"Fitted with top quality components and overclocked to 3.3ghz, the Clocked Gamer Quad offers top performance at a reasonable price."
Clocked Gamer Quad Review
Clocked Gamer Quad Review
OC3D Review: The Computer Council - Clocked Gamer Quad PC System
- Thread starter JN
- Start date
Nice review there, I like what you've done comparing it to a stock system. Really shows what a good O/C can do for performance.
Respect to TCC, nice rig with a great, sensible spec. It shocks me how some companys fool nubs with the stupid sales tricks by throwing in "extreme dx10 gaming with sli" with poorer cards such as a pair 8600's when a much better single card solution is a mere £30~£40 more. Good call on the psu aswell, I'd be horrified to buy a high end rig with a cheapy psu in it.
Cheers for the read
Respect to TCC, nice rig with a great, sensible spec. It shocks me how some companys fool nubs with the stupid sales tricks by throwing in "extreme dx10 gaming with sli" with poorer cards such as a pair 8600's when a much better single card solution is a mere £30~£40 more. Good call on the psu aswell, I'd be horrified to buy a high end rig with a cheapy psu in it.
Cheers for the read
equk
New member
name='ionicle' said:
That's exactly what I am thinking after seeing this review.
I might buy prebuilt if it was cheaper than building it, had good components and was still just as clockable. (prob never going to happen tho)
I'm also a bit bemused at the benchmark results?
Is it the same spec just not overclocked?
If so, it just really proves that overclocking gains performance which is the whole basis/point of overclocking?
Gaming laptop reviews could be interesting
Great review Jim. Very informative and an enjoyable read. It's nice to see someone putting the time into building a quality pre-overclocked setup that just 'works' straight from the off. Some people have neither the inclanation nor the time to build and then overclock a setup and don't mind paying a small premium for that service - well done TCC.
name='equk' said:
review said:
Pretty much sums it up right there.
It was a t0ss-up between benchmarking it against nothing which would be totally pointless, or benchmarking against a stock clocked machine and at least giving a small amount of readers the opportunity to see what advantage overclocking has.
Mate.... That was an awesome review. The generic test was as close to a perfect comparison as you could get, baring the ram but the difference in that spec was minimal.
Just shows what a nice overclock really does.
Tis good to see the time and effort put into each PC built by TCC.. Good job guys!
Just shows what a nice overclock really does.
Tis good to see the time and effort put into each PC built by TCC.. Good job guys!
Mr. Smith
New member
I'm going to be a little critical here because, frankly, it's in my nature 
The specs of the rig - you already addressed the 4gb issue so hats off, use the ReaperX they rock. The £15 cooler really isn't acceptable in my eyes on a £1K machine; a TRUE should be sitting pretty on that quad. The gpu; having owned two X2's I can safely say they are not gamers cards at all. They give erratic, sluggish performance and when I swapped out the X2 for my 88GT there was hardly any difference in performance. For this reason I believe TCC should use a 98GTX (even a GTS, both are cheaper and better than the X2) and OC it. The CPU overclock is pretty unspectacular BUT I'm willing to let that slide on the basis it is a pre built machine and TCC offer a warranty etc.
Jim - I'm a little shocked in the OC section you 'pushed' to 3.4 on the same voltage and threw the towel in. 1.55v is more than safe for 24/7 usage for years, I'd liked to have seen a voltage increase and a real attempt at pushing for more mhz. This is even more important on this setup as the X2 is involved as it simply laps up cpu power, with every 100mhz it's performance increases (from my own observations and researching around the net).
On the whole the system offers a great pre built system better than most other pre built systems, none of the components are bad but there are better alternatives in the same price category, e.g. even if the X2 was one of the cheaper ones at £240 the 98GTX can be found for £190, saving £50. This can be reinvested into the machine to offset the 4gb reaperX upgrade and the TRUE (as I see it there is the £50 saving on the gpu plus the money for the AF7 and the existing ram). With these changes the quad gamer would be just that, more of a gamers machine, definitely superior to competitors offerings. Actually, I’m going to go a little further and say an e8400/e8500 should be offered as an alternative, they overclock higher than the q6600 and with the lower tdp the air cooler can adequately handle the bigger OC’s. They also yield higher frame rates and sm2/sm3 scores than their quad brethren.
Just a few thoughts, I’m at work, this is rushed so consider this my disclaimer against any mistake/oversight
Overall a good job
Side note: I'd be happy to review any pre built system.
The specs of the rig - you already addressed the 4gb issue so hats off, use the ReaperX they rock. The £15 cooler really isn't acceptable in my eyes on a £1K machine; a TRUE should be sitting pretty on that quad. The gpu; having owned two X2's I can safely say they are not gamers cards at all. They give erratic, sluggish performance and when I swapped out the X2 for my 88GT there was hardly any difference in performance. For this reason I believe TCC should use a 98GTX (even a GTS, both are cheaper and better than the X2) and OC it. The CPU overclock is pretty unspectacular BUT I'm willing to let that slide on the basis it is a pre built machine and TCC offer a warranty etc.
Jim - I'm a little shocked in the OC section you 'pushed' to 3.4 on the same voltage and threw the towel in. 1.55v is more than safe for 24/7 usage for years, I'd liked to have seen a voltage increase and a real attempt at pushing for more mhz. This is even more important on this setup as the X2 is involved as it simply laps up cpu power, with every 100mhz it's performance increases (from my own observations and researching around the net).
On the whole the system offers a great pre built system better than most other pre built systems, none of the components are bad but there are better alternatives in the same price category, e.g. even if the X2 was one of the cheaper ones at £240 the 98GTX can be found for £190, saving £50. This can be reinvested into the machine to offset the 4gb reaperX upgrade and the TRUE (as I see it there is the £50 saving on the gpu plus the money for the AF7 and the existing ram). With these changes the quad gamer would be just that, more of a gamers machine, definitely superior to competitors offerings. Actually, I’m going to go a little further and say an e8400/e8500 should be offered as an alternative, they overclock higher than the q6600 and with the lower tdp the air cooler can adequately handle the bigger OC’s. They also yield higher frame rates and sm2/sm3 scores than their quad brethren.
Just a few thoughts, I’m at work, this is rushed so consider this my disclaimer against any mistake/oversight
Overall a good job
Side note: I'd be happy to review any pre built system.
name='Mr. Smith' said:I'm going to be a little critical here because, frankly, it's in my nature
The specs of the rig - you already addressed the 4gb issue so hats off, use the ReaperX they rock. The £15 cooler really isn't acceptable in my eyes on a £1K machine; a TRUE should be sitting pretty on that quad. The gpu; having owned two X2's I can safely say they are not gamers cards at all. They give erratic, sluggish performance and when I swapped out the X2 for my 88GT there was hardly any difference in performance. For this reason I believe TCC should use a 98GTX (even a GTS, both are cheaper and better than the X2) and OC it. The CPU overclock is pretty unspectacular BUT I'm willing to let that slide on the basis it is a pre built machine and TCC offer a warranty etc.
What drivers was you using with your X2 mate? Catalyst 8.4's were installed on this rig which from the low/high/avg frame rates seemed to be a little more consistent from what I've seen in the previous cats.
True on the cooler, but in all honesty it does the job nicely. Everybody rates this particular cooler, and rightly so.
name='Mr. Smith' said:
IMO the whole idea behind a pre-overclocked system is to provide the customer with an added-value system. Sure I could have bumped up the voltage, sure I could have adjusted ram timings, sure i could have knocked the multi down and run at a higher FSB...hell I could have even volt modded the board. But for the not-so-tech-savvy, just ramping up the FSB a few notches can be on the borderline of their capabilities.
I'm using 8.4's with an X2 on a Dell 3007 - no such troubles here. The card does suffer a little with all the bells and whistles set to max but for the price, it certainly punches above its weight. Not the best card now that the Gx2 is out but it's certainly a step in the right direction for ATI and one that seems to be matched well to that setup.
Rastalovich
New member
I still like the idea of OC3D having a review section, that suppliers submit to as they do presently. Reviewed pretty much as Jim has done here, looked at it as a product that would be bought by someone `as-is` and tested on that basis - BUT - the idea that I like is an "extreme-review" of sorts (that the supplier is aware of obviously). So u have the regular great review plus another one a few weeks later maybe where it`s been dragged through the bushes, so to speak.
I`m imagining a customer for TCC & this gaming quad not necessarily being an `enthusiast`, but some1 who would either like to be an enthusiast, or wants to be in-touch with enthusiast stuff - but has no time to actually be hands-on or something.
Let`s face it, £1k.. we here, in the majority would buy our own dfferent kit individually, install it differently, and have cash for pizza and coke afterwards.
But if u don`t have the time ? Or if the time it takes a fringe enthusiast to spend on this is more valuable to them than the overhead ? Or really if u want to buy something from a a pos (point of sale) and have the service that goes along with it ..
Other companies do these "gaming" pcs for around £1k, it`d be interesting to have a row of comparisons.
I`m imagining a customer for TCC & this gaming quad not necessarily being an `enthusiast`, but some1 who would either like to be an enthusiast, or wants to be in-touch with enthusiast stuff - but has no time to actually be hands-on or something.
Let`s face it, £1k.. we here, in the majority would buy our own dfferent kit individually, install it differently, and have cash for pizza and coke afterwards.
But if u don`t have the time ? Or if the time it takes a fringe enthusiast to spend on this is more valuable to them than the overhead ? Or really if u want to buy something from a a pos (point of sale) and have the service that goes along with it ..
Other companies do these "gaming" pcs for around £1k, it`d be interesting to have a row of comparisons.
The Computer Council
New member
name='nunzio' said:
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