Custom PC - UK (2020-08)

S

can’s3XSVengeanceXTiiCUEis thefirstdesktop

we’veseenwithanIntelCometLakeCPUinside,

andthechipofchoicehereis theflagshipCore

i9-10900K.Intel’slatestSkylake revisionis a 10-corechip

withHyper-Threading,givingit twomorecoresthanthe

precedingi9-9900K.Thebaseclocknowsitsat3.7GHz,

andthechipcan acceleratethroughvaryingturbolevelsto

delivera potentialpeaksingle-corespeedof5.3GHz.

Scan’smachinecomeswithtwoperformancemodes–

onethatrunsthechipatconventionalspeeds,andanother

thatoverclockseverycoreto5GHz.ThenewCPUis paired

witha GeForceRTX 2080 TiGPU.It’sanEVGABlack

Editionmodelwithtwoheftyfans,

RGBLEDsandanoverclock– Scan

hastakenthestock-speedcardand

added150MHztotheGPUclockand

200MHztothememoryfrequency.

Thespecificationis roundedoutby

32GBof3000MHzmemoryanda 2TB

Samsung 970 EvoPlusSSD,giving

youloadsofhigh-speedsolidstate

storage.However,thenewCPUsdon’t

supportPCI-E4,givingAMD3rd-gen

Ryzensetupsanadvantagehere.

It’sallpluggedintoanAsusROG

StrixZ490-Fmotherboard,which

makesuseofthelatestchipset

bysupporting2.5GbpsEthernet,

althoughthere’snoWi-Fionthis

board,despiteZ490addingsupport

forWi-Fi6.Elsewhere,theboard

hassparememoryandM.2sockets,

attractiveRGBLEDsandplentyof

PCI-Eslots,includingSLIsupport.

There’sdecentS1220ASupremeFX

audio,a Thunderboltheaderandfive

USB3.2ports, alongsidea Type-C

connection.It’sa shamethere’sno

super-fastUSB3.2Gen2x2Type-C,

though,andtherearenoon-board

buttonsorPOSTdisplayeither.

REVIEWS / PC SYSTEMS

SPEC

CPU

3.7GHzIntelCorei9-10900K

Motherboard

AsusROGStrixZ490-FGaming

Memory

32GBCorsairVengeanceRGB

Pro3000MHzDDR4

Graphics

EVGAGeForceRTX 2080 Ti11GB

Storage

2TBSamsung 970 EvoPlusM.2SSD

Networking

1 x 2.5GbpsEthernet

Case

CorsairCrystal680XRGB

Cooling

CPU:CorsairHydroH150iProXTwith3 x

120mmfans;GPU:2 x 90mmfans;front:

3 x 120mmfans;rear:1 x 120mmfan

PSU

CorsairRM850x850W

Ports

Front:1 x USB3.1Type-C,2 x USB3,2 x

audio;rear:3 x USB3.2Gen2,1 x USB

3.2Gen2 Type-C,2 x USB3.2Gen1, 2

x USB2,1 x opticalS/PDIF,5 x audio

Operatingsystem

MicrosoftWindows 10 Home64-bit

Warranty

Threeyearspartsandlabour,firstyear

collectandreturn,thenreturntobase

INTEL Z490 GAMING PC

SCAN 3XS VENGEANCE

XTI ICUE/£3,300inc VAT

SUPPLIER scan.co.uk

Scan’s high-end specification sits inside a huge Corsair

Crystal 680X chassis. It measures 505mm tall and a

hefty 344mm wide, with a weight of 11.5kg before any

components are added. It’s wide because there’s no PSU

shroud – instead, the Corsair RM850x power supply

sits behind the motherboard. It’s a fully modular unit

with 80 Plus Gold certification, which is great to see.

This design gives the rig a clean look, and Scan’s

typically tidy building makes every component

accessible. The three intake fans and single exhaust fan

are synchronised in white lighting, and every RGB LED

throughout the system shares that shade. The Corsair

Hydro H150i cooler is large, but its radiator is installed at

the front of the case, which keeps it out of the way. And,

as ever, Scan’s warranty is great – a three year parts and

labour deal, with a year of on site service included.

Performance

Intel’s new chip is quick, but the 12-core Ryzen 9

3900X is available in systems that cost far less than

this machine, and systems with the 16-core Ryzen 9

3950X don’t cost much more. The Intel chip scored

711,074 in our heavily multi-threaded Handbrake video

encoding test, but the 3900X is around 100,000 points

quicker, and the 3950X is 200,000 points faster.

With its high single-core turbo clock speed, the Core

i9 CPU beat AMD in our single-threaded image editing

test, though, and it’s generally better in scenarios

where single-threaded pace is prized. However, this

is cold comfort when AMD succeeds elsewhere.

Don’t expect much from Scan’s overclocked mode

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