What’s it like to video game on a $40,000 PC?

There’s something surreal about using a PC that costs more than many people’s house deposits– but that’s exactly what’s possible if you take the plunge on Overclockers UK’s newest maker.

The 8Pack Orion X2 costs ₤33,000– or around $43,000 if you’re in the U.S.A., or AU$60,000 in Australia– and the system consists of amazing, benchmark-breaking hardware. However, in the beginning, it’s difficult to surpass simply how definitely, utterly outrageous it looks.

Daring design

The interior is controlled by three water-cooling loops that are increased with customized acrylic reservoirs, and the whole rig is themed with black, red and grey– from the coolant to the hand-sleeved cable televisions.

It’s illuminated by BitFenix Alchemy RGB LED strips, and the colours rollover to the Phanteks Enthoo Elite case. The entire rig is 750 mm tall, and it weighs more than 30 kg.

Initially glimpse the Orion looks entirely spectacular. But it’s only when you get better that the real work and attention to detail is exposed.

Take the water-cooling. There are 3 custom loops inside the Orion X2, and their substantial 360 mm and 480 mm radiators are well-hidden and increased with custom-made 8Pack fans. The loops all chill different components, and they’re color-coded with different coolants to match the red, black and grey theme used in other places.

The loops assemble in 3 pump units in the middle of the chassis, and the coolant then passes through a sensational reservoir that’s personalized from acrylic in the shape of the 8Pack logo design.

Different parts of the block are filled with various coolants, which’s not the only area where tailor-made acrylic is utilized– there’s another piece of it at the bottom of the rig.

There are stunning information in other places in the construct. Water-cooling hardware originates from the professionals at EK. Mayhems coolant is utilized throughout, and the 3 loops are all handled by an Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 controller. Everything makes for an interior that’s filled with pipelines that course with coolant– and among the most appealing designs that we have actually ever seen.

Purchase one, get one complimentary?

The Orion X2 looks magnificent. And after that, once you get beyond the style, there’s the little truth that you’re not paying for one PC here– you’re really getting two systems inside this one case.

The main PC is one of the beefiest consumer rigs that’s ever been put together. Processing power comes from the 18- core i9-7980 XE that’s overclocked to at least 4.6 GHz, and it’s coupled with 128 GB of overclocked memory and three Nvidia Turing graphics cards.

The Asus ROG Rampage VI Extreme Omega is a huge slab of PCB that’s littered with high-end features, from all-board cooling and great lighting to beefed-up wireless, Gigabit Ethernet and audio. It’s merely among the best motherboards on the marketplace.

Storage is managed by two 2GB Samsung 970 EVO SSDs and a 14 TB Seagate Ironwolf Pro hard drive.

Record-breaking Hardware

Preliminary criteria reveal that the Orion’s primary system delivers sensational speed. In the 3D Mark Fire Strike test the three RTX 2080 Ti cards scored 39,228– which is around 12,000 points more than a single RTX 2080 Ti The triple-card arrangement scored 29,706 in the Fire Strike Extreme benchmark– while single-GPU makers are regularly 13,000 points behind.

The three graphics cards do not deliver a clear tripling of the performance when compared to a single GPU, obviously, however that seldom occurs with several cards.

Get beyond that truth, and the circumstance looks rosier. There is not a gaming job that this PC will not deal with: it’ll play every game, at every resolution, at leading settings.

It’ll run work jobs with ease, too. Whether you’re rendering, producing 4K video, running CAD applications or doing anything else that needs lashings of GPU power, this PC will deliver it with aplomb.

The processing power on display screen is likewise stonking. In Geekbench the overclocked Intel Core i9-7980 XE scored 34,505 points– around 10,000 points much better than a standard, overclocked Core i7 CPU. In the tougher Cinebench test the Core i9 chip scored 4,451 cb, which is almost three times as fast as normal Core i7 parts.

As ever, heading up the CPU stack and having a greater clock does indicate reducing returns– the space from a Core i7 to this Core i9 isn’t as broad as, state, the gulf in between a Pentium and a Core i5.

Nevertheless, the Orion’s main rig provides fearsome CPU power, which Cinebench rating shows that this PC has the cores and speed to manage any work application. There simply is not a performance task that this rig can not manage.

And, regardless of all of the power on program, the Orion X2 kept quiet throughout our screening. Aside from the low rumble of coolant and fans, this system was barely audible. It’s definitely quieter than many other gaming PCs.

It should be kept in mind that the system we’ve evaluated used RTX 2080 Ti cards rather of Titan RTX GPUs.

The three 2080 Ti cards aren’t slow, naturally, however the trio of Titan RTX GPUs in the $40,000 version of this PC will provide substantially more performance.

If you did want this PC with 2080 Ti cards, it would bring the rate down by around $5,00/ ₤ 3,600/ AU$ 6,600 Overclockers UK permits customisation in other departments too– the memory allocation can be halved, you can step down to two Titan RTX cards, and the hardware inside the smaller system can also be changed.

It’s also possible to alter the color design. If you don’t like black, red and grey, the cable sleeves, coolant and other aesthetic functions can all be altered.

Mini however magnificent

The main rig, naturally, takes up the majority of the spec inside the Phanteks chassis. If you don’t need that quantity of power, you can change to the Orion’s 2nd machine. It’s a mini-ITX rig that sits beneath the primary trio of graphics cards, and it has its own terrifying requirements: an Intel Core i7-9700 K overclocked to a minimum of 5GHz, an Asus ROG Strix motherboard, two Samsung 970 EVO SSDs and the same GPU as the primary PC.

The smaller sized PC is adept. It zipped through Cinebench with a score of 2,230 cb, and returned an outcome of 30,028 in 3D Mark Fire Strike.

Those scores are much better than the majority of full-size video gaming PCs with comparable elements, and they’re testimony to 8Pack’s overclocking and part-picking skills. It also means that this PC can handle 4K video gaming, high-end material development, streaming and rendering with plenty of rate.

Both rigs are powered by one PSU. It’s an 8Pack-branded Super Flower unit that delivers a monster 2,000 W of power, and a rocker turn on top of the case changes in between the 2 systems.

8Pack a lot in

The Orion X2’s parts don’t simply impress because they’re high-end chips with hefty overclocks.

This maker is the flagship of the Overclockers UK range– which implies it’s designed, developed and optimised by Ian “8Pack” Parry– a world-champion overclocker who holds numerous world records when it comes to tweaking the current silicon.

8Pack selects the parts for these PCs himself, evaluating dozens of chips in order to find the fastest CPUs and GPUs with the heftiest amounts of overclocking headroom. It’s a process that creates extra performance and stability for each 8Pack device, and it just isn’t used on more standard PC builds.

Every part inside this device is carefully picked, hand-tested and fine-tuned to provide exceptional efficiency and rock-solid stability, which does partly discuss the big rates. It also goes some way to validating the 42- day lead time on these rigs.

And After That, when the machine has actually been built, it’s furnished with a plate that has 8Pack’s signature and your distinct build number– and it’s delivered in a customized 8Pack flight case.

Budget-friendly options

The Orion X2 is 8Pack’s flagship PC, however it’s not the only rig in the variety. The Supernova costs ₤14,000/$17,000/ AU$25,000 and consists of an overclocked Intel i9-7980 XE along with 2 Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti GPUs, and the ₤11,000/$13,600/ AU$20,000 Polaris MK2 has similarly spicy specs. The Comet is a ₤ 7,000/$ 8,700/ AU$13,000 mini-ITX device with an overclocked Intel Core i9-9900 K and an Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti.

The 8Pack-inspired Infin8 variety has status systems that aren’t rather as expensive as the devices that 8Pack builds himself, and the rest of the Overclockers UK PC range is much more standard– and far more inexpensive.

You won’t get the level of skill or efficiency on these PCs, of course, however you will have the ability to handle the vast majority of video games and work applications quickly– and you will not need to get a 2nd home loan in order to manage one of the firm’s typical systems.

The world’s best PC?

The Overclockers UK 8Pack Orion X2 is an unreasonable PC– a ridiculous pair of PCs. It’s fantastic, too.

We’ve never ever seen a PC with such distinctive, intricate structure work, from its three water-cooling loops to its substantial lighting, sleeved cables and personalized acrylic. And, similarly, we have actually never checked a PC that’s this effective. The primary rig will handle literally anything, and the secondary system is still better than nearly anything on the market.

There’s no doubt that using a $40,000 PC is a luxurious and enjoyable experience, particularly when the power available is stabilized with amazing style and peaceful operation.

However, there’s also no doubt that many people simply do not need this system. Instead, better choices can be found in the rest of the Overclockers UK variety.

If you do have a vast savings account and a desire for the very best, though, then knock yourselves out. Simply do not be shocked if we turn up to try on your PC as soon as its flight case arrives.

TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2020 is commemorating the most effective video gaming platform in the world with articles, interviews and necessary buying guides that showcase how diverse, creative, and exceptional PC video games– and gamers– can be. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2020 page to see all our coverage in one location.

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