SCAN 3XS X99 CARBON

      The X99 Carbon has tipped up with an overclocked Intel Core i7 5820K, running at a decent 4.25GHz. This is the bottom rung of the Haswell-E ladder, but it’s arguably the most exciting and intriguing of the lot. Traditionally this position was held by an uninspiring quad-core chip, offering depressingly little over the non-enthusiast class Core i7s below it. The Core i7 5820K though is the cheapest six-core processor Intel has ever made, and it’s only £50 more expensive than the Devil’s Canyon i7 4790K.
      That means you’re not paying much more for a full two extra cores/four extra threads, as well as support for quad-channel DDR4 and a good many more PCIe lanes too. That’s perfect if you want to add another GTX 780 Ti into this rig or take advantage of the PCIe-based M.2 or SATA Express connections the Asus X99 motherboard affords.
      What we found most impressive about our fist taste of this powerful little chip is that it’s easily the equal of last generation’s Core i7 4960X. That was the top chip of the Ivy Bridge-E range, and would have been the top chip just a month ago. Not only is this cheaper processor as quick, that’s with the older chip running at over 4.6GHz against the 5820K’s 4.25GHz max speed, but it’s a good bit more efficient too, as it runs at its top overclock – at 100 per cent load – around 20˚C cooler than its older sibling.
      It does need that efficiency though; our only real issue with this Scan build is that it runs off a 550W Corsair PSU. At peak load the 3XS X99 Carbon is drawing around 440W from the wall, meaning the PSU isn’t operating at its most efficient and there isn’t much spare capacity if you want to take advantage of the extra PCIe lanes with another GPU.

Seen, not heard

      But what a GPU Scan has dropped into this machine. The overclocked EVGA GTX 780 Ti is one of the most powerful single-GPU cards you can get, and with its ACX cooling array is also one of the quietest. And thanks to the big but beautiful Corsair chassis, the system stays incredibly quiet during operation. Compare that with the relatively noisy Chillblast rig and it’s clear there’s still a place for the classic big desktop chassis.
      This lovely system is also some £800 cheaper than the Fusion Carbon, but does give away gaming performance to the dual-GPU card sitting inside Chillblast’s machine. Sometimes it isn’t just about the benchmarks though, and the hassles of twin-GPU setups still frustrate.
      Scan has created an incredibly versatile, powerful machine with the X99 Carbon. The great-value six-core chip at its heart and the GTX 780 Ti have a lot to do with that, and considering the components inside this rig, that £1,830 price tag doesn’t look bad. Not bad at all.