With their Ultima the British system integrator PC Specialist has one good looking and well made and factory overclocked system in their portfolio. Today we're going to have a very close look at what this rig can do and for what kind of gaming it is suitable.
PC Specialist is an internationally active company, which specialized in building custom-made PC systems. Today we’re going to have a look at their “Ultima” system, where they use a good looking ATX case from NZXT. Apart from that the component selection is well-though and there is even a factory overclocking. Apparently, on the following pages we’re going to have a closer look at this rig to tell you what it can do.
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Preview
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Specifications / Chassis
|
CPU |
Intel i7-5820K Overclocked 4.375GHz (BCLK 125MHz) |
|
Cooler |
Corsair H100i GTX |
|
Motherboard |
ASUS X99-A |
|
Memory |
Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3000MHz - 2 x 8 GB Dual Channel CL 15-16-16-36 |
|
Graphics card |
PNY GTX 980 Ti Reference Design |
|
Hard drive |
1 x Seagate ST2000DM001
2TB |
|
SSD |
1 x Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB |
| Power supply |
Corsair CS750M ATX Modular |
|
Connectors |
- 8 x USB 3.0
- 2 x USB 3.0 Front
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x DVI
- 3 x DisplayPort
- 1 x Gigabit LAN
- 1 x S/PDIF
- 5 x Audio jacks
|
|
Case |
NZXT S340 |
|
Dimensions |
200 x 445 x 432 mm |
|
Weight |
15 Kg |
|
Drivers |
NVIDIA ForceWare 355.82 |
|
OS |
Windows 8.1 x64 |
As we already mentioned this version of the PC Specialist Ultima is based on a midi tower case. Apparently it’s been important to the system integrator that this system comes with neat and sleek looking design. Going further down the road with the specs, there is an Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, which has been overclocked to 4.375GHz using the BCLK, which clocks at 125MHz. Apart from that there is a reference PNY GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card. The CPU has been placed on an ASUS X99-A Signature Series motherboard and there is a total of 16 Gigabyte memory. Acutally PC Specialist decided to use 2 x 8GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3000MHz modules, although Intel’s Haswell-E CPUs have a quad channel memory controller on board. Thinking about reasons for not using a quad channel kit, we know that it can be difficult to run quad channel at 3000 MHz with overclocked Intel HEDT processors. A quad channel configuration puts much higher load on the integrated memory controller (IMC) of the CPU, which in combination with an overclocking of the CPUs core frequency can quickly become too much. Going for a dual channel configuration allows a system builder to reduce the load on the IMC significantly. Last but not least in this paragraph we have a quick look at the storage devices and we find a mixture of one SSD and one HDD storage. To be a bit more precise there is a 240GB Kingston HyperX Savage SSD next to 2 Terabyte hard disk from Seagate.
As we’ve already mentioned this system is built around the nice looking NZXT S340 case, which measures 200 x 445 x 432 millimeter and the entire system weighs 15 kilogram. Apparently, PC Specialist wanted to build a good looking rig, which allows for a glance at what’s inside it and for that purpose they chose a case with side window. Apart from that this case comes with a clean front design, whereas there is no 5.25 inch drive slot, which could interfere with the looks. In order to realize appropriate cooling, there are air-intakes on both sides of the front. Furthermore there are dust filters, which do a good job keeping dust outside. Looking for I/O connectors we find two USB 3.0 ports alongside the usual mini jacks for microphone and headphone. Having another look at the cooling, we find an outtake fan on the back as well as at the top.
Talking about cooling: the overclocked Core i7-5820K receives cooling from a Corsair H100i GTX all-in-one watercooler, which is more than capable of keeping the CPU at reasonable temperatures. The radiator has been mounted in the front with the two fans sucking in fresh air and blowing it inside the case. Regarding the power supply there is a Corsair CS750M, whereas the “M” stands for modular. Using a modular PSU is always great, since it allows to attach only the cables, which are really necessary and therefore realize a clean cable management.
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Test Setup
|
Motherboard |
|
| CPU |
- Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.375 GHz (Turbo On / HT Off) (125MHz BCLK)
|
|
Memory |
- Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3000MHz - 2 x 8 GB Dual Channel CL 15-16-16-36
|
|
Graphics Cards |
- PNY GeForce GTX 980 Ti Reference Design
|
| Drivers |
- Windows 8.1 x64 (up to date)
- NVIDIA ForceWare 355.82
|
| Games |
|
|
Games and OS |
- Windows 8.1 x64
- All
games were up to date on the
|
|
System Drive |
- Kingston HyperX Savage 240 GB
|
|
PSU |
|
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3DMark
| |
Score |
Graphic Score |
| PC Specialist Ultima Performance |
14'964 |
16'561 |
| PC Specialist Ultima Extreme |
7'478 |
7'637 |
|
PC Specialist Ultima Ultra |
3'843 |
3'670 |
Fire Strike Physix
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
17'426 |
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UCBench
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
1661.1 |
XTU (Intel Extreme Tuning Utility)
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
1'719 |
Cinebench R15
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
1'281 |
HWBot Prime
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
7175.04 |
Blackhole Benchmark Multithreaded
Single Thread
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
3'440 |
4 Threads
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
4'432 |
Multithreaded
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
12'984 |
Overall
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
20'856 |
WinRAR
| WinRAR |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
16'813 |
Frybench
| |
Points |
|
PC Specialist Ultima |
2'709 |
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Games
| Battlefield 4 |
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
102.31 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
70.69 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
37.83 |
| |
|
GRID Autosport
|
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
108.06 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
84.18 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
56.67 |
| |
|
Metro Last Light
|
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
70.00 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
43.33 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
21.00 |
| |
|
Thief
|
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
84.05 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
63.46 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
34.23 |
| |
|
Tomb Raider
|
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
64.54 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
40.08 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
18.75 |
| |
|
Watch Dogs
|
Average FPS |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1080p |
68.76 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 1440p |
45.81 |
| PC Specialist Ultima 2160p |
23.18 |
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SSD
Crystal Disk Mark
| |
Read MB/s |
Write MB/s |
| Sequential QD32 |
560.3 |
539.6 |
| Random 4K QD32 T1 |
375.6 |
358.2 |
| Random 4K QD1 |
32.25 |
111.9 |
The
PC Specialist Ultima features one Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB SSD. Apart from the SSD there
is also a Seagate Baracuda 2TB hard drive.
The HyperX Savage 240GB is a reasonably priced SSD from Kingston with 240GB storage capacity. This
particular drive is based on a Phison S10 controller and allows for 539.6 MB/s
sequential read and 560.3 MB/s sequential write performance.
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Overclocking / BIOS
PC Specialist decided to factory overclock this system. This makes us curious
to find out what settings they're actually using. Overclocked the CPU runs at
4.375 GHz. In order to achieve this overclocking the bus clock has been increased to 125 MHz, which results in a 25% frequency boost. We would have preferred to see the overclocking done by increasing the multiplyer, since increasing the bus clock stresses all the other components in the system. 4.375GHz on an i7-5820K is a pretty beefy overclocking, since the system should be 24/7 stable. Therefore PC Specialist had to increase different voltages like for example CPU core voltage as well as system agent voltage.
When it comes to the memory we see a rather interesting choice from PC Specialist. Although they're using a CPU with quad-channel memory interface, there are only two modules installed, but these DIMMs run at DDR4-3000. This is a seriously high frequency for an i7-5820K to cope with and in a quad-channel configuration it be almost impossible to run these frequencies 24/7 stable. By the end of the day this is a trade-off, where
PC Specialist wants to offer its customer higher clock speeds on the memory instead of higher bandwidth.
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Power Consumption
| Power Consumption Load (Idle)* |
Watts |
| PC Specialist Ultima |
96 |
| *Entire system |
Less is better |
| Power Consumption Load (FurMark)* |
Watts |
| PC Specialist Ultima |
368 |
| *Entire system |
Less is better |
Noise Level
The
PC Specialist Ultima Gaming PC has multiple noise sources, which
include the two 120mm fans on the CPU AIO, one top mounted 120mm
fan and the outtake fan in the back of the case. We notice that all fans come with three pin
headers. We would love to find models with 4-pin PWM headers, which would allow
for very simple noise level adjustments from within Windows or via the BIOS.
Messwerte
|
Temperature |
Idle |
Full |
|
Intel Core i7-5820K |
30 / 29 / 30
/ 30 |
68 /
64 / 75 / 67 |
| PNY GeForce GTX 980 Ti |
40 |
86°C |
| |
|
| Noise Level |
Idle |
Load |
|
38.6 dBA |
44.8 dBA |
|
Less is better |
With ambient temperatures
at 23°C, we measured reasonable temperatures regarding processor and graphics
card, using Prime95
64bit and FurMark for stress testing purposes.
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Conclusion
First
of all: the
Ultima arrived in our office perfectly packed. We were actually surprised when
we opened the case, since we found a large, protecting air cushion, which makes all the components support eachother. This
makes dead sure nothing is going to break during shipment.
If you are looking for a powerful high-end gaming desktop, which is
capable of running recent games at 1440p as well as UHD (lower details), the PC Specialist Ultima is a solid choice.
In our tests, the PC Specialist Ultima has proven to be a fast and efficient
gaming PC.
The temperatures measured in games and benchmarks are perfectly in line for this
configuration. PC Specialist equipped this system with an SSD, where they installed Windows 8.1 64 Bit and therefore the system boots quickly. Since we received this system before the launch of Windows 10, there is Windows 8.1 installed. All new PCs from PC Specialist are being shipped with Windows 10 pre-installed. We were also happy to find a 2
Terabyte hard drive, which allows for storing quite a few games/files.
PC Specialist is overclocking their Ultima system to a beefy 4.375GHz.
This means that the CPU does its job 25 percent faster than what's standard. In order to keep the CPU cool, there is a Corsair H100i GTX All-in-One watercooler, which is a very good choice for the job.
Now we come to the price for this version of the
Ultima, which is available
at PC Specialist for 1'599 GBP or about 2'220 Euro. We configured a PC system using the same components at Geizhals.eu and the price difference between the two configurations is about 200 Euro.
These 200 Euro you pay for an overclocked CPU and a perfectly assembled and
setup system and pre-installed operating system.
Recommendation
The
PC Specialist Ultima is a well perofming gaming PC with good looking design.
The
PC Specialist Ultima
receives good
4 out of 5 stars.
