Scan 3XS OC-1000

If any manufacturer was going to go all out this month, it was always likely to be the high-end specialist Scan. The 3XS OC-1000 is an absolute titan of a PC with a price tag to match, but it's hard not to be won over by the incredible specification. It more than lives up to the "ultimate" tag by packing in four hard disks, a Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid drive and every other imaginable extra.

Admittedly, that puts it well out of the budget of most people - us included - but for those few with pockets deep enough there's so much to like. The Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 is a tough old chassis to fill, but with two 8800 Ultra cards below a watercooled Q6600 CPU the Scan is certainly busier than most. The CPU is overclocked to 3GHz, although at this price we'd perhaps have expected a fully fledged 3GHz CPU in the first place.

Nevertheless, it's fast, scoring a decent 1.62 in our 2D benchmarks before absolutely obliterating every game we threw at it, even at resolutions up to 1,920 x 1,200. The 24in monitor can handle this, and it's the A-Listed Samsung 245B (web ID: 125298), so the quality is excellent.

The main drawback to all this power - apart from the price - is the amount of noise it generates. While not overly irritating during our use, the total of five fans makes the 44dBA idle noise measurement the highest here, so out in the open or on a desk it will be noticeable.

If that isn't a problem, you'll also love the Blu-ray writer, which can read HD DVD discs, too, and the four-disk RAID array, giving 1TB of striped and mirrored storage. Add in a digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi card, 5.1 speakers and a proper gaming mouse and keyboard, and you have a real giant of a PC. Unfortunately, you'll need a wallet to match.

Author: David Bayon