OCUK Prodigy Arctic Gaming System Review

We have been singing the praises of the Bitfenix Prodigy chassis since we reviewed it in June this year. The case is attractive, well built and ideal for space restricted environments. It is also designed with a certain amount of flair, which has attracted the eye of the enthusiast gamer.

When OCUK announced their new range of gaming systems incorporating this diminutive case, we were interested in how they would approach the system build. As a business decision it made sense for them to focus on the Prodigy, especially as it has proven so popular with such a wide audience.

In regards to this specific gaming range, OCUK are offering a wide range of discrete graphics cards, from the entry level MSI HD5450 to the flagship Asus GTX690. This upgrade option alone will add £675 to the overall system price.

All of these systems are based around the Intel Core i5 3570k processor which OCUK have overclocked to 4.2ghz. This low cost processor has proven very popular for Intel, as it performs well, will overclock easily and doesn't produce a lot of heat. OCUK are liquid cooling the 3570k, and in our testing it peaked at just under 50c when loaded. Commendable results.

This review system included a fast OCZ solid state drive and 1TB mechanical drive, a combination which has been proven to work well for many system builders over the last year. This pairing offers both lightning fast boot times and plenty of storage space for important documents and images.

The choice of ASRock Z77E-ITX Mini ITX motherboard is inspired. We previously rated this product as the finest Mini ITX motherboard on the market, and our opinion hasn't changed. Our testing highlighted complete stability when overclocked, which is exactly what a system builder demands when selling to the end user. A lower failure and return rate means less man power dealing with RMA issues. More importantly, it also means less issue for you, the customer.

There is little to fault with our OCUK review system, although my only concern is also sadly one that I can't ignore. Under load this system does emit a lot of noise, and even when idle it is clearly heard – the rotational tone of the Xigmatek fan mounted on the radiator is irritating as there are some vibrational emissions in the mix.

I would personally need to swap out the fans in this case for higher grade models and look into a way of reducing the GTX680 noise. If I was building this system myself, I would probably select a GTX660Ti with the intention of resolving this problem.

The Prodigy case in my opinion has never been designed to handle such a high end graphics card and would benefit from venting holes cut into both side panels, not just one. This is worth bearing in mind when you configure the system. Unfortunately I would be very unhappy with the noise levels and couldn't live with this system on a regular basis, certainly not for gaming anyway.

In closing, this is a fantastic system, which is well built and sure to appeal to a wide audience. Unless you can deal with a lot of noise however under load from a high end graphics card, we would recommend you look at a larger chassis for a dedicated high end ‘gaming' system. Otherwise, a few modifications to the case and a new selection of higher grade fans may improve the situation.

You can spec out your own system at this page on the Overclockers UK website.

Pros:

• Looks beautiful.
• OCUK have opted for ‘white' components in our system. looks great!
• competitively priced.
• good build quality.
• small footprint.

Cons:

• can get very noisy.

Kitguru says: An eye catching system. Our review sample emitted a lot of noise when gaming however.

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