUE everyone, and Asus’ X99 Deluxe is more
Antec High Current Pro 850W PSU, Windows

23/30 lustworthy at this end of the market.

7 64-bit

21
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT

MINI-ITX CASE

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX/£55 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk

P
hanteks has typically focused on the
premium tower case market with its
Enthoo range, but after a long wait, it’s
finally turning its attention to smaller form factors and
lower budgets. The Enthoo Evolv ITX is the company’s
first dedicated mini-ITX chassis, and it comes in at a very
attractive £55 inc VAT price, or just £50 without a window.
Not surprisingly, the Evolv ITX has a similar design to the
original micro-ATX Evolv, albeit with smaller dimensions.
There’s a slightly indented front section, sharp angles and
minimalist panels – it’s a clean-looking chassis.
The build quality is also very good, with little flex on any of
the panels and minimum reliance on plastic. The front panel
is formed from plastic at its core, but it
has an external steel sheet for added
The chassis has a rigidity, and also matches the rest of
the case’s aesthetics.
tower-style design The power button is found on the
roof, while the remaining front I/O
with a vertical ports and buttons are easily accessed

motherboard at the top of the front panel. The front

and roof are otherwise pretty sparse, window is neatly designed so that you won’t see masses of
besides a few holes and vents. Up power cables or the drive bays, and much of the case is held
front, these vents provide an inlet for air flowing to the together with screws, so it can be easily disassembled,
supplied 200mm intake fan, while on top, the small vents which is great for modding or paint jobs. You won’t need to
sit in the place where hot air would be exhausted, should worry about dust either. The PSU dust filter is easily
you choose to use the fan or radiator mounts there. Still, removable from the rear and can be replaced without
these two panels are mostly solid – the Enthoo Evolv ITX having to lift or tilt the case. Likewise, the front fascia also
isn’t a high-airflow chassis. pulls cleanly away, revealing a full cover dust filter that you
Meanwhile, a set of four foam feet on the can unclip easily for cleaning.
bottom give the chassis a little extra grip, Starting downstairs, the PSU slots into place from the
/SPECIFICATIONS
although rubber ones would be preferred. Our side and rests on foam feet to reduce vibrations. Up front is
Dimensions (mm) 230 x 395 sample also shipped with a large, slightly tinted a pair of plastic drive trays in the hard drive cage, both of
x 375 (W x D x H) window in the left panel, which nets you a which can house 3.5in or 2.5in drives, with tool-free
Material Steel, plastic glorious view of the internals. On both versions installation for the former.
Available colours Black of the case, the right side There’s also a dedicated 2.5in bracket on the rear
Weight 5.4kg panel is devoid of of the motherboard tray, which slots into
Front panel Power, reset, features, and round the place on a series of rubber grommets.
2 x USB 3, stereo, mic
back you’ll find the dual Upstairs, Phanteks has pre-
Drive bays 2 x internal
3.5in/2.5in, 1 x internal 2.5in, expansion slots and installed the motherboard
1 x optional 3.5in or 2.5in height-adjustable mounts and provides a full-
(additional trays purchased
separately) 140mm/120mm fan sized cut-out for CPU cooler
Form factor(s) Mini-ITX mount – no exhaust fan backplate installation. At the
Cooling 1 x 200mm or 2 x is provided. front is a multi-function mid-
140mm/120mm front fan Thumbscrews and plate, which sits bridge-like
mounts (200mm fan
included), 2 x handles make the side over the graphics card. Atop this
140mm/120mm roof fan panels quick to remove you can mount a single SSD or
mounts, 1 x 140mm/120mm
rear fan mount (fans not and, internally, the hard drive, but doing so requires
included) chassis has a tower-style you to buy a separate tray.
CPU cooler clearance design with a vertical Hardware installation is a
200mm
motherboard. It’s arranged cinch, and cable routing is
Maximum graphics card
length 330mm in two sections, with the core likewise impressive. There’s
Extras Removable dust filters hardware at the top and the PSU ample room behind the
and drive bays at the bottom. The motherboard tray to tie down

22
 HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34

thick power cables, and well-sized routing holes above,

below and to the side of the motherboard. The side holes
1
are fitted with rubber grommets, which is great, as they’re
visible through the window. The inclusion of two Velcro
cable ties makes rearranging the cabling easy as well.
For water cooling, you can install a 240mm radiator in
the front, or a 240mm or even a 280mm one in the roof.
You need to remove the front hard drive cage to use the
front radiator mounts, though, leaving you with just a single
3 2
SSD mount.
That said, you could install a radiator in the roof, a small
tube reservoir between the GPU and the left side panel
(provided your graphics card is thin enough) and then a
pump on top of the mid-plate, which would leave the hard
drive cage intact.
The roof also has a handy slide-out radiator bracket,
allowing you to install your radiator and fans, and then
simply slot the rest of your kit into place. The mounting
holes are offset too – thick 240mm radiators can be
installed, but you’re limited to half-height 280mm radiators.

Performance
The default cooling of the Evolv ITX isn’t great, with the CPU
in particular getting comparably toasty and the GPU also
heating up a fair bit, although not to the degree that it does
1 2 3
in other cases, such as the BitFenix Colossus Mini-ITX. It’s
There’s room to The side holes have A full-sized cut-out
understandable, as there’s no fan exhausting heat from the
install a full-height rubber grommets, is provided for CPU
CPU area, and there’s a limited supply of cool air reaching 240mm radiator in which are visible cooler backplate
the GPU, since the front fan is the only intake and it’s largely the roof through the window installation
blocked by the front panel.
On the plus side, the front fan is relatively slow-spinning Conclusion
and quiet, and it was still powerful enough to keep our While its out-of-the-box air cooling is limited, the Phanteks
overclocked CPU and hot-running GPU from throttling after Enthoo Evolv ITX is otherwise a fantastic mini-ITX chassis,
extended testing at 100 per cent load. especially for water-cooling system. Sure, it isn’t the
Still, for an air-cooled system, we’d use a CPU tower smallest case around, but there’s plenty of room for hefty
cooler since there’s plenty of room to do so, and also install components, and numerous options for air or water-cooled
an exhaust fan or two. builds – it’s good to see that thought has been given to
There isn’t much more you can do to help the graphics reservoir and pump placement, rather than just radiators.
card temperature, so investing in an efficient model It’s very well made, a joy to work with and attractive too.
(such as an Nvidia Maxwell card) with a solid third-party For £55, it’s a great deal, and easy to recommend provided
cooler would also be a wise move to keep down noise you aren’t looking to install many hard drives or SSDs.
and temperatures. MATTHEW LAMBERT

C P U LOAD DELTA T GP U L O A D D EL T A T
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX 62°C Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX 58°C
BitFenix Colossus Mini-ITX 55°C BitFenix Colossus Mini-ITX 68°C
Lian Li PC-Q36 49°C Lian Li PC-Q36 47°C
Corsair Obsidian 250D 54°C Corsair Obsidian 250D 46°C
0 17 34 51 68 0 18 36 54 72
Lower is better Lower is better

COOLING FEATURES
OVERALL SCORE

81%
17/30 17/20 VERDICT
Large for a mini-ITX case, but it provides plenty of room
DESIGN VALUE for water-cooling gear and components. It’s well designed
28/30 19/20 too, although air-cooled rigs will benefit from more fans.

23
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT

M I C R O -AT X C A S E

BitFenix Aegis/£70 inc VAT (£80 inc VAT with front panel display)

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk

W
hile mini-ITX cases steal much of the
limelight when it comes to fancy new case
designs, a lot of effort has been going into the
micro-ATX form factor too. There are countless cube and
tower cases, and Phanteks has even created the Enthoo
Mini XL, which can house both a mini-ITX and micro-ATX
system at the same time. BitFenix, on the other hand, has
focused on improving the tower design with its new
micro-ATX case, the Aegis.
Its dimensions might make you assume it’s a full-sized
ATX case – we’ve certainly seen smaller ATX cases. It
would only take a little modification to turn it into an ATX
case too, but the reason it’s so large is that BitFenix has
focused on offering excellent
water-cooling potential and
Both the roof and compatibility with all-in-one liquid
coolers. The motherboard is
front section situated in the middle of the case,
height-wise, with a huge space in
panels are easily the roof as a result, and there are still

removable five expansion slots, despite the PSU

being mounted beneath them. The
Aegis generally caters for cable routing
as well but, while the case is tall and deep, it’s only 200mm
wide, which makes space very tight behind the
motherboard tray.
With many micro-ATX cases, you need to remove drive
mounts and fans in order to use long graphics cards, but
BitFenix has located its two tool-free 3.5in hard disk mounts
at the top and bottom of the case. As such, even if you opt
for a two-way graphics card setup, you still
won’t need to remove either of the mounts.
/SPECIFICATIONS There’s 380mm of clearance for graphics
Dimensions (mm) 205 x 480 cards too, so long cards will fit. Each of these
x 470 (W x D x H) drive mounts can cater for two 3.5in hard disks,
Material Steel, plastic bringing the total supported to four.
Available colours Black In addition to these bays there are four 2.5in
Weight 6.7kg drive mounts. Two individual mounts are
Front panel Power, reset, fan located on their own – for instance, one sits to
control, 2 x USB 3, stereo, mic
the side of the PSU behind the motherboard
Drive bays 4 x internal 3.5in,
4 x internal 2.5in tray, while the other two bays are situated in a
Form factor(s) Micro-ATX, tool-free mount above the top 3.5in bay. This
mini-ITX mount is removable too, and you’ll need to
Cooling 1 x 120mm rear fan ditch it if you want to install 140mm radiators in
mount (1 x 120mm fan
included), 2 x 140mm/3 x the roof. As standard, there’s a single 120mm
120mm front fan mounts fan in the rear of the case, but that’s it as far as
(fans not included), 2 x cooling out of the box goes. There’s a plethora
140mm/3 x 120mm roof fan
mounts (fans not included) of additional fan mounts, though, so the Aegis
CPU cooler clearance 170mm is a blank slate, rather than an out-of-the-box
Maximum graphics card cooling maestro.
length 380mm The front of the case can house either
Extras Programmable front two 140mm or three 120mm fans with
display, 4-channel fan
controller, dust filters corresponding radiators and there’s enough
space for a full-height radiator too. There isn’t
a lot of space for a pump as standard, but a bracket is
included for mounting a pump or a reservoir beneath the
top roof fans. Removing the lower drive mount provides the
perfect space for one as well. The roof has a similar setup,
again with the option of two 140mm fans or three 120mm
fans, and there’s also room here for half-height radiators.
We test-fitted Corsair’s monstrous double 140mm-fan
radiator H110i GT in the Aegis, which fitted fine but, as we
mentioned earlier, you’ll need to remove the top drive
mounts to install such a cooler.
Even so, two large radiator mounts in a case this size
makes for excellent water-cooling potential.
Continuing with the cooling theme, the Aegis also
includes a 4-channel fan controller, which is adjustable to
three speeds using a button on top of the case. There’s a
further 140/120mm fan mount in the base too, while both
the front and bottom fan mounts are equipped with large
removable dust filters. Allowing air in and out of the case is
obviously just as important as including fan mounts, but the
Aegis keeps vents to a minimum and the front section is
entirely devoid of them. Instead, there are side vents at the
front and a mid-sized mesh in the roof.
Thankfully, both the roof and front section panels are
easily removable, allowing easy access to the fan mounts
for radiator installation and to get at the dust filters for
cleaning. Aesthetically, despite the large window and good
build quality, the case is a tad on the garish side, with vivid
colours making up most of the colour options available.
There’s a lot of plastic too and it looks very glossy, so unless
you’re keen to have a bright red or yellow colour scheme, we
advise looking up the black or white options. There are two
versions available too, with the more expensive one
sporting a programmable LED display similar to the one
included with the BitFenix Pandora we reviewed last year.

26
 1 2 3
Two tool-free 3.5in A 4-channel The front can house
hard disk mounts fan controller is either two 140mm
sit at the top and adjustable using a or three 120mm fans
bottom of the case button on the top with radiators

Performance
Despite the fact the Aegis only includes one 120mm fan
out of the box, its air-cooling performance was certainly
reasonable. A CPU delta T of 49°C with the fan at maximum
speed was a few degrees warmer than the likes of the
Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 and Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL.
It was a similar story with the GPU delta T as well, which
stood at 52°C; this was again bettered by the Phanteks
Enthoo Mini XL.
Turning down the fan speed didn’t hamper cooling too
much, though, with the CPU delta T rising by 2°C and the
GPU delta T by 1°C. The included fan was reasonably quiet
too, although you’ll want to add a few more. BitFenix
included another two fans for us to test the Aegis, which
shaved 4°C off both the CPU and GPU delta Ts. While
the case’s cooling is clearly helped by its size compared
with the smaller micro-ATX cases we’ve tested, the vents
appear to do a good job of allowing air in and out of the case,
which bodes well for all-in-one liquid coolers and custom
water cooling.
Conclusion
Internally, we have few complaints with the Aegis. It has
excellent cooling potential and great support for water-
cooling systems, while concerns about the vents restricting
airflow have been proved mostly unfounded. Even if you
remove all the drive mounts in the main section, there’s still
room for two SSDs too. The downside is that aesthetically it
may have limited appeal thank its plastic-centric makeup. If
you can look past the appearance, though, it makes for a
decent, affordable home for a water-cooled PC.
ANTONY LEATHER

C P U LOAD DELTA T GP U L O A D D EL T A T
BitFenix Aegis 49°C BitFenix Aegis 52°C
BitFenix Aegis 51°C BitFenix Aegis 53°C
Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL 45°C Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL 50°C
Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 47°C Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 52°C
Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 50°C Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 54°C
0 13 26 39 52 0 14 28 42 56
Lower is better Lower is better
Fixed fan speed High fan speed Low fan speed

COOLING FEATURES
OVERALL SCORE

83%
21/30 19/20 VERDICT
If you can overlook its aesthetics, the
DESIGN VALUE Aegis provides a fantastic, affordable
25/30 18/20 base for a water-cooled PC.

27
 ELITE
NEW ENTRY
R E V I E WS / NEW KIT P 62

M O N I TO R

Samsung S34E790C/£750 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk

S
amsung’s S34E790C makes a
barnstorming first impression,
thanks to its arcing screen and
slick metallic stand. The 34in panel’s
3,440 x 1,440 native resolution isn’t as
high as the 3,840 x 2,160 of most 4K
monitors, and its pixel density of 110ppi
can’t match the sharpness of 30in 4K
panels, which sit at 145ppi. As such, its
image in games won’t be quite as crisp, but
it also means there’s slightly less strain on your graphics
hardware when it comes to gaming.
The Samsung isn’t as tall as most 4K panels, but it’s
wider, with an aspect ratio of 21:9. This ratio opens up
some full widescreen movies to their native aspect ratio,
and the screen’s large diagonal means this resolution is faltered with a chilly 7,032K – further away from the 6,500K
comfortable to use every day – there’s no need to deploy ideal than the LG’s 6,710K. Both screens displayed more
Windows’ scaling options to make text and icons readable. than 95 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, with little to
It compares well with other widescreen panels too. The choose between the two.
LG 34UM95 had the same resolution and Viewing angles are good too; there’s no sign of banding,
diagonal, but wasn’t curved. The curve and subtle dark shades are easy to pick apart. The Samsung
doesn’t make a huge change, but it screen’s uniformity isn’t bad either – it lost around 15 per
makes Samsung’s screen a little more cent of its brightness in its worst spots, but the LG was a little
comfortable to view head-on, which is better in this respect, with top backlight deviations of around

There’s no sign of exactly where a desktop monitor will be

positioned. And when stacked up against
banding, and dark dual-screen setups, the Samsung
continues to look strong, having more
shades are easy vertical pixels than 1080p screens, and its
horizontal pixel count is very close to that
to pick apart of two 1,920 x 1,080 screens, without any
irritating bezels.
Meanwhile, the sturdy stand not only
looks good, but it’s also versatile, featuring tilt and height
adjustment alongside VESA 100mm support, which is more
than the LG offers. The Samsung also sports four USB 3
ports, which is twice as many as the LG, and all the ports
face backwards, rather than downwards – a simple touch
that makes this screen easier to handle. The LG does have
Thunderbolt, though, for folks with Apple hardware, and
both screens have HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces.
The Samsung’s menu system deserves praise too –
it’s controlled using a small joystick, and while this control
method initially feels awkward, you soon get used to it, and
Samsung’s menu is fast and sensibly laid out.
Perhaps most importantly, the Samsung impressed in
our screen tests, thanks in part to its use of a VA (vertical
alignment) panel. Its first result, a 2,133:1 contrast ratio,
10 per cent. We have no quibbles about the Samsung’s input
lag either, which we measured at 10.9ms – any figure below
20ms in this test is fine for most people; only professional
gamers might notice the very slight lag.
Conclusion
The Samsung has few weaknesses, offering great image
quality, plus the width and resolution to compete with larger
panels and multi-screen setups. What’s more, it has that
attractive curve for comfortable viewing, and it’s well made
too. Its only downside is that its £750 inc VAT price tag
pushes it into the luxury category, and most gamers will be
sated by the Asus PB287Q, a 27in TN-based 4K panel
available for around £450 inc VAT. If you want a premium-
quality widescreen panel and don’t mind spending the cash,
though, the Samsung S34E790C is fantastic.
MIKE JENNINGS
IMAGE QUALITY FEATURES VALUE
51/55 14/15 21/30
OVERALL SCORE VERDICT

86%
trounced the LG’s 1,047:1. The S34E790C’s 320cd/m2 Great image quality and a
brightness is great too, and it has better blacks than the LG versatile design, but its high
too – the Samsung’s 0.15cd/m2 rating means its dark price means it’s only for the
shades are inkier than the LG’s 0.21cd/m2. privileged few.
Likewise, the Samsung’s delta E of 1.65 sneaks ahead of
the LG’s 1.74. On colour temperature, though, the Samsung

28
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We cover so much, sometimes it’s hard to fit it all in!

Print • Digital • Online

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Subscription Magzter facebook.com/micro.mart.mag

29
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT

G A M I N G K E Y B OA R D A N D M O U S E

CM Storm Octane/£38 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk / MODEL NUMBER SGB-3020-KKMF1-UK

I
t stands to reason that most peripheral
manufacturers want you to spend as
much as possible on gaming gear. Many
enthusiasts consider mice and keyboards that cost less
than £30 to be risky purchases too, but not everyone
can spend upwards of £60 each on a mouse and keyboard.
As such, following the success of the CM Storm Devastator
mouse and keyboard bundle, the company has launched a
newer version, called the Octane – a gaming keyboard and
mouse set that costs less than £40.
Despite the super-low price tag – typically half or even a glide freely on smooth surfaces and the Avago ADNS-3050
third less than what you’d expect to pay for a gaming mouse optical sensor feels responsive as well.
and keyboard, the Octane bundle offers most of the There are two bright LEDs that sit under your palm, and
features you’d expect from both. you can cycle them through seven different colours, or turn
Starting with the mouse, while it’s undeniably light and them off. The scroll wheel is also illuminated in white but
plastic-feeling, it includes the usual two thumb buttons, a this light is always on. There’s no software to speak of,
scroll wheel button and even a DPI button, which can select though, so you need to use button combinations to tweak
from a total of four preconfigured sensitivity levels – 500, the few settings that are included. For instance, you can
1,000, 2,000 and 3,500dpi. change the backlight mode (the lights can switch colours,
There’s no forwards or backwards pulse slowly or remain fixed) by pressing the rear thumb
option for these settings – you can only button and light control button at the same time.
There are one or cycle through them. The additional Meanwhile, the keyboard is similar to the mouse in many
button on the top switches lighting ways, in that you’re well aware of its plastic construction.
two rough edges, colours – a feature that the Octane There are also one or two rough edges, but its build quality

but build quality is bundles take very seriously and we’ll

cover in a minute. However, it would
is otherwise fine. There a couple of niggles in terms of
comfort though. The wrist rest is an inch or two short of
otherwise fine be better to have the flexibility to
customise each button’s purpose – for
being useful, and the two-level height adjustment is rather
lacklustre, with its top setting still being too short to provide
instance, you could allocate the lighting a comfortable tilted typing surface.
button instead to sniping mode, dropping the resolution or, Thankfully, the height supports are very sturdy, and our
as we previously mentioned, have one button for raising attempts to wrench them off failed miserably. We’ve lost
and another for lowering it. count of the number of supports we’ve lost over the
The buttons themselves are a mixed bag too. years, but the Octane keyboard thankfully
Most need a little more force to depress doesn’t look set to join that fray.
than premium gaming mice such as The chassis feels sturdy too; there’s
Logitech’s G402, and the thumb buttons no metal base plate but it doesn’t flex
feel a little dull. The large casing is much and two large rubber feet
suited to palm grip types, prevent it from sliding around.
as the main buttons CM Storm could quite easily have
become increasingly ditched media controls altogether in
/SPECIFICATIONS difficult to depress the its quest for a super-low price tag, but
MS35 MOUSE further back you go. the keyboard has the full complement
Connection Wired, USB Comfort-wise, it isn’t of them. On the left are playback
Cable 1.9m, non-braided perfect, but it’s not bad controls and on the right is a pair of
Material Plastic either. There are a few volume buttons. There’s no swanky
Extras None rough edges, and people volume dial, but at least the buttons
MB7C KEYBOARD
with large hands will will prevent you from having to reach
Connection Wired, USB
especially notice them at for the system volume control.
Cable 1.9m, non-braided the rear of the mouse. The Mechanical keyboards are getting
Material Plastic shape doesn’t fit your hand cheaper, but at this price, the best you
Switch type Membrane as well as most premium mice can expect is a membrane and that’s
Backlighting Seven colours either, but we got used to the exactly what’s on offer. It still has its perks;
Extras None shape after a few minutes’ use. namely, quieter operation – considerably so
The mouse’s low weight helps it to compared with any Cherry MX switch, and up

32
 HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34

until around six years ago, most of us used membrane

keyboards anyway. The Octane’s keys have a surprisingly
tactile feel to them, with the characteristic membrane dome
bounce at the bottom. However, they rattle a little and, while
the action is quieter than any of the usual Cherry MX
switches, they’re noisier than good membrane keyboards
such as the Saitek Cyborg V5.
Again, the backlighting is a generous feature at this price,
and it’s certainly potent. However, there’s too much light
coming from the gaps between the keys rather than from
the keys themselves. The transparent characters on the
keys themselves are also very dim in daylight – so much
so that having the backlight on can improve the situation,
especially if you can’t touch-type. a generic mouse and keyboard either, but the Octane bundle
As with the mouse, there are seven backlight colours is a definite step up from generic peripheral sets and an
from which to choose (or you can turn them off), along with affordable one too. If you have the money, of course, we
three brightness levels. At the top end, the keys are easily recommend plumping for a decent mechanical keyboard
visible, even in direct sunlight and there are enough settings and premium gaming mouse, but the Octane bundle offers
to cater for most needs in the dark too. The keyboard also a decent, affordable introduction to PC gaming peripherals if
has function buttons to control the lighting modes, colour you have a tighter budget.
and levels, as well as the keyboard repeat rate, plus there’s ANTONY LEATHER
the ability to toggle the Windows key on or off and to lock
the keyboard too.

Conclusion DESIGN FEATURES

OVERALL SCORE

80%
It’s been a while since we’ve reviewed a membrane
keyboard, and the Octane’s keys are clearly not as tactile as 31/40 25/35
any Cherry MX switch either, but that’s beside the point – VALUE
this keyboard effectively costs a quarter of the price of even
the cheapest Cherry MX-equipped model, and it does the
24/25
job fine. The inclusion of backlighting and media keys is a VERDICT
decent bonus as well, even if it’s a little basic. You can’t A cheap and cheerful bundle, but it costs around a
expect USB ports and macro keys at this price. quarter of the price of a mechanical keyboard and
The mouse is in a similar situation. It’s basic, but offers premium gaming mouse, and it isn’t bad for the
resolution control and is better suited to gaming than a money either.
generic optical mouse. We wouldn’t expect anyone to
upgrade to the Octane bundle from any setup other than

33
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT

How we test
Thorough testing and research is the key to evaluating whether a product
is worth buying, and deciding whether or not there’s a better alternative

PROCESSORS
We judge CPUs on whether they offer sufficient speed for the price. Part of a CPU’s speed score comes from how
overclockable it is. Every type of CPU is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.

INTEL LGA1150 INTEL LGA2011-V3

+ + + + + +
Intel Asus Maximus VII 16GB Corsair 240GB Intel Asus 16GB Corsair 512GB Crucial
LGA1150 Ranger Vengeance Pro OCZ Vector LGA2011 -v3 Rampage V Vengeance LPX MX100
CPU 1,600MHz DDR3 150 CPU Extreme 2,133MHz DDR4

AMD FM2+ COMMON

COMPONENTS

+ + + + +
16GB Corsair Dominator 8GB G.Skill RipjawsX
AMD FM2+ Gigabyte G1 Sniper Platinum 2,133MHz DDR3 1,600MHz DDR3 256GB Plextor Nvidia GeForce Windows 7
APU A88X (GPU testing) (CPU testing) M5 Pro GTX 780 3GB 64-bit

TESTS: We use Custom PC RealBench 2015, Cinebench R11.5 and a variety of games. We also test the power draw of the test PC with the
CPU installed. These tests reveal a broad range of performance characteristics, from image editing to gaming and video encoding to 3D
rendering. We run all tests at stock speed and again when overclocked to its highest frequency.
*Please note: We test AMD FM2+ APUs using the on-board graphics, not the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB

GRAPHICS CARDS
Graphics cards are mainly evaluated on how fast they are for their price. However, we also consider the efficacy and
quietness of the cooler. Every graphics card is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.

+ + + + = SCORES

4.2GHz Intel Core 8GB Corsair Dominator Asus Maximus V Windows 7 The graphics card
i5-3570K 2,400MHz DDR3 Extreme 64-bit we’re reviewing

34
 Our benchmark suite,
CUSTOM PC REALBENCH 2015 co-developed with
INTEL REFERENCE AMD REFERENCE Asus, simulates how
people really use PCs
– a higher score is
+ + + + =100% + + + =100% better. You can
download them from
Intel Core 16GB of Corsair 240GB Asus Nvidia AMD 8GB of Corsair 256GB Asus
i7-4790K 2,400MHz OCZ Maximus GeForce GTX A10-7850K 2,133MHz Plextor A88X-Pro www.asus.com/
DDR3 150 Gene VII 780 3GB DDR3 M5 Pro campaign/Realbench

MOTHERBOARDS The
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 Awards
results are directly comparable.
INTEL LGA1150 AMD FM2+ EXTREME
ULTRA
Some products are

+ + + + + gloriously over the

top. These items of
excellent overkill
Intel Motherboard 16GB Corsair 240GB AMD Motherboard 16GB Corsair
Core on test Vengeance Pro OCZ Vector A10-7850K on test Vengeance Pro earn our Extreme
i7-4790K 1,600MHz DDR3 150 2,133MHz DDR3 Ultra award.

INTEL LGA2011-V3 COMMON COMPONENTS PREMIUM

GRADE
Premium Grade

+ + + + products are
utterly desirable –
we’d eat nothing
Intel Core Motherboard Plextor M6 32GB Crucial Nvidia GeForce Windows 7
i7-5960X on test 256GB 2,133MHz DDR4
but beans until we
GTX 780 3GB* 64-bit
could afford them.
TESTS: We use the Custom PC RealBench 2015 and several games, and also test the speeds of the
board’s SATA ports. We try to overclock every motherboard we review by testing for a maximum QPI, PROFESSIONAL
base clock or HTT as well as overclocking the CPU to its maximum air-cooled level. We run our tests at Products worthy of
stock speed and with the CPU overclocked. the Professional
*Please note: We test AMD FM2+ motherboards using the on-board graphics, not the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB award make you
and your business
appear even more
awesome.

APPROVED
Approved products
are those that do a
great job for the
money; they’re the
canny purchase for
a great PC.

CUSTOM KIT
For those gadgets
TESTS: By using the fast PC detailed on the left, we can be sure that any limitations are due to the and gizmos that
graphics card on test, rather than being CPU limited. We test the four games (above) at their maximum really impress us,
detail settings, in their highest DirectX mode, at several resolutions. High-end cards should be able to or that we can’t
sustain playable frame rates at 2,560 x 1,440, while 1,920 x 1,080 is more important for mid-range live without,
cards; we also test at 3,840 x 2,160 for 4K monitors, and try to overclock every graphics card we test to there’s the Custom
assess the performance impact. Kit award.

35
 R E V I E WS / NEW KIT

Custom Kit
Paul Goodhead checks out the latest gadgets, gizmos and geek toys

B LU E TO OT H S P E A K E R

Libratone LOOP
WIFI BT4.0/£350 inc VAT
Whichever way you cut it, £350 is a hell of a lot of
cash to blow on a single speaker. It’s a good job,
then, that as well as looking fantastic, the LOOP is
packed with technology.
It’s compatible with Airplay, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC,
DLNA and Spotify Connect, with physical 3.5mm
and USB inputs in case you need cable inputs. It’s
also equipped with a pair of ribbon tweeters, the
mere mention of which should be enough to send
audiophiles into a hot sweat. Annoyingly, while
audio reproduction was fantastic at high and mid-
range frequencies, the LOOP lacked oomph in the
bass department. Its sound reproduction isn’t bad,
but at this price, the LOOP needed to stamp a big
smile across our faces instantly, and it didn’t quite
manage it. Pretty design can only get you so far.

SUPPLIER www.libratone.com

PHONE CASE P H O N E ACC E S S O RY

Adidas iPhone 6 Olloclip 4-in-1 Lens for

booklet case/£25 inc VAT iPhone 6/6Plus/£70 inc VAT

If you’ve already dressed yourself
head to toe in Adidas gear and are
worried that you can’t find anywhere
else to display the famous trefoil,
rejoice. You can now kit out your
phone with three lines of its very
own. Sarcasm aside, the case is well
made, fits properly and feels rugged
enough to take the blows and
tumbles that to which phones are
generally subjected during their
lifetimes. The Adidas classic
branding also lends it a certain retro
charm. The price is consummate
with the fact that it’s a licensed
product, however, meaning you’ll
need to really want the Adidas
branding to justify the price.
The Olloclip is pleasingly simple. Just clip it to the top edge of an
iPhone 6 or 6 Plus and it modifies the properties of the built-in
camera. There are four lens options – wide
angle, fisheye, 10x macro and 15x
macro. The whole package feels
well made and fits well, while the
optics are top-notch with no
noticeable distortion from the macro
lenses. The wide angle and fish eye
attachments exhibit softness at the edge
of frame, but that’s to be expected and,
with the fisheye option, all part of the
effect. The only issue is that it isn’t
compatible with a case, which makes
using the Olloclip a bit of a faff for a quick
snap. Still, if your phone is your main
camera, the Olloclip provides a fun and
easy way to get more out of your photos.

SUPPLIER www.very.co.uk SUPPLIER www.olloclip.com

38
AC T I O N C A M

GoPro HERO4 Black/£410 inc VAT

GoPro brand is synonymous with action cameras and the HERO4
Black shows why. For its size, it’s fabulously powerful. Capturing 4K
video at 30fps and 1080p footage at 120fps, it’s more capable than
many DSLRs. Image quality is superb too, with the automatic settings
dealing well with awkward conditions such as low light and snow.
This in itself is a godsend, as tweaking settings manually is fiddly
given the small screen and wealth of settings available. A free app (iOS
and Android) helps a little here, but the Wi-Fi connection needed for it
adds extra stress to an already strained battery life – don’t expect to
get much more than an hour’s footage from a full charge. Even so, its
image quality, high frame rates and huge range of accessories make
the HERO4 a superb device for capturing high-speed action.
SUPPLIER www.gopro.com

USB CABLE

Club3D 10m USB 3.0 Active Repeater Cable/£42 inc VAT

Due to various technical reasons, USB cables are usually limited in length to about 3m, which isn’t often an issue, but
in some situations, such as at a photography shoot where a camera needs a PC connection, it can be a frustration.
Enter Club3D with its active 10m USB 3 cable, which contains a pair of repeater modules. These modules
refresh and clean the USB signal, allowing the cable to be a greater length without degrading the signal.
It works perfectly well too – we saw no appreciable drop-off in speed when reading and writing to an
external USB 3 disk. However, £42 is undoubtedly a big cost to swallow for a USB cable, so you’ll
want to make sure there isn’t a wireless workaround for your setup before you purchase one.

SUPPLIER www.alternate.co.uk

HEADPHONES

Microlab T2/£37 inc VAT

While we’ve seen plenty of decent speakers from Microlab, the T2 is the first time we’ve
seen the company take a stab at a set of Bluetooth headphones. Unfortunately, it’s a stab
that doesn’t hit its target, with audio heavily skewed towards bass tones, making almost
every music track we put through the T2 sound dull and lifeless, with high and mid-range
frequencies sounding swamped. Raising the volume above 50 per cent exacerbated the
issue too, turning even acoustic tracks into a muddy, ill-defined mess. All of which is a
shame, as the price is attractive and the headphones look attractive and distinctive, thanks
to the sleek, coloured headband and the modern rectangular ear pads.

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

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

39
 L A B S T E ST

Ace of bass
Great audio is an often neglected aspect of a great PC, but a quality headset or
speaker set can make movies, gaming and music far more enjoyable

A
udio is one of the more subjective aspects of a PC build.
Finding the right set of speakers or headset depends on
how you spend your time. Gaming and action films really
come alive with a standard 2.1 set with a powerful subwoofer, while
most genres of music come alive with a high-end sound setup,
capable of superb clarity across all frequencies.
For gaming, you’ll probably want both some speakers and a
headset – speakers that sound great when you turn up the volume,
so every bullet and explosion shakes the room, while your headset
and built-in microphone makes yourself heard when coordinating
multiplayer gameplay with your team.
Headsets specifically aimed at PC users are a little different from
the type intended for pure music listening too. You’ll find that most of
them have a USB connection, avoiding the multi-coloured soup of
ports at the back of your PC, and some also have profiles that make
adjustments to the sound based on what you’re doing.
We’ve tested a whole load of gaming headsets in this Labs test, as
well as plenty of stereo and 2.1 speaker sets, to find the right audio
setup whether your priorities are gaming or listening to music.
MATTHEW LAMBERT AND ORESTIS BASTOUNIS
THANKS We would like to offer our gratitude to the team at
www.overclockers.co.uk for the loan of many of the headsets and
speaker sets we’ve reviewed in this Labs.

Featured this issue

How We Test /p41 HyperX Cloud II /p46 Creative GigaWorks T3 /p53
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma /p48 Creative T3150 /p53
Headsets Roccat Kave XTD Stereo /p48 Edifier R980T /p54
Antilion ModMic /p42 Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analog /p49 Edifier R1600T /p54
Asus Strix 2.0 /p42 Sennheiser G4ME ZERO /p49 Harman/Kardon Nova /p55
Asus Strix 7.1 /p43 SteelSeries Siberia V3 /p50 Microlab F60BT /p56
Beyer Dynamics MMX 300 /p43 Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 320 /p50 Microlab X1 /p56
CM Storm Sirius-C /p44 Razer Leviathan /p57
Corsair H1500 /p44 Speakers
Func HS-260 /p46 Acoustic Energy Aego M /p52

40
How we test
W
hile it’s obvious that audio
enjoyment is a personal,
subjective experience, we’ve still
applied a degree of objectivity to our testing.
We selected a range of activities for which a
typical user might use their PC, and repeated
them for each headset and set of speakers.
Your environment can very much affect
how you perceive audio, with sound
bouncing off various surfaces and causing
small vibrations, depending on the materials
from which your walls and desk are made.
With speakers, these environmental factors
can add up to a degree of natural reverb that
will colour the sound.
We carefully marked out the positions for
the speakers and subwoofers from the 2.1
speaker systems, with the listener sitting in
the same place each time, to provide a fair
comparison of the sound generated by each
product in this environment.
We used the Elite-listed Asus Xonar
Essence One USB digital-to-analogue
converter (DAC), with the speakers and
headsets connected via the phono inputs on
the back. For speakers that used a 3.5mm
connector, we used a short converter cable
to connect them to the DAC.
The first test was gaming – a single-
player level from Battlefield 4 with action
and dialogue. Tank explosions, gunfire and
the rumble of engines emphasise volume
and bass, while the parts with dialogue test
the overall clarity of the sound output. A
similar mix of sounds could be attributed to
many games, so Battlefield 4 is a good
general representation of PC gaming.
The next part was a movie clip – a specific
scene selected from the TV show Band Of
We test using a variety of styles of music to give each speaker set a proper workout
We test movie sound reproduction with a scene
from Band of Brothers, which involved a good mix
of action and explosions with isolated dialogue
Brothers. As with Battlefield 4, a good mix of
action and explosions with isolated dialogue
is present in this scene, with one specific
moment where a bullet casing pings from a
gun in slow motion, with an accompanying
high-pitched stereo whine.
When it came to music, we only used
320Kb/sec MP3 audio or FLAC files, to
minimise the effect of any compression. As
everyone has different music tastes, we
tested using a variety of tracks pulled from
rock, dance and classical playlists. For dance
music, we included Leftfield’s Leftism
album, which has tracks with both a
thumping 4/4 kick drum and sub bass that
hits extremely low frequencies, which some
speakers simply can’t reproduce, making it a
great way to test their bass capabilities.
Meanwhile, the 1980s guitar riffs from
Paradise City by Guns‘N’Roses are full of
low and treble sounds, with a noticeable
difference in the reproduction when using
various audio output devices. With a vocal
Tank explosions, gunfire and the rumble of
engines emphasise volume and bass in our
Battlefield 4 gaming test
track that’s placed over percussion, guitar
and bass, it’s a great track if you want to hear
how a speaker set handles multiple audio
frequencies at once.
Finally, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is a
famous piece that we imagine just about
everyone in the western world has heard at
some point, at least from a TV advert or a
film, and its powerful opening chords are a
great test of speakers’ volume capabilities.
Aficionados will know just how well this
music can fill a room. When a strings section
comes in, it creates a wide spectrum of
sound, with both high and low frequencies
that particularly emphasise sound clarity.
We put the headsets through similar tests,
while also trying out the built-in profiles
offered by each headset, along with a short
microphone test. We also looked at any extra
features offered by each set of speakers or
headset, since some offer wireless
connections, digital audio input and remote
volume controls.
41
 L A B S T E ST / HEADSETS
Antlion ModMic V4/£40
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
I
f you already own a pair of
high-quality headphones
then you may balk at the
prospect of buying a whole new
headset just to get access to an
appropriately positioned gaming
microphone, but you now have an option
to turn your faithful cans into a gaming
headset, thanks to the ModMic.
For £40 inc VAT, you get a flexible boom
microphone that can be installed on the side
of almost any pair of headphones. It’s
detachable, rotatable and comes with an
in-line mute switch too, although one without
this switch is available for £35. The kit is
supplied in a protective carry case. The
microphone connects via a simple 3.5mm
mini-jack and the cable is 3.3m long, so
you should still be fine if you use your
headphones with an extension cable.
Meanwhile, the in-line mute slider sits at
shirt-pocket height, but there’s no clip to
actually attach it.
Asus Strix 2.0/£53
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com
A
sus’ Strix 2.0 is one of the best-
sounding headsets on test, despite
its low price, with the large 60mm
drivers supplying a great balance of bass,
mid-range and treble frequencies – the
HyperX Cloud II is the only better sub-£80
headset in this regard. It’s less bass-
heavy than the Func HS-260, but
the mid-range is stronger, with a
touch more clarity to female
vocals, percussion and tracks
with multiple distorted guitars.
It also gets loud without
distorting. The soundscape
transfers well to the
action-packed sequences
too, with no weak-
sounding elements and
punchy gunfire.
However, while the
Strix 2.0’s bulky plastic is
sturdy, it doesn’t
look or feel
42
inc VAT
Installation is painless provided you’re
using headphones with plastic or metal
earcups – even mesh surfaces work, but
rubberised surfaces don’t work with the
adhesive. You simply clean your chosen
earcup with the supplied alcohol wipe, and
stick the small magnetic clasp to it. An extra
clasp is supplied for secondary or future use.
The clasps also come off (with a bit of prying)
without leaving any sticky residue. The
microphone then locks onto the magnet,
inc VAT
hugely attractive, and you can occasionally
hear creaks from the joints when moving
your head with no sound playing. On the plus
side, the foldable earcups mean the Strix 2.0
can be flat-packed, aided by the detachable,
rubberised microphone, and the non-
removable cable has an in-line
remote with a clip and volume
and microphone mute
controls. Meanwhile, the
self-adjusting, suspended
and padded headband
works well. It transfers
most of the weight to
the earcups, but
thankfully, they have
bulky padding and are
massive too, so the Strix
2.0 is still comfortable
to wear.
The Strix 2.0’s sound
quality is outstanding for the
money. Func’s HS-260 offers
and you can rotate it upwards by
90 degrees, or simply disconnect it
altogether with ease.
Cable clasps are also supplied so
you can secure the wire to your
existing headphone cable,
avoiding unnecessary clutter.
In our testing, we found the
uni-directional microphone to
be easily sensitive enough to
pick up our voices with clarity,
even when whispering over
background noise. You need to get
the position right, but thankfully. it’s very
flexible and stays put once adjusted. The
ModMic’s pricing is quite steep given that
you can buy a decent headset for £50, but
if you’ve already invested in high-quality
headphones, then it has a lot more appeal
than a desk microphone. It’s versatile,
easy to use and sounds fine, making it
very easy to turn an existing pair of
headphones into a gaming headset. ML
similar quality in this price range, but with a
better overall design, and just snags the
award, but the Strix 2.0 remains a fine
headset, and it’s better suited to on-the-go
gamers too. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
87%
34/40 25/30
VALUE
28/30
VERDICT
A great-sounding stereo headset for a great
price, putting many pricier models to shame.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
Extras 1 x 3.5mm to 2 x 3.5mm mini-jacks
adaptor, 3.5mm alternative pole adaptor,
detachable mic, in-line volume and mic control
Drivers 60mm
Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
 ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 62

Asus Strix 7.1/£147 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com

T
he external design of the Strix 7.1 is
practically unchanged from the
stereo version. This means
a bulky plastic frame, but you get a
detachable microphone, foldable
earcups and a comfortable fit. The
That said, the lowest bass notes in dubstep offers incredible surround sound for a
tracks, for example, can sound a bit flabby, headset, but it’s only worth the high asking
especially at higher volumes where the price if you’re a big fan of surround sound. ML
sound starts to distort.
Stereo content is surprisingly
immersive, as it uses the front, side SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

81%
earcups also glow orange, powered and subwoofer drivers, rather 36/40 27/30
by the dual USB connections. than just the front ones, as VALUE
The Strix 7.1 boasts a whopping five
pairs of drivers, giving you full 7.1 audio.
with the Kave XTD 5.1
Analog. However, 18/30
You can control each channel’s volume surround content VERDICT
through the control pod, which offers really brings this Easily the best headset for surround-sound
preset profiles, lighting control and headset to life. fans, but there are better options if this
microphone control, including Positional audio feature isn’t a big deal for you.
environmental noise cancellation. is convincing in
You can hook up speakers too – it’s both game and
/SPECIFICATIONS
extremely versatile. video content
Connections 2 x USB
Sound quality is very pleasing – it’s the best
Extras Desktop control pod with channel
too. Compared with the Strix 2.0, surround sound volume, mic and speaker controls, HDMI to 4 x
mid and high frequencies are we’ve heard 3.5mm mini-jack speaker cable, environmental
noise cancellation, detachable mic
flattened slightly, providing a from a headset.
Drivers 30mm (centre), 40mm (front), 20mm
better overall The Strix 7.1 is (side), 20mm (rear), 40mm (sub)
balance, while comfortable to wear, Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
bass is clearer. has lots of features and

Beyer Dynamic MMX 300/£212 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk

S
upplied in a multi-compartment
carry case, the premium price of the
MMX 300 is matched by premium
construction. The metal chassis, rigid closed-
back earcups and high-quality cable shielding
give it the best build quality on test, and
The MMX 300 is designed as a studio- costs the MMX 300 some points, the build
grade headset, and the sound quality is a quality, comfort and sound quality make it
significant step up from any other headset on truly desirable. ML
test. The sound is crisp, clear and well
balanced across all frequencies at all
volumes. The faintest details are always SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

81%
comfort is first-class too – the earcup
foam is breathable yet fantastic at
audible, breathing new life into music,
and enabling you to hear distant
40/40 26/30
VALUE
attenuating external noise.
An adaptor allows you to connect
footsteps in Battlefield 4,
while still making the 15/30
the headphones to large jacks, but game’s soundtrack sound
VERDICT
that’s it for features – the excellent elsewhere. The
Light on features but flawless sound,
microphone is fixed (although bass isn’t as booming as
comfort, build quality and noise isolation
very flexible and rotatable other sets in this test, but
make this headset a cut above the rest.
through 360 degrees), and the accuracy and clarity
there’s not even in-line or of deeper notes really
on-board controls for stands out. There’s a /SPECIFICATIONS
volume or microphone great sense of scale and Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
mute. You can purchase immersion in games Extras 3.5mm mini-jack to 6.35mm jack
adaptor, carry case, replaceable headband and
a USB sound card with and video content too, earcup padding
these controls separately, despite the lack of any Drivers Not stated
but it’s a shame it’s not surround features. Stated frequency response 5Hz - 30kHz
supplied as standard. While the lack of features

43
 L A B S T E ST / HEADSETS

CM Storm Sirus-C/£67 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk

C
M Storm’s Sirus-C uses USB but
requires no software. It doesn’t offer
virtual surround sound, but the
in-line controller includes independent game
and chat volume wheels, as well as
microphone mute with LED indicator and a
PC/console switch – the extra cables make it
on-ear rather than over-ear headset. It’s also
quite hard to get an exact fit, although there’s
a decent amount of adjustment to help. It’s
not uncomfortable, but the other headsets on
test are more comfortable.
There are no glaring issues with sound
quality, but the Asus Strix 2.0 has a fuller
capability and dedicated subwoofer drivers
mean this headsets handles gaming well, but
both the Asus Strix 2.0 and Func HS-260 cost
less and are better balanced. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

75%
compatible with the Xbox 360, PS4
and PS3. The earcup logos also
sound and a clearer mid-range
output, with percussion being
32/40 21/30
VALUE
light up white when powered.
The headset is solid enough
noticeably crisper. There’s only
very moderate distortion at 22/30
for everyday use but isn’t that full volume too, and it’s very
VERDICT
well made, and the glossy loud anyway, with the extra
A capable headset suitable for multi-
plastic that gets dirty quickly. pair of drivers ensuring
platform gamers, but PC gamers can find
Neither the braided cable nor bass is maintained when
better-sounding, more comfortable models.
rubberised microphone are cranking it up. As such, it
detachable, and the latter works well in our high-
isn’t very flexible either. action video and game /SPECIFICATIONS
Meanwhile, the padding sequences, although Connections USB
on the headband and we noticed less Extras In-line volume and mic control,
independent game and chat volume, PC/
earcups is abundant but quite separation between console switch, RCA cable
hard, and the earcups are foreground and Drivers 44mm (main), 40mm (sub)
small – for some background noises. Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
people it may be an The multi-platform

Corsair Gaming H1500/£66 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.lambda-tek.com

T
he H1500 is one of the sturdier
plastic headsets, but it’s also easy to
adjust to the shape of your head,
and the earcups are foldable for flat-packing.
The well-judged clamping force, coupled with
the large circumaural earcups with memory
foam padding, and the headband’s synthetic
leather covering, make for a fairly comfortable
also recommended, and brings out more
detail. Even so, the mid-range can be
unbalanced, with some elements sounding
louder than others, and vocals sounding
distant or hollow in some tracks. High tones
also occasionally lack clarity, with less crisp
hi-hats and cymbals compared with better
headsets. The H1500 struggles with the very
The H1500 has no major flaws, but also
doesn’t stand out. Its sound quality is
reasonable for the money, especially once
you tweak the EQ, but you can find better
deals elsewhere. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

78%
headset. However, it pushes down on
your head a fair bit.
lowest frequencies too, but bass
performance is otherwise
31/40 24/30
VALUE
The microphone can be flipped decent and not overpowering.
upwards but isn’t removable or Meanwhile, the virtual 23/30
flexible, and the 3m USB cable is surround isn’t true
VERDICT
also captive, although it comes positional audio but adds
A solid effort, but other headsets are
with a non-intrusive in-line distance to movies and
stronger in this price range.
controller with a clip. Corsair’s games with multi-
software is very easy to use too. channel audio sources,
/SPECIFICATIONS
There’s some hiss and although it’s less effective
Connections USB
distortion at high volumes but the with stereo content and
Extras In-line volume control and mic mute,
H1500 is loud enough not to need poor with music. The virtual 7.1 surround sound
to run at these levels. Switching to software makes it easy to Drivers 50mm
the preset reference or toggle, but a dedicated switch Stated frequency response 40Hz - 20kHz
audiophile EQ is would be better.

44
 L A B S T E ST / HEADSETS
Func HS-260/£49
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com
T
he Func HS-260 pairs respectable
build quality with a smart-looking
design and soft-touch plastic.
Comfort is above average, although the
headband could use more padding. The
earcups are good too – you can easily
install the breathable foam ones or the
leather-coated set – and there’s space
for ears to breathe, although the Asus’
Strix 2.0 has more room. The
cable and microphone are
both detachable, and you
can easily alter the
microphone position,
while the volume
wheel and microphone
mute switch sit on the
underside of the
earcups and are quick
to access.
Sound quality is also
impressive for the price.
It’s bass heavy, but not
overly so, and low notes retain
HyperX Cloud II/£75
SUPPLIER www.box.co.uk
T
he HyperX Cloud II’s memory foam
headband and leatherette earcups
make it feel like you’re putting on
marshmallows, and the supplied
replacement foam earcups are almost
as comfortable. Meanwhile, the metal
chassis is well built and looks great.
The detachable boom
microphone is very flexible too. The
captive cable ends in a single 3.5mm
jack, while a USB in-line controller
with volume control, microphone
mute and a 7.1 virtual surround
toggle is supplied for PC use;
however, annoyingly, the
controller is positioned far
away from you. Finally, the
carry bag and aeroplane
adaptor make up a
generous package.
Performance from
the 53mm drivers is
excellent, with balanced
46
inc VAT
warmth and accuracy without impeding mid-
range or high frequencies. The bass doesn’t
quite keep up as you get to maximum
volume, where there’s slight distortion, but
it’s loud enough without going high. Most
genres of music are reproduced well,
from acoustic tracks to heavy metal.
Meanwhile, our Band of Brothers
and Battlefield 4 sequences sound
great, with the bass providing energy,
and underscoring explosions and
tank engines, while detail is
retained when foliage is
destroyed and bullets ping off
metal. The leather-coated
earcups add even more
immersion to games and
make rumbles more
noticeable too, although they
emphasise bass more, and
heat up your ears quicker too.
The Func HS-260 hits a
sweet spot between
price, performance and
inc VAT
levels across the frequency range, especially
the high end. The full cover earcups immerse
you in sound, and the level of detail is only
beaten by the much more expensive Beyer
Dynamic headset. Bass isn’t overly
powerful, but still responsive, so even
deep sub bass notes register
properly. A touch of clipping is
introduced at full volume, but you’re
unlikely to need to use the Cloud
II at this setting anyway.
The virtual 7.1 system is
no good for music, but it did
makes scenes in Band of
Brothers feel larger. It
doesn’t process true
surround-sound signals,
however, instead
re-mixing stereo ones. As
such, you can’t expect true
positional audio, but it works
well in some cases, and you
can easily toggle it to try it out.
design. The Asus Strix 2.0 comes close to
edging it, but the Func’s slightly superior
design makes it our budget gaming headset
of choice. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
88%
34/40 26/30
VALUE
28/30
VERDICT
No needless extras, smart aesthetics, good
build quality and decent sound make the
Func an excellent choice for tight budgets.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
Extras Detachable cable, detachable mic,
replacement leather earcups, on-ear volume
and mic mute controls
Drivers 50mm
Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
The Cloud II sounds fantastic, has loads of
features and is unbeaten for comfort. It will
take a really special headset to dethrone it. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
92%
37/40 29/30
VALUE
26/30
VERDICT
A first-class headset in every respect –
outstanding sound quality, a robust and
attractive design, and a generous feature set.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Connections USB, 3.5mm mini-jack
Extras In-line volume control and mic mute, 7.1
virtual surround, detachable mic, aeroplane
adaptor, replacement earcups, carry bag
Drivers 53mm
Stated frequency response 15Hz - 25kHz
 L A B S T E ST / HEADSETS

Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma/£77 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com

R
azer’s Kraken 7.1 Chroma is well
made but the headband needs
more padding, and the earcups are
small and quite tight. Thankfully, there’s a
healthy amount of adjustment and the
earcups are foldable for easy transport.
Meanwhile, its retractable wire microphone
generally well reproduced – some hiss is and retains more detail elsewhere. Sure,
audible, but usually only at volumes that are there’s no virtual 7.1 surround sound or LED
too high anyway. Action sequences have lots lighting, but these features aren’t the most
of impact too, thanks to the bass, but for any important factors. ML
other task, you’ll want less boomy sound.
Meanwhile, the virtual 7.1 surround system
has a cool calibrator in Synapse. Of course, it SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

75%
stays in position, and includes a mute
button with a red LED.
can’t match true surround
headsets for positional audio,
30/40 24/30
VALUE
Unfortunately, though, there’s no but it can add a sense of
on-board or in-line volume scale. It doesn’t always 21/30
control. Instead, you use the work properly though – in
slick Synapse 2.0 software, Battlefield 4, for example, VERDICT
which also controls EQ and the there was no difference Lots of low-end power and slick software,
RGB lighting effects. between using it and not. but it focuses too much on unnecessary
Sound reproduction is a You also have to use features at the cost of sound quality.
little too bass heavy. Lower software to toggle it.
notes can sound overdriven The Kraken 7.1 /SPECIFICATIONS
and artificial at some Chroma has some nifty Connections USB
frequencies, and there’s lots features and software, Extras Retractable mic with mic mute button,
of vibration, interfering with but its sound is very bass RGB LED earcup lighting, virtual 7.1
surround sound
melodies and mid-range parts of heavy, and we expect better Drivers 40mm
songs. Higher frequencies sound for the money. Func’s Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
suffer less, being cheaper HS-260 still packs a punch

Roccat Kave XTD Stereo/£50 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

A
t £50, the Kave XTD Stereo is
attractively priced, but it faces stiff
competition from Asus and Func.
Thankfully, build quality and comfort are both
pretty decent – there’s lots of breathable
padding and it doesn’t feel too heavy, or as if
there’s too much pressure at any point of
gets worse as you increase the volume, with While there’s little wrong with the overall
mid and high frequencies becoming design of the Kave XTD Stereo, you can get a
exaggerated and distorted – crowded heavy much better-sounding headset for similar
metal tracks started to sound messy. At lower money elsewhere. ML
volumes, the sound is passable, but it was the
least impressive headset on test for music.
Our Band of Brothers test scene lacked SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

69%
contact. The rubber cable is non-detachable
and ends in a pair of analogue 3.5mm jacks.
punch, with firepower and explosions
sounding underwhelming. Higher-end
23/40 22/30
VALUE
The in-line remote has both volume and details such as bullets whizzing
microphone mute capabilities, and past had some merit, but not 24/30
while the microphone isn’t that enough to redeem the
VERDICT
flexible, it can be rotated headset. On the plus side,
Underwhelming sound quality – especially at
upwards or detached entirely. the soundscape was
high volumes – means you can get a superior
Unfortunately, its noticeably good for
headset for similar money elsewhere.
weakness is sound quality. hearing footsteps in
While it provides an ear- Battlefield 4, but it
filling sound, the bass comes at the cost of /SPECIFICATIONS
Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
reproduction is often the game not feeling
Extras In-line volume control and mic mute,
muffled, while the mid- very engaging or detachable mic,
range lacks impact and immersive – voices Drivers 50mm
treble frequencies aren’t are distant and Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
as crisp as we expect. It weaponry lacks power.

48
Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 Analog/£80 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com

A
s its name suggests, the Kave XTD
5.1 Analog is a true surround-sound
headset, complete with multiple
drivers. Its leather-wrapped earcups provide a
snug seal over your ears, although they can
get a little toasty over time. It’s easy to adjust
the set to your head shape too, and the soft-
loads of volume on tap too, but the XTD 5.1
distorts when it’s cranked up. Bass can also
sound inaccurate and muddy, so electronic,
dubstep and hip-hop music suffer. Unlike
Asus’ Strix 7.1, only one pair of drivers is used
for stereo content too, so there’s also little
sense of immersion or scale when it’s
has great surround sound for the money, but
you sacrifice stereo reproduction. If surround
is your priority then go for it, but you can get a
better balance elsewhere. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

78%
touch plastic is pleasant.
Meanwhile, the detachable
reproducing stereo sound.
Switching to surround content
31/40 25/30
VALUE
microphone’s LED shows when it’s brings massive improvements
muted, and the captive, though. The rear drivers lend 22/30
rubberised cable feeds into a a sense of the battlefield’s
large remote – it has a clip, but size in Band of Brothers, VERDICT
a desk stand is handily while the rumbling sub A good-value way to achieve true surround,
provided. It’s fed by four gives the action a but it isn’t as good at reproducing stereo.
3.5mm jacks and a USB pronounced kick.
connection, and you need Likewise, in Battlefield /SPECIFICATIONS
to use them all. 4, the distinct drivers Connections USB and 4 x 3.5mm mini-jacks
At normal volumes, make it easier to Extras In-line channel control and mic mute,
mid and high frequencies find the location detachable mic, controller desk stand
are handled fairly of sounds than Drivers 40mm (centre, front), 40mm (rear),
30mm (subwoofer/vibration)
well, especially with virtual surround.
Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
vocal and acoustic The Kave XTD 5.1 (40mm drivers), 20Hz - 100Hz (30mm drivers)
segments. There’s Analog is well built and

Sennheiser G4ME ZERO/£171 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

T
he G4ME ZERO starts is well made
yet also lightweight. It’s also very
comfortable at all points of contact.
The padding is soft, and the earcups are large
with lots of breathing room – it’s a joy to wear.
This analogue headset also dispenses with
in-line controls in favour of a volume wheel
elements all stand out, and detail is retained
even in crowded metal songs. The bass
response is accurate too, although it’s the
weakest part of the soundscape.
The excellent mid-range performance was
enjoyable in Band of Brothers too, with all the
details from the chaotic, exploding battlefield
but elsewhere, the sound is awesome, as is
the comfort. If your budget can’t quite run to
the Beyer Dynamic, the Sennheiser is a close
second in terms of quality. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

80%
on the right earcup, and a microphone that
you simply flip upwards to mute – it’s
easily audible, although again more oomph
wouldn’t go amiss. Footsteps can
36/40 28/30
VALUE
simple and avoids added cable drag. be heard with relative ease in
The G4ME ZERO can also be flat- Battlefield 4 as well, while 16/30
packed and comes in an attractive gunshots feel powerful.
VERDICT
transport case. A sense of distance and
A great premium headset with outstanding
There’s no distortion at full scale is very noticeable–
comfort and sound quality, although its bass
volume, and high and mid your own shots feel
response is a little underpowered.
frequencies are crisp and full of immediate, while
detail – like the HyperX Cloud II environmental effects
/SPECIFICATIONS
and MMX 300, it enables you to and weather are
Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
pick out previously unheard more immersive.
Extras Carry case, on-ear volume control, flip-
details. The mid-range is The lack of bass to-mute mic
a highlight – power lets the G4ME Drivers Not stated
acoustic, vocal ZERO down a little, and the Stated frequency response 50Hz - 16kHz
and percussion MMX 300 has it beaten there,

49
 L A B S T E ST / HEADSETS
SteelSeries Siberia V3/£70
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
T
he Siberia V3’s self-adjusting,
suspended headband makes it
comfortable across the top of your
head, although it can pull slightly upwards on
the earcups, making them feel a touch loose
beneath your ears. The earcups’ leather
padded foam covering is pleasant to wear too,
although they might not completely cover
larger ears. Meanwhile, the captive,
rubberised cable terminates in a
mobile-friendly 3.5mm jack.
An adaptor for dual-jack
systems is supplied,
although there’s no
in-line remote – simply a
microphone mute switch
on the left earcup. The
microphone extends
from the earcup and is
very flexible.
The Siberia V3 has
the most bass-heavy
soundscape of any headset
here, and the effect is
Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 320/£55
SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk
T
he Recon 320 is lightweight, but it
also feels fragile. The foam is fairly
stiff, the earcups are small and
clamping pressure is quite high – you feel it at
all points of contact, so comfort isn’t a strong
point. However, both the cable and the flexible
microphone are detachable, and two cables
are supplied – one 3.5mm one for mobile
devices with controls to skip songs, as
well as answer and hang up calls, and
one USB one for PCs, with an in-line
remote featuring a microphone
mute and volume control.
The frequency response across
the range is reasonable, but the
bass lacks any real punch, while
both mid and high frequencies
sound a little restricted
compared with the
competition – it
doesn’t breathe
much life into
music. There’s no
50
inc VAT
overdone. In fairness, bass reproduction is
precise, but bass lines and kick drums sound
really overpowering, often dominating songs
where the melodies should stand out,
drowning out other elements. The Siberia
V3 also loses some clarity at full volume.
Some music genres benefit from the focus
on bass, but in most instances we found it was
too overpowering.
The heavy action in Band of
Brothers is underpinned by
rumbling tank engines and
deep, boomy explosions,
but again some finer
details are lost.
Explosions and gunfire
in Battlefield 4 also
sounded very powerful,
but shattering glass and
footsteps were much
harder to pick out – it’s
good for enjoying the
action, but less so from a
tactical perspective.
distortion at high volume, but on the flipside,
the highest volume level isn’t that loud. It
doesn’t drown out sound well either, and past
a certain volume, the controller introduces
hiss. It copes fairly well in Band of Brothers
and Battlefield 4, although the low volume
and lack of power detract from the intensity.
Meanwhile, virtual surround sound effects
are enabled within Windows’ speaker
properties, which is a cumbersome
way to toggle them.
Battlefield 4 and Band of
Brothers felt larger and a little
more immersive with the virtual
surround, though, helping to fill
the space, although music
sounds better in stereo mode.
It’s good that Turtle Beach
hasn’t resorted to cranking
up the bass to mask poor
sound quality, or sacrificed
clarity in favour of decibels,
but the flimsy build quality and
The Siberia V3 is pleasing to wear, and
action sequences allow it to shine. However,
it’s much less suited to other types of content
– the HyperX Cloud II is even more
comfortable and sounds better too. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
73%
28/40 24/30
VALUE
21/30
VERDICT
A comfortable headset, but the overly
powerful bass means it’s only enjoyable in
high-action video and game content.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Connections 3.5mm mini-jacks
Extras 3.5mm mini-jack to 2 x 3.5mm mini-jack
adaptor, retractable mic, on-ear mic mute
Drivers 50mm
Stated frequency response 10Hz - 28kHz
inc VAT
disappointing comfort, as well as the limited
volume and unexciting soundscape, mean
your cash is better spent elsewhere. ML
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
71%
31/40 18/30
VALUE
22/30
VERDICT
Reasonable sound, but the build quality,
volume, comfort and noise mean you can get
a better headset elsewhere.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Connections USB, 3.5mm mini-jack
Extras Detachable cable, detachable mic,
mobile cable with in-line mobile controls, in-line
volume control and mic mute, virtual 7.1
surround sound
Drivers 50mm
Stated frequency response 20Hz to 20kHz
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 L A B S T E ST / SPEAKERS

Acoustic Energy Aego M/£199 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

W
hen the Aego M first launched in
2005, the tech world was a different
place. Quad-core desktop
processors didn’t exist and mobile phones
were for calling people, not playing music or
browsing the Web. It’s a testament to the
Aego M that it’s endured so well, since the
world of audio hardware moves at a very
different pace to that of personal computing.
Available in white or black, the Aego M 2.1
setup consists of a compact tower subwoofer
with a single volume control in the centre. It
has two small but deceptively heavy
satellites, which have a brushed-metal finish
and soft edges. The design is striking, with a
single power status LED at the front
surrounded by a metal ring, and the whole set
looks and feels every bit a premium product.
There are a few subtle signs of the
product’s age. Bass is controlled via a switch
at the back, offering levels from 1 to 3, rather
than a rotary control, which is more common
now. Similarly, the speakers connect to the
subwoofer via traditional bare wires rather
than phono plugs. There’s no remote or
wireless features either, but you do at least
get a third input and output for an optional
centre speaker.
You might wonder, then, why we’re
recommending a ten-year-old product.
Simply put, the Aego M blew us away with
its sound quality. Others were good, even
excellent, in their volume or clarity, but the
Bass was loud and Bluetooth streaming may be a turnoff for
some, but the clarity and volume is on another
Aego M is on another level entirely.
Playing Battlefield 4 was like a whole new
rumbling, but with a level. While Creative’s T3 and Microlab’s
FC60BT are perfectly respectable 2.1
experience. As with most 2.1 systems, the clarity that no other systems, the outstanding sound quality, bass
bass was loud and rumbling at all volume and volume levels secures a well-deserved
levels, but with a clarity that no other speaker speaker set matched first-place win for Acoustic Energy. OB
set could match. Each shot caused the desk
to rumble with warm bass, but without The Aego M was one of the few speaker
sacrificing anything from the treble. Likewise, sets to handle Leftfield’s extremely low bass
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

we heard direction from gunfire in movies that
simply wasn’t noticeable when we watched
the same scene with other 2.1 sets.
Turn up the volume and you’re as close to
being right in the middle of the action as
possible from any of the speaker sets we
tested. It might sound like hyperbole, but with
an audio system that offers such clarity and
definition as the Aego M, it really changes your
movie-watching experience.
Finally, the Aego M really showed its
strength when playing music at a hefty
volume. The volume of a thumping 4/4 kick
drum wasn’t just pounding, but crystal clear
without even a hint of distortion.
87%
frequencies fantastically well, and rock and
classical music sounded clear too. The guitar 47/50 24/30
chords from Paradise City sounded noticeably VALUE
stronger on the Aego M than on any other
speaker set on test.
16/20
It was just as impressive at lower volume VERDICT
levels too. The spatial clarity was still Superb clear sound, exceptional volume
noticeable, with the same sound quality we and a real rumbling bass. An exceptional 2.1
heard at higher volumes. speaker set.
Conclusion /SPECIFICATIONS
It may be starting to show its age but, for Inputs 3 x RCA phono
sound quality alone, the Aego M is the best Stated total RMS power 90W
set of speakers in this Labs. Sure, a remote Stated frequency response 50Hz - 16kHz
would be appreciated, and the lack of

52

Creative GigaWorks T3/£167
SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk
T
he Creative GigaWorks T3 set may
look smaller than the T3150
(below), but it offers a real step up in
sound quality. The 2in 15W satellites sound
much more powerful, while the subwoofer
contains three individual 6.5in woofers.
The included wired desktop remote and
bass dial are well made too, with a built-in
3.5mm headphone output and auxiliary input.
In testing, we found the T3’s audio
quality to be of a generally high
standard; however, as we found
when we looked at it before (see
Issue 118, p74), the bass dominates
at the expense of a
balanced audio range.
Volume isn’t a problem
though. It pounded out the
sounds of Battlefield 4 and
Band of Brothers, causing table
vibrations with every bit of
on-screen action. However,
Creative T3150/£60
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
C
osting just £60, Creative’s T3150 2.1
audio system has a down-facing
subwoofer that’s elevated 1in off the
ground by its four feet, and it’s joined by a pair
of fairly small satellites with plastic bases.
Bluetooth 2.1 is built in for straightforward
connection to mobile devices up to 10m away,
and there’s also a wired remote control with a
green status LED, a volume and power switch.
Meanwhile, Creative uses what it calls an
Image Focusing Plate on its satellites, which is
basically a large flare around the speaker
that’s intended to provide better sound
direction and improved clarity.
Entry-level speaker systems usually can’t
compete with pricier setups in
terms of volume, though, and
this is a particular problem with
the T3150. At 50 per cent
volume, high-frequency
sounds such as strings,
electric guitar chords and the
pinging of bullets sounded
reasonable, with a subtle but
clear bass response. Gaming and
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 62
inc VAT
it didn’t have quite the presence of Razer’s The T3 is a well-built, decent-sounding
Leviathan in this respect. system with plenty of bass. However, if you
Meanwhile, the T3 fared mostly well in the can stretch a bit more out of your budget,
music tests. Low sub-bass frequencies didn’t you’ll get better sound from the Acoustic
have enormous punch, but there was no Energy Aego M or Razer’s Leviathan. OB
distortion at all. Strings and electric guitars did
exhibit a tiny amount of distortion at times
though. It’s clear the T3 emphasises bass and
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
79%
volume rather than overall clarity.
40/50 22/30
VALUE
17/20
VERDICT
A well-built, decent-sounding 2.1 system
with plenty of bass.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs 3.5mm jack, stereo RCA phono
Stated total RMS power 80W
Stated frequency response 30Hz-20kHz
inc VAT
movie watching at reasonable volume levels bass becomes no more than distorted noise.
was passable too, with the dialogue and Lack of response at high volume is often
explosions sounding reasonable. the price you pay with an entry-level sound
However, with the volume dial cranked up, system, and if you favour clarity over
the sound clarity really drops off. At high thumping bass, spending slightly more on a
volume, the T3150 struggled with low good pair of stereo speakers will provide
frequencies, with the subwoofer emitting a better overall sound. OB
nasty distortion and the treble becoming
tinny as well. You especially notice this drop in
sound quality when playing any music with a
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
61%
kick drum. At a certain high volume level, the
24/50 19/30
VALUE
18/20
VERDICT
An affordable 2.1 speaker set that isn’t bad at
low volume, but the sound quality seriously
deteriorates at high volume.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs Bluetooth, stereo mini jack
Stated total RMS power Not stated
Stated frequency response Not stated
53
 L A B S T E ST / SPEAKERS
Edifier Studio R980T/£50
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
T
he R980T is a compact set of entry-
level stereo speakers. The amplifier
isn’t hugely powerful, and each
speaker only has a 0.5in tweeter, along with a
4in woofer. They’re built from MDF with a
black finish, and carry a flare around both the
woofer and tweeter for slightly better sound
direction and improved clarity.
Volume and bass adjustment dials are
located at the rear, and there’s no
remote or wireless capability.
However, you can’t expect a
huge feature list from a £50
sound system, and you do at
least get two sets of left and
right phono audio inputs, and
you can switch between them.
We weren’t expecting too
much from the R980T, but the
results were surprisingly
reasonable. Music sounds fine
at volume levels up to 50 per
cent, and it still sounds
passable with the volume
Edifier Studio R1600T III/£95
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
E
difier has chosen a traditional
wooden enclosure for its R1600T III
speaker set, with an MDF chassis
and flat edges that are slightly angled, giving it
a look and finish that’s refreshing when
compared with the usual rectangular boxes.
The sound quality, volume and clarity is
decent too. There’s a 4in woofer in each
speaker, combined with a 0.75in tweeter,
which is slightly smaller than most of the
other speakers we’ve reviewed in this
test, but Edifier claims it delivers an
impressive tonal response from
30Hz to 20kHz.
Rotary controls for volume, bass
and treble are built into a side panel,
and there are two pairs of phono
inputs There’s a flat wireless
remote included too, although
any modern features, such as
Bluetooth, NFC pairing and other
streaming technology, are
notably absent.
54
inc VAT
turned up to maximum, although some treble
sounds from guitars started to sound tinny at
this level. Bass levels are the weakest point
for the 980T, with some slight distortion
when it was fed very low bass frequencies,
which is to be expected from an entry-level
sound system.
The Studio R980T isn’t a bad set of basic
inc VAT
Although the bass isn’t especially punchy,
the R1600T III makes up for it with highly
accurate sonic reproduction. Movies sounded
great at low and medium volume, while music
was notably detailed. Gaming was similarly
crystal clear with pinging bullets and
explosions sounding fantastic. With the
volume at 100 per cent, the R1600T III
sounded just as clear, but the slight lack of
bass in music and gunfire was noticeable.
stereo speakers for the money, but it suffers
from the same unfortunate issues as
Creative’s similarly affordable T3150 set –
distortion at high volume and a lack of bass
response. Unless you’re really strapped for
cash, we advise saving your pennies for a set
with superior sound reproduction. OB
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
63%
27/50 18/30
VALUE
18/20
VERDICT
Entry-level desktop stereo speakers with
basic sound quality.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs 2 x stereo phono (input and aux)
Stated RMS total power 24W
Stated frequency response 70Hz - 20kHz
The Edifier R16000T III is a decent set of
stereo speakers for the sub-£100 asking
price, but the better bass performance at
high volume from Microlab’s X1 speakers
makes the latter a slightly better buy in this
price bracket. OB
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
76%
38/50 20/30
VALUE
18/20
VERDICT
Good range, warm bass and clear sound,
although the bass drops at high volume.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs 2 x stereo phono (input and aux)
Stated total RMS power 60W
Stated frequency response 30Hz - 20kHz
Harman Kardon Nova/£200 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.superfi.co.uk

A
lthough sound quality matters more
than the design or appearance of a
desktop audio system, it’s hard not
to appreciate the styling of the Harman
Kardon Nova’s units. This powered stereo
setup comes in black or white, with a
spherical transparent shell surrounding each
speaker, housing a 1.25in tweeter and 2.5in
woofer. The transparent plastic satellites on
Microlab’s FC60BT 2.1 system look good,
but the Nova looks stunning.
There’s also a set of touch-sensitive
buttons. You hold the touch-sensitive
power button for a few seconds to power
on the Nova, and slide your finger around
the speaker to adjust volume. This
control system initially takes some
getting used to, as it isn’t quite the same as
using a touch-screen on a smartphone or
tablet, but it works well enough.
There are a few ports built into the side of
the speakers, carefully hidden so they don’t
Each transparent That’s not to say you won’t enjoy listening
to music on the Nova. Not everyone wants as
get in the way of the design. Power, 3.5mm
audio and optical connectors are included,
spherical shell houses much thumping bass as possible, and in
confined areas, the Nova will still sound fine.
with Bluetooth supported for wireless a 1.25in tweeter and a
streaming, along with NFC pairing. Conclusion
One slight setup hiccup came from the 2.5in woofer What you’re paying for here is brilliant clarity,
cable connecting the two speakers together and the Nova undoubtedly scores top marks
though. The (assumed) proprietary connector really mind the lack of a subwoofer due to for its accurate sonic reproduction. If you’re
uses an oddly shaped array of pins, which can the clear, crisp bass with each gunshot and short on space, the Harman Kardon Nova set
only be pushed into its socket a certain way. explosion anyway. Band Of Brothers sounded offers great sound quality and fantastic looks,
Our unit arrived with them bent out of place, similarly superb, without even a hint of nasty plus the flexibility of Bluetooth input.
possibly from a previous reviewer lining them tinny noise from loud bullet pings, even at However, the Nova lacks the punch of the
up incorrectly, but this problem wouldn’t exist maximum volume. larger 2.1 sets available. If you’re after some
if Harman Kardon had used a more However, there was a noticeable lack of loud stereo speakers, with a stronger kick
straightforward connector. punch when playing back music. Beethoven’s from the bass response, the Acoustic Energy
Otherwise, Harman Kardon has clearly strings sounded crystal clear, while electric Aego M set provides better sound for a similar
gone to a lot of effort to make the Nova such a guitar chords sounded reasonably powerful. price, but it can’t match the Nova’s looks. OB
desirable-looking object, which made us However, it couldn’t compete with the bigger
initially suspicious that it could be all style over 2.1 systems on test, which offer enough
substance. However, this fear was volume and bass to seriously
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE

80%
allayed when we started provide some punch.
listening to them. The Although the Nova didn’t 40/50 27/30
clarity was almost up emit any nasty noises VALUE
there with Acoustic
Energy’s Aego M,
when faced with low
frequencies, it
13/20
while the bass was hardly shook the VERDICT
surprisingly floor with them Superb clarity and a beautiful design, but
powerful for such either. Then again, missing that essential punch when listening
small speakers. you can’t expect to music at louder volumes.
The strongest floor-shaking bass
area was in games from a 2.5in /SPECIFICATIONS
and movies. Battlefield speaker. but that’s Inputs 3.5mm RCA, optical, Bluetooth
4 sounded great through what you lose when Stated total RMS power 80W
the Novas and, as with going for a small Stated frequency response 55Hz-20kHz
Microlab’s X1 set, we didn’t speaker set.

55
 L A B S T E ST / SPEAKERS
Microlab FC60BT/£199
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
T
he lightweight satellites that come
with Microlab’s FC60BT set sport
one of the boldest designs we’ve
seen. They’re made from a completely
transparent polymer that provides a perfect
complement to the white subwoofer. Hosting
a 1in tweeter, they’ll undoubtedly stand out on
your desk.
Meanwhile, Bluetooth and NFC pairing will
get you streaming audio from a smartphone
or tablet in seconds, and there’s a nifty circular
wireless remote control, supplied with
batteries. While Microlab’s X1 design isn’t
especially inspiring, the
company has tried to
push the boat out with
the FC60BT.
The sub carries an
8in woofer, and it’s
capable of dishing out
exceptional volume.
Perhaps a little too
much, in fact, since it
slightly drowns out the
Microlab X1 2.0/£109
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
T
he Microlab X1 is a pair of oddly
shaped, powered stereo speakers,
with no fancy remote, Bluetooth or
touch-sensitive controls. In fact, there’s just
one phono input. However, its sharp, loud
sound impresses. Each speaker comprises a
5.25in woofer and a 1in tweeter, while three
rotary controls on one speaker’s side enable
you to fine-tune the bass, treble and volume.
Opting for stereo speakers over a 2.1 set
means losing the subwoofer, which will save
space under your desk, but it also means
potentially losing some bass. With the X1,
though, you could easily forget there’s no
subwoofer. The bass boom doesn’t quite
shake the room, but it’s warm and clear,
even at maximum volume. The
explosions and gunfire in Band of
Brothers and Battlefield 4 still created a
pleasant, distortion-free vibration.
Dialogue was crystal clear too, even with
background noise, and gunfire had just the
right amount of bass to create an impact.
56
inc VAT
treble and mid-range. Every gunshot and is slim, and the FC60BT still sounds good.
explosion in movies and games rocked the The FC60BT is a fine audio system from
room, but it lacked the clarity of the Audio Microlab, with a good range of features and
Energy Aego M or Creative GigaWorks T3. loud volume. However, for the same money
Similarly, it didn’t handle music quite as well you can get the Aego M, or for less money,
as the aforementioned 2.1 sets, with strings Creative’s T3, both of which offer a slightly
and drums lacking the same jaw-dropping superior sonic experience. OB
sound quality.
However, while you can hear the difference
between these sets, the margin of difference
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
78%
39/50 24/30
VALUE
15/20
VERDICT
Great volume and design, but there’s slightly
too much focus on bass.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs Stereo phono, optical, Bluetooth
Stated total RMS power 105W
Stated frequency response 40Hz-20kHz
inc VAT
With music, though, the X1s don’t quite That said, for the money, the X1 offers great
perform to the same high standard. Strings, sound; it’s just important to be aware of its
heavy guitar chords and kick drums were shortcomings. If you don’t want a subwoofer,
reproduced well, and remained sharp at all the X1 2.0 is a good-sounding stereo set if
volume levels, but pricier speakers such as your budget can’t stretch to the pricier ones. OB
the Acoustic Energy Aero Ms offer more
clarity. Likewise, the X1 didn’t cope well with
Leftfield’s bass tones, where it started to
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
77%
distort at high volumes, and drum sounds also
lacked the punch of pricier sets. 40/50 19/30
VALUE
18/20
VERDICT
Loud and sharp, with decent bass
reproduction. A good set of stereo speakers
for the money.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs Stereo phono
Stated total RMS power 96W
Stated frequency response 50Hz - 20kHz

5.1 SOUNDBAR
Razer Leviathan/£165
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
W
hen choosing a PC sound system,
you’ll need to consider the space
available, and the size of your room.
Sound will bounce off walls, so the loudest
possible setup might not be as suitable for
a small office as for a larger living room. If
space is restricted around your computer,
putting large speakers on your desk may
not be feasible either. It’s one reason
we’ve avoided looking at 5.1 systems
in this test, as draping cables around
your PC quickly becomes a pain and,
unlike a living room 5.1 system, your PC
area is likely to be more enclosed, so even
wireless speakers will get in the way. One
alternative way to get 5.1 audio in a compact
setup, however, is to use a soundbar such as
the Razer Leviathan.
It isn’t quite the same as a 5.1 speaker set,
as the speakers all sit in front of you rather
than to the sides, simulating 5.1 sound.
However, it still offers a far greater 3D
effect than you get with just normal stereo
speakers, it easily fits in front of the monitor,
just behind your keyboard too.
We tested Razer’s Leviathan soundbar in
exactly the same way we tested all the other
speakers, with the same music, movie and
gaming tests. The Leviathan costs £165 and
comes with a down-facing subwoofer,
placing it in roughly the same price range as
Creative’s T3 or Microlab’s FC60BT. It
includes detachable feet and its angle can
be adjusted as well.
The set sports a trapezoid-shaped
subwoofer, which takes its power directly
from the soundbar; only one power
connector is needed. There are also optical
and analogue inputs, as well as Bluetooth
streaming and NFC pairing features. With
this setup, the subwoofer can easily be
disconnected from the soundbar if required
without losing all the audio, which might be
handy at certain times of the day.
inc VAT
It offers a far greater 3D
effect than you get
from just normal
stereo speakers
The soundbar itself has four speakers, two
0.75in tweeters and two 2.5in drivers, while
the subwoofer is 5.25in. There’s a host of
buttons on the front, three of which switch
profiles between gaming, music and movie
modes, and there’s a mute button and a
switch to enable 5.1 mode as well.
Amazingly, its audio quality was almost up
there with the best 2.1 systems we’ve tested,
but not quite impressing as much as Acoustic
Energy’s Aego M. Music sounded superb,
with electric guitars and kick drums carrying
real depth and clarity, while ultra-low
frequencies were rendered well. Warm and
loud bass carried the tracks and added
presence to the sound, with superb
performance at both high and low volumes.
However, it’s in gaming and movies where
the benefit of a 5.1 system becomes clear.
The dialogue in movies sounded better than
any stereo setup. Bullets still pinged from
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 62
side to side, but all the speech came from the
centre, just like a real 5.1 system, and this
effect was immediately noticeable. The
effect works just as well in games too, as long
as the title supports Dolby Digital surround.
Conclusion
The Leviathan is a great example of the
diverse options available for audio hardware
now. A real 5.1 system can be messy to set up,
and requires a considerable amount of space
but, with practically the same effect possible
from a soundbar and powerful subwoofer,
you can get decent 3D audio without having
to worry about positioning a plethora of
speakers. The Leviathan’s great sound
quality, volume and frequency response is
the icing on the cake. OB
SOUND DESIGN OVERALL SCORE
88%
45/50 26/30
VALUE
17/20
VERDICT
A great-sounding 5.1 soundbar with a
powerful subwoofer – great if you’re short
on desk space.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Inputs 3.5mm jack, optical, Bluetooth
Stated total RMS power 60W
Stated frequency response 20Hz - 20kHz
57
 R E V I E WS / PC SYSTEMS

PC system reviews
GAMING PC

Computer Planet i7 Low

Noise Gaming PC/£780 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.computerplanet.co.uk

M
ost of the gaming rigs that arrive in the Custom PC
labs are monster PCs and, while they regularly
blitz benchmarks, they’re rarely subtle – many are
loud, hot and littered with lights. Computer Planet’s new PC
takes a different approach. It doesn’t aim to break frame rate
records – instead, it’s designed for quiet operation.
The jewel in its crown is a passively cooled graphics card.
The Palit GeForce GTX 750 card sports 512 stream
processors, a 1,020MHz core clock and a GPU Boost top
speed of 1,085MHz, alongside 2GB of GDDR5 memory.
Meanwhile, the Core i7-4790 is too powerful for passive
cooling, but this quad-core chip with Hyper-Threading is
clocked to a reasonable 3.6GHz, and it’s chilled by a quiet There’s space for a wider motherboard, and sound-
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13. It’s a potent part, but it isn’t a dampening material coats the side panels and the interior of
K-edition chip, so that means no overclocking and a slightly the door. Computer Planet has kept the interior tidy too, with
slower clock speed than the 4GHz i7-4790K. cables hidden away and lashed together with black cable
Several of the other components are geared towards ties. There’s also a two-year collect and return warranty,
silent operation too. The 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD covering both parts and labour.
won’t make any noise compared with a hard drive, and the
XFX XTS PSU is a passive model too. We’ve no qualms Performance
about the amount of memory either – 8GB is about right for The Core i7-4790 is a good processor but it isn’t overclocked,
a sub-£1,000 gaming PC, but it comes from a single stick in so the Computer Planet can’t compete with the swiftest rigs
single-channel mode, rather than two dual- we’ve seen, but its performance is still solid. Its score of
channel DIMMs – a needless sacrifice that 223,211 in our multi-threaded video encoding test is pretty
saves little money but affects performance. good, thanks to its four Hyper-Threaded cores, and the
/SPECIFICATIONS
Expansion room elsewhere is mixed. multitasking result of 126,112 is decent too. The Computer
CPU 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-4790
There are seven metal side-facing storage Planet’s overall result of 101,504 is fine – offering enough
Motherboard: Gigabyte
GA-Z97P-D3 bays available in a couple of removable grunt for high-end work tasks.
Memory 8GB 2,400MHz cages, but they’re not tool-free. Meanwhile, The memory situation holds it back though – we installed
Crucial CT102464BA160B. the Gigabyte motherboard has four SATA two 4GB sticks of 1,600MHz DDR3 and ran the same tests,
C16FND DDR3
6Gbps connectors free, which isn’t a huge and the overall score jumped to 104,852.
Graphics Palit GeForce GTX
750 2GB
amount, but you’re unlikely to need more. Meanwhile, the GTX 750 is a definite step above
Storage 250GB Samsung 850 The motherboard also has a 16x PCI-E integrated graphics, but it isn’t a great gaming card – you’ll be
EVO SSD, DVD writer slot free, but don’t get excited about dual- lucky to get smooth 1080p playback out of demanding titles
Case Fractal Design Define R5 graphics; the board only supports AMD at top settings. BioShock Infinite is our easiest test game,
Cooling CPU: Arctic Cooling CrossFire and, even then, that slot is and here, the Computer Planet’s minimum of 33fps was
Freezer 13, 1 x 90mm fan; restricted to 4x speed – not that you’d want fine. Tougher games, though, will have to be toned down.
front: 1 x 140mm fan; rear: 1 x
140mm fan to tax the passively cooled PSU with a dual Battlefield 4 struggled with a minimum of 22fps, and Crysis
PSU XFX XTS 460W graphics system anyway. There’s a single 1x 3 was even worse, with a minimum of 16fps.
Ports: Front: 2 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, PCI-E slot free and two PCI slots as well, but This PC is designed for low noise rather than frame rates,
2 x audio; rear: 2 x USB 3, 4 x USB enthusiast features are absent; there’s no though, and in this department we can’t fault it. The passive
2, 2 x PS/2, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
M.2 or SATA Express, and no on-board graphics card and PSU help, and the Arctic Cooling heatsink
Operating system Windows 8.1
64-bit buttons or LED POST displays, and the rear and pair of Fractal fans don’t make much of a racket – we had
Warranty Two years parts and I/O doesn’t have any high-end extras. to put our ear to the case to hear noise, and the volume didn’t
labour, collect and return There’s plenty of room inside the superb increase during stress tests. If you have this PC under a desk,
Fractal Design Define R5 case though. or you’re playing music, you simply won’t hear it.

58
 1 2 3
A passively cooled The interior is Even the power
GeForce GTX immaculate, with all supply, an XFX XTS
750 card handles the cables tidied out model, doesn’t have
graphics duties of the way a fan

The lack of a K-series chip means the CPU can’t be

overclocked, but extracted a little more juice from the GPU,
with an extra 100MHz on the clock and 75MHz added to the 2
memory, although you’ll want to be very careful doing this
yourself with the card’s passive cooler.
With the clock tweaked, the GTX 750 only delivered minor
improvements – 2fps and 1fps to BioShock and Battlefield
4’s respective minimums.
1
The lack of a hard disk means there isn’t a huge amount of
storage space, but the Samsung 850 EVO drive is silent and
fast. We have no complaints about power and heat either.
This PC’s idle draw of 34W is miniscule, and its peak power
of 153W is just as modest – hundreds of watts lower than
3
monster gaming machines. The CPU and GPU also topped
out with respective delta Ts of 39°C and 42°C – again, both
very low, despite the passive cooler on the latter.

Conclusion
Computer Planet’s machine has a CPU that delivers decent
performance without requiring a noisy cooler, and the
graphics card, while lacking high end gaming power, is also
passively cooled, as is the PSU. Meanwhile, the superb
Fractal case is large, versatile and quiet. It all adds up to a
machine that’s very quiet while still capable in most areas.
The price is good for the kit too, especially the Core i7 CPU.
There are some missed opportunities though. Nvidia’s
Maxwell-based GTX 750 Ti is also available with passive
cooling, and would provide a much-needed gaming boost.
That single-channel RAM, but thankfully, Computer Planet
says it will supply a dual-channel kit for no extra cost.
If low-noise operation is your top priority, though, and
you’re happy to tone down your game settings, the well-
built Computer Planet i7 Low Noise Gaming PC manages to
be virtually inaudible and fast in application workloads
without getting too hot, and that’s a fine achievement.
MIKE JENNINGS

CU ST O M P C R EA L BE N C H 2 0 1 5
G IM P IM A G E ED IT I N G BATTL EF I EL D 4
1,920 x 1,080, Ultra detail, 4x AA
Computer Planet 54,062
Computer Planet 22fps 27fps
0 15,000 30,000 45,000 60,000
0 12 24 36 48
HA N D B R A K E H . 2 6 4 V I DE O E N C O DI N G
Computer Planet
BI O S H O CK I NF I NI TE
223,211
1,920 x 1,080, Ultra Detail with Depth of Field
0 60,000 120,000 180,000 240,000 Computer Planet 33fps 45fps
L U XM A R K O P EN C L
0 12 24 36 48
Computer Planet 14,726
CRYS I S 3
0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000 1,920 x 1,080, Very High detail, 0x AA

H EA V Y M UL TI- T A S K I N G Computer Planet 16fps 25fps

Computer Planet 126,112 0 12 24 36 48
Stock speed min Stock speed avg
0 33,000 66,000 99,000 132,000

S Y S T E M S C O RE
Computer Planet 101,504
0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000
I N T E L REF ERENCE: 88%

SPEED DESIGN
OVERALL SCORE VERDICT

81%
18/25 22/25 A very quiet, well-built PC that’s still
powerful in application workloads, but
HARDWARE VALUE you’ll need to tone down your graphics
19/25 22/25 settings in demanding games.

59
 R E V I E WS / PC SYSTEMS

MINI PC

Stealth 1.0/£670 inc VAT

SUPPLIER www.stealthpcs.co.uk

S
tealth PC is a new name in the Custom
PC labs, and its system – the minimally
named 1.0 – makes a striking first impression,
simply because it’s so small. This machine isn’t designed
for high-end gaming – instead, it’s been built to handle a
multitude of tasks in a small, portable space.
To that end, Stealth has picked and altered a Powercool
K3i mini-ITX chassis. The main change to the case concerns
the roof: the usual slab of aluminium has been replaced by
a sheet of clear Perspex in order to expose the innards. It’s
also been given a little extra sheen by a small blue strip light
that’s stuck to the inside of the front edge.
The rest of the chassis is built from aluminium and, from
the outside, it makes for a good-looking machine. The front
houses a smart metallic button, and
each side is decorated with black fins.
The AMD chip It’s a neat mod, but the see-through
slab and the blue light also highlight the
also includes a cramped interior: the 37mm-tall
S/PDIF connector. Not surprisingly, the Stealth 1.0 is short
on upgrade room; there’s room for a second hard disk or an
SSD but, while there’s a 16x PCI-E slot, it can’t be used.
The Stealth also includes a two-year warranty collect and
return warranty, covering parts and labour. The package
comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse too, and a
handy carry case for lugging the machine and its external
PSU around.
Performance
Being an affordable, mini APU machine, we didn’t expect the
Stealth 1.0 to generate big numbers in our benchmarks. In
our image editing test, the Stealth could only score 28,198,

Radeon 8670D SilverStone AR05 cooler sits right next

to a pair of G.Skill memory sticks, and
for example, and the Stealth’s overall result of 58,351 is a
long way behind the scores we’ve seen from Intel desktop
graphics core the blue fan and red DIMMs rob the
Stealth of any colour-matching
machines too, although it’s a fair bit quicker than the results
we’ve seen from Intel NUC-style systems. The Broadwell-
cohesion. Cables snake around the based Gigabyte BRIX S (see Issue 141, p20), for example,
major components on every side too, with the hard disk only managed to produce a total system score of 45,435.
connectors rising up to meet the 2.5in drive that’s installed The Stealth 1.0 might not be a multi-threaded powerhouse,
into a Perspex board screwed into the front of the machine. but it has enough grunt for media applications, general work
The low-profile SilverStone cooler sits on top of one of tools, web browsing and so on.
AMD’s Richland APUs – the part chosen to provide a It’s a similar story with gaming. BioShock Infinite is the
balance between processing power and graphics ability in easiest game in our current roster of test titles, but the AMD
lieu of the room needed for a discrete GPU. The A10-6700 APU struggled to run it. We only hit playable frame rates by
has four Piledriver CPU cores clocked to 3.7GHz and a top running BioShock at its Low settings and at 1,366 x 768 –
Turbo speed that’s 600MHz higher, and it’s and, even then, the game only returned minimum and
accompanied by 8GB of G.Skill memory average results of 27fps and 33fps.
/SPECIFICATIONS running at 2,133MHz. Storage, meanwhile, We had more success with Skyrim, which is older and less
CPU 3.7GHz AMD A10-6700 comes in at 1TB – although the Western demanding. The game’s Medium quality settings delivered
Motherboard Gigabyte Digital Red drive used won’t compete with an average of 26fps at 1080p, and dropping quality levels to
GA-F2A88XN-WIFI SSDs for speed. Low saw the game never dropping below 43fps. In short,
Memory 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X AMD’s chip also includes a Radeon you won’t be able to play new, demanding games at top
2,133MHz DDR3 8670D graphics core. It’s branded as an settings on this machine, but you’ll be able to play less
Graphics AMD Radeon
8000-series part, but it’s based on the demanding ones without much trouble, especially if you’re
8670D (APU)
7000-series architecture. It has 384 prepared to drop the graphics settings and resolution.
Storage Western Digital Red 1TB
hard disk stream processors clocked to 720MHz with Interestingly, the APU’s clock speed also fluctuates quite
Case Powercool K3i a boost peak of 844MHz, and uses system widely depending on the workload. After 15 minutes of
Cooling CPU: SilverStone AR05 memory. It’s roughly on a par with low-end
with 1 x 92mm fan; case: 2 x discrete cards such as the Radeon R7 240.
50mm side fans
It’s all plugged into a Gigabyte
Ports Front: 2 x USB X, 2 x audio;
rear: 2 x USB 3, 4 x USB 2, 1 x GA-F2A88XN-WIFI motherboard. As the
PS/2, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet, 1 x name suggests, this board has integrated
optical S/PDIF, 5 x audio Wi-Fi, and it’s a decent feature, with dual-
Operating system Windows band ability and support for the fastest
8.1 64-bit
802.11ac standard. It supports up to 64GB
Warranty Two years collect and
return, parts and labour of memory, and its backplate serves up
plenty of USB ports, five audio jacks and an

60
 1 2 3
High-speed Wi-Fi 8GB of 2,133MHz The low-profile
support comes G.Skill memory SilverStone cooler
from an 802.11ac sits next to the sits on an AMD
wireless adaptor CPU cooler A10-6700 APU

running our standard stress test, which stresses the CPU

and GPU cores, the chip’s delta T of 45°C was fine, but the 3
processor’s stock speed of 2.5GHz was throttled back to
just 1,150MHz in this test. The temperature shows that the 1
machine isn’t overheating, but rather that this throttling is
a result of AMD’s power management features, which
manage the clock speed when both the CPU and GPU
portions are loaded, in order to keep the TDP in check.
On the plus side, power consumption is low, although not
as low as a NUC system. In our test, the Stealth drew 93W 2
from the mains at load – less than a standard desktop rig.
On the downside, however, it’s noisy. During stress tests,
the machine’s noise output was consistent but loud – on the
same level as mid-range full-sized PCs. It was a little quieter
when idle, but still noticeable. Of course, a set of speakers
will drown out the noise, but it isn’t the system to buy if you
need low noise levels or a good media system, as the fans (and the score below is based on comparison with other
will prove irritating during quiet TV and movie moments. mini PCs, rather than full-sized desktop PCs), but also more
Storage performance was predictably slow too. The powerful. It offers enough power for general computing,
Western Digital drive provides a good 1TB of space, but its work and running games on modest settings, and in a
sequential read and write speeds of 89MB/sec and 96MB/ chassis that’s so small it comes with its own bag for carrying
sec are average, and a long way behind SSDs, and Windows the machine.
feels less responsive in use as a result. However, it could really do with an SSD at this price, and it
makes a surprising racket for a system made by a company
Conclusion called Stealth, even when it’s idle. The Stealth 1.0 is a good
Stealth PC’s debut machine packs a reasonable punch into PC if you need a portable machine for general-purpose use,
a small space, and it’s great to see the benefits of an AMD especially as it includes peripherals and a carry case, but be
APU without the wasted space of a full-sized desktop rig, aware of its noise levels, and don’t expect it to handle
as well as the custom touches to the case. The result is a demanding games at high settings.
machine that’s a little bigger than an Intel NUC-sized system MIKE JENNINGS

CUS T OM P C R EAL B E N C H 2 0 15
GI MP I MAGE EDI T I N G B IO S H O CK : IN F IN IT E
1,920 x 1,080, Low settings
Stealth 1.0 28,198
Stealth 1.0 19fps 21fps
0 8,000 16,000 24,000 32,000
0 6 12 18 24
HANDBR AKE H. 26 4 V I D E O E N C O D I N G 1,366 x 768, Low settings

Stealth 1.0 98,111 Stealth 1.0 27fps 33fps

0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000 0 9 18 27 36

H EAVY MULTI - T A S KI N G T H E EL D ER S CR O L L S V : S K YR IM
1,920 x 1,080, Medium settings
Stealth 1.0 18,007
Stealth 1.0 22fps 26fps
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000
0 7 14 21 28
SYS T EM S C ORE 1,920 x 1,080, Low settings

Stealth 1.0 58,351 Stealth 1.0 43fps 50fps

0 15,000 30,000 45,000 60,000 0 13 26 39 52
A MD R EFERENC E: 8 3. 2 9 % Stock speed min Stock speed avg

SPEED DESIGN
OVERALL SCORE VERDICT

78%
22/25 19/25 A decent general-purpose
PC that’s small enough to
HARDWARE VALUE lug about, but it makes a fair
19/25 18/25 amount of noise.

61
 E L I T E / THE BEST KIT

Elite
Our choice of the best hardware available

Build a budget PC
Core components
The parts you’ll need to build either PC. This kit list gives you a solid PSU, a decent-quality case and the OEM
version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

1 2

3 4

PRICE
NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED
(inc VAT)

1 NZXT S340 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 137, p54 £60

2 Corsair CS550M www.scan.co.uk Issue 135, p46 £68

3 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p72 £38

4 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM www.ebuyer.com Issue 75, p46 £68

62
All-purpose PC
The parts you’ll need to add to the core components to build a general-purpose PC. This machine will handle
general computing tasks with no trouble, and will also cope with basic gaming, although you’ll have to lower the
detail settings. It features high-speed memory to boost the performance of the AMD APU’s graphics system.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H www.cclonline.com Issue 126, p22 £58

AMD A10-7850K www.scan.co.uk Issue 127, p17 £117

8GB Corsair Vengeance

www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p22 £60
Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3

SilverStone Argon AR01 www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p57 £26

TOTAL £495

Gaming PC
The parts you’ll need to build a budget machine capable of playing the latest games at maximum settings on a
1080p monitor. The machine has a discrete graphics card, a highly overclockable dual-core CPU and high-speed
memory. Meanwhile, the Z97 motherboard gives you headroom to upgrade to a faster CPU later.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

ASRock Z97 Pro3 www.scan.co.uk Issue 130, p50 £79

Intel Pentium G3258 www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p17 £53

AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB www.ebuyer.com Issue 140, p42 £147

Corsair Vengeance Pro www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p22 £60

Series 2,400MHz DDR3

SilverStone Argon AR01 www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p57 £26

TOTAL £599

Recommended extra
A solid state drive will make a huge difference to the responsiveness of Windows, as well as boot-up times.
We strongly recommend adding one to any build.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Crucial BX100 250GB www.ebuyer.com Issue 141, p43 £76

63
 E L I T E / THE BEST KIT

Build a mid-range PC
Work PC
The parts you’ll need to build a solid quad-core PC with plenty of upgrade potential. This kit list gives you an
all-in-one liquid cooler and a K-series Core i5 CPU, meaning you can overclock it and get some serious
processing power. We’ve managed to get the Core i5-4690K Haswell CPU up to 4.8GHz, so it has some serious
performance potential. Also included is a solid Corsair PSU, a 500GB SSD and 8GB of high-speed memory.
The core configuration assumes you won’t be doing any serious gaming, however, and it relies on Intel’s
integrated graphics.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

NZXT Phantom 530 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 127, p44 £98

Gigabyte Z97X-SLI www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 130, p54 £90

Intel Core i5-4690K www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p18 £190

Corsair Vengeance Pro

www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p22 £60
Series 2,400MHz DDR3

NZXT Kraken X41 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 138, p57 £70

Corsair CS550M www.scan.co.uk Issue 135, p46 £68

Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p75 £60

Lite-On IHAS124-14 www.dabs.com Issue 99, p108 £10

Crucial BX100 500GB www.dabs.com Issue 141, p43 £145

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM www.ebuyer.com Issue 75, p46 £68

TOTAL £859

Gaming PC
The graphics card you’ll need to play current games at their maximum settings at 1080p and 2,560 x 1,440.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

1,920 x 1,080
www.ebuyer.com Issue 140, p42 £147
AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB

2,560 x 1,440
www.scan.co.uk Issue 140, p48 £222
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB

64
Build a performance PC
Work PC
The parts you’ll need to build a high-quality, fast PC that’s ideal for multi-threaded workloads. This kit list
features a high-quality, beautifully built case, and has a Core i7-4790K CPU. This processor’s support for
Hyper-Threading effectively splits the resources of the CPU’s four physical cores into a further four virtual cores,
meaning it can effectively handle eight threads at once. There’s also a solid 850W PSU, giving you plenty of
headroom for overclocking and adding multiple graphics cards, and an all-in-one liquid cooler.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

NZXT H440 Special Edition www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 140, p24 £125

Asus Maximus VII Ranger www.scan.co.uk Issue 131, p20 £133

Intel Core i7-4790K www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p19 £277

Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3 www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p22 £60

NZXT Kraken X41 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 138, p57 £70

SilverStone Strider Gold 850W www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 135, p56 £110

Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p75 £60

Samsung 850 Evo 500GB www.scan.co.uk Issue 141, p51 £159

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM www.ebuyer.com Issue 75, p46 £68

TOTAL £1,062

Gaming PC
The graphics card you’ll need to play current games at their maximum settings at 2,560 x 1,440 and beyond.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)
2,560 x 1,440
www.ebuyer.com Issue 140, p48 £222
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
4K
www.scan.co.uk Issue 140, p50 £522
2 x Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB

Recommended extra
A discrete sound card gives you higher-quality sound when playing back or recording music.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Creative Sound Blaster Z www.scan.co.uk Issue 116, p42 £64

65
 E L I T E / THE BEST KIT

Build a 6-core workstation

Multi-threaded workstation
The parts you’ll need to build a PC with serious power in multi-threaded workstation software, such as 3D
rendering apps and optimised distributed computing software. The kit list features a 6-core LGA2011-v3 CPU,
which is overclockable using the motherboard and cooler listed. Also supplied is 16GB of RAM, 1TB of solid state
storage and a 1.2kW PSU, providing loads of headroom for adding multiple GPUs.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Corsair Obsidian 750D www.scan.co.uk Issue 123, p30 £135

Asus X99 Deluxe www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 136, p20 £310

Intel Core i7-5820K www.scan.co.uk Issue 134, p43 £315

AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB www.ebuyer.co.uk Issue 140, p42 £147

16GB Corsair Vengeance

www.scan.co.uk Issue 136, p14 £180
LPX 2,666MHz DDR4

Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT www.scan.co.uk Issue 140, p17 £101

Corsair Professional Series AX1200i www.scan.co.uk Issue 111, p40 £254

Samsung 850 Evo 1TB www.cclonline.com Issue 141, p51 £318

Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM0001 www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p75 £60

Lite-On IHAS124-14 www.dabs.com Issue 99, p108 £10

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional OEM (or

www.ebuyer.com Issue 75, p46 £110
Windows 8.1 if you’re using a 4K monitor)

TOTAL £1,940

4K gaming PC
This LGA2011-v3 system can support multiple graphics cards over 28 PCI-E 3 lanes, making it an ideal
foundation for high-resolution PC gaming, replacing the graphics card listed above with two high-spec cards.
We recommend using Windows 8.1, rather than Windows 7, if you’re using a 4K monitor.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

4K
www.scan.co.uk Issue 140, p50 £522
2 x Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB

TOTAL £2,315

66
Build a mini PC
Core components
The parts you’ll need to build either PC. This kit list gives you a solid PSU, 8GB of RAM, an overclockable Haswell
CPU, an all-in-one liquid cooler and Windows 7 Home Premium. Also included is a short-PCB graphics card that
can play current games at their maximum settings at 2,560 x 1,440, and a 512GB SSD.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Intel Core i5-4690K www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p18 £190

Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3 www.scan.co.uk Issue 132, p22 £60

Corsair H75 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 138, p46 £59

Asus GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU Mini www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 139, p20 £300

Crucial BX100 500GB www.dabs.com Issue 141, p43 £145

Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p75 £60

Lite-On IHAS124-14 www.dabs.com Issue 99, p108 £10

Corsair CS550M www.scan.co.uk Issue 135, p46 £68

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM www.ebuyer.com Issue 75, p46 £68

Mini-ITX PC
The parts you’ll need to build a pint-sized powerhouse.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Corsair Obsidian 250D www.dabs.com Issue 136, p41 £70

Asus Maximus VII Impact www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 136, p52 £165

TOTAL £1,195

Micro-ATX PC
The parts you’ll need to build a mini PC that doesn’t take up as much room as a full-sized desktop.

NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE

(inc VAT)

Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 www.scan.co.uk Issue 127, p46 £65

Asus Maximus VII Gene www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 133, p18 £160

TOTAL £1,185

67
E L I T E / THE BEST KIT

Cases
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Budget ATX NZXT S340 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 137, p54 £60

Sub-£100
Fractal Design Define R5 www.scan.co.uk Issue 137, p20 £87
ATX quiet

Sub-£100 ATX
NZXT Phantom 530 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 127, p44 £98
performance

Air-cooling
SilverStone Fortress FT05 www.scan.co.uk Issue 139, p24 £131
Sub-£150 ATX

Water-cooling NZXT H440

www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 140, p24 £125
sub-£150 ATX Special Edition

Water-cooling ATX SilverStone Temjin TJ07B-W www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 63, p87 £225

Mini-ITX tower Corsair Obsidian 250D www.dabs.com Issue 136, p41 £70

Mini-ITX cube Antec ISK600 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 126, p28 £50

Micro-ATX Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 www.scan.co.uk Issue 127, p46 £65

Water-cooling
Parvum Systems S2.0 www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 129, p22 £140
micro-ATX

Graphics cards
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

1,920 x 1,080
AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB www.ebuyer.com Issue 140, p42 £147
gaming

2,560 x 1,440 AMD Radeon R9

www.ebuyer.com Issue 140, p48 £222
gaming 290 4GB

High-end single- Nvidia GeForce

www.scan.co.uk Issue 141, p18 £869
GPU gaming GTX Titan X

2 x Nvidia GeForce
4K gaming www.scan.co.uk Issue 140, p49 £522
GTX 970 4GB

Asus GeForce GTX 970

Mini-ITX www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 139, p20 £300
DirectCU Mini

68
Power supplies
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Corsair
Mid-range 550W www.scan.co.uk Issue 135, p46 £68
CS550M

Corsair
High-end 750W www.dabs.com Issue 135, p52 £125
HX750i

SilverStone Strider
Mid-range 850W www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 135, p56 £110
Gold 850W

Corsair Professional Series

High-end 1.2kW www.scan.co.uk Issue 111, p40 £254
AX1200i

Networking
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Router Asus RT-AC68U www.dabs.com Issue 128, p88 £156

Wi-Fi adaptor Asus PCE-AC68 www.dabs.com Issue 128, p88 £70

Storage
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Hard disk www.scan.co.uk Issue 104, p75 £60
ST2000DM001

Crucial BX100
250GB SSD www.ebuyer.co.uk Issue 141, p43 £76
250GB

Crucial BX100
500GB SSD www.dabs.com Issue 141, p43 £145
500GB

Samsung 850
1TB SSD www.cclonline.com Issue 141, p51 £318
Evo 1TB

Synology
NAS box www.cclonline.com Issue 138, p17 £143
DS215J

69
E L I T E / THE BEST KIT

Monitors
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

24in monitor Dell U2414H www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 129, p43 £200

27in monitor ViewSonic

www.cclonline.com Issue 129, p60 £604
( 2,560 x 1,440) VP2772

Asus
29in monitor www.scan.co.uk Issue 129, p52 £319
PB298Q

Asus
28in 4K monitor www.scan.co.uk Issue133, p44 £430
PB287Q

34in curved Samsung D

monitor S34E790C
U PDATE www.scan.co.uk Issue 142, p28 £750

Peripherals
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Budget mechanical Gigabyte

www.awd-it.co.uk Issue 139, p40 £72
keyboard Aivia Osmium

Mechanical gaming CM Storm

www.box.co.uk Issue 139, p44 £88
keyboard Trigger-Z

Mechanical MMO
Corsair Vengeance K95 www.box.co.uk Issue 123, p64 £125
keyboard

Logitech G402
Gaming mouse www.currys.co.uk Issue 139, p53 £40
Hyperion Fury

Wireless gaming SteelSeries

www.box.co.uk Issue 139, p61 £95
mouse Sensei Wireless

Saitek X-55
Flight stick www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 131, p29 £170
Rhino H.O.T.A.S.

Steering wheel Thrustmaster TX Ferrari

www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 137, p32 £220
and pedals 458 Italia Edition

70
Audio
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

PCI-E sound card Creative Sound Blaster Z www.scan.co.uk Issue 116, p42 £64

USB sound card Asus Xonar Essence One www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 118, p44 £363

Acoustic Energy
2.1 speakers D www.amazon.co.uk Issue 142, p52 £199
Aego M U PDATE

Razer D
Soundbar
Leviathan U PDATE www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 142, p57 £165

HyperX
Headset www.ebuyer.com Issue 142, p46 £75
Cloud II

Surround-sound
Asus Strix 7.1 U PDATE D www.cclonline.com Issue 142, p43 £147
headset

Systems
TYPE NAME SUPPLIER FEATURED PRICE
(inc VAT)

Scan 3XS Z97

Budget gaming PC www.scan.co.uk Issue 133, p60 c. £599
Performance GT

Chillblast Fusion
Quiet gaming PC www.chillblast.co.uk Issue 138, p66 c. £1,499
Serenity

Dream PC Scan 3XS Bear www.scan.co.uk Issue 125, p58 c. £6,999

Devil’s Canyon Scan 3XS Z97

www.scan.co.uk Issue 136, p60 c. £1,199
gaming PC Performance GTX

Overclockers
4K gaming PC www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 141, p58 c. £3,116
Infin8 Nebula

Micro-ATX AWD-IT Chimera i5

www.awd-it.co.uk Issue 135, p64 c. £949
gaming PC Dead Silence Gaming PC

MSI GT70
Gaming laptop www.overclockers.co.uk Issue 129, p26 c. £1,320
2PC Dominator

Scan 3XS X99

Haswell-E PC www.scan.co.uk Issue 134, p60 c. £3,349
Cyclone SLI

71
 Games

Featured this month

Inverse look p73 / Pillars of Eternity p74 / Battlefield Hardline p76 / Mortal Kombat X p76 /
Dyscourse p78 / The engine room – Unity 5 p80 / Custom PC makes a video game – part two p82

72
 OPINION
R I C K L A N E / INVERSE LOOK
WHERE ARE THE
GAMING MUMS?
Geek parenting is on the rise, but why are only the dads
making all the noise? Asks Rick Lane
abies are everywhere at the moment. Hiding under
B the bed, stuck behind the sofa, hovering at the
windows cooing ‘let me in’. There’s probably a baby
standing behind you right now, preparing to pounce, or
whatever it is babies do. Go on, take a look if you dare. No baby?
Oh well, perhaps it’s just me. All my peers seem to have become
newly fledged parents at the same time, so my Facebook and
Twitter feeds constitute endless scrolls of baby photographs.
This minor newborn explosion has also resulted in a spate
of online articles about gaming as a parent. Some of these
pieces are fascinating, but most are variations
on the theme of, ‘Oh god, where did all my free
time go?’– an understandable if not particularly
enlightening perspective.
There’s probably a baby
However, what I’ve found especially standing behind you right
intriguing about this trend is that all of the
articles I’ve read on the subject were written
now, preparing to pounce,
by dads. This led me to ask the inevitable or whatever babies do
question: ‘Where are all the gaming mums?’
When I asked online, I received several
sarcastic responses along the lines of ‘they’re probably busy
looking after the kids!’ A reply that I thought is unfair to both
sexes, what with our increasingly egalitarian society and all.
Nevertheless, a more feasible answer wasn’t forthcoming.
More puzzlingly, a quick Google search revealed almost a
million more results for ‘gamer mom’ (Google defaults to
American spelling) than for ‘gamer dad’.
So gaming mums are definitely out there, running personal
blogs and niche community forums, so why is there so little
discussion in the mainstream media?
Rick Lane is Custom PC’s games editor.
The only reasonable conclusion is that, while gaming mums
are in abundance, gaming mums who are also professional
writers are apparently scarce. It appears that most games
writers who have the necessary years and economic security
to support a child remain predominantly male, so we only hear
about their experiences.
Optimistically, I expect this problem will solve itself given a
few years – it’s unreasonable to expect a crop of talented
gaming and writing mums to spring abruptly out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, right now there’s still a substantial audience out
there without a voice with whom they can
identify. I think it would be interesting to hear
from mums about their experiences of
balancing gaming as a pastime with the duties
of parenting. I’d anticipate that they don’t vary
enormously from the experiences of gaming
dads, but you can never be certain until you ask.
As such, you can consider this column to be
my form of asking. Are you a mum who enjoys
a bit of Counter-Strike, DOTA or World of
Warcraft? Email me your experiences at rick@ricklane.co.uk.
Do you play games on your own, with your kids, or both? Even
if it’s just a quick round of Bejewelled on your phone, I’d like to
hear from you.
Gaming dads can help too. If your wife or partner enjoys
games, whether it’s a casual puzzler or a grand strategy
wargame, why not ask them to send me a few lines about what
they enjoy, why they enjoy it, and how they fit their hobby into
their lives? If I get enough responses, we’ll consider compiling
them for a feature in a future issue of the magazine.
@Rick_Lane
73
 G A M E S / REVIEW
Pillars of Eternity/£34.99 inc VAT
DEVELOPER Obsidian Entertainment / PUBLISHER Paradox Interactive / WEBSITE http://eternity.obsidian.net
O
bsidian has long demonstrated the potential to be
a great RPG developer, but its talent has always
been best expressed through supporting other
companies’ series, such as Neverwinter Nights, Fallout and
South Park. When working on its own ideas, Obsidian has
previously come up short, as with Alpha Protocol. With
Pillars of Eternity, though, Obsidian has finally come up with
a game that’s both unquestionably excellent and entirely its
own. It updates a classic RPG design for modern eyes, and
uses it to tell a brilliantly written story.
At first glance you might doubt the assertion that Pillars
of Eternity is an original RPG, as it closely resembles the
framework established by BioWare with Baldur’s Gate.
Indeed, Pillars looks and plays very similar to the game that
made BioWare’s name. The isometric perspective,
hand-painted backgrounds and tactical RPG combat
all strongly evoke the classic RPGs of the 1990s.
Look closer, though, and you’ll see flickers of
modernity in this ostensibly traditional design.
The static backgrounds are illuminated with the
dynamic light of candles and campfires, while the
glistening water of rivers and waterfalls flows freely
through the static landscape. It’s an exquisite
blending of old and new visual techniques,
hinting at the game’s design ethos.
Pillars is essentially Baldur’s Gate with
20 years of hindsight. The interface is
clean and easy to understand, and the game
introduces itself gradually, opening up its world and
systems through a carefully paced introductory
sequence. Best of all, its story takes all the
74
familiar high-fantasy conventions, and spins them into a
genuinely engrossing tale. It posits what happens to a
person’s soul when they die, whether an individual is
responsible for their actions in a past life and what it means
to be a god.
Unlike the majority of recent RPGs, Pillars’ central
storyline is undoubtedly the main attraction. There’s a
predetermined path through the game to which you’ll
always return, even though you can frequently divert from it.
Such direction hardly feels restrictive though. Your quest
takes you through two enormous cities littered with side
activities, several smaller villages, acres of picturesque
countryside and dozens of dungeon mazes.
Alongside its grandeur, Pillars is also surprisingly dark.
The world Obsidian has created still reels from the effects
of blowing up one of its own gods, while across the land
children are being born without souls. The guild of
animancers – basically necromancers with
pretensions toward science – strive to find a cure
for this affliction, but the populace find their grisly
experiments increasingly distasteful. It’s a
mature and thoughtful story, riddled with
moral grey areas and difficult decisions.
Fortunately, your spirits are lifted
throughout this grim adventure by a cast of
witty, effervescent and often mysterious
companions. They frequently interact with you
and each other, joking and bantering as you make
your way from place to place. Aloth is a friendly elf
wizard with a split personality, while Durance is a
priest in the service of the god Magran. He
watches your every action with an eagle eye, judging your
choices through his own enigmatic moral code.
Pillars’ companion characters are a delightfully bright yet
broken bunch. Indeed, you’ll come to love them more for
their asides and witticisms than the stories behind them.
Each character has a personal mission they want to
accomplish, but the journey is often more worthwhile than
the destination. This system is fine to an extent, but it
becomes a little tiresome the third or fourth time it happens.
More rewarding are the non character-related side
quests. Even the simplest task, such as delivering a
message or finding a lost boy, usually involves several
twists and turns before you arrive at the heart of the matter.
Meanwhile, the biggest quest of all, The Endless Paths,
takes the form of an absolutely huge dungeon that must
approach a quarter of the entire game’s content. There are
often several ways to complete each quest too, with
extensive dialogue options influenced by your reputation
with particular factions, your physical and mental attributes,
and your accumulated knowledge about places or people.
That said, combat nearly always plays a role at some point
in the proceedings. While Pillars’ combat isn’t particularly
special, it has enough depth and tactical flexibility to keep
you engaged. Each class has an impressive range of
abilities. Identifying their optimal role and ensuring they’re
able to fulfil it is vital for victory. Your fighters and paladins
must protect your priests and wizards, who in turn use their
spells and incantations to buff your fighters and weaken
your enemies. One class that deserves special mention is
the Chanter, who gathers phrases of songs over time, and
can spend these phrases on increasingly powerful abilities,
such as paralysing a group of enemies, or summoning a
small army of skeletons to fight for your cause.
No matter how ingenious your approach to combat,
tactics will only get you so far. Sometimes you’ll encounter
an enemy that squashes you into hero-jam with barely a
shrug. Pillars has a nasty habit of ambushing you with
enemies several orders of magnitude above everyone else
in the surrounding area too. When this happens, you can
usually back out of the confrontation, although it isn’t always
clear that this is possible.
That isn’t a massive problem, as there are always other
ways to occupy your time while you build up your strength
for these tougher skirmishes. However, Pillars isn’t perfect
in some other respects either. After the delights of the
game’s first city, Defiance Bay, the second city, Twin Elms,
feels haphazardly put together by comparison. There’s
no logic to its layout, and all its quests and dialogue are
drowned in stodgy elvish lore. After digesting so much OVERALL SCORE
90%
lore already, it’s essentially the mint that killed Mr
Creosote. In addition, the fortress you can gradually
upgrade as the game progresses doesn’t have much
bearing on the overall experience. Yet you’re forced to
return to it whenever you want to change a party
member, further slowing down an already substantial / VERDICT
With a fascinating
time investment.
story, great
For the most part, though, Pillars is deeply respectful characters and a
of your time, filling almost every inch of its world with vast, intriguing
interesting parts to discover. It’s a sharp, intelligent and world to explore,
deeply involving tale that brings together the best parts Pillars of Eternity is
a triumph for
of old and new RPG design. Obsidian.
RICK LANE
75
 G A M E S / REVIEWS

Battlefield Hardline /£49.99 inc VAT

DEVELOPER Visceral Games / PUBLISHER EA / WEBSITE www.battlefield.com

B
attlefield Hardline was an opportunity for the
long-running shooter series to reinvent itself. The
idea of taking Battlefield’s spectacular multiplayer
shenanigans and focusing on police car chases, bank heists
and drug busts is a tantalising prospect.
We’ll start with the multiplayer aspect, which is
undoubtedly the main attraction. At first glance, Hardline
seems little different from previous Battlefield games. The
maps are vast and highly destructible, and the weaponry
remains a military fetishist’s dream. The only noticeable
changes concern the vehicles and player skins.
OVERALL SCORE

60%
Where Hardline strives to differentiate itself is in the
game modes, which are all based around the cops’n’
robbers theme. The number of modes is generous, but
the quality varies considerably. Heist is the central
attraction, seeing a criminal gang attempting to break
into a high-security vault before fighting through police
/ VERDICT
lines to escape with the loot. As robbery plans go, it
Neither a great
police game nor a doesn’t make any sense, but it does encourage some
great Battlefield typically ferocious Battlefield combat.
game, Hardline is a Easily the best mode is Hotwire, in which both teams
mediocre offering must wrest control of several vehicles spread across
from Visceral.
the map, and drive them for as long as possible to score
points. Hotwire uses Battlefield’s vehicles better than any
other mode so far, and its chaotic, freeform nature makes it
a huge amount of silly fun. The remaining modes are less
successful. Blood Money is a confused version of Capture
the Flag, while Rescue and Crosshair (Hostage Rescue and
VIP Escort) are more focused modes that use the theme
well, but they suffer from a lack of attention from players.
Hardline’s multiplayer is sturdy but unspectacular, but the
game’s overall quality is dragged down by the abysmal
single-player aspect. You play detective Nick Mendoza
who, over the course of ten missions, engages in a tank
battle with the leader of a redneck private army, breaks into

Mortal Kombat X /£34.99 inc VAT

DEVELOPER NetherRealm Studios / PUBLISHER Warner Bros / WEBSITE www.mortalkombat.com

M
ortal Kombat has always been the black sheep
of the brawler family. While Tekken and Street
Fighter were showered with praise in the 1990s,
Mortal Kombat was sitting in the back garden eating
worms and throwing stones at cats. NetherRealm’s
2009 reboot did little to alter the series’ image either,
with its phenomenally grisly fatalities and X-ray depictions
of injuries.
Mortal Kombat X probably won’t change that reputation,
retaining the series’ fascination with forcibly
rearranging the human anatomy. Yet beneath the
bloody veneer is a slick and snappy fighting game that
makes some effort to raise itself above the norm.
The biggest change concerns the overly familiar fighting
roster. Regulars such as Shang Tsung and Shao Khan have
been ejected, replaced by many new faces. Some of them,
such as Cassandra Cage and Jackie Briggs, are the children
of older fighters (MKX takes place 20 years after the
previous game). Others are completely new introductions.
Errol Flynn combines eastern martial arts with spaghetti
western gunplay, while D’Vorah is an insectoid woman with
a terrifying affinity for all creatures that creep and crawl.

OVERALL SCORE

75%
/ VERDICT
MKX does little
that’s new, but
plenty that’s good.
A safe but
satisfying sequel.

76
a high-security vault, killing dozens of legitimately
employed security guards in the process, and single-
handedly assaults a heavily guarded island complex that
wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond film.
There are plot reasons for all the above, but that doesn’t
make it any less ridiculous. It’s as if Visceral gave up on the
police theme halfway through development and reverted
back to the usual Battlefield framework. Put it this way, you
Whoever you choose, Mortal Kombat X is speedy and
satisfying during combat. Even the most basic kicks and
punches have a powerful sense of weight behind them,
leaving bruises and bloody scratches on their unfortunate
recipient. MKX further spices up the proceedings by making
its environments interactive too. Objects such as braziers,
engines and even spectators can be plucked from the
background and thrown at your opponent.
The fighting is split between several modes, foremost
of which is the surprisingly ambitious story mode. Divided
into 12 cutscene-heavy chapters, each focusing on one
character, MKX’s decades-spanning saga is as entertaining
as it is cheesy.
Then there’s the Towers mode, a series of tiered fights
that can be played like a straightforward arcade mode, or
customised with a sequence of modifiers.
can still ‘arrest’ enemies in the latter half of the game, even
though you aren’t a policeman and the people you’re
fighting aren’t technically criminals.
All considered, it’s hard to recommend Battlefield
Hardline. The multiplayer is uncomfortable in its new
uniform, and the single-player deserves a tribunal. If you
want a great police game, buy the excellent SWAT 4 instead.
RICK LANE
However, the Faction War mode, where players can
join one of five teams and battle for supremacy, is a little
undercooked, and the online connection can be sluggish.
Also, the fatalities and X-ray scenes feel increasingly
outdated in this otherwise dynamic and interactive fighting
game. Both are essentially incredibly violent cutscenes
triggered by the player. At the very least, these parts could
be made more creative by expanding the procedural
damage system, or involving the interactive environments.
As it stands, Mortal Kombat X does little that’s radically
different, but adds enough new features to satisfy existing
fans and entice fresh fighting fodder. If you fancy inviting
over a friend so you can punch them in the face and tear out
their spine, MKX is a perfectly acceptable facilitator without
risking a police investigation.
RICK LANE
77
 G A M E S / REVIEW
Dyscourse/£10.99 inc VAT
DEVELOPER Owlchemy Labs / PUBLISHER Owlchemy Labs / WEBSITE www.dyscourse.com
W
hile most survival games emphasise crafting and
exploration, Dyscourse is about choice. Playing
a plane crash survivor named Rita, you awake in
the twisted wreckage on a remote desert island. Banding
together with other survivors, Rita quickly establishes
herself as the leader of this troupe, and must keep them
safe and healthy until the opportunity for rescue arises.
In many ways, Dyscourse bears more resemblance to an
adventure game than a survival game, with a structure that
lies somewhere between The Walking Dead and the
Stanley Parable. The game is split up into a sequence of
days, with each day offering a new challenge and a series
of choices to deal with it. Early on, for example, you must
decide whether to search for water, explore the plane
wreckage or attempt to build a signal fire. Each of these
paths leads to a new location, with further decisions then
branching out.
Dyscourse impresses with the
range of potential twists and
OVERALL SCORE outcomes to its dynamic tale.
50%
The ultimate goal is to get all five
companions safely off the island
with you, but the chances of achieving
this feat in your first run are slim. Some of the
choices, such as whether you stay in your
/ VERDICT
An interesting idea,
rickety shelter during a violent storm, or
but Dyscourse is let seek out a sturdier abode as the rain
down by shallow lashes down, are extremely difficult
characterisation to make, and what initially seems like
and poor the best course of action may prove
presentation.
deeply unwise in the long run.
78
Moreover, you’re not simply contending with the
wilderness; your interactions with other survivors affect
your relationships with them too. Snub their viewpoint
while sitting around the campfire, and they may be
reluctant to work with you further down the line.
Conceptually and structurally, Dyscourse is fairly
sound. There isn’t a whole lot to do aside from engage in
conversations and make decisions, but that’s fine given
Dyscourse’s aims. Unfortunately, it also falls down in some
far more important areas.
Dyscourse seems uncertain whether it wants to be a
light-hearted comedy or a compelling character piece, and
the result is that it satisfies in neither category. Its characters
are one-dimensional stereotypes – the depressed office
worker, the conspiracy nut, the obese gaming obsessive
and so on, while the bright aesthetics and often silly tone
frequently clashes with the deeply tragic
events that occur.
In fact, Dyscourse’s presentation
generally isn’t great. The art is ugly, the
animations basic and the squeaky
mumbling sound made by characters
when they speak distracts you from what
they’re saying. Without strong characters to
pull you into the game, there’s little reason
to explore Dyscourse’s multiple narrative
threads other than curiosity. As a
consequence, although Dyscourse’s
attempt at a dynamic survival story is
admirable, it’s also ultimately in vain.
RICK LANE

Ori and the Blind forest is a
great example of Unity’s 2D
rendering capabilities
Rick Lane revisits the Unity engine, which is now capable of some stunning
graphical feats, including real-time global illumination
hen we last looked at Unity
W in 2013, it was a rapidly
growing mid-tier engine.
Big on flexibility and community
support, it lacked the power of
mainstream packages such as
Unreal and CryENGINE. Two years
and two major updates later, and
Unity is much more powerful, more
comprehensive and, for all but the
biggest developers, completely free.
It’s firstly worth recapping what
Unity 4 brought, especially its
DirectX 11 support, which brought it
in line with other mainstream
proprietary engines. Unity 4 also
affixed a whole new animation
system called Mecanim to the
program, and switched to smaller,
more frequent updates, including
rendering and physics support
specifically for 2D games, and
broader coverage of mobile devices.
With Unity 5, the team had several
goals outlined. ‘One was creating a
80
G A M E S / ANALYSIS
R I C K L A N E / THE ENGINE ROOM
Unity 5
graphics powerhouse for Unity –
being able to stand out with
powerful graphics, but with an
easy way to achieve it,’ says Carl
Callewaert, Americas director for
Unity. ‘That’s why we went after rich
features and a highly flexible editor.’
The foundation of this graphical
boost is Unity’s new real-time global
illumination (GI) system, which is
based on Geometrics’ Enlighten
technology. Several companies have
Obsidian used
strived to achieve real-time GI for
Unity as the basis
for sprawling RPG years. With Unreal Engine 4, Epic
Pillars of Eternity notably had to abandon its system in
favour of a more traditional lighting
approach. But Callewaert states that
Unity 5 does have a fully real-time
system available. ‘It gives artists the
freedom to really set up the lights as
you would in real life.’
But real-time GI is still very
computationally expensive when
extended across an entire game, so
alongside this feature, Unity
developers can still opt for the
traditional method of baking lights.
Sandwiched between these
approaches is a middle option, which
Unity calls ‘continuous baking’ –
lighting data that’s baked into
textures and updating automatically
as the developer adjusts the lights.
‘The cool thing about that is, once
the bake is done, you can dynamically
change the intensity of the light, or
dynamically change the rotation or
colour of the light,’ says Callewaert.
‘It updates it on the fly, and doesn’t
have to recalculate.’
 In addition to real-time GI, Unity 5
also adds HDR reflection probes.
These probes capture their
surrounding environment in a
reflection cubemap that, like lighting
data, can be baked into a texture or
run in real time. The final inclusion
to Unity’s graphics suite is the new
Standard Shader, a physically based
shading model that’s used across
Unity’s graphics rendering by
default, aiming to ensure that objects
are shaded consistently across the
rendered image.
Alongside these new features,
Unity 5 also sees some significant
improvements to Unity 4’s Mecanim
animation system. The biggest is the
addition of state-machine
behaviours, which was implemented
because game developers were
creating far more complex
animations than Unity originally
anticipated, and it essentially
enables animators to add very
specific behaviours to their
animation cycles.
Callewaert offers an example. ‘Say
you’re walking and you want some
particles coming out of your feet –
you just drag and drop the script on
it, create particles with the walk
animation and it works,’ he says.
The animation ‘state-machine’
automatically recognises the item
you want to connect with the
animation – it could be particles, or it
could be an audio file or a complex
script command. ‘That allows you to
really manage your project much
better, again helping you to get your
game out of the door faster,’
Callewaert adds.
The last major extension of Unity
5’s feature set is the new audio mixer.
‘It really brings the tools with which
audio engineers are working directly
into Unity,’ Callewaert says. Much of
the audio mixer’s capabilities are
fairly standard, but there is one
interesting widget – snapshots.
Snapshots allow developers to
save audio states, tweak their
parameters and then switch
between them depending on what’s
happening in the game. For example,
you might have a stealth game
where the same audio track plays
with different effects depending on
whether or not you’ve been spotted
by an enemy. ‘You can set all the
Firewatch, a beautiful first-person exploration game
that casts you as a reclusive park ranger spotting fires
during a blazing Wyoming summer, is one of the more
visually sumptuous Unity games in development
settings, take a snapshot and then
blend between different snapshots,’
Callewaert says.
The result of the updates through
both Unity 4 and 5 is that the
potential for game development
within the engine is now much
broader. Unity has been the go-to
engine for small teams for a long
time, but it’s now capable of tackling
much larger projects. Noteworthy
Unity-based games include
Obsidian’s brilliant Pillars of Eternity
and the upcoming Firewatch, a
beautiful first-person exploration
game that casts you as a reclusive
park ranger spotting fires during a
blazing Wyoming summer.
Unity also has recently expanded
its already broad developmental
horizons by making the engine
entirely free. Callewaert is keen to
point out that both Unity 3 and 4 had
free versions as well, ‘but in Unity 5
we wanted remove as many of the
barriers as possible, so that’s why we
moved all the pro features into the
free version’. This Personal Edition
of Unity is also royalty free for
companies earning less than
$100,000 per year.
So where does Unity go from here?
Well, there are a couple of major
You can see new technologies hovering on the
Unity’s reflection horizon. The first is DirectX 12, which
probes at work
on these stunning
Unity intends to support in one of
screenshots from the updates for Unity 5. The other
Shadowood big potential game changer is, of
course, virtual reality (VR).
Callewaert points out that Unity
has added free integration with the
Oculus Rift in version 4.6, and states
that Unity continues to be in ‘close
communication’ with Oculus and
other VR developers such as
Samsung. Otherwise, though, Unity
is tight-lipped about the specifics of
dealing with VR hardware.
In fact, Unity is reluctant to discuss
future updates in general, which
Unity’s physically- isn’t entirely surprising given that
based Standard Unity 5 was only released in March
Shader acts as a
this year. But we can examine what
consistent standard
for graphics the community most wants to see
rendering added to Unity.
By far the most demanded
feature is support for Linux, a
request that’s accumulated almost
20,000 votes since December 2010.
Other community priorities
include a default script for easy
implementation of saving and
loading in Unity-developed games,
and a Voxel-based terrain system,
which would allow more complex
generation of terrain.
81

Custom PC
MAKES A VIDEO GAME
Rick Lane returns to GameMaker. His mission: blow up wasps
art One of our attempt to
P make a video game left us
with a rudimentary
framework themed around a spider
and a fly. With Part Two, we intended
to focus on structure and spectacle.
But first we needed to attend to
several important but boring
functional issues, such as creating
larger levels with camera scrolling,
implementing Quit and Restart keys,
and running the game in full screen.
We’re still following Tom Francis’
excellent YouTube tutorial fairly
closely, creating unique bits here
and there when they fit better with
our loose design outline.
However, these features are fairly
universal, and while none of it’s
particularly exciting, it’s surprising
how much the full-screen capability
makes even our silly spider shooter
feel like a real game.
The other major alteration is the
background. Initially we wanted the
Yellow is officially better than grey for spider watching
82
G A M E S / ANALYSIS
PART TWO
game to take place on a giant spider’s
web, but our childish artistry wasn’t
up to the task.
So for now, we’ve settled for a
block colour that isn’t Gamemaker’s
slate-grey default. Importantly, the
custard yellow helps our spider and
fly to stand out. Ideally, we’d like to
have a thematically
appropriate setting,
We wanted such as a bathtub or the
surface of a picnic table,
player-death if but at the moment the
background isn’t the
the fly touched most pressing matter.
the spider What’s important is
getting more crucial
elements of our game
functioning, the main one being a
way to lose. Currently, our spider can
eat our fly – growing when it does –
but the fly has no effect on the spider.
On the subject of death, Francis’
tutorial explains how to make an
object explode into fragments, which
The spider now dies when struck by a fly, but only if the fly is moving
doesn’t fit particularly well with our
spider theme, but learning how to
make objects explode is a vital part of
being a game developer, so we’ll use
it for now.
Getting our spider to explode
proved difficult for a number of
reasons, the first being our own
foolishness. Originally, we wanted
the spider to explode into different
spider bits – eyes, legs, and body –
which meant duplicating our spider
sprite and separating out different
parts. Unfortunately, during this
process, we accidentally deleted our
spider sprite entirely, forcing us to
draw a new one, which is why the
spider in these screenshots looks
different to those seen in Part One.
In the end, we decided that the
spider should simply explode into
black circles. The other problem was
establishing the right conditions
under which the spider should
explode. We wanted player-death to
occur if the fly touched the spider,
which was simple enough to identify
in code – instance place,
(x,y,oFly) – with oFly being the
name of the fly object. But remember
that our spider also eats the fly by
touching it when the fly is trapped
in a web.
Figuring out a solution was easy
enough. We only wanted the spider
to explode if it was touched by the fly
and the fly was moving at a speed
greater than zero. But phrasing
this instruction in a way that
GameMaker understood took much
longer than we anticipated. This
situation constituted our first real
experience of banging our heads
against an obstructive piece of code.
In the end, the phrase we were after
was much simpler than we
anticipated. Setting the Fly’s location
as the variable FlyTouchingMe the
final phrase read if instance_
exists(FlyTouchingMe) and
oFly.speed > 0, followed by the
various explosion commands.
So now the spider explodes when
touched by the fly, but it can still eat
the fly if the fly is stuck in a web. Also,
to make this situation more likely to
happen, we increased the speed of
the fly, and switched the web spray
for individual shots, which
effectively increases the difficulty.
With death implemented, our
spidery shooter is starting to look
vaguely like a real game.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like
a game and GameMaker doesn’t
come with an built-in sound editor.
Fortunately, Francis recommends a
simple online tool called BFXR, which
lets you create an impressive array
of sounds using a mixture of sliders
and randomisers.
When shot, the wasp explodes into venomous stings
The sounds generated are
reminiscent of a 1980s arcade game,
and aren’t really suited to a game
about insects, but they’re better than
nothing, and BFXR generates a pretty
good explosion sound.
What’s more, importing them into
Gamemaker is extremely simple, as
is commanding them to trigger in
code, so it won’t be much of a hassle
to replace them later. We also created
sounds for shooting, the fly getting
stuck in a web and the spider
growing, all of which have a
surprising effect on the feel of the
game. Lastly for this month, we
wanted to give the game a proper
sense of progression. The spider
Here, our game depicts the British summer
grows when it eats a fly, but there’s
no goal – we needed a boss.
Sticking with the insect theme, we
drew a sprite of a big angry wasp,
and gave it the same movement code
as the fly. Being a boss, we wanted
the wasp to be more of a threat than
the fly, but at that point we knew
little about AI states, implementing
damage or making an AI object
shoot. That said, during the course of
writing this part we learned how to
make objects explode, and how to
make the player die. In addition, part
seven of Francis’ tutorial teaches
how to create and adapt scripts,
using the explosion code as an
example. Accordingly, we
programmed the wasp to explode
in a giant cloud of venomous stings
when shot by the player, any of
which will instantly kill the player
when touched.
We set the conditions under which
the wasp will spawn. We tweaked
the fly respawn code so that, instead
of spawning one fly over and over, it
would spawn two flies every time
Bfxr is a useful one fly was eaten. Then, once the
tool for quickly game reached a total of three flies on
implementing
prototype sound
screen, it would spawn the wasp.
effects Unfortunately, our amateur coding
at this point resulted in the game
spawning three wasps at once.
Frankly, however, having the
wasp spawn based on the number of
flies active is probably a bad idea. It
would be better to trigger the wasp
spawn once the spider reaches a
certain size. In addition, it would be
good to give the player a reward for
killing the wasp – a new weapon or
ability perhaps.
These aspects will be our primary
focuses in Part Three, which will
appear in the issue after next.
83

J I M K I L LO C K / DIGITAL RIGHTS
Net neutrality
The idea that all Internet traffic gets equal bandwidth, regardless of content,
is up against strong resistance in the UK, warns Jim Killock
id we win the net neutrality
D debate? If you’re reading US
news stories, it would seem
so, but in the UK, we’re in fact on the
verge of another serious defeat: the
European Council is pushing to
weaken rules on Internet content
to allow more blocking and
discrimination. Net neutrality is
the idea that all communications on
the Internet should be treated
equally. Whether you’re a small web
service, an individual sharing files or
a web behemoth such as Google,
your messages and content should
be sent along each Internet pipe in
the same way, without deciding
that one or another deserves
better treatment.
Net neutrality advocates say
that this lack of discrimination
is what fuels innovation and
competition, as any small start-up
can compete on equal terms with
anyone else. Everyone can get their
product or content delivered to the
same standard.
On the other hand, ISPs in
particular think they should be able
to charge people to get a higher
priority on their networks. They
argue that the Internet suffers from
‘congestion’, and some kinds of
content need prioritisation. Multi-
player, networked games for
84
OPINION
instance, need instant and reliable
communications, and video is
dreadful if it keeps stopping and
starting. As such, these ISPs think
they should be able to charge for
increased reliability for particular
specialist services, and argue that
net neutrality rules would be a
barrier to this type of innovation.
In the USA, there are in effect only
two major ISPs serving the whole
country, which makes these
arguments especially dangerous,
as two companies could quickly cut
off access to services and extract
unavoidable tolls from services. In
Europe, there have been a larger
number of ISPs, although the number
has reduced, while the UK market is
dominated by Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk
and BT.
However, a common argument is
that UK ISPs aren’t in the same
position to damage Internet services
as their equivalents in the USA, as
disruption would lead to customers
shifting. Even small numbers of
customers ‘switching’ cuts profits
hard, as the margins are pretty tight.
European ISPs are very interested
in ways to reduce customer
switching and push up the profits
from Internet contracts. You’ll have
noticed that most of them now
provide cable-like TV services, which
aren’t quite TV, and aren’t quite
Internet services either. These sports,
TV and film services supply content
over local networks direct to
customers, but don’t use the Internet.
As subscriptions are bundled,
customer switching is reduced, as
people get used to receiving content
from their particular provider.
What’s that got to do with net
neutrality? Well, ISPs increasingly
compete with Internet services. By
providing content, they’re in the
same game, and aren’t quite the
neutral party they once were. There’s
an increasing risk that they’ll want
competitors supplying similar
content across the Internet to pay for
the privilege of reaching customers.
Whatever the motivation,
European MEPs and the Commission
have been keen to sound very
supportive of net neutrality and
the Open Internet. The last
commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said she
wanted to introduce legislation that
would protect the Open Internet. In
the event, her draft legislation was
criticised by Internet activists as
doing roughly the opposite, with all
kinds of exceptions that would allow
ISPs to slow down and speed up
different kinds of content.
The EU Parliament decided it
would rewrite the proposal, and

came up with a draft that many
people thought was going in the
right direction. By April last year,
before the EU-wide elections,
Parliament could claim to have stood
up for net neutrality.
Once the Commission and
Parliament have looked at a
European law, it passes back to the
nation states, in the Council of
Ministers. This body allows each
country to negotiate directly with
the others to shape legislation.
It has now spent several months
looking at the next proposal from the
EU Parliament, an revised it to pretty
much to the same position at which
it started. It seems that European
governments, including the UK,
don’t want to stand up for net
neutrality. Many of them, of course,
are being lobbied by the big ISPs,
many of which are former state
monopolies, such as BT, that retain
close links with their governments.
One of the Council of Ministers’
introductions is loopholes for
‘specialised services’, which permit
blocking of websites for pretty vague
reasons, and allow the slowing down
and speeding up of Internet traffic.
Jim Killock is executive director of campaign organisation The Open Rights Group (www.openrightsgroup.org)
had to make his views clear. Do
we know where David Cameron
(or perhaps a different prime
minister by the time this is
published) or Claude Juncker
stand on net neutrality?
The member states can also be
accused of using the EU to create
potentially unpopular policies in this
manner. We all know in practice that
the UK will be one of the voices
raised against strong net neutrality.
The UK government has an interest
in making it easier to block content
in case it makes it hard to implement
default porn filters.
It’s also close to BT, whose advice
has been to avoid regulation that
would restrict what it can do. But the
way the UK behaves in negotiations
isn’t a matter of public record. Only
final votes are recorded against
individual states, which allows the
UK to push network discrimination
without being held to account, or
having to explain its stance to the
British people.
ISPs in particular think they It’s hard to imagine every EU state
should be able to charge writing its own legislation on net
neutrality, or other Internet
people to get a higher priority regulation. It’s complex and requires
cross-border cooperation, but that’s
on their networks no excuse for making the processes
opaque and unaccountable.
The question of net neutrality in
What happens next is that the a sense arises from slow Internet
Council of Ministers, Commission speeds and poor connections. If you
and Parliament sit down and thrash take a look at the countries with high
out a compromise. speeds, you’ll find a different kind of
With two of the three bodies Internet developing, with many
rather hostile to net neutrality, different platforms. The net
we have a problem on our hands. neutrality debate doesn’t seem to be
The question is whether the so relevant in South Korea or Japan.
European public will stand up and Could it be that the USA and Europe
be heard, and whether MEPs will are currently trying to answer the
find the nerve to stand up to the wrong question: how do we manage
member states. scarce bandwidth and slow Internet
The EU institutions aim to thrash speeds, rather than how do we get
out an agreement by mid-summer. the fast speeds that would enable
It’s going to be a tough fight. And it the services we want in the future?
raises a serious question about the Somehow, the net neutrality debate
extent to which the European feels like one in which our politicians
public are paying attention to their are failing and choosing to manage
institutions, and are being informed decline, as well as being far too prone
about the decisions they make. to pander to vested interests.
Somehow it’s a very different matter See https://savetheinternet.eu for
to the USA, where the President has more information.
@jimkillock
85
 F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION
Antony Leather shows you how to build a gorgeous, customised
4K gaming PC that will stand out from the crowd
T
here’s a mass of exciting hardware and modding techniques
now, resulting in some extremely swanky PCs. Whether you’re
keen on choosing the right colours, super-fast
hardware or building a powerful water-cooling
system, or all of the above, there are plenty of
ways to make your PC stand out from the crowd of
standard black boxes.
Of course, we’d all love to spend upwards of ten
grand on a PC if we had the money – how does an X99
system in a massive case with terabytes of SSD
storage and three or four Titan X’s sound? But if you’re
keen to get on the 4K bandwagon or just want to build
86
an awesome water-cooled PC that’s kitted out with all the latest gear,
or both, you can build a stunning and unique PC for much less money.
In fact, we’ve built an Nvidia Titan X-powered Intel
X99 system with an 8-core Core i7-5960X, 16GB of
DDR4 memory and a Rampage V Extreme
motherboard for under £4,000. This setup even
includes a custom high-end water-cooling system
too, along with some of the shiniest, sexiest
components currently available. Just as importantly,
we’ve selected components that will be compatible
with next-generation hardware too, such as super-fast
SSDs and memory.
W
ith the ever-decreasing price of monitors that offer resolutions
above 2,560 x 1,440, including 4K, there’s a clear need for
seriously powerful gaming systems if you want to turn up the
gaming eye candy at these settings. We’ve chosen components that
make up an awesomely powerful system, but also offer a degree of
future-proofing and upgradability.
Intel’s X99 chipset is the logical choice here. Intel’s latest
LGA2011-v3 CPUs are the fastest desktop models available, and the
platform offers far more bandwidth for multi-GPU setups and super-
fast PCI-E SSDs than other desktop chipsets.
While our system uses a traditional SATA 6Gbps SSD and single
graphics card, there’s plenty of room for expansion too, meaning the
PC won’t be obsolete in two years.
M.2 SSDs, for example, can be pretty expensive in terms of cost per
gigabyte, and while certain models from Plextor and Samsung are
much faster than SATA 6Gbps SSDs, there are diminishing returns in
terms of real-world noticeable speed above 500MB/sec. That said,
the cost of PCI-Es SSDs is falling all the time, so when the time is right,
you can drop one into your PC. Likewise, when you’re talking about
future upgrades, our choice of a single graphics card means you can
wait for prices to fall and then drop in a second card later.
THE CORE OF THE BEAST: CPU, GRAPHICS CARD
AND MOTHERBOARD
CPU
Intel Core i7-5690X / £839 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk
GRAPHICS CARD
Nvidia GeForce GTX
Titan X / £905 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com
M OT H E R B OA R D
Asus Rampage V
Extreme / £348 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk
There’s no room for skimping on a dream PC, so we’ve opted for
Intel’s 8-core Core i7-5960X as our CPU of choice. The extra two
cores over its LGA2011-v3 siblings are handy if you dabble in rendering,
video editing or music creation – any task that’s multi-threaded. It’s
overkill for a pure gaming system, of course, as few games make use
of all its cores, and the Core i7-5930K offers the same bandwidth for
multi-GPU setups too. However, gaming isn’t the be all and end all, and
you want a decent all-round PC when you’re spending serious money.
If you’re opting for an X99 system, the king of the motherboard hill
has to be Asus’ Rampage V Extreme. It’s pricey, even after a recent
price cut to just under £350, but it’s an absolute beast. There’s a full-
speed 4x PCI-E M.2 port, which can handle any M.2 SSD up to 110mm
in length. Four-way CrossFire and SLI are supported too and, as we
mentioned when we looked at the board in our X99 Labs test last year,
it’s bristling with useful features as well as being a superb overclocker.
For a dream PC, waterblock compatibility is important too, and this is
the main reason we picked the Rampage V Extreme over many of its
rivals. EK’s full-cover waterblocks are readily available for most Asus
ROG motherboards, and there’s a variety of waterblocks catering for
the Rampage V Extreme.
Then we come to the most lustworthy item in our dream PC – the
graphics card. Nvidia’s GeForce Titan X is the only single-GPU card
we’ve tested that can maintain playable frame rates in every one of
our test games at 4K. While AMD’s dual-GPU R9 295X2 was certainly
very tempting, the Titan X just tipped the balance in Nvidia’s favour,
mainly because you get guaranteed frame rates, while relying on
CrossFire can be a little hit or miss in less well-supported titles.
Also, as we want our dream PC to be seen and not heard, the Titan
X’s superior efficiency and lower power consumption means you’re
far more likely to be able to build a whisper-quiet system with it, while
still getting blistering frame rates. Plus, we haven’t met anyone yet
who wouldn’t want a Titan X – it’s the perfect fit for a dream PC where
you want the very best components.
MEMORY AND STORAGE
M E M O RY
16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX
2,666MHz DDR4 / £180 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk
SSD
1TB Samsung 850
Evo / £318 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com
HARD DISK
4TB WD Red / £136 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com
Unless you’re delving outside the realms of games and content
creation, there’s little benefit to using piles of memory. In fact, your
average gaming system can get away with using 8GB of RAM, and
most people won’t need more than 16GB of RAM unless they’re
running several powerful virtual machines. As such, we’ve opted for
Corsair’s 16GB 2,666MHz Vengeance LPX memory kit, offering plenty
of high-speed memory over a quintet of 4GB DIMMs, and providing
full quad-channel bandwidth.
Then we come to storage and, with games such as Grand Theft
Auto V chomping as much as 65GB of space, we’re certainly not
going to be skimping here. In fact, we consider 500GB to be the bare
minimum if you’re using your SSD for your operating system and a
home for your games and programs.
We had considered using a super-fast SSD such as Samsung’s
XP941, but you then pay twice as much money compared with a SATA
6Gbps SSD in terms of storage space, and we couldn’t find one in our
desired 1TB capacity either. As a result, we opted for Samsung’s
speedy 1TB 850 Evo. As our case had ample room for hard disks, we
also threw in a 4TB WD Red, so there’s plenty of storage space for
your videos, photos and backups too.
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THE CASE AND PSU R E S E RVO I R

CASE Phobya Balancer 150/ £22 incVAT

SUPPLIER www.aquatuning.co.uk
NZXT H440 Special
Edition/ £123 incVAT PUMP MOUNT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
Alphacool Laing
PSU Silencer set/ £2 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.aquatuning.co.uk
Corsair Professional Series
AX1200i + Black Individually C P U WAT E R B LO C K
sleeved Cable Kit/ £315 incVAT EK-FB Asus R5E
SUPPLIER www.scan.couk
Monoblock/ £125 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
LEDS
BitFenix Alchemy G P U WAT E R B LO C K
LED strip/ £17 incVAT EK-FC Titan X +
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
Backplate/ £104 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
We could have chosen any one of a number of enthusiast cases, but
one of the best-looking and the most water cooling-friendly chassis
we’ve seen recently is NZXT’s H440 Special Edition. Its individual hard FITTINGS
disk mounts meant we could remove some bays to make way for a Monsoon Chaingun Hardline
large radiator in the front and the roof, and it has dedicated SSD
mounts below the motherboard as well. One sticking point was that,
(13mm) (3 x 4-packs)/ £75 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
out of the box, it isn’t compatible with E-ATX motherboards such as
our Rampage V Extreme. However, you only need to perform a five-
second mod to fix this issue, as there’s actually plenty of space inside ANGLED FITTINGS
the chassis. 2 x Monsoon 13/10mm Rotary
While we’ve only opted for a single GPU, an overclocked, 8-core
Titan X system will still draw over 600W from the mains when both
90-degree/ £13 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
the CPU and GPU are placed under heavy load. As such, we aimed to
have a PSU that offered plenty of headroom for adding another GPU at
some point, with a little benchmarking on the side. We chose our TUBE BENDING KIT
current Elite-listed workstation PSU – Corsair’s AX1200i – along with Monsoon Hardline Pro
the company’s custom black braided cable set for some extra pizzazz.
If you know you won’t be installing another GPU, then you can lower Bender Kit (13mm)/ £60 incVAT
your requirements and drop to the 860W model. SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk

TUBING
THE COOLING SYSTEM Monsoon Hardline Acrylic Tube
R A D I ATO R S
(13mm) (two packs)/ £24 incVAT
2 x Alphacool NexXxos ST30 SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
Full Copper 280mm/ £100 incVAT
Supplier www.aquatuning.co.uk AC RY L I C A D H E S I V E
Monsoon Hardline UV Cure
FA N S
Adhesive/ £3 incVAT
4 x Corsair SP140/ SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
£41 incVAT
SUPPLIER www.scan.couk The most important part of a dream PC, as far as aesthetics go, is the
water-cooling system and we’ve really gone to town here. In terms of
PUMP cooling, the NZXT H440 case can house a variety of radiators, and we
wanted to maximise the size and number we used to boost cooling
Alphacool Laing DDC310 ability and lower noise. While radiators with 120mm fans are the most
Complete edition/ £44 incVAT popular designs, 140mm models are readily available and the H440
SUPPLIER www.aquatuning.co.uk has mounts for them in both the front and roof sections. They offer a
higher cooling capacity than their 120mm counterparts, but they’re just

88
as thin and only a little larger overall, so it’s well worth using them if
your case has 140mm fan mounts.
We opted for two Alphacool NexXxos ST30 Full Copper 280mm
radiators, which are half-height models, each offering cooling capacity
between a half-height and full-height double 120mm-fan radiator.
With two of these radiators, each cooled by two Corsair SP140 fans,
we’ll have ample cooling capacity for our CPU, motherboard and GPU.
We chose 30mm-thick radiators because that’s the limitation in the
case’s roof; the front section does have room for the 45mm-thick
version of the same model but, as it’s slightly larger, we would have
had to remove all the hard disk mounts in the front of the case to
accommodate it. Using two double 140mm-fan radiators required no
modding either – they just screwed straight into place, with the front
radiator acting as an intake and the roof radiator as an exhaust.
If you only use one of the two SSD mounts below the motherboard,
there’s space in the H440 for a single piece of water-cooling hardware
on top of the PSU cover. We wanted to mount a tube reservoir here, so
we opted for a basic Laing DDC pump to sit in the base of the case out
of sight. Alphacool’s Laing DDC310 Complete Edition pump offers an
acrylic top with G1/4in threads for fittings, as well as a heatsink for the
pump itself. Meanwhile, Phobya’s Balancer 150 tube reservoir is the
perfect size to squeeze into place beneath our graphics card, and
includes mounts to secure it pretty much anywhere in the case.
We’ve chosen acrylic tubing for our dream PC – the precise look it
offers just can’t be matched by regular flexible tubing. However,
dealing with hard tubing can be tricky, and it needs to be bent to shape.
Thankfully, water-cooling company Monsoon offers all the kit you
need in this regard. We’ve used its UV green 13mm acrylic tubing,
along with its Chaingun 13mm fittings and green angled fittings. The
Chaingun fittings require acrylic glue to mount end caps to the tubing,
so you’ll need some of that too. Finally, Monsoon offers a superb tube
bending kit, which includes mountable bending tools for several
angles, a measuring device, a hacksaw and a heater – all the parts you
need to create precise bends.
As for waterblocks, we’ve only had to choose two, thanks to EK’s
amazing monoblock for the Rampage V Extreme. This block stretches
across the motherboard’s PCB, cooling the VRMs, CPU and chipset
with just a single inlet and outlet with which to contend, which will
make your life much easier during the build process. In addition, we’ve
also opted for EK’s Titan X full-cover GPU waterblock, along with the
corresponding backplate.
Finally, to mount the pump, we’ve used
Alphacool’s Laing Silencer set – a simple
Velcro mount that holds the pump in place. TOTAL
Acrylic tubing will fix the pump to the spot
HARDWARE COST:
£3,845
anyway, so there’s little need to screw it in
place if you won’t be moving the PC often.
However, a little extra support is a good idea
and Velcro will enable you to easily remove INC VAT
the pump if necessary.

INSTALLING THE BLOCKS Installing the Rampage V Extreme

AND RADIATORS
Your first job is to mount all your waterblocks
to ensure there are no compatibility issues.
EK has an excellent configurator that lists all
the correct waterblocks for your hardware,
which makes it easy to select the right ones
(www.coolingconfigurator.com).
monoblock is a pretty involved process
as well, as it requires you to remove part of
the LGA2011-v3 mounting bracket and install
an optional one that’s included with the
motherboard, in addition to removing the
entire heatsink array.
Start by removing the heatsinks by
unscrewing them from the underside. If
necessary, use a hairdryer on a low setting to
warm them a little first, as the thermal paste
can act like glue. You also need to remove the
separate backplates. 01 02
You’ll find several star-key screws around
the CPU socket, which need to be removed in
order to dismantle the socket mechanism.
Use the included tool to remove them, then
lift the mechanism off the motherboard. Be

01 02 03

04 05 06

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 F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION
07
10
13
very careful not to damage the CPU socket
pins in the process. Keep the plastic cover on
the mechanism at all times, and take extra
care when the pins are exposed.
Replace the stock backplate with the one
included with the motherboard, then reattach
the mounting mechanism. 03 04 05
The EK monoblock requires you to cut out
some thermal pads for the areas touching
the VRMs, while you’ll need to apply non-
conductive thermal paste to the chipset and
CPU – we used Arctic MX2.
You can then mount the waterblock,
starting with the four main mounting holes
around the CPU. 06 07 08
Once you’ve mounted the waterblock, go
ahead and install the fittings before you
mount the motherboard inside the case. The
Monsoon fittings have an Allen key-shaped
interior, allowing you to screw them in tightly
without using pliers and messing up their
exterior. Monsoon fittings don’t come with
O-rings pre-attached, but they’re included in
the box, so make sure you fit them first or the
fittings will spring leaks when you turn on
your pump. 09 10
90
08
11
14
You now need to do the same job for your
graphics card. The Titan X has a mass of
screws holding the cooler in place, so set
aside a good hour to deal with it. Thankfully,
you don’t need any microscopic hex tools
here – all the screws are manageable sizes.
Again, if you have trouble removing the
cooler, use a hairdryer on a low setting to
loosen the thermal paste, and remember
you’ll need to remove the cooler and lighting
power cables too. 11 12
Now is a great time to replace any thermal
paste with your own high performance goo,
so clean off any stock paste using TIM
cleaner or isopropyl alcohol then apply your
own. Our EK Titan X waterblock requires
thermal pads to be applied to the memory
modules and VRMs, so follow the
instructions as to what you need to apply and
where. If you’re using the backplate too, hold
off installing some of the mounting screws
for the main waterblock, as some of them
need to pass through the backplate – see the
instructions for more information. 13
The backplate protects the rear of the
graphics card’s PCB and improves the
09
12
15
aesthetics, but it also helps to cool the
additional RAM modules here, as well as the
rear of the GPU core and VRMs. These parts
all need thermal pads of differing
thicknesses. 14 15
Now we can start installing the radiators.
The H440 has removable front and roof
sections that expose the fan mounts, so lift
these away first. If your fans will be pushing
air through the radiator, mount them to the
radiators before you mount them in the case.
The included screws worked fine with our
combination of Alphacool radiators and
Corsair SP140 fans.
For some reason, few radiator
manufacturers include screws to mount the
radiator to the case, so we needed to use four
standard M3 screws (the small ones you use
to mount hard disks or optical drives) to fix it
into place. 16 17 18
COLOUR MATCHING
If you’re keen on colour matching your
hardware and cooling system, there will
probably be some items you wish were a
 16
19
22
different colour. In our case, the red memory
and motherboard ports were spoiling the
overall look, so we decided to spray them
black using Plastidip.
Start by masking your hardware. The
memory is easy, but the motherboard is
trickier. We used Frog tape to mask the PCI-E
and SATA ports by inserting sections of tape
into the ports themselves, then covering the
rest of the PCB. 19 20
Spray from the sides to avoid getting
Plastidip into the ports – we used two strips
of double-folded Frog tape inserted into each
port and bent outwards to help. If you do get
any paint in the ports, Plastidip just peels off
so it’s easy to remove. You can cut away
any areas such as logos with a scalpel and
peel off the unwanted layer as shown here
on our memory. 21
As the H440 doesn’t officially support
E-ATX motherboards, the Rampage V
Extreme protrudes towards a small overhang
on the motherboard tray. To be on the safe
side, we attached some insulating neoprene
to the rear of the PCB to prevent any short
circuits, but that’s the only modification you
17
20
23
need to make to install this motherboard in
the H400. You can now go ahead and install
the hardware into the case. 22 23
Next up is the reservoir. Normally,
reservoirs require screws to fix them in place,
but we’ve used heavy-duty 3M mounting
tape on lots of builds and found that it’s just as
good as screws for holding heavy items in
place. Even better, if you use this tape you
don’t need to drill holes in your case. Test-fit
the reservoir first – we decided to link it
directly to one of the ports on our GPU
waterblock, so line up the ports to make sure
all the parts fit. 24
Install the reservoir mounts, apply some
mounting tape to the bottom of them and fix
the reservoir in place. The Phobya reservoir
has several ports – we’ve mounted it so that
the single end port and an angled Monsoon
fitting line up with the GPU block. There’s
another end port that we’ll use to feed the
pump in the front of the case, and a side port
that we can use to fill the reservoir. 25 26
To mount the pump, apply Velcro to the
underside and place the pump in the right
location in the case. The Velcro is very
18
21
24
useful when you’re using acrylic tubing, as it
enables you to move the pump and provide
some leeway when bending the tubing to
shape. 27
Now it’s time to deal with the tubing. This
job is pretty involved, and you’ll need to set
aside the best part of a day to install acrylic
tubing in a whole PC. Thankfully, Monsoon’s
bending kit makes this process much easier
than it used to be. We’ll be looking at the kit in
more depth in next month’s How To section,
as well as more advanced ways of using
acrylic tubing. However, if you want to get to
grips with it properly in the meantime, US
water-cooling etailer Performance PCs has
some excellent videos on how to use the kit
at http://tinyurl.com/monsoon-kit
To start, a measuring tool is included in the
Monsoon kit that can be resized to fit your
particular setup, enabling you to make
accurate measurements for the lengths of
tube required, from both sides of a bend. Your
first job is to work out your coolant route, but
ours is a good example if you want to follow
it. The order of flow generally doesn’t matter,
as long as the reservoir is before the pump.
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 F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION

25 26 27

28 29 30

The EK monoblock has a specific inlet and
outlet too, which you’ll need to factor into
the equation. 28
We’re mainly dealing with right angles,
so lay the appropriate bending tool on a flat
surface with the measuring tool so that you
can mark up your desired bend and lengths
of tubing. 29
You can now bend the tube to shape by
first inserting the support inner, which
prevents the tube from kinking, before
heating it slowly with the heat gun. It’s very
easy for the acrylic to bubble, so use a low to
moderate heat setting, moving steadily over
the area you need to bend. When the tubing
becomes flexible, place it into the bending
tool and press it into place to form the bend.
If it doesn’t go to plan the first time, heat up
the tube again and it should return to roughly
its original shape, and you can then have
another try. 30
Once you have the right bend, mark up the
lengths you need, then use the included
hacksaw and cutting support to cut the tubing
to length before using the reaming tool. The
latter trims off any sharp edges, following the
cut to provide a smooth end section. 31
You then need to fit the locking rings onto
the tubing before you secure the end caps;
you won’t be able to remove the end caps
once the glue has cured. You secure the end
caps using acrylic glue so that you can secure
the tubing. You can see an excellent video on
how to do this job on the aforementioned
Performance PCs channel – the specific
video is called ‘Monsoon Hardline Premium

Leak testing is an essential part of building a water-cooled
system. Even coolants that claim to be non-conductive can
become conductive over time, so it’s vital to make sure your
system is sealed. Doing so is simple and simply requires some
UV dye, some tissues and an ATX jumper.
The UV dye can make any leaks easy to spot. You can always
drain it out afterwards if you don’t want to use dye, but any leaks
will leave behind the evidence on the tissue. The latter can be
wrapped around all the major joints in the cooling system,
catching any leaks. You can power on your pump without turning
on the rest of your PC by using an ATX jumper. This simple part
shorts the same pins that would be shorted by your case’s power
button if you turned on your PC, so all your hardware will be safe if
there are any leaks at this point.

92
 31 32 33

34 35 36

Fittings’. Once all your tubing is bent to shape,

go ahead and install it. 32 33
When your water-cooling system is
installed, you can deal with the remaining
hardware. The SSD sits in its own dedicated
mount on top of the PSU cover, while the
single remaining 3.5in drive mount tray is
located at the top of the case above the front
radiator. Connect the power cables you’ll
need for your hardware, then thread them
down to the PSU bay. They should protrude
out of the back of the PSU bay, enabling you
to secure them to the Corsair PSU before you
install it. 34 35
37
Cable tidying is pretty simple with the
H440. There’s space under the PSU cover to
hide cables, and plenty of cable tie mounts on
the rear of the motherboard tray. We also
used cable combs from www.e22.biz to tidy
up the graphics card’s power connectors, and
to add some more pizzazz, we added
Mayhems Green UV dye to the coolant as
well as some BitFenix Alchemy LED lights to
the side of the drive mount. 36 37

We’ve seen a couple of motherboards reach a CPU frequency of boosts to our 4K game tests, with our system never dropping
4.3GHz using a Core i7-5960X, including the Asus Rampage V below 32fps in Crysis 3 – an amazing feat for a single-GPU
Extreme, but these settings have always led to seriously toasty machine. Water-cooling the graphics card offered the biggest
temperatures in our standard test rigs. benefit in terms of thermals. While running Unigine Valley, our
However, thanks to our dream PC’s custom water-cooling air-cooled GPU topped out at a delta T of 60°C. However, once
system, we managed to overclock our 8-core Core i7-5960X to mounted in our dream PC, this temperature fell to just 19°C, a huge
4.3GHz with a 1.33V vcore, with the CPU temperature never going decrease of 41°C.
above 85°C under full load, using
C U S TO M PC RE A L B ENCH 2 0 15
Prime95’s smallfft test. GI M P I M A GE E DI T I NG S Y S T EM S CO R E
This setup produced some CPC Dream PC 58,594 CPC Dream PC 201,446
incredible numbers in CPC 0 16,000 32,000 48,000 64,000 0 55,000 110,000 165,000 220,000
CR Y S I S 3
RealBench 2015 (see p14), with the HA N DBRA K E H.26 4 V I D EO ENCO D I NG 3,840 x 2,160, Very High, 0x AA
overall system score of 201,445 CPC Dream PC 503,909
Dream PC 32fps 43fps
bettering the highest scores we’ve 0 130,000 260,000 390,000 520,000 0 12 24 36 48
seen so far. L UXM A RK O PE N C L B A T T L EFI EL D 4
CPC Dream PC 106,594 3,840 x 2,160, Ultra Settings, 0x AA
We managed to overclock our Dream PC 45fps 71fps
0 30,000 60,000 90,000 120,000
Titan X graphics card by 175MHz 0 18 36 54 72
HE A V Y M UL TI TA S K I NG
on the core and 200MHz on the CPC Dream PC 221,965
Minimum Average

memory too, which gave some hefty 0 60,000 120,000 180,000 240,000

93
 C U STO M I SAT I O N / HOBBY TECH

G A R E T H H A L FAC R E E ’ S

Hobby tech
The latest tips, tricks and news in the world of computer hobbyism,
from Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Android to retro computing

REVIEW
Tsunami

T
he Arduino project, for all its recent
troubles (see p96), was founded on
open-source principles. Every
aspect from the board designs to the software
is freely available for reuse, as long as you
don’t abuse the Arduino name itself. Over the
years, we’ve seen an explosion of Arduino-
compatible products, from direct clones
costing a few pence from China, through to
entirely new creations that bring novel ideas
to the table. The Tsunami is most definitely at
the latter end of the spectrum.
Created by Nick Johnson’s Arachnid Labs,
it’s an Arduino-compatible device with a very
specific purpose in mind: signal generation
and analysis. It’s the sort of tool that would
The Tsunami isn’t your average Arduino,
have cost hundreds of pounds a few years and it doesn’t look out of place on even
ago, and thousands of pounds a few years the most stylish workbench
before that, and Johnson is selling it on the
hobbyist-friendly side of £50. Cracking the case open reveals a hand- communicates with the microcontroller and
At the time of writing, Johnson had just soldered prototype board sporting an works to generate analogue signals.
completed a successful crowdfunding ATmega32U4 microcontroller as the central Combined with an analogue front-end circuit
campaign to produce the first Tsunami units, chip, the same unit that powers the Arduino and a high-precision crystal, these parts turn
and was kind enough to lend me one – of only Leonardo. Being an early prototype, there’s the board into a high-quality signal generation
two – prototypes. Built in a snazzy aluminium also a bug-fix wire that works around a flaw device and analyser. The solitary BNC
case, it’s hard to imagine there’s an Arduino that’s already resolved in the design files, and connector next to the USB port provides a
device inside: there are no visible I/O pins, but will be corrected in the final hardware revision. square-wave output; the two at the other side
there are three BNC connectors and a single The secret sauce, however, is harder to of the board provide signal-in and signal-out
micro-USB port. spot: a tiny Direct Digital Synthesis chip, which for the analogue circuitry.

94

Based on the Leonardo firmware,
the Tsunami is specialised for audio
and other signal work
Anyone who has worked with signal
generators will know that controlling them
can be a maze of mathematics and complex
variables; signal analysers can be even
worse. That’s where Johnson’s integration of
Arduino technology comes to the fore; the
Tsunami is programmable directly from the
Arduino IDE, pretending to be an Arduino
Leonardo, and comes with libraries that make
generating or analysing signals as easy as
reading the voltage on a pin or flashing an
LED, even for people with no background in
signals whatsoever.
Although Johnson had warned me that the
software was in the very early Alpha stage at
the time I tested it, I had no problems making
use of the Tsunami’s various capabilities
during my time with the pre-production
prototype. An example Sketch created a
stable sine-wave output based on
frequencies I specified via the Serial Monitor;
a separate Sketch automatically swept
between two different frequencies.
The use of a standard ATmega microcontroller means the Tsunami can be programmed over USB from the
Arduino IDE
A bug-fix wire works around a design flaw in the
prototype, already fixed in the design files ready
for manufacturing
By far the most fun example, however, was
the tape encoder. Based on the Kansas City
standard adopted by classic microcomputers
of the 1980s, this Sketch accepts data over the
Serial Monitor and outputs it as audio signals
to record onto cassette tape – or direct input to
the tape connection of a micro. Hooked up to a
speaker, the Tsunami generated the familiar
beeps and warbles of computer data – and,
The Tsunami
generated the familiar
beeps and warbles of
computer data
had I spent a little more time with the board, I
would have had a good attempt at hooking it
up to a Commodore 64’s tape input.
Output is only half the Tsunami’s talents
though: the input port allows for signal
analysis at frequencies up to 2MHz. One of
Johnson’s example projects, highlighted in an
update to his Kickstarter campaign, shows the
device’s flexibility: connecting the input and
output to a headphone amplifier to measure
its frequency response between 55Hz and
200KHz. This task was achieved in less than
20 lines of code, which is testament to the
quality of the Arduino libraries bundled with
the Tsunami.
The Tsunami isn’t a device for everyone, of
course. While it appears to the Arduino IDE as
a Leonardo board, it isn’t a general-purpose
microcontroller platform; rather, it has a very
specific purpose in mind. If that purpose
matches yours then it’s easy to recommend –
even as a prototype with unfinished software,
which should have been finalised by the time
this issue hits the shelves.
Better still, Johnson (as always) is giving
back to the community, releasing the Tsunami
hardware and software under permissive
licences, just like the Arduino platform on
which it’s based.
More information on the Tsunami is
available at www.arachnidlabs.com, where –
if all has gone to plan – the device will be
available priced at around the £40 mark, or
£55 with a case.
The tiny Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) chip gives
the Tsunami its signal-generating powers
95
 C U STO M I SAT I O N / HOBBY TECH

A N A LYS I S
Arduino vs Arduino

T
he Arduino project originally sprung by Federico Musto. That, unfortunately, is therefore Arduino LLC can’t claim to own it.
from the desire of its founders to when the situation started to get ugly. In January this year, Arduino LLC responded
make electronics education more with a suit of its own, seeking to dismiss the
accessible and affordable. It was born on To court a lawsuit Arduino Srl. suit while also invalidating any
open-source principles; while the parent The two companies have, project co-founder claim the upstart company may make to the
company Arduino LLC, founded in 2009, Banzi claims in an interview with Make trademark and logotype. For the company
protects the Arduino name with international Magazine, been at loggerheads for some formerly known as Smart Projects, that would
trademarks, it has traditionally released its time. Banzi claims that Smart Projects has be a crippling blow: the newly-launched
board designs under permissive licences. been demanding money and refusing to http://arduino.org website shows
Unfortunately, however, in recent months, the pay royalties on Arduino products its intentions to become the
Arduino founders have found themselves in manufactured in the last year. ‘official’ Arduino. Neither suit had
the spotlight as the result of a rift that’s In October 2014, prior to the progressed far at the time of
resulted in two separate companies: Arduino change in company name, Smart writing, with decisions not
LLC and Arduino Srl. Projects filed a suit against Arduino expected until the end of the
Arduino LLC, the ‘original’ company, was LLC seeking to invalidate its control year. For users, though, the
created by co-founders Massimo Banzi, David of the Arduino trademark; this suit impact of the split is
Mellis, Tom Igoe and Gianluca Martino. It’s this followed legal letters from the immediately obvious.
company that’s overseen the design of every other original co-founders
model of Arduino, and which controls the demanding for the Italian Tit for tat
www.arduino.cc website. However, it doesn’t trademark to be handed Arduino LLC has hit
manufacture any products itself; production over. Its argument is back at Arduino Srl.
has always been the purview of a separate that the Arduino by releasing a version
company, Smart Projects, founded by name and logotype of the Arduino IDE
Gianluca Martino – notably also the sole predates the software designed to
holder of the Italian Arduino trademark – formation of scare its users into
which has built the official Arduino hardware Arduino LLC, and shopping elsewhere.
since 2005. ‘This board comes
In November 2014, Smart Projects Massimo Banzi, Arduino LLC from an uncertified
co-founder, photographed by
announced a name change to Arduino Srl. At manufacturer,’ a
David Cuartielles, has declared
around the same time, Martino sold his shares that he will ‘fight’ to preserve message warns when
and was replaced at the top of the company his project an Arduino device from

Spot the difference: the http://arduino.org site (left) uses the same fonts and logos as the original www.arduino.cc site (right)

96
 increasingly divergent – potentially leading to
a situation where two different ‘Arduino IDEs’
would need to be installed on a system that
uses products from both companies.
‘Arduino isn’t the company, nor the board,
nor the software nor the founders,’ Musto
wrote in a post on the http://arduino.org site.
‘The Arduino is YOU. You made Arduino what
it is today and you’ll continue to make it what it
will be in the future.’
Banzi disagrees. ‘There is only one Arduino
and there is only one Arduino community,’ he
wrote in a post on the www.arduino.cc forum.
‘The other party has abandoned the
negotiating table. We created Arduino based
on a set of values that have enabled the
community to grow, touch any kind of people
and contribute to changing the world a bit. I
am here to say that we will continue to fight
so that Arduino stays true to those values.’
Let’s just hope that fight doesn’t kill the
community that its founders worked so hard
to build over the past decade.

NEWS IN BRIEF

The first Arduino Srl. product, the Zero Pro, is a direct duplicate of the Arduino LLC Zero – and it beat the LLC
Zero to market too
Dog Hunter AG, a consultancy set up by
Arduino Srl. chief executive Federico Musto,
is detected. ‘We won’t be able to provide any
support if it doesn’t work as expected.’
On the surface, Arduino LLC’s move may
seem petty. It comes, however, as Arduino
Srl. launches a range of its own boards based
on Arduino LLC designs starting with the
Arduino Zero Pro, a rebranding of the Arduino
Zero. Embarrassingly, Arduino LLC has also
been beaten to market, with the Arduino
Zero Pro hitting the open market long before
its ‘inspiration.’
Naturally, Arduino Srl. has hit back with the
release of Arduino IDE 1.7.0 – a fork of the
Arduino IDE 1.6 branch with the anti-Dog
Hunter code removed and specific support for
Dog Hunter and Arduino Srl. products – the
Arduino Zero Pro and earlier Arduino Yún –
added in its place.
Customers at risk
So we’re left with two companies that both
think they’re the future of the Arduino project
– a trademark that’s being called into
question; and a forked IDE that will grow
ESP8266 gets
Arduino compatibility
The low-cost Wi-Fi-enabled ESP8266
microcontroller is now easier to use,
thanks to a community effort to add
support for the devices to the Arduino
integrated development environment
(IDE). Well-loved thanks to their
extremely low cost and integrated
Wi-Fi, it’s now possible to program an
ESP8266 using the Arduino IDE
sketch. Full support for the usual
functions of the Wiring library are
included, although not every part of it
translates perfectly. The modified
Arduino IDE is based on the official 1.6.1
release, and has binary downloads
available for Windows, OS X and Linux.
More information is available at http://
github.com/esp8266/arduino

97
 C U STO M I SAT I O N / HOBBY TECH

REVIEW
Banana Pro

L
emaker, a Chinese newcomer to
the hobbyist electronics scene,
isn’t a company to shy away
from controversy. Regular readers will
know the company best for the
Banana Pi, reviewed in Issue 134. As
the name implies, the Banana Pi is
a riff on the Raspberry Pi theme
but with a dual-core AllWinner
A20 processor, SATA support and
numerous other niceties.
The company gathered considerable ill will
for its naming convention, then managed to The Banana Pro builds on its predecessor, the The dual-core AllWinner A20 chip was an
Banana Pi, with a strange hybrid design, inspired by improvement over the Raspberry Pi, but can’t hold
fall out with the company it had asked to both the original and Plus-model Raspberry Pi a candle to the new Raspberry Pi 2
manufacture the boards – SinoVOIP. That
company has now forged out on its own with Pi Plus design and new Raspberry Pi 2. includes high-speed SATA support, which is
Banana Pi variants, and Lemaker’s latest Mechanical compatibility is vastly improved missing from the Raspberry Pi altogether.
product suggests it’s learning from its past too, although software support for Raspberry The feather in the Banana Pro’s cap, all
mistakes: it has a new manufacturing partner Pi add-ons – in particular HAT-standard these whizz-bang hardware features aside,
and a new design: the Banana Pro. boards – can be variable depending on the is undeniably its software compatibility. As
The first welcome change is in the name: operating system chosen. well as a port of Raspbian that offers near-
the Pi suffix has been ditched in favour of Its predecessor’s Gigabit Ethernet port is complete compatibility with software
making the Banana portion of the name the still present too, which is a great improvement designed for the Raspberry Pi, the Banana
recognisable brand. It’s still arguably over the 10/100Mb/sec port of the Raspberry Pro can run every OS from Android 4.2 – rather
derivative, but fruit themes aren’t exactly rare Pi, and is joined by 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi outdated, admittedly, but better than no
in the computer industry: just ask Apple, supported with an external whip antenna Android at all – to Gentoo, Fedora, Arch,
Acorn, Apricot, BlackBerry or Tangerine, all of connected via uFL. There’s no physical mount OpenWRT, OpenMedaiVault, and Lemaker’s
which hit the market well before Raspberries for the antenna, however, so be prepared to own Bananian Debian derivative.
were on the table. get creative with sticky-tape or Sugru. There’s even Berryboot, a multi-boot
More significant changes have been made The decision to mimic the Raspberry Pi environment for installing multiple images to
to the board design itself, in support of the Pro Model B+ and Raspberry Pi 2 doesn’t, sadly, a single micro-SD card.
moniker. While the same 1GHz AllWinner A20 extend to the USB ports, which are limited to In comparison with the Raspberry Pi Model
dual-core processor and 1GB of DDR3 the same three – two full-sized host ports and B+, the Banana Pro is a vast improvement with
memory is present, the GPIO header has been one micro-USB On-The-Go (OTG) port – as its considerably higher performance and the
upgraded to be compliant with the Raspberry predecessor. In mitigation, the design still benefit of on-board wireless and SATA. Bring
the Raspberry Pi 2 into the mix, however, and
the comparison gets murkier.
Sure, the Pi 2 doesn’t have SATA, Wi-Fi, or
NEWS IN BRIEF Gigabit Ethernet, but its quad-core processor
blows the Banana Pro out of the water on both
Arduino unveils Eslov single and multi-threaded processing. It may
Massimo Banzi, co-founder of the Arduino project, has have fewer operating systems available – and,
announced plans to release a series of ‘intelligent despite various promises over the past few
modules’ under the Arduino – LLC, not Srl. – banner. years, still no Android port – but Raspbian
These modules, produced under the codename Eslov, remains the best general-purpose SBC
take the form of input and output units with their own embedded microcontrollers, distribution around, while the promise of
which can be connected to a master controller without the need for prior programming Windows 10 support later this year opens up
or electronics experience. Banzi has confirmed that the Eslov modules are to be new possibilities.
demonstrated at the Maker Faire Bay Area event in May, but hasn’t given a timescale for The Banana Pro is available from www.
a commercial launch. aliexpress.com priced at £36.30 inc VAT,
including a heatsink and SATA cable.

Gareth Halfacree is the news reporter at www.bit-tech.net, and a keen computer hobbyist who likes to tinker with technology. @ghalfacree

98
 FO R T H E W I N / COMPETITION

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99
 MODDING

A N TO N Y L E AT H E R ’ S

Customised PC
Case mods, tools, techniques, water-cooling gear
and everything to do with PC modding

GTX 960 waterblocks – much better, especially for those of us

an update
Last month I discussed the apparent
lack of full-cover waterblocks for cards
based on Nvidia’s GTX 960 GPU. This
situation wasn’t entirely surprising,
as the card has a very low TDP and
many models even switch off their
fans at low loads, because of the
small heat load. However, quite a few
people have told me that they still want
a GTX 960 block, even for just
aesthetic reasons.
EK Waterblocks offers a universal
waterblock that fits, but it only cools
the core, leaving most of the PCB Bitspower has
exposed, and it looks a little unsightly. made a GTX 960
waterblock for one
However, just after we went to press SKU only – Asus’
last month, Bitspower announced that Strix card
it would be making a GTX 960 full-
cover waterblock. As there’s no
reference PCB for the GTX 960,
though , there’s a huge variation in
Essentially, the
Bitspower GTX
960 block is
just a GPU core
waterblock with a
full-cover fascia
layout. As a result, Bitspower has only
released a waterblock for a single SKU
– the Asus GTX 960 Strix.
There’s limited information on the
waterblock at the moment, but the
released images point to a large
section of copper cooling the core and
possibly the surrounding memory
modules. Meanwhile, the VRMs are
cooled by a separate section of copper,
which is in turn cooled by part of the
cooling channel.
Essentially, it’s just a GPU core
waterblock with a full-cover fascia,
and not a fully fledged full-cover
waterblock like the blocks we saw
for the GTX 660 and GTX 760.
That’s a bit of a shame, but as the
main reason for using a full-cover
waterblock was aesthetics in the first
place, it definitely makes the situation
who cringe at the thought of having an
air-cooled graphics card in our
otherwise water-cooled PC.
Of course, if you’ve already
purchased a GTX 960 that isn’t the
Asus Strix model, then there isn’t
much you can do, but otherwise, it’s
definitely worth opting for the Asus
Strix if you intend to water-cool it at
some point. The waterblock should be
available at various etailers by the time
you read this column, with the first one
being Performance PCs in the USA,
which will also ship internationally. I’ll
hopefully be taking a look at the new
block next month. Alternatively, take a
look at this month’s modding guide
(see p102) where we mod an older
GTX 670 waterblock to fit a GTX 960.
Parvum Systems,
Hex Gear and now EK
It seems as though there’s no end of
new and exciting case manufacturers
entering the enthusiast scene recently.
Parvum Systems, which resides in
Essex, has given us two lustworthy
cases in the form of the micro-ATX
S2.0 and mini-ITX X1.0.
Meanwhile, Hex Gear’s R40 is due
for release soon (it may even be
available by the time you read this
column), and now EK Waterblocks has
released a teaser for a fully fledged
mini-ITX cases too.

100
 Daniel Harper modded his
Vulture to take a micro-ATX
motherboard
Called the Vulture, EK has taken a
familiar approach and sent several
samples to well-known modders so
that they can tinker with it. Rather than
opting for a horizontal motherboard
placement, as we’ve seen in several
popular cases such as BitFenix’s
Prodigy and our recent Labs-winning
Corsair Obsidian 250D, the Vulture
mounts the motherboard in a more
traditional vertical arrangement, albeit
in an inverted orientation, with the
graphics card at the top. The Vulture is
a relatively narrow-looking tower case.
It isn’t small, though, measuring well
over double the length of a mini-ITX
motherboard with a dual-slot graphics
card attached to it.
The benefits are, of course, a mass
of space for water-cooling hardware,
including the ability to mount a triple
120mm-fan radiator up front behind a
large grille, and it has a striking curved
window. The case seems to have been
well thought out as well, with a slot-
Antony Leather is Custom PC’s modding editor
loading optical drive mount and cable
routing holes. I caught up with UK
modder Daniel Harper, who is one of
the lucky few to have received the
case, to see what he thought of it.
CPC: The Vulture looks quite large for
a mini-ITX case. Would you agree?
Daniel: Yes, but it’s also a narrow case
compared with traditional designs, as
EK dispatched the drive bays, so now
there’s just a slot-loading slimline
optical bay on the side.
CPC: Why did you modify your case to
fit a larger micro-ATX motherboard?
Daniel: Mini-ITX is great, but micro-
ATX is where it’s at for me right now.
It has all the benefits of ATX, and it
obviously has more options than
mini-ITX as far as expansion goes,
especially with multi-GPU systems.
I just modded my case to use a micro-
ATX Lian Li motherboard tray.
CPC: Is the Vulture’s front triple
120mm radiator mount
unlimited in depth? Could you EK’s Vulture case – the engineering is there, but the
fit a full-height radiator with fans case mounts the coating finish, for example, is best
motherboard in a
in there? traditional vertical described as functional.
Daniel: It depends on the length arrangement,
of your graphics card, and whether but in an inverted CPC: Does EK intend to eventually
orientation, with
you want a push/pull fan setup, sell it, or is it testing the waters and
the graphics card at
but yes, it’s possible. Another the top promoting the case in the same way
consideration is that, in the case’s Photography by as Hex Gear with the R40?
stock form, you have to consider Daniel Harper Daniel: As far as I know, and from what
reservoir placement too, because of I’ve heard from EK, it won’t be going on
the position of the hard drive bay. sale. You never know though; this case
could be a toe in the water for a future
CPC: Is it made from aluminium or release – EK has produced a few of
steel, and how’s the build quality? them, and intends to give away more.
Daniel: It’s made from aluminium You can see more of Daniel’s project
throughout. It’s also a typical prototype at http://tinyurl.com/vulture-build
@antonyleather
101
 M O D D I N G / HOW TO GUIDES

How to
Water-cool
non-reference
graphics cards 1 / CHECK BLOCK COMPATIBILITY
Find out whether your old waterblock will fit newer graphics cards. EK’s
Don’t want to fork out for a new GPU cooling configurator (www.coolingconfigurator.com) can highlight graphics

waterblock? Antony Leather shows cards your waterblock will fit. For example, it lists EK’s old GTX 660 Ti/670
waterblock as being compatible with certain GTX 760 and GTX 970 cards.
you how to mod your old one to fit

TOTA L P R OJ E C T T I M E / 3 - 6 H O U R S

A
n old LGA1155 waterblock from several years ago will
probably still work with newer LGA1150 motherboards, but
the same can’t be said for graphics card waterblocks,
especially full-cover ones. While some graphics cards use similar
PCBs based on a reference design, other cards, such as those based
on Nvidia’s GTX 960, can vary between manufacturers, so not only
will older waterblocks not fit, but there may never be full-cover
waterblocks available at all.
Thankfully, there are ways to water-cool such a card, despite the
lack of third-party full-cover waterblocks. In some cases, you can
2/ ASSESS YOUR CARD’S PCB
modify existing waterblocks to fit, as long as there’s just a small
The cooling configurator also has images of different PCBs, which you
amount of tweaking required – most of the time, it’s just a capacitor in can use to work out whether there’s a chance your old full-cover GPU
the way. In addition, we’ll be looking at installing a core-only block. waterblock will fit. The key factors to spot are the position of capacitors and
chokes, which can move around between models and generations.

TO O L S YO U ’ L L N E E D

GPU waterblock / RAM heatsinks /

www.scan.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

Drill and drill bits / Thermal paste, cleaner

Most hardware stores and pads /
www.scan.co.uk

Dremel with grinding and 3 / CONSIDER A CORE-ONLY BLOCK

cutting attachments / Metal files / Core-only blocks won’t water-cool the VRMs or RAM but they’re almost
Most hardware stores Most hardware stores universally compatible, so they ‘re likely to fit some future cards. However,
they don’t look quite as good, and this EK Thermosphere isn’t compatible
with all GTX 960s, including the GALAX card used later in this guide.

102
4 / PURCHASE RAM HEATSINKS
In addition to a core-only waterblock, you’ll want some heatsinks for your
graphics cards’ memory modules. GDDR5 memory doesn’t get particularly
hot in well-ventilated cases, but these heatsinks only cost a few pounds, so
they’re worth the cost to ensure you don’t run into overheating issues.
6 / UNSCREW COOLER
To mount the new waterblock, you first need to remove the stock cooler.
If you haven’t done this job before, it’s pretty easy – there are a number of
screws on the rear of the PCB that you need to remove before you can take
off the cooler.
8 / PRISE OFF COOLER
Try lifting the cooler from one end to prise it off. Don’t use excessive force;
if it still fails to come off, check for any screws you may have missed, which
can often be located at the end of the PCB.
5 / RECORD LOAD TEMPERATURE
You’ll need to take before and after temperature readings to check your
cooling system is performing properly. With graphics cards, use Unigine’s
Valley benchmark (http://unigine.com) on a ten-minute run, recording the
maximum temperature using GPU-Z (www.techpowerup.com/gpuz).
7 / HEAT WITH HAIRDRYER
Sometimes the thermal paste can act like adhesive, and hold the CPU core
and memory modules to the cooler, making it tricky to remove. There’s an
easy way around this problem, using a hairdryer on a low setting to soften
up the thermal paste and allow you to remove the cooler.
9 / REMOVE FAN CABLE
Don’t yank off the cooler too hard, as the fan will be connected to a power
socket on the PCB. These cables can be tricky to remove, and you may need
a pair of small pliers to remove it – don’t pull it by the cables.
103
 M O D D I N G / HOW TO GUIDES

10 / CLEAN GPU AND RAM CHIPS 11 / TEST-FIT WATERBLOCK

Clean any remaining thermal paste from your graphics card. You can use Test-fit the waterblock before applying thermal paste, so you can see
isopropyl alcohol or TIM cleaner to remove it easily, but avoid using tissues how best to install it into your system. Sit it on the PCB to make sure it
or kitchen roll, as these materials can disintegrate, leaving dust that can fits correctly.
hinder thermal transfer – use a cotton cloth or microfibre towel instead.

12 / CHECK TUBING ROUTE 13 / INSERT THREAD BLANKS

Once you’re sure your waterblock will fit as planned, offer up the graphics The main reason you need to check the tubing route is because many
card into the case and assess which way the tubing will need to be routed in graphics card waterblocks have inlets and outlets that can point in either
order to build a tidy system. direction. The unused ports will need to be sealed using blanking plugs and
it’s best to fit these thread blanks when the card isn’t installed.

14 / APPLY THERMAL PASTE 15 / MOUNT WATERBLOCK

The thermal paste used on most graphics cards probably won’t perform as With the thermal paste applied, go ahead and install the waterblock. Most
well as third-party paste, so replace it with some decent thermal material core-only GPU waterblocks are simple to fit, with just four screws securing
such as Arctic MX2. Avoid conductive metal-based pastes, as some of it it to the PCB, as with this EK Thermosphere block.
could leak off the GPU core and create a short circuit on the PCB.

104
16 / MOUNT RAM HEATSINKS
The GTX 960 has RAM modules on both sides of the PCB, so apply
RAM heatsinks to all of them if you’re using a core-only block. The EK
Thermosphere waterblock did partly obscure one of the chips but we still
managed to fit it.
18 / TEST-FIT FULL-COVER WATERBLOCK
Now it’s time to look at modifying an existing full-cover waterblock. Here,
we’ll be trimming it to size to fit over capacitors that otherwise make fitting
it impossible. However, assess how much modification is required – if it’s
excessive, you may want to quit while you’re ahead.
20 / ASSESS SEALS AND COOLANT CHANNELS
You’ll now see if your plans are possible. You can cut into the outer seal
support channels without compromising them, but you need the entire seal
to be supported. You also can’t encroach on the coolant channels – cutting
into them will just cause leaks.
17 / LEAK-TEST AND RECORD TEMPERATURE
As with any water-cooling gear, perform a leak test, just powering on the
pump with an ATX jumper. Use coloured coolant and wrap some tissue
around the fittings to identify any slow leaks. Our water-cooled card’s GPU
temperature was a massive 24°C cooler than with its air cooler.
19 / UNSCREW TOP SECTION
To properly assess whether the modifications will be possible, you need to
remove the top section of the waterblock. You’ll then have a clearer view of
the insides, particularly the seals and coolant channels.
21 / MARK UP FOULING LOCATIONS
Mark up the areas you need to remove with a marker pen, and do a final
test fit to make sure your marks are accurate. You also need to check the
locations of mounting holes. We’ll be removing several in the centre but
there’s still one located here, plus the rest on the outside of the block.
105
 M O D D I N G / HOW TO GUIDES

22 / CUT AWAY FOULING AREAS 23 / FILE AREAS FLAT

The waterblock gets hot during cutting, so remove any seals near the A metal file is the best tool for making the cut-out areas look neat again.
cutting area. A drill can make short work of large areas of copper, but you’ll You’ll need to spend more time here if your waterblock’s top is see-through
need to make several holes and it won’t deal with all of it. We also used a – otherwise, you can file away the sharp areas and move to the
Dremel for this job, with grinding and cutting disc attachments. next step.

24 / PERFORM ANOTHER TEST FIT 25 / RESEAT SEALS

Finally, you can mount your waterblock. You’ll know you’re done when you If you had to remove any seals prior to the cutting and grinding, reseat them
can see the mounting holes lining up with the PCB. Gradually file down the before fixing the top section back in place. If you had to cut close to the
areas until the holes line up and you can seat the waterblock properly. edges of the metal seal support channels, make sure the seal still sits in
place and can’t pop out.

26 / APPLY THERMAL PASTE AND PADS 27/ MOUNT WATERBLOCK

As your waterblock sits on top of the VRM and memory modules, it may You can now mount the waterblock and reinstall the top section. A leak test
require thermal pads to allow these components to make proper contact. under pressure is now essential to make sure the seals hold up and that the
These pads are fairly cheap, and you can gauge the thickness required by waterblock is making proper contact. It’s worth removing the block to check
holding the mounted waterblock and PCB end-on. the thermal paste and pads show signs of contact too.

106
M O D D I N G / READERS’ DRIVES
Readers’ Drives
In Win S-Frame by Watermod
Mathieu Heredia set himself
the challenge of turning an In
Win S-Frame into an even more
luxurious product, taking design
cues from high fashion, leather
goods and sports cars
CPC: What originally inspired you
to build this project?
Mathieu: When I saw the In Win
S-Frame case for the first time I
immediately loved the style, lines,
materials and strong, powerful
design – it’s elegant, surprising and
resolutely classy. As I like high-end
products, I thought
that this case could
present me with a
new challenge – to
make an already
luxurious object even
more luxurious. It’ s
pretentious, yes, but
it’s the silly idea
behind my project!
/MEET THY MAKER
To get there, I was
Name Mathieu Heredia inspired by all manner
Age 34 of high-end product
Location France ranges, including high
Occupation Modder (yes,
fashion and luxury
leather goods.
it’s my real job)
Main uses for PC For my CPC: What specs did
job (photo editing, Internet, you choose, and why?
tests and reviews), and Mathieu: The goal
sometimes for video was to make an ultra-
games and films
high-end, luxurious
Likes Racing cars (in the PC, so I chose Asus’
past I raced with my own beautiful black and
car), music (many different white X99 Deluxe
styles), photography and motherboard, because
100 other things white was going to be
Dislikes Nothing the dominant colour
of the mod – it’s about
108
as high-end as you get in the world
of non-professional components.
It’s partnered with a Core i7-5930K
processor and 32GB of Avexir Blitz
Series DDR4 2,400MHz memory.
At this point, the whole
motherboard, CPU and RAM was in
the high-end spirit of the project,
combining performance and good
looks. I then complemented these
parts with a complete water-
cooling set by Bitspower, which
brings the final touch to the luxury
side of the project, as Bitspower’s
products have the same image that
I wanted for my project.
Finally, there’s a PSU from In Win,
with cable combs from www.e22.
biz for optimal cable management
and tidiness. For the graphics
system, I chose to install three Asus
GTX 970 Strix graphics cards in
order to ‘fill up’ the motherboard.
This setup gives the whole system
an imposing look that implies
power. I want to clarify that this
project with this setup was made
possible thanks to my many
sponsors – a big thanks to them!
CPC: What other computer mods
have you built?
Mathieu: I don’t keep accurate
records, but I must be on my 40th
project at the moment, although
these projects vary in terms of
originality, the amount of work and
the level of achievement. At the
beginning, like many other
modders, my projects were based
on the typical Asus ROG red and
black style.
However, after completing some
more projects, and creating the
modding company Watermod
with my friend Laurent (Seinron),
I decided to create my own style
and try new ideas!
I then started to create PSU
covers, so I could play with different
textures such as vinyl, brushed
aluminium, carbon fibre and vinyl
imitation leather. I also tried using
colours that we rarely saw in the
modding scene, such as gold. I had
one idea in mind, which was to
evolve this style, using real
materials, rather than imitations.
It’s for this reason that my mods
now feature parts made from real
leather, noble aluminium, real
stitching and so on.
CPC: What difficulties did you
come across, and how did you
solve them?
Mathieu: The main problem I had
with the In Win S- Frame is that its
main aluminium plate is folded
several times, none of which is at
the same angle, which makes it
very hard to achieve neat
symmetry with the water-cooling
gear, for example.
It presented a similar problem
when I created the leather plates
too, despite trying to take accurate
measurements several times.
Also, the In Win S-Frame case
already has a very strong visual
identity, so I had to find ideas
that were related to my theme
but wouldn’t ruin the original
box’s aesthetics.
SYSTEM SPECS
CPU Intel Core i7-5930K
Graphics card 3 x Asus GeForce
GTX 970 Strix in SLI
Case In Win S-Frame
Memory 32GB Avexir Blitz Series
2,400MHz DDR4
Motherboard Asus X99 Deluxe
Storage 256GB Kingston SSD
PSU In Win Commander II 850W
Cooling Bitspower fittings and
pump, XSPC RX360 radiator

The other main problem is the
case’s cable management system,
especially when the glass back
panel makes the whole interior
visible, so I bypassed the problem
by replacing the glass plate with
a 3mm-thick steel plate 3mm,
covered with stitched leather.
CPC: What materials did you use,
and why?
Mathieu: I used two different
materials – aluminium and leather.
Employing these materials enabled
me to respect the original idea for
this mod, which was to upscale an
already luxury product, taking
SEE THE FULL
PROJECT LOG:
http://tinyurl.com/
InWinWatermod
influence form high fashion, sports
car seats and so on. To reinforce this
idea, without overdoing it (because
there’s a risk of losing the classy
aspect of ‘light design’ if it gets too
busy), I decided to add stitching on
the leather with red sewing thread
– it’s the official red colour used by
109
M O D D I N G / READERS’ DRIVES
Vuitton, the famous French luxury
leather house.
CPC: What tools and machinery
did you use?
Mathieu: I only use hand tools! I
don’t have either a CNC mill or a
laser cutter. I only work with a
Dremel, drill and other such tools.
I think, in fact, that this attitude
goes well with the idea of this mod,
BE A WINNER
To enter your machine for possible inclusion in
Readers’ Drives, your mod needs to be fully working
and, ideally, finished based in the UK. Simply log on to
www.bit-tech.net and head over to the forums. Once
you’re there, post a write-up of your mod, along with
some pics, in the Project Logs forum. Make sure you
read the relevant rules and advice sticky threads before
you post. The best entrant each month will be featured
here, where we’ll print your photos of your project and
also interview you about the build process. Fame isn’t
the only prize; you’ll also get your hands on a fabulous
selection of prizes – see the opposite page for details.
110
emphasising the ‘all handmade’
aspect. And, to be honest, the
complexity of this mod doesn’t lie
in the difficulty of making the parts
that compose it, so there was no
need for me to use lots of tools.
CPC: What media interest has the
project attracted so far?
Mathieu: The first opinions on
Facebook have been very positive
from the public. I didn’t expect so
many good reactions and, even if I
don’t make mods for glory, those
comments are always nice to read.
I had the honour of seeing it
featured in French media, such as
Cowcotland, MHZ Modding The
Perfect Computer, as well as
internationally renowned media
such as bit- tech and TweakTown.
My mod will also participate in
multiple events and exhibitions at
computer shows in France, so I’m
very happy!
CPC: How long did the build
process take?
Mathieu: It took four months, but I
didn’t work on it every day because
I had other projects in progress at
the same time, so it was four
months of intermittent work. As
I already mentioned, the mod
was entirely sponsored too, so I
sometimes had to wait packages
to arrive too.
CPC: Are you happy with the end
result, and is there anything you’d
do differently if you built it again?
Mathieu: Yes, I like the result 100
per cent! I wouldn’t change or
modify any part of it. If I wanted to
do something else with the In Win
S-Frame, it would be a completely
new project; I already have lots of
ideas about what to do with this
case. With this mod, I had to make
significant changes to the case,
while keeping the design discreet
and staying in harmony with the
S-Frame design. It wasn’t simple
but, in the end, after taking the time
over it and trying different ideas, I
think I found a good balance.
 Win all these prizes!
We’ve teamed up with some of the world’s leading PC manufacturers and retailers to offer
this great range of prizes to each lucky Readers’ Drives winner. If your creation is featured in the
magazine then you’ll walk away with all of the prizes listed on this page, so get in your entries!

Corsair graphite Series 230T case and RM

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make sure it stand outs from the crowd, the rig with custom water-cooling gear. The
230T features Corsair’s new Air Series LED other major bonus is that all those tubes and
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with low-noise, high-airflow cooling. damn sexy, and they look even better when
Just as a quality case is essential to building a they're pumped full of fancy coloured
quality PC, a high-performance, a high-quality coolant. As such, we're particularly pleased
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RM series has been built from the ground-up to with Readers' Drives; they're currently
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below 40 per cent load, thanks to its Zero RPM fan mode. It’s Check out the blue coolant in our own mini
also fully modular, allowing for the maximum amount of flexibility PC mod on the cover of Issue 109 for an
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Phobya Modding Kit

VALUE £50 inc VAT MANUFACTURER www.phobya.com, www.aqua-tuning.co.uk

The Phobya modding kit is designed with the modder in mind, offering braided extension cable gives you extra routeing options in your case,
great value for money and quality products. The kit includes Nano-G 12 and it also enables you to run up to four fans from one compatible
Silent Waterproof 1,500rpm multi-option fans, motherboard header. Meanwhile, the Phobya SATA 3
which use an innovative fan-blade design. cables included in the kit offer the same
As standard, the fans include braided black great quality braiding as the rest of the
cables to keep your case looking as neat as Phobya range, while also securing your
possible. The fans are also supplied with a connection with latched connectors.
special cable that lets you run the fan at 5V As well as this, the kit includes the
rather than 12V, reducing the noise Phobya SlimGuide Controller, which
emitted in order to help you to build gives you the option to vary
a silent system. the speed of other fans in
The kit also includes the your case, while the Phobya
60cm Phobya 3-pin Molex to TwinLEDs let you shine a
4x 3-pin Molex Y-cable. This pre- light on your mods.

111
 CO M M U N I T Y / FOLDING
Folding@Home
Join our folding team and help medical research
Folder of the month / We catch up with: HHComputers
CPC: So who is HHComputers?
HHComputers: I’m a strategy and
technology consultant in the
Internet and telecommunications
industry. We have quite a bit of extra
PC capacity in our home, where we
use PCs for business, home media
and amateur radio activities.
CPC: Why did you start folding?
HHComputers: We have family
members and friends who have
succumbed to diseases that the
medical research enabled by folding
may help to cure. We decided that
folding was a good cause to benefit
from our extra compute and
graphics capacity. It’s also fun to see
how improvements in our systems
map to increased folding production.
CPC: What systems do you have
folding?
HHComputers: A total of nine
machines are folding here 24/7 –
four Windows 7 64-bit PCs and five
OS X Yosemite Macs. The Windows
machines all have dual graphics
cards, while the Macs are a mix of
WHAT IS FOLDING?
Folding@home uses the spare processing cycles from
your PC’s CPU and graphics cards for medical
research. You can download the client from http://
folding.stanford.edu and our team’s ID is 35947. Once
you pass a significant milestone, you’ll get your name
in the mag. You can also discuss folding with us and
other readers on the www.bit-tech.net forums.
112
MacBook Airs and iMacs. All the
machines are at home, although we
continue to fold on our MacBook Air
laptops when we’re travelling.
CPC: What’s your best folding kit?
HHComputers: Our top two
Windows machines both use dual
EVGA GTX 980 Superclocked
graphics cards, Asus Rampage V
Extreme X99 motherboards,
Haswell-E 8-core CPUs overclocked
to 4GHz and 16GB of DDR4 RAM at
3,000MHz. Both of these PCs use
closed-loop CPU coolers.
CPC: Do you intend to keep up your
current production rate?
HHComputers: That’s the plan. We
regularly upgrade our PCs and I’m
planning motherboard and 8-core
CPU upgrades for one of them to
increase its production.
CPC: Any tips for fellow team
members?
HHComputers: We use a custom
folding slot setup that allows us to
reserve a portion of each machine’s
capacity for our everyday work,
while leaving all the GPU and most
of the CPU capacity for folding 24/7
(see the client graphic).
CPC: What do your friends and
family think about your folding?
HHComputers: They know it’s for
a good cause. Also, our cats really
enjoy my office being warm during
the cold winter months here in
New England.
CPC: What’s your worst folding
experience?
HHComputers: Folding is a good
test of an overclocked PC’s long-term
stability. It took some tuning of our
overclocks at first to get all our PCs
running stable while folding.
CPC: And the best?
HHComputers: Seeing the recently
completed home-built machine and
our upgrades enabling sustained
production of over two million
points per day.
Team rank 19
World rank 630
Score 147,556,029
Work units 10,658
Daily points average 2,389,363
TOP FOLDERS: This month’s
shout-outs go to Wilding2004,
daxchaos and Grimpeeper. If you
fold under any of these names,
email folding@custompcmag.org.uk
 MILESTONES THIS MONTH
USERNAME POINTS USERNAME POINTS USERNAME POINTS USERNAME POINTS
MILESTONE MILESTONE MILESTONE MILESTONE
13thghost 20000 Lethaertes 400000 RDL_Mobile 3000000 Orac 7000000
AJJackson1 20000 bastardo_bill 500000 robgsxrk4 3000000 Flowwwie 8000000
Jaffo 20000 GarethFlatlands 500000 SMauri 3000000 toothytech 8000000
talpigi 20000 Quozzbat 500000 kiiight 4000000 Dave_Laffin 9000000
RougeNikov 30000 RadeonRaider 500000 Liam266 4000000 Portchylad 10000000
Alee4177 40000 Trunkey 500000 MonkeyManWales 4000000 Semmy 10000000
pig_farmer_uk 40000 Hounddog 600000 RabidMongoose 4000000 Andrew_Dixon 20000000
modmuss50 50000 adbygrave 700000 ricky_eke 4000000 BeezaBob 20000000
wew 50000 Derek_Conlon 700000 Tommye123 4000000 CopperHead1960 20000000
a5pin 60000 Epwin 700000 Andy_J 5000000 DrJAG 20000000
TroyS2 60000 HolyCow 700000 Brentwood-Computers 5000000 Wilding2004 20000000
Albie1971 70000 Zeffer83 700000 chad116793 5000000 pompeyrodney 30000000
Tanuck 70000 Catflaps 800000 madmatt1980 5000000 Roveel 50000000
Parmesan 80000 Chrissebooboo 800000 Simlec 5000000 TrilithiumInjector 50000000
rob_woolcott 80000 Hateboy 800000 SP1 5000000 8Core 60000000
Neostar 90000 matgsi 800000 Allan_Smith 6000000 Sean_Hayes 70000000
Seamus3900 90000 Ony 900000 Bedders 6000000 apeman556 80000000
yevad 90000 Sparrowhawk 900000 crazystuntman 6000000 HHComputers 100000000
3feethigh 100000 Adam_S_James 1000000 GreenDemon360 6000000 The_M2B 200000000
blotty 100000 Damien_Tanner 1000000 gupsterg 6000000 johnim 300000000
BondyBoy 100000 daxchaos 1000000 Mem 6000000 StreetSam 500000000
Kentara 100000 Ganey 1000000 Humwawa 7000000 DocJonz 1000000000
LynnRFlye 100000 lilmatt157 1000000
Rateye 100000 Maglor 1000000 THE NEXT OVERTAKE
Shaun 100000 MarkVarley 1000000
stubbler 100000 PernusBernus 1000000 WORLD DAILY TIME UNTIL
RANK TEAM NAME POINTS POINTS OVERTAKE
alpha00 200000 techknowledgey 1000000 AVERAGE
Blexis 200000 ZeDestructor 1000000
MetallicGloss 200000 andboo1 2000000 2 [H]ardOCP 49,450,766,494 13,668,291 26.8 years
MikePreston 200000 BaskB 2000000 Custom PC &
8 15,394,737,905 17,151,213 0
Blexis 300000 Uncle_Fungus 2000000 bit-tech
J3llyf1sh-UK 300000 gKitchen 3000000 Maximum PC
9 15,325,755,954 17,615,355 5 months
K0NRAD 300000 Ken_Swain 3000000 Magazine

TOP 20 OVERALL TOP 20 PRODUCERS

RANK USERNAME POINTS WORK UNITS RANK USERNAME DAILY POINTS AVERAGE OVERALL SCORE
1 Nelio 2,335,115,932 104,291 1 HHComputers 1,624,928 101,466,368
2 DocJonz 1,020,071,459 171,132 2 StreetSam 1,510,923 518,023,967
3 coolamasta 694,150,636 160,658 3 DocJonz 1,330,296 1,020,071,459
4 Scorpuk 537,948,622 14,453 4 piers_newbold 1,113,678 391,380,094
5 StreetSam 518,023,967 88,912 5 johnim 858,687 315,224,342
6 Dave_Goodchild 456,091,029 117,336 6 PC_Rich 832,545 272,763,786
7 piers_newbold 391,380,094 37,789 7 Scorpuk 790,842 537,948,622
8 johnim 315,224,342 79,134 8 Wilding2004 726,296 25,873,828
9 PC_Rich 272,763,786 71,488 9 Slavcho 647,718 245,563,125
10 phoenicis 250,044,587 95,660 10 coolamasta 539,226 694,150,636
11 Slavcho 245,563,125 31,974 11 Lordsoth 534,144 220,677,995
12 Lordsoth 220,677,995 90,407 12 The_M2B 514,678 213,056,013
13 The_M2B 213,056,013 53,981 13 Laguna2012 474,285 130,667,712
14 Wallace 212,477,027 6,204 14 Desertbaker 422,250 121,786,985
15 zz9pzza 211,014,628 15,794 15 apeman556 320,628 87,687,976
16 Ben_Lamb 166,053,146 2,891 16 Roveel 276,743 54,787,194
17 TheFlipside 163,067,641 19,784 17 TheFlipside 253,589 163,067,641
18 Christopher_N._Lewis 152,386,078 35,878 18 KevinWright 197,296 134,337,784
19 KevinWright 134,337,784 26,294 19 Maglor 195,885 1,746,311
20 Lizard 131,878,662 60,132 20 daxchaos 165,929 1,184,063

113
 OPINION
JA M E S G O R B O L D / HARDWARE ACCELERATED
GOODBYE 5.25IN
DRIVE BAYS
Case design has been dominated by now-irrelevant technologies
for too long, argues James Gorbold
ack in the early 1990s, a CD-ROM drive was the hot
B upgrade for any budding PC enthusiast, opening the
door to a new era of games with vastly improved
graphics, audio and full motion video. Of course, that was
assuming that you could stump up the huge purchase price,
with first-generation drives retailing for several hundred
pounds. Finally, a good 25 years later it looks as if not only CDs,
but also DVDs and Blu-rays, may be going the way of the dodo.
This trend started quite a few years ago, with content
delivery systems such as Good Old Games
and Steam proving that PC enthusiasts
weren’t wedded to the idea of owning
physical copies of their games. Meanwhile, After 25 years it looks as if
services such as iTunes and Spotify have not only CDs, but also DVDs
proved that high-quality audio downloads
and streaming are a compelling alternative and Blu-rays, may be going
to audio CDs and Internet piracy. the way of the dodo
More recently, services such as Amazon
Prime, Netflix and NowTV have made video
streaming a viable alternative to watching TV and films on
DVD or Blu-ray. In fact, the last time I used the optical drive in
my PC was to install Windows more than three years ago, while
my collection of DVDs and Blu-rays is still sitting in boxes,
waiting to be unpacked, more than a year after I moved house.
Despite this changing consumer behaviour, it’s taken case
manufacturers a long time to realise that support for an optical
drive, let alone multiple drives, isn’t a top priority for PC
enthusiasts when choosing their next case. For instance, the
five most popular cases of this time last year – the Corsair 200R,
300R, Air 540, Fractal Design Define R4 and Cooler Master HAF
XB – had an average of two and a half 5.25in drive bays.
James Gorbold has been building, tweaking and overclocking PCs ever since the 1980s. He now helps Scan Computers to develop new systems.
114
And because 5.25in drive bays take up so much space on the
front of the case, and so much volume inside the case, the end
result is cases that give far too much prominence to a feature
that few PC enthusiasts value or use.
Fortunately, after dragging their collective heels for several
years, case manufacturers are starting to wake up to the lack
of desire for 5.25in drive bays. Rather surprisingly, this charge
hasn’t been led by previous innovators in case design, such as
SilverStone and Corsair, but by companies such as NZXT with
designs such as the Source 340, In Win with
its 904 and more recently, Fractal Design
with its Define S.
By ditching support for 5.25in drives, the
three aforementioned cases move chassis
design forwards in a notable way. The
benefits of this new school of case design are
significant, ranging from minimalist front
panels, improved airflow, more space and
flexibility for water-cooling systems
(assuming they don’t use a 5.25in reservoir) or simply a reduced
overall volume. There should be a cost benefit too, as the cases
will require less complex tooling to manufacture the drive
cages and front panels.
With Computex just round the corner, I’m hoping to see
more cases without 5.25in drive bays, as its high time to say
goodbye to the 1990s-era optical drive. After all, it’s been 25
years since the introduction of the first PC optical drives, while
the 5.25in drive bay can trace its ancestry back to the IBM 5150
in 1981. Hopefully, we’ll also see some more interestingly
shaped cases too, as there’s no need to locate the 3.5 and 2.5in
drive bays at the front of the case either.
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