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Chillblast Fusion Photo OC III review

Verdict

Fantastic performance for photo and video enthusiasts, but you'll pay though the nose for it

Review Date: 3 Sep 2009

Reviewed By: Mike Jennings

Price when reviewed: £1,260 (£1,449 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
6 stars out of 6

Value for Money
4 stars out of 6

Performance
6 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Details
Part Code	Fusion Photo OC III
Review Date	3 Sep 2009
Price ex VAT	£1,260
Price inc VAT	£1,449
Overall rating
Performance
Features & Design
Value for Money

Warranty
Warranty	2yr collect and return

Basic specifications
Total hard disk capacity	1,080
RAM capacity	12.00GB
Screen size	N/A

Processor
CPU family	Intel Core i7
CPU nominal frequency	2.66GHz
CPU overclocked frequency	3.80GHz
Processor socket	LGA 1366
HSF (heatsink-fan)	Akasa Nero

Motherboard
Motherboard	Asus P6T SE
Motherboard chipset	Intel X58
Conventional PCI slots free	2
Conventional PCI slots total	2
PCI-E x16 slots free	2
PCI-E x16 slots total	3
PCI-E x8 slots free	0
PCI-E x8 slots total	0
PCI-E x4 slots free	0
PCI-E x4 slots total	0
PCI-E x1 slots free	1
PCI-E x1 slots total	1
Internal SATA connectors	6
Internal SAS connectors	0
Internal PATA connectors	1
Internal floppy connectors	1
Wired adapter speed	1,000Mbits/sec

Memory
Memory type	DDR3
Memory sockets free	1
Memory sockets total	4

Hard disk
Hard disk	Intel X25-M SSD
Capacity	80GB
Hard disk usable capacity	74GB
Internal disk interface	SATA/300
Spindle speed	N/A
Cache size	N/A
Hard disk 2 make and model	Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B
Hard disk 2 nominal capacity	1,000GB
Hard disk 2 formatted capacity	931
Hard disk 2 spindle speed	7,200RPM
Hard disk 2 cache size	16MB
Hard disk 3 make and model	Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B
Hard disk 3 nominal capacity	1,000GB
Hard disk 4 make and model	N/A
Hard disk 4 nominal capacity	N/A

Drives
Optical drive	LG GGW-H20L
Optical disc technology	Blu-ray writer
Optical disk 2 make and model	N/A
Optical disk 3 make and model	N/A

Graphics card
Graphics card	ATI Radeon HD 4850
Multiple SLI/CrossFire cards?
3D performance setting	High
Graphics chipset	ATI Radeon HD 4850
Graphics card RAM	512MB
DVI-I outputs	2
HDMI outputs	0
VGA (D-SUB) outputs	0
DisplayPort outputs	0
Number of graphics cards	1

Monitor
Monitor make and model	N/A
Resolution screen horizontal	N/A
Resolution screen vertical	N/A
Resolution	N/A x N/A
Pixel response time	N/A
Contrast ratio	N/A
Screen brightness	N/A
DVI inputs	N/A
HDMI inputs	N/A
VGA inputs	N/A
DisplayPort inputs	N/A

Rear ports
USB ports (downstream)	9
FireWire ports	1
eSATA ports	1
PS/2 mouse port
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports	1
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports	1
Modem
3.5mm audio jacks	6

Additional Peripherals
Speakers	N/A
Speaker type	N/A
Sound card	Realtek HD audio

Case
Chassis	Cooler Master Sileo
Case format	Full tower
Dimensions	200 x 480 x 437mm (WDH)

Power supply
Power supply	OCZ GX5600
Power supply rating	600W

Free drive bays
Free front panel 5.25in bays	4

Front ports
Front panel USB ports	3
Front panel eSATA ports	1
Front panel memory card reader

Mouse & Keyboard
Mouse and keyboard	N/A

Operating system and software
OS family	Windows Vista
Recovery method	Recovery disc
Software supplied	N/A

Noise and power
Idle power consumption	147W
Peak power consumption	230W

Performance tests
Overall application benchmark score	2.55
Office application benchmark score	2.16
2D graphics application benchmark score	2.86
Encoding application benchmark score	2.17
Multitasking application benchmark score	3.03
3D performance (crysis) low settings	34fps
3D performance setting	High

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From around the web

A 20 megapixel image even at a native 14 bit will only take up 800MB.

12GB just seems unnecessary. Unless, of course, you absolutely have to have 15 RAW images open at a time. But you can only work on one at a time...

By drajs on 4 Sep 2009

Simplz

Layers in Adobe apps, take up the memory if you have lots of images to work on together, so no you don't always work on one photo at a time. I have just upgraded to a similar spec machine with Windows 7 and it rocks compared to old P4-3ghz with 4gb Ram and noisy disks. Get some now and enjoy. :-)

By greenee on 7 Sep 2009

We might want to Multitask?

Some of us might run Photoshop AND Lightroom together, and we also might want to browse the web, run Office programs, and run memory-hungry virtual machines. The more memory, the less disk swapping and the better the overall responsiveness and performance of the system...

By Sushifiend on 22 Mar 2010

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