V3 Gaming PC Avenger Review: A New Challenger Appears
by Dustin Sklavos on May 16, 2012 2:20 AM ESTIntroducing the V3 Gaming PC Avenger
We've had a few boutiques come through here, but what V3 Gaming PC wanted to approach us with was something different than we're used to seeing. Many of the systems sent through here are aggressively tuned, designed for performance at virtually any cost. It looks fantastic on charts, but in practice you're often paying out the nose for a system that left the price-performance curve eating the dust in its speedy wake. With the Avenger, V3 wanted to do something a little different.
What we have in house today is a system they believe has been designed to be as balanced a build as possible. High performance, sure, but more well-rounded and suited for a variety of tasks without blowing up the room temperature or the power bill in the process. The reasons behind some of the decisions they've made are laudable, but some of the others may be somewhat more nebulous.
V3 Gaming PC Avenger Specifications | |
Chassis | Corsair Carbide 500R |
Processor |
Intel Core i7-3820 (4x3.6GHz + HTT, Turbo to 3.8GHz, 4.75GHz (38x Multiplier, 125 Bclk) Overclock, 32nm, 10MB L3, 130W) |
Motherboard | MSI X79A-GD45 (X79 Chipset) |
Memory | 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 @ DDR3-1666 (expandable to 64GB) |
Graphics |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB (1536 CUDA cores, 1006/6008MHz core/RAM, 256-bit memory bus) |
Storage |
2x Corsair Force GT 60GB SATA 6Gbps SSD (SF-2281) in RAID 0 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200-RPM SATA 6Gbps HDD |
Optical Drive(s) | Toshiba-Samsung BD-ROM/DVD-RAM |
Power Supply | Corsair TX750 V2 80 Plus Bronze |
Networking | Intel 82579V Gigabit Ethernet |
Audio |
Realtek ALC892 Speaker, mic/line-in, surround jacks, optical out for 7.1 sound |
Front Side |
Optical drive Card reader 2x USB 3.0 6-pin FireWire Headphone and mic jacks |
Top | - |
Back Side |
2x PS/2 6x USB 2.0 2x USB 3.0 Optical and digital audio out Ethernet jack Speaker, mic, line-in, and surround jacks 2x DVI-D (GTX 680) 1x DisplayPort (GTX 680) 1x HDMI (GTX 680) |
Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 |
Extras |
Card reader Asetek closed liquid cooling loop RAID 0 |
Warranty | 3-year parts and labor, lifetime support |
Pricing | $2,399 |
If you're looking at that spec table and scratching your head at some of the choices, you weren't the only one. A high overclock on a quad-core CPU, NVIDIA's top-of-the-line single-GPU graphics card, 16GB of fast DDR3, that's all par for the course with a boutique system. I'm even quite fond of the Corsair enclosure and power supply, both of which are quality components. Yet I'll admit I was perplexed by the use of the Sandy Bridge-E quad-core instead of Sandy Bridge proper (the review unit was received before Ivy Bridge launched). Running two low-capacity SSDs in RAID 0 also seemed like a strange call. So I went to the source and asked why these choices were made.
First, the Avenger is their top shelf system, so it would make sense that they'd go for X79 and Sandy Bridge-E instead of an LGA1155-based system. A top shelf system should also be ready for tri-SLI or CrossFireX, too, so the mountain of PCI Express bandwidth on Sandy Bridge-E makes sense. At the same time, most users simply don't need a hex-core processor, so under the circumstances the Intel Core i7-3820 would be the best fit. I'm not sure I 100% agree with the logic here, but the system as specced is designed to be as upgradeable as possible; a Z77-based system would be stuck at dual graphics cards, 32GB of RAM, and the CPU would basically peak where the i7-3820 begins. You may not entirely agree with the decisions made here, but at least there's some logic to them.
Where I do think things are more nebulous is with the pair of 60GB Corsair Force GT SSDs in a striped RAID. On paper that performance is going to look fantastic, but in practice it's not really necessary and I think a lot of us would've been more satisfied with a single 120GB drive to go with the mechanical hard drive. The price would be essentially the same, but you'd gain TRIM support. The argument there was that many customers request SSDs in a striped RAID, and that this is a six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other kind of situation. Again, I'm not sure I agree and I'm not sure you will either, but there's still logic to it.
The rest of the system is pretty fundamental, although the overclock on that i7-3820 is among the highest we've tested and I remain a bit concerned about the 1.42V running through it. Overclocks are one of those things I tend to leave up to the discretion of the vendor; if they're willing to warrant it and accept the responsibility, that's their call. I personally find it to be on the high side, but as I was discussing with Ian the other night, I'm a very conservative overclocker; I seldom raise voltage on a CPU more than 0.1V, if that.
As far as pricing, putting together similar parts from Newegg and other online stores, the total hardware cost for a system like the V3 Avenger comes out to around $1900—we say "around" because some of the parts aren't readily available for end-user purchase. Toss in a 3-year standard warranty and the 25% overclock and the final price of $2400 looks pretty comparable to what you'd pay elsewhere. It's not an amazing deal, but for a prebuilt system with a hefty overclock it's at least reasonable. If you have the time and inclination to DIY, you'll pay less, but for those who would rather just skip straight to using their PCs you're looking at a ~10% markup. And with that out of the way, let's get into the details of the Avenger.
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StruckXx - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
Yeah, for a vendor they are way overcharging. I buy my computers from http://IronsideComputers.com, and their prices are much more reasonable. I compared them with V3, and the price is nearly $300 cheaper and they are offering free liquid cooling and a better motherboard.Sunrise089 - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
According to the introduction this PC is supposed to avoid "paying out the nose for a system that left the price-performance curve eating the dust in its speedy wake" and that has been "designed to be as balanced a build as possible."You conclude though that "the Avenger is the top-of-the-line, 'I have too much money' model, while the Convoy is the more aggressive workhorse. Ivy Bridge and Z77 (when the line is updated with them) are going to give you more bang for your buck anyhow."
So which is it? We all know this isn't "as balanced of a build as possible," so please don't include such language if you don't think it's true. Just because a manufacturer offers some talking points to make your job easier doesn't mean you have to fall for them.
There's no shame in just opening the article by telling us that "the Avenger is another high-end boutique PC that tries to offer enough to justify it's considerable price" or something similar. It would be a lot more honest...
JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
"What we have in house today is a system they believe has been designed to be as balanced a build as possible."Saying that V3 is claiming this is a "balanced" system is all that the intro states; that's their supposed goal and listing that goal and then evaluating how well they succeed at achieving it is perfectly reasonable. And in the conclusion as well as elsewhere, Dustin points out several ways in which the system isn't particularly balanced. I don't see any "parroting of talking points" here. If that's all Dustin were doing, the review would be a lot more favorable.
ImSpartacus - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
Yeah, I agree. I had different expectations after reading that intro. If I hadn't read that intro, I think I might've been able to judge it differently.When I think "bang-for-buck" in the boutique realm, I imagine a machine with a cheap stock quad core CPU, a bitchin single GPU, a moderate amount of RAM and an adequate storage solution.
This machine only checks one of those boxes.
DanNeely - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
Same here. The description V3 gave is something I'd put on a $1000-1500 DIY/$1200-1800 boutique system.Tunnah - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
The CPU isn't any more expensive than the none-E part so it was a good choice, you have a stronger CPU and also the better chipset, you've not ended up paying much extra for it.cknobman - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
I would never pick a build with a SSD setup like that.Then to make it worse their overclock is terrible (not speed but the voltage increase they used to get it).
Voldenuit - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
"What we have in house today is a system they believe has been designed to be as balanced a build as possible. "Balanced? A sensible *gaming* build would have been a Core i5 (or even an i3!) and a GeForce 670 tops. And replace those RAIDed 60 GB Sandforce drives with a single 128 GB Samsung 830, Plextor M3 or Corsair Performance Pro.
kyuu - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
Yeah, I have to agree with other posters: this is not a "balanced" build. The Sandy Bridge-E by itself pretty much precludes that designation. And you certainly are paying out the nose for a system that "left the price-performance curve eating the dust in its speedy wake."Although I disagree with other posters in that I think the case looks good.
sjankis630 - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
Can someone tell me why they put together a top level system and used Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit? Isn't there a limit on the ram that Windows 7 Home Premium can accept?I thought it was 16GB. Knowing an enthusiast will likely want to upgrade, why not use Windows Professional with a 192GB limit?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/de...