PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X Review

1. Introduction2. PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X3. PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. PCMark 86. 3DMark Vantage7. 3DMark 118. 3DMark9. Unigine Heaven Benchmark10. Unigine Valley Benchmark11. SiSoft Sandra12. Cinebench R11.5 64 bit13. Cinebench R1514. SSD & HDD Performance15. USB 3.0 Performance16. Tomb Raider17. Total War: Rome 218. Metro Last Light19. GRID 220. Thermal Dynamics21. Acoustics Performance22. Closing Thoughts23. View All Pages

As we arrive at the tail end of 2013, there could be no better time to treat yourself to a new system. If you have neither the time nor desire to build a system yourself then respected UK builder PC SPECIALIST have been creating some killer rigs this year.

We asked them what they could build for £999 inc VAT and delivery. In answer, their new Vanquish 230X system arrived with us last week and it features one of the latest Intel Haswell processors and an AMD R9 280X graphics card. But is it any good?

PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X Specifications:

• Intel Core i5-4670K @ 4.2GHz
• 16GB Kingston HyperX BEAST @ 2400MHz
• ASUS Z87-A Motherboard
• 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K SSD
• 1TB SATA III 6Gb/s HDD
• 3GB AMD Radeon 280X Graphics
• CoolerMaster Seidon 120M Liquid Cooler
• Corsair TX650M Modular PSU
• Corsair 230T Case (NEW!)
• Windows 8.1 64bit
• 3 Year Warranty

Price: £999 inc VAT & Delivery


The PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X arrives in a large, plain brown box. Inside on top of the system itself is a ‘welcome pack'.

Inside, PC Specialist supply all the extras. These include cables left over from the build, software and driver discs, as well as a manual and other literature on the build.

The system is wrapped and protected between thick pieces of flexible foam.

It is important to remove the side window, as PC Specialist use sculpted foam to protect the components from movement during rough shipping. They adhere a page to the side of the case alerting the inexperienced user to the fact, so it is difficult to miss.

PC Specialist are using the cost effective, new Corsair 230T chassis for this build. We have a full review of this case coming soon, so keep watching our front page for an indepth analysis in the near future.

Inside, we are pleased to report that the build is extremely clean, and looks great, especially useful as this case features a windowed side panel. The system is based around the cost effective, but capable Asus Z87-A motherboard. This is priced around £110 inc vat.

PC Specialist are using a quality 80 Plus Bronze certified Corsair TX650M power supply for this build. We reviewed the 750W version of this power supply over here and it claimed our highest award at the time.

PCSpecialist are using a custom R9 280X graphics card, along with the Cooler Master Seidon 120M liquid cooler, which we reviewed over here. This also earned our highest award, so PC Specialist are clearly choosing components we rate highly ourselves.

If they agree with us, they clearly know what they are doing.

PC Specialist are using Kingston HyperX Beast memory, rated at 2,400mhz. We reviewed the initial green PCB version of this memory, over here. It won our WORTH BUYING award at the time. Since our review Kingston updated the memory by changing the PCB from green to a more appealing black – we wrote about this, and more information is available here.

At the top of the system is the DVD optical drive. At the bottom of the chassis is a 1TB SATA hard drive, alongside a 120GB Kingston HyperX Solid State Drive.

Cabling routing is very clean and tidy on the visible side of the build.


Cable routing on the flip side of the case is also very clean. PC Specialist have tied down the cables and routed them carefully around the corners of the case, locking most of them in place behind the SSD and HDD bay. The side panel reseals without any issue.
On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.







The PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X system is built around the latest Intel Haswell 4670K processor. These can run hot, so using a cost effective all in one cooler is a good move, especially as the processor is supplied in an overclocked state. PCSpecialist aren't however pushing the CPU to the absolute limit — 4.2ghz is enough to reap noticeable rewards without running into cooling concerns or excessive fan noise.


An overview of the system that we have discussed earlier in the review. The Core i5 4670k Haswell processor is running at 4.2ghz. The Kingston HyperX Beast Memory is running at 2,400mhz with timings of 11-13-13-2T. CPUz shows the 280X as a HD7970, but as we already know, they are basically the same card.

GPUz shows the core speed on the 280X is clocked at 1GHZ, with memory running at 1,500mhz (6Gbps effective).

We are using 30 inch Apple Cinema HD screen (native 2560×1600) for this review today.

Comparison Systems (for specific synthetic test compares):

Intel E5 2687W x 2
Motherboard: Asus Z9 PE-D8 WS
Coolers: Corsair H80 x2
Memory: 64GB Kingston Predator 1,600mhz 9-9-9-24 1T
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition (1,200mhz core 1,600mhz memory).
Power Supply: Seasonic 1000W Platinum Modular
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li X2000FN
Monitors: Dell U3011, 3x Ilyama ProLite E2472HDD
Boot Drive: Corsair 240GB Neutron GTX SSD
Secondary Drive: Corsair 240GB Neutron SSD

Intel E5 2660
Motherboard: Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WIFI
Cooler: Corsair H100
Memory: 16GB G.Skill ARES 2,133mhz @ 9-11-10-28
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition (1,200mhz core 1,600mhz memory).
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li X2000a
Boot Drive: Intel 510 120GB
Secondary Drive: Patriot 240GB WildFire

Intel i7 3960X EE
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 WS WorkStation
Cooler: Corsair H100
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator GT8 2400mhz memory
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition (1,200mhz core 1,600mhz memory).
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Cooler Master Cosmos 2
Boot Drive: Crucial C300 128GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 240GB Pyro SE

Intel i7 3820
Motherboard: ASRock Extreme4-M
Cooler: Intel reference cooler
Memory: 8GB Corsair GTX8 @ 2133mhz
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: Lian Li PC60
Boot Drive: Crucial C300
Secondary Drive: Patriot Pyro SE 240GB

Intel i5 3570K @ 4.2 – OCUK Prodigy Arctic Gaming System
Motherboard: ASRock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77
Cooler: Coolit Liquid
Memory: Corsair Vengeance White 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Power Supply: OCZ ZS 750W PSU
Chassis: Bitfenix Prodigy Mini ITX Case – White
Boot Drive: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
Secondary Drive: 1TB HDD

AMD FX 8150 Black Edition
Processor: AMD FX 8150 Black Edition
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Memory: G-SKill Ripjaws 1600mhz 8GB (2x 4GB)
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: SilverStone Raven 3
Boot Drive: Intel 40GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 120GB WildFire

Intel Core i7 990X
Processor: Intel Core i7 990x
Cooler: Corsair H100
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Assassin
Memory: Kingston HyperX 6GB
Drives: Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Chassis: Antec Twelve Hundred

Core i7 970 @ 4.6ghz
Graphics: Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition (1,200mhz core 1,600mhz memory).
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Memory: 6GB ADATA @ 2133mhz 9-10-9-32
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)

Intel Core i7 2700k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2700k
Cooling: ThermalTake Frio OCK
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Motherboard
Chassis: Silverstone Raven 3.
Power Supply: Corsair 850W.
Memory: Corsair 1600mhz memory
Storage: Intel 80GB SSD (boot) / Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD.

Intel Core i7 2600k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen 3
Cooler: Intel XTS-100H
Memory: ADATA 1600mhz DDR3 8GB (2x4GB)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
Boot Drive: Intel 510 SSD 250GB

Intel Core i5 2500k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2500k
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Motherboard
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 CPU Cooler
Memory: Corsair 1600mhz memory 8GB (2x4GB)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W.
Boot Drive: Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD.

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Memory: G-SKill Ripjaws 1600mhz 8GB (2x 4GB)
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: SilverStone Raven 3
Boot Drive: Intel 40GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 120GB WildFire.

Software:
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
PCMark 8
Cinebench R11.5 64 bit
Cinebench R15
FRAPS Professional
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11
Cyberlink MediaEspresso
Atto Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
HQV Benchmark 2.0
SiSoft Sandra

Games:
Tomb Raider (Direct X 11)
GRID 2 (Direct X 11)
Total War: Rome 2 (Direct X 11)
Metro Last Light (Direct X 11)

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Asus USB BluRay Drive
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter
Nikon D3X with R1C1 Kit (4 flashes), Nikon 24-70MM lens.

Game descriptions are edited with courtesy from Wikipedia.
PCMark 8 is the latest version in our series of popular PC benchmarking tools. It is designed to test the performance of all types of PC, from tablets to desktops. With five separate benchmark tests plus battery life testing, PCMark 8 helps you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance. PCMark 8 is the complete PC benchmark for home and business.

The PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X scores 5,394 points, highlighting well balanced, overall performance characteristics from the hardware inside.Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

The PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X scores 32,223 points in this benchmark.
3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

The overall score of 9,612 points is as we would expect from a system with this specification.
3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance.

Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good.

To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.”

The processor and graphics scores are closely matched, 8,492 and 8,194 points respectively.
Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset.

A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the settings shown above at 1920×1080 and 2560×1600.



Solid performance, right up to 2560×1600.
Valley Benchmark is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user.

Solid performance at both 1080p and 1600p.
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Great performance from the Intel processor and Kingston 2,400mhz memory.CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.

The overclocked Core i5 4670k processor scores 7.11 points in this benchmark, just behind the Core i5 3570k @ 4.4ghz.CINEBENCH 15 is a cross-platform testing suite that measures hardware performance and is the de facto standard benchmarking tool for leading companies and trade journals for conducting real-world hardware performance tests. With the new Release 15, systems with up to 256 threads can be tested.

CINEBENCH is available for both Windows and OS X and is used by almost all hardware manufacturers and trade journals for comparing CPUs and graphics cards.

We have yet to analyse a lot of hardware with the latest release of Cinebench, however the 4670k scores quite well based on internal tests from Maxon.Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0 x64. We use this program to test the onboard Samsung Solid State Drive.

The Kingston HyperX 3K SSD scores very well, over 500 MB/s in both sequential read and write tests. The 1TB HDD isn't the fastest drive we have seen but is perfectly acceptable for storage duties.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

Very similar results in ATTO, with the Kingston drive averaging over 500 MB/s in both read and write tests.To test the USB 3.0 capabilities of the Asus Z87-A motherboard, we use one of the fastest drives we have – the Patriot SuperSonic Magnum 256GB. We reviewed this way back in February this year.


The USB 3.0 performance of the board is certainly not lacking. We managed to get a read score of 317.6MB/s and a write speed of 183.3 MB/s. Excellent results, especially if you frequently move larger video or data files between machines.
After a delayed release from late 2012 to March 2013, the game received much anticipation and hype. Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay and Camilla Luddington’s performance as Lara with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far.

We use the ULTIMATE profile shown above and test at 2560×1600.

At 1600p, the PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X system is able to power Tomb Raider with the highest image quality settings, averaging 36 frames per minute.Total War ROME 2 is the eighth stand alone game in the Total War series, it is the successor to the successful Rome: Total War title. The Warscape Engine powers the visuals of the game and the new unit cameras will allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the battlefield, which in itself may contain thousands of combatants at a time.

Creative Assembly has stated that they wish to bring out the more human side of war this way, with soldiers reacting with horror as their comrades get killed around them and officers inspiring their men with heroic speeches before siege towers hit the walls of the enemy city. This will be realised using facial animations for individual units, adding a feel of horror and realism to the battles.

We selected the ULTRA preset, as shown in the screenshot above, testing at 2560×1600.

The system averages a solid frame rate of 43, dropping to 32 in the most intensive sections of the game environment.Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. 4A Games’ proprietary 4A Engine is capable of rendering breathtaking vistas, such as those showing the ruined remnants of Moscow, as well as immersive indoor areas that play with light and shadow, creating hauntingly beautiful scenes akin to those from modern-day photos of Pripyat’s abandoned factories and schools.

We test this game with the built in benchmark with very high quality settings at 1920×1080 – details shown in the image above.

This benchmark is very intensive and the real game is much smoother in regards to the minimum frame rate characteristics. A good result for the Vanquish 230X system.
Grid 2 is the sequel to the racing video game Race Driver: Grid.  It was developed and published by Codemasters. The game includes numerous real world locations such as Paris, numerous United States locations, and many more, and also includes motor vehicles spanning four decades. In addition, it includes a new handling system that developer Codemasters has dubbed ‘TrueFeel’, which aims to hit a sweet spot between realism and accessibility.

We test at 2560×1600 with the Ultra image quality preset, as shown above. 8x MSAA was enabled to improve image quality.

GRID 2 runs very well on the PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X, maintaining a 43fps+ frame rate at all times.
The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

The Cooler Master Seidon is a very capable cooler and it has no problems maintaining the thermal curve well below 70c in our particular environment.Ambient noise in the room is around 20-25dBa. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The first time you turn this system on, the fans spin up a little, then fade to almost total silence. It really is an exceptionally quiet rig and ideal for a living room or bedroom environment. The careful choice of components has ensured that this system is going to suit people who hate a lot of fan noise.
If your tired old system is driving you crazy then buying components for a new build at the end of the year can be a good way to beat those winter blues. We always recommend that readers try to build their own computer because it can be quite a sense of accomplishment when a new system, built by your own hands, is firing on all cylinders.

Realistically however, there are times when buying a pre-built can be useful. Firstly, not everyone feels confident enough to put a new rig together from the ground up and others may no longer have the time, or interest in setting it all up. Some of our regulars may chuckle at this, but it is true.

Sure, if we roll the clock back 5 or more years, the standard of pre-builts was shockingly bad. Cable routing was almost unheard of and companies often selected no name component brands …. all to increase profits. Fast forward to 2013, and thanks to improved online tech education those companies no longer can get away with a shoddy choice of components, or a half assed, thoughtless build.

We challenged PCSpecialist to supply a system that they felt our readers would like, for £999 inc vat. When they sent over the list of hardware inside the Vanquish 230X it was almost like a checklist of components that we had selected over the years as being at the top of their game. Most of the hardware selected by PCSpecialist for the Vanquish has won our WORTH BUYING, or MUST HAVE awards. We can't find a single weak link in the component selection.

Intel's Haswell has been met with a muted reception. Many enthusiast users haven't upgraded, due to the heat output and limited overclocking capabilities. When buying a new system however, it is sensible to be getting the latest Intel hardware. PCSpecialist have opted to liquid cool the Core i5 4670k inside the Vanquish 230X while overclocking it gently to 4.2ghz with only a very slight VCore boost.

On paper, the 4.2ghz clock rating seems weak, however it has meant that the Cooler Master Seidon 120M doesn't have to work hard to maintain a tight thermal curve. The Vanquish 230X is actually almost silent when idle and under heavy load, it emits only a modicum of fan noise. For some people this will be a huge selling point. This is a system you could leave on all night in a bedroom, without it interfering with your sleep.

Thanks to the R9 280X, the gaming performance of the Vanquish 230X is stellar. We put this to the test today by pairing it up with a 30 inch 2560×1600 resolution monitor. If this system is able to power Direct X 11 games at 1600p today (and it can), then there is plenty of futureproofing for upcoming engines at 1080p.

The cost of the components inside the Vanquish 230X cost almost as much as PCSpecialist are charging for this finished build. When you factor in a three year warranty and technical support online, it really is a difficult deal to ignore. The build quality, cable routing and BIOS configuration are all first class.

The PCSpecialist Vanquish 230X wins our ‘sub £1000 system of 2013'. You can buy this system direct from PCSpecialist over here.

Pros:

• extremely competitively priced.
• overclocked 4670K is very capable.
• R9 280X is able to power the latest Direct X 11 games.
• very quiet.
• runs cool.

Cons:

• None.

Kitguru says: The Vanquish 230X uses a shortlist of Kitguru ‘MUST HAVE' award winning products. PCSpecialist have ended the year on a high by creating the best £1000 system we have seen.

Become a Patron!