Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System review

1. Introduction2. Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System (1)3. Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System (2)4. Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System (Super High Res Gallery)5. Testing Methodology & Configuration6. Synthetic: PCMark 77. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage8. Synthetic: 3DMark 119. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark10. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra11. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit12. Synthetic: HDD & SSD Testing13. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark 2.014. Real World: 3D Rendering15. Real World: BluRay Playback16. Real World: Flash HD Playback17. Real World: HandBrake 9.518. Gaming: Alien V Predator (DX11)19. Gaming: Far Cry 2 (DX10)20. Gaming: Far Cry 3 (DX11)21. Gaming: Dirt Showdown (DX11)22. Gaming: Sleeping Dogs (DX11)23. Gaming: Max Payne 3 (DX11)24. Technical: Thermal Dynamics25. Acoustics Performance26. Technical: Power Conumption27. Closing Thoughts28. View All Pages

Is that old PC in your house getting you down? Are you in the market for a new Windows 8 gaming PC this year but finding that getting the time to build one is difficult? Enter Wired2Fire, a UK system builder who have earned a reputation for high quality, competitively priced gaming systems.

Today we are looking at their latest Diablo Predator System, featuring an overclocked Intel 3570k, GTX660 graphics card, 8GB of Corsair memory and Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard. Wired2Fire even throw in a 23.5 inch monitor, keyboard and mouse. All for £899 inc vat.

There are certainly no shortage of systems available today in the UK, although getting a quality build, up to ‘enthusiast standards' might prove a little more difficult. We have had great experiences in the past with PCSpecialist, so we are very interested to see if Wired2Fire can also deliver the goods.

Diablo Predator System specification:

Case:	Xigmatek Asgard Pro Case
Power Supply:	Corsair CX600 600W Power Supply
Processor:	Intel Core i5 3570K 6MB Cache Socket 1155 @ 4.7ghz
CPU Cooler:	Cooler
Optimisation and Tuning:	Wired2Fire Overclocking (non-stock cooler required)
Graphics Card 1:	nVidia GeForce GTX 660 2048MB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card
Graphics Card 2:	None
Memory:	8GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz C9 Dual Channel Memory Kit (2 x 4GB)
Motherboard:	Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard
Hard Disk Drive One:	Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s Solid-State Hard Drive
Hard Disk Drive Two:	Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 7K1000.C 32MB Cache SATA II Hard Disk Drive
Optical Drive One:	Blu-Ray Reader & DVD-RW Combo Drive
Optical Drive Two:	None
Removable Storage:	None
Sound Card:	Onboard HD 7.1 Audio
Speakers and Headsets:	None
Monitor:	AOC I2352VH 23.5
Keyboard:	Standard USB 2.0 Keyboard
Mouse:	Standard Optical Mouse
Miscellaneous Adapters:	None
Software:	None
Operating System:	Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit) (available now)
Build Options:	Standard Build (5-15 working days)
Warranty:	2 Year Return to Base Warranty

The Wired2Fire Diablo Predator arrives in a fairly large brown box with fragile stickers on all corners. We normally would expect the courier to kick them with these stickers showing visibly, but thankfully our review sample arrived in great condition. If you were to order this from Wired2Fire you would also get another box with AOC monitor, keyboard and mouse.

The AOC I2352VH is a decent screen, ideal for a competitively priced rig like this.

Double boxing the system is always a good idea and Wired2Fire have included the main system box inside, surrounded by thick bubble wrap as shown above.

Wired2Fire use the Xigmatek Asgard Pro Case box for shipping.

The Xigmatek Asgard Pro case isn't that exciting a case to look at, but it is well built, sturdy and has plenty of positions for fans. Wired2Fire haven't populated the case with fans, but we will look at cooling efficiency later in the review.

Along the top of the Xigmatek Asgard is the I/O panel. There is a headphone and microphone port, alongside two USB 2.0 ports, and a single USB 3.0 port. There is also a smaller reset and larger power button. Two lights are visible in the same location, one for drive activity and the other indicating power.

The left side panel (from front view) has two positions for 120mm fans. Wired2Fire have decided not to populate these, opting for lower noise emissions and natural air flow. On paper a 3570k and GTX660 don't produce a lot of heat anyway, even overclocked.

The Asus P8Z77-V LX motherboard has four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, alongside DVI, HDMI and VGA out. There is also a GB Lan Port, audio connectors and a combined keyboard/mouse header. The dual slot GTX660 is visible underneath, with HDMI, Displayport and two DVI connectors. The power supply is mounted at the bottom. This case has a large exhaust fan next to the motherboard I/O panel and above this are two holes for watercooling.

It is important that you open the side panel before using the system as Wired2Fire pack a lot of foam into various positions. This helps ensure that components won't move during shipping, potentially causing damage. The inside of the Xigmatek chassis is all black, which helps enhance the appearance.

Wired2Fire are using the Corsair CX600 power supply, a quality unit which retails at a very competitive price point.

Wired2Fire are using the Xigmatek Achilles CPU cooler which has met with much critical acclaim worldwide. There is a single fan mounted on the heatsink, in an exhaust position, forcing warm out towards the back of the case. Wired2Fire are using quality Corsair XMS 1600mhz memory.

The Bluray ROM drive is mounted at the top of the case, and the solid state drive and hard disk drive are mounted in the rack at the bottom of the chassis.

As can be clearly seen, Wired2Fire are certainly on top of the cable routing, ensuring they make minimal visual impact and ensuring air flow is maximised.

Removing the other panel shows the routing, hidden from view normally. No concerns with any of the decisions the company have made.

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. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

We ran the built in system analyser in Windows 8. The system scored a total of 7.8 points, held back by the GTX660. Still, excellent results.

The install is very clean, with only barebones drivers installed ‘out of the box'. We took this screenshot to highlight that Wired2Fire have installed a Start Menu software application for Windows 8. They say they added this due to user feedback, so clearly a lot of people are missing this since the move from Windows 7.

Wired2Fire have installed a Solid State Drive for the operating system, which dramatically boosts start up speed. The large mechanical drive can be used for back up and storage purposes.

Above, an overview of the hardware in CPUz and GPUz. Wired2Fire are using a Core i5 3570k processor which they have overclocked to 4.7ghz. There is an Intel HD4000 graphics processor built into the Intel chip. The Nvidia GTX660 is clocked at 980mhz core and 1,500mhz (6Gbps effective) on the 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

We spotted the only BIOS mistake with this system. Wired2Fire include quality Corsair XMS memory shown in the SPD panel above to run natively at 1,600mhz. Sadly the BIOS is configured at 1,333mhz with 9-9-9-24 1T timings. It isn't a huge issue, but there will be a minimal performance drop with these settings.

We are using the 30 inch Dell U3011 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
PCMark 7
Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
FRAPS Professional
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11
Cyberlink MediaEspresso
HQV Benchmark V2.
Atto Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
HQV Benchmark 2.0
SiSoft Sandra

Games:
Max Payne 3 (DX 11)
Far Cry 2 (DX 10)
Far Cry 3 (DX 11)
Alien V Predator (DX 11)
Dirt Showdown (DX 11)
Sleeping Dogs (DX 11)

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Asus USB BluRay Drive
Lacie 730 Monitor (Image Quality testing)
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 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

The results give a great first indication of the balanced overall performance. The overall score is boosted by the hefty overclocked speeds.

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 overall score is very healthy, thanks to the massively overclocked 3570k performance. An overall score of around 30,000 will ensure excellent Direct X 10 gaming, even at high resolutions.

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.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

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 set the test to 1080p resolution, with 4x Anistropy, shaders high, anti aliasing disabled. Full Screen.

Performance with the intensive Direct X 11 test Unigine, is commendable. The GTX660 pushes an average of 55 frames per second. This should translate into excellent Direct X 11 performance later, when we get around to the gaming section of the review.

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

No problems with performance from the processor, but sadly Wired2Fire have set up the memory at 1,333mhz which has a negative impact on the scores in the Bandwidth test, we would expect this system to score around 21GB/s if it was set up at 1,600mhz, possible with the Corsair memory installed.

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 3570K wouldn't be a first choice for a serious 3D editing rig due to the simple 4 core implementation, however at 4.7ghz it does manage to produce high levels of performance. This would be ideal for non professional, but serious duties.

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 Kingston Solid State Drive.

Performance from the Corsair Force Series 3 120GB is excellent when dealing with compressed data, as shown in the 0x00 0fill test. Incompressible data performance isn't quite as impressive dropping from 466 MB/s read and 499.8MB/s write to 211 MB/s read and 105.8 MB/s write.

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.

The Corsair Solid State Drive scores very well in ATTO, averaging well over 500 MB/s in both the read and write tests. The large mechanical drive scores around 120 MB/S in both read and write tests, which is much as we would expect.

HQV Benchmark 2.0 is an updated version of the original tool and it consists of various video clips and test patterns which are designed to evalute motion correction, de-interlacing, decoding, noise reduction, detail enhancement and film cadence detection.

There are two versions of the program, standard definition on DVD and high definition on Bluray. As our audience will be concentrating on HD content so will we.

This has a total of 39 video tests which is increased from 23 in the original and the scoring is also up from a total of 130 to 210. As hardware and software gets more complicated, the software has been tuned to make sure we can thoroughly maximise our analysis.

Read our initial analysis over here.

	Nvidia GTX660
Dial	4
Dial with static pattern	5
Gray Bars	5
Violin	5
Stadium 2:2	5
Stadium 3:2	5
Horizontal Text Scroll	3
Vertical Text Scroll	5
Transition to 3:2 Lock	5
Transition to 2:2 Lock	0
2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCAM Video	5
2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video	5
3:2:3:2:2 24 FOS Vari-Speed	5
5:5 FPS Animation	5
6:4 12 FPS Animation	5
8:7 8 FPS Animation	5
Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP)	5
Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE)	5
Random Noise: Sailboat	5
Random Noise: Flower	5
Random Noise: Sunrise	5
Random Noise: Harbour Night	5
Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Text Pattern/ Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Luminance Frequency Bands	5
Chrominance Frequency Bands	5
Vanishing Text	5
Resolution Enhancement	15
Theme Park	5
Driftwood	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Skin Tones	5
Total	192

The hardware scores 192 points out of a possible 210 which is excellent.

V2011 is the first release of 3DStudio Max to fully support the Windows 7 operating system. This is a professional level tool that many people use for work purposes and our test will show any possible differences between board design today.

Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 software offers compelling new techniques to help bring designs to life by aggregating data, iterating ideas, and presenting the results.

Streamlined, more intelligent data exchange workflows and innovative new modeling and visualization tools help significantly increase designers’ creativity and productivity, enabling them to better explore, validate, and communicate the stories behind their designs.

Major new features:

• Slate: A node based material editor.
• Quicksilver: Hardware renderer with multithreaded rendering engine that utilizes both CPU and GPU.
• Extended Graphite Modeling Toolset
• 3ds Max Composite: A HDRI-capable compositor based on Autodesk Toxik.
• Viewport Canvas toolset for 3D and 2D texture painting directly in the viewport
• Object Painting: use 3D geometry as ‘brushes’ on other geometry
• Character Animation Toolkit (CAT): now integrated as part of the base package
• Autodesk Material Library: Over 1200 new photometrically accurate shaders
• Additional file format support: includes native support for Sketchup, Inventor
• FBX file linking
• Save to Previous Release (2010)

We created a new 8200×3200 scene and recorded the time for the hardware to finalise the render.

Strong performance from the 3570K @ 4.7ghz, verifying our Cinebench results from earlier in the review. A good machine for 3D rendering, considering the relatively simple 4 core architecture.

Our good friends at Cyberlink kindly supplied the software for our BluRay and conversion tests.

Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new Bluray Disc of ‘The Road’.

No performance concerns from this heavily overclocked CPU, averaging around 7 % time during playback. Plenty of CPU cycles left over for multitasking duties.

Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online.

Great results from the system, averaging under 8% CPU use for this test.

Handbrake is a fantastic free program which we wanted to include to confirm findings with Media Espresso, earlier in the review. HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

We used the latest V 0.9.5 for testing today across all platforms. We encoded an DVD.MPG file.

Great results at this clock speed, just slightly behind the reference clocked 2700k.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1920×1080 resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparable throughout reviews.

Excellent results, averaging 67 frames per second at these demanding settings. Perfectly playable.

Far Cry 2 (commonly abbreviated as “FC2 or “fc2″) is an open-ended first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 21, 2008 in North America and on October 23, 2008 in Europe and Australia. It was made available on Steam on October 22, 2008. Crytek, the developers of the original game, were not involved in the development of Far Cry 2.

Ubisoft has marketed Far Cry 2 as the true sequel to Far Cry, though the sequel has very few noticeable similarities to the original game. Instead, it features completely new characters and setting, as well as a new style of gameplay that allows the player greater freedom to explore different African landscapes such as deserts, jungles, and savannas. The game takes place in a modern-day East African nation in a state of anarchy and civil war. The player takes control of a mercenary on a lengthy journey to locate and assassinate “The Jackal,” a notorious arms dealer.

Far Cry 2 is still a popular game and the open world environment can be taxing on even the latest hardware available today.

Settings: 2560×1600, D3D10, Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(8x), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High).

This engine runs well on Nvidia hardware, and the Diablo system manages to average almost 100 frames per second at the native resolution of our 30 inch screen.

Far Cry 3 is an open world first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal in conjunction with Ubisoft Massive, Ubisoft Red Storm, Ubisoft Reflections, and Ubisoft Shanghai and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to 2008′s Far Cry 2. It has received a lot of acclaim from the public and is up for contention as Game of the Year via many publications.

We configured this game to run with extremely high image quality settings, as shown above.

This is a demanding game and needs capable partnering hardware to run at these settings. The average frame rate is 42 frames per second and it dropped to 25 frames per second once. This is playable, although a few settings could be reduced to increase the frame rate.

Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007.

We configured the game at the ULTRA preset with a 1080p resolution and 8x MSAA.

These results show a perfectly playable experience at these settings, averaging almost 50 frames per second. Minimum frame rates hold above 30 at all times.

Sleeping Dogs started development as an original title, but was announced in 2009 as True Crime: Hong Kong, the third installment and a reboot of the True Crime series. As a result of the game’s high development budget and delays, it was canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011. Six months later, it was announced that Square Enix had picked up the publishing rights to the game, but the game was renamed Sleeping Dogs in 2012 since Square Enix did not purchase the True Crime name rights.

We are using the highest possible image quality settings at 1080p, including the high resolution texture pack.

An extremely demanding game that seems to run slightly better on AMD hardware. Still the results are good, although there are a few of the environmental sections which drop below the sweet spot of 25 frames per second.

Max Payne 3 is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Max Payne 3 features a similar over-the-shoulder camera as its predecessors, with the addition of a cover mechanic, while also retaining much of the same run-and-gun style of gameplay. Max Payne 3 also marks the return of bullet-time in action sequences, for which the franchise is notable.

In bullet-time it is possible to see every bullet strike an enemy in detail. New to the series is a “Last Stand” mechanic, which gives the player a grace period after losing all health during which time the player may kill the enemy that wounded them in order to continue playing, however this mechanic is only usable if the player has one or more bottles of painkillers in their possession.

We used the image quality settings, highlighted above. Total video memory demand was 1270MB.

Performance from this engine was good, and perfectly smooth throughout, averaging 42 frames per second.

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 CPU cooler does well to maintain temperatures around the 80c mark. The GPU peaks at 79c in Furmark, or 74c when gaming. Adding a single exhaust fan on the side of the case would help circulate more air, and possibly reduce temperatures a little.

We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests.

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 Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System is very quiet under general use and it will be difficult to hear with the case positioned under a desk. When loaded, the GPU fan spins up considerably and the total noise measured was around 36DbA, which is still an excellent result.

We used a calibrated meter to measure the power at the wall. No monitors were factored into the readings. The system power drain was measured in the following states:

Idle: when resting at the desktop.
Gaming Load: running the ‘combined’ test in 3dMark 11. Processor and graphics card are stressed.

The Wired2Fire Diablo Predator System doesn't require a lot of power at the socket. At idle it demands around 76watts. This rises to around 225 watts under gaming load.

The Wired2Fire Diablo Predator is certainly a system worthy of recommendation. For the modest asking price of £899.95 you get an overclocked Core i5 3570k (@ 4.7ghz), Nvidia GTX660 and Corsair branded Solid State Drive, memory and power supply. Wired2Fire also include a large mechanical storage drive, keyboard, mouse and 23.5 inch IPS monitor with the bundle.

First impressions of the Diablo Predator are poor because the Xigmatek Asgard Pro is not the most eye catching chassis on the market, although the strengths are more than skin deep. The chassis is well built, reasonably quiet and offers plenty of positions for additional fans, if you want to enhance the airflow further.

With a cool title like Diablo Predator we had expected a case with slightly more visual impact, out of the box. An angry looking ‘Devil' or some miffed Demons on the side panels, or even a simple red paint job would have paired with the name well. In this regard I can't help but feel completely disappointed. It is after all, just a simple black Xigmatek chassis with no modifications or aesthetic enhancements.

Wired2Fire haven't populated all the positions with fans which may put some people off, particularly when the Core i5 processor is running in such a high state of overclock. To be fair however, the Core i5 3570k doesn't generate a lot of heat and the Xigmatek Achilles cooler handles the job reasonably well. Personally I would opt for a Corsair H80i to drop the temperatures by 5-7c under load, although this would add to the overall system cost.

Wired2Fire set the system up well in the Bios, raising the voltage of the processor a little to get stability at 4.7ghz. Everything else was perfect, although we noticed that the memory was only running at 1,333mhz and not 1,600mhz which we would assume was a one off glitch for our review system. Unfortunately we can only review what we get, so it does need to be pointed out.

This system is ideal for a gamer who wants to play the latest Direct X 11 games at 1080p. At 4.7ghz, the 3570K is also suitable for more serious duties, such as video editing and 3D rendering. Obviously spending extra for the Hyperthreading enabled 3770k would be a good option, but again, the price of the system would increase substantially.

We have no concerns with the GTX660, it is a capable graphics card which delivers commendable performance while sipping power at the socket. This system under extended gaming load only demanded 225 watts of power, which is an excellent result.

The inclusion of fast 120GB Solid State Drive for boot duties, and mechanical 1TB drive for backup and storage is an ideal configuration and one we recommend ourselves.

If you can look past the dull appearance, there is actually a very fine system underneath. For the reasonable price and with a decent 23.5 inch IPS monitor included we feel the Diablo Predator system earns a ‘Worth Buying' award from us.

Pros:

• Good state of overclock.
• excellent all round performance.
• Strong bundle.
• reasonable asking price.
• IPS monitor included in the price.

Cons:

• memory was misconfigured to 1,333mhz in our review sample.
• A few extra fans wouldn't have gone amiss.
• A slightly better CPU cooler would help reduce load temps.
• Very dull appearance for a system called ‘Diablo Predator'.

Kitguru says: A well built, balanced system.

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