Overclockers UK Titan 8000a Krypt Review

 

• Brand: Overclockers UK
  
• Model: Titan 8000a Krypt
• RRP: £820.87 (At time of the review)

With the ever present battle between Intel and AMD over supremacy in the component world currently, people have mixed opinions on both brands in terms of cost and performance.  Many companies build systems with both and usually, the AMD systems work out cheaper due to the price of the parts over the Intel options.  One such company is the well renowned UK based company, Overclockers UK or OcUK for short.  Offering a massive selection of systems to choose from including many options in terms of customisation, OcUK have something to cater for your budget’s needs.

OcUK have their head is clearly in the zone in terms of their custom built PC and the options available, but the system I will be taking a look at personally today is their Titan 8000a Krypt, which sports an AMD Bulldozer FX-4100 processor running at 3.6GHz.  The processor itself is a quad core and this CPU is the basis for the build.  There are many different configurations you can choose from but the system I have in my hands today includes an AMD HD7950 and a 120GB Samsung 840 Basic SSD.

Combined with the graphical power of a 7950, the boot performance of the Samsung SSD and a CPU with the power to price ratio that the Bulldozer FX 4100 CPU has, how will the system perform overall?  Let’s take a look at the full specifications of the build but first, here is Overclockers UK take on their Titan 8000a Krypt systems.

Overclockers UK on their Titan 8000a Krypt:

The “Titan 8000a Krypt” features a AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4100 3.60GHz Processor, combined with a selection of high performance, handpicked components designed to meet your desire for the perfect gaming system.

System Specification

– Case: Bitfenix Shinobi USB3.0 Case – Black
– Power Supply: Corsair GS 600w PSU
– CPU: AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4100 3.60GHz Processor
– Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760G Chipset (AM3+) Motherboard
– RAM: Kingston Genesis Grey 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
– Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD & Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD
– Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB
– Sound: 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
– Optical Drive: OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
– CPU Cooler: Stock AMD Cooler
– Wireless: Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps
– Operating system: Windows 8 64 Bit 

The Titan 8000a comes packing in a huge and very strong Overclockers box, which not only includes the system box, but other boxes which include the graphics card, the motherboard and a special surprise for Overclockers UK customers, Haribo!!!  I for one enjoyed the tangfastic sweets and many thanks to Overclockers for the treat.  The system itself is nicely snug inside the case and I have no concerns at all of in transit damage as the box is really thick and nothing inside wobbles around.

After you have ploughed through the sweets, the system comes pre-packed inside the case box; in this case (mind the pun), it comes packed inside the Bitfenix Shinobi case – which is windowless – so no seeing the inside without taking the side panel off.  Inside the box, the system is slotted inside with the polystyrene inserts to ensure the system and the exterior is protected during transit.

Taking a quick look at the top of the box, I just wanted to show you the Overclockers UK clear tape which is used on their packaging, which is a nice professional touch from a very professional company.

Taking a first glance at the OcUK Titan 8000a Krypt system, it comes entombed in the Bitfenix Shinobi case.  The Shinobi features USB 3.0 ports on the top of the case, with cooling capabilities that include spaces for 2 x 120mm fans in the front, 1 x 120mm fan in the rear or 1 x 92 (there is a 120mm included in the rear in the way of an exhaust), 2 x 140mm fans or 120mm fans in the top of the case and 1 x 120mm fan in the bottom if you so wish to include one.  I would have liked to have seen the Shinobi come with at least 1 intake on the front, it wasn’t meant to be and this is down to Bitfenix rather than OcUK themselves.

Looking at the exterior, the Bitfenix Shinobi stands proud while looking nice and neat; no aggressive design here, just simplistic which looks clean in my personal opinion.

Looking at the system from facing on, we can see the OcUK 24 x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter which is black in colour, and compliments the rest of the case well.  Also in view is the Bitfenix logo which is present on all current Bitfenix cases.

On the rear of the system, we can see the I/O shield of the motherboard, the rear of the AMD HD7950 which is included in the Titan 8000a Krypt which also doubles up as the cards cooling exhaust and last but not least, the rear 120mm Bitfenix fan which is used as an exhaust; this pushes the hot air inside the case out of the rear.

Finally, we have the front panel I/O, which includes 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, mic and headphone front panel audio and a power/reset switch.  Plenty of options available for those who need it.

Taking a look at the overview of the system from the inside, you can quite clearly see the big powerful Sapphire 7950 which takes up a fair amount of space inside the case.  This particular 7950 is Sapphires HD 7950 Vapor-X OC edition graphics card, which is considered to be one of the higher end models in the 7 series.  Coupled with the Corsair GS600 600watt power supply, this system should be plentiful for gaming on the latest titles.

The motherboard used in this system is the Gigabyte GA-78LMT0S20 AMD 760G AM3+ motherboard which is considered to be a budget board but nevertheless, it should do the job just fine.

Taking a look at the cable management, Overclockers UK have done a fantastic job at tidying the cables at the rear and have done a very professional job overall.  There isn’t a cable out of place and the system builder at OcUK has done a great job of using the allocated cable management space.

Taking a closer look at the graphics card, here is the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X OC graphics card in all its glory.  This particular model boasts stock clocks of 950/1250MHz at boost, so not a slow card by any means.  It also features 1 x Dual Link DVI, 1 x Single Link DVI, 1 x HDMI and 1 x Display Port outputs for your monitor.  To use VGA you will need an adapter but one is included inside the graphics card box, which comes provided with the system so rest assured.

Here we have a closer look at the memory included in the system, in particular the Kingston Genesis Grey 8GB DDR3 1600MHz memory.  This is average RAM but the differences between 1600MHz and 2400MHz in games are very marginal at best and you would be very hard pushed to notice any difference, if at all.

Cooling the processor, we have the AMD stock cooler, which I find slightly disappointing given the system costs just over £800, but in saying that, the system doesn’t come overclocked and the Bitfenix Shinobi doesn’t come with a window so it’s highly unlikely to make a difference anyway.  The red really does clash with the blue of the Gigabyte motherboard but as I just mentioned, it doesn’t really become an issue due to the windowless case.

The Titan 8000a Krypt comes complete with an SSD, in this case the fantastic Samsung 120GB 840 Basic, which is well known to be one of the top consumer level SATA3 SSDs on the market.  To complement the SSD, there is a 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 64MB cache for all those data files.  The Windows 8 64 bit operating system comes pre-installed onto the 120GB SSD for the extra performance and quick response and I would advise only putting one or 2 of your favourite games onto the SSD and the rest onto the 1TB HDD.

Powering the entire system, we have the Corsair GS600 power supply, which is more than powerful enough to handle the components inside the Titan 8000a Krypt.  Although the power supply itself isn’t modular, Overclockers UK have done a fantastic job with the cable management and I have no worries that anyone buying this system would come with messy cables.

Overall, the Overclockers UK Titan 8000a Krypt comes presented very well, it has oodles of style for a system with a non-windowed case and the Bitfenix Shinobi is subtle, but does the job very well.  The only niggle I have with the build itself is the SATA cables are allowed to hang loose and weren’t managed at all.  This to me looks a little messy but OcUK could be let off given that the case choice has no window so you wouldn’t even notice.  Those with an OCD will have other opinions but now it’s time to see how the Krypt performs in real world testing.  How will it handle the performance testing?  Well there’s only one way to find out…

System Specifications

– Case: Bitfenix Shinobi USB3.0 Case – Black
– Power Supply: Corsair GS 600w PSU
– CPU: AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4100 3.60GHz Processor
– Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760G Chipset (AM3+) Motherboard
– RAM: Kingston Genesis Grey 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
– Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD & Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD
– Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB
– Sound: 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
– Optical Drive: OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
– CPU Cooler: Stock AMD Cooler
– Wireless: Asus USB-N10 Micro USB Network Adapter Wireless-N 150Mbps
– Operating system: Windows 8 64 Bit 

Benchmarks

CPU & Memory:

Cinebench 11.5
AIDA64
SiS Sandra 2013
x264 HD 5.0.1

Graphics:

3DMark 11
3DMark Fire Strike
Company of Heroes 2
F1 2012
Hitman Absolution
Tomb Raider

Power consumption is measured using everything on the system.  This gives a more accurate reading of the overall system power usage.  To load the system up to full, the combined test on 3DMark Fire Strike is used.  The maximum reading is recorded.

 

 

This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic “Queens problem” on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example — with HyperThreading disabled — the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. CPU Queen Test uses integer MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SANDRA 2013 in my opinion, it’s a pretty stringent benchmark, capable of testing your systems limit. It is a pretty extensive suite of benchmarks but I have narrowed down the more relevant ones to compare performance.

 

 

 

 

Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

 

Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

 

Company of Heroes 2 is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for the Microsoft Windows platform. It is the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2006 game Company of Heroes.

The resolution for all 3 presets is 1920×1080:

 

 

In F1 2012 players will feel the unparalleled thrill of becoming a FORMULA ONE driver with a host of new features, wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements and extensive competitive and co-operative multiplayer components. F1 2012 will feature all of the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the debut of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX at Austin, Texas and the return of Germany’s famous Hockenheim circuit to the calendar.

The resolution for all 3 presets is 1920×1080:

 

 

Number 47 is back in Hitman Absolution, Packed with classic Hitman gameplay, Hitman Absolution is the perfect game for returning fans or newcomers alike. Take a more professional approach and do everything possible not to be noticed, and eliminate your targets without a sound. Use the environment to hide the departed and an assortment of deadly weapons to defeat them, disguise yourself as them before you dispose of the body and use your extensive experience to predict the actions of your enemies and slip through undetected. Or burst in in a shower of bullets and using Agent 47′s point shooting, allowing you to pick your targets with perfect clarity.

The resolution for all 3 presets is 1920×1080:

 

 

Tomb Raider explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor. Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island to escape its relentless hold.

The resolution for all 3 presets is 1920×1080:

 

 

PCMark 7 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 7 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. PCMark 7 is the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Well now the OcUK Titan 8000a Krypt system has been through my testing, how does it perform?  Is it a true Titan like its namesake or should it just be left in the Krypt to be devoured by scarabs?

Starting with the design, I have to say the Bitfenix Shinobi is a great case. It has plenty of features like front panel USB 3.0 ports, looks stylish and is very smooth.  This particular case for the Krypt doesn’t have a windowed panel, but window cases can sometimes be a novelty and as long as the hardware is doing its job, I see no problem the case OcUK have gone with when building the Titan 8000a Krypt.

Moving onto the performance, this is where it gets a little interesting.  In gaming, the system does perform well as it can, but the CPU is an obvious bottleneck on the AMD 7950 graphics card.  When you have a 4-5fps different between medium and low MSAA and Ultra with max MSAA you know the CPU is holding the system back.  Personally I would like to see something a little beefier in there like the 6 core or even the 8 core variant inside the system, obviously this will raise the price a little bit but given the results, it makes more sense than having a great GPU with an under-performing CPU.  The memory is also a slight disappointment; 1600MHz with CAS 11 latencies seems a little slow/loose, although it wouldn’t make much difference in real world situations, having 1600MHz memory with tighter timings of CAS9 would look more desirable, given the price people are paying for hardware these days.

The choice of components is a mixed bag but let me explain in more detail.  The choice of the GPU in the way of the Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X is a fantastic choice in my opinion, the cooler is quiet, performs great and with all the 7 series AMD cards, you get great bang for buck which for a gamer on a budget, is one of the most important factors.  The PCB of the graphics card might be blue, but without the window, you wouldn’t see this and can’t really complain on OcUK’s choice, which I wouldn’t anyway as the choice of card is a great one.  The motherboard on the other hand in my opinion isn’t too bad either, although there is only 1 x PCI-EX x 16 2.0 port, this restricts you from using multi-GPU configurations but in saying that, with the current CPU bottleneck I would strongly advise against even considering it.

Aside from the above issue regarding the CPU bottleneck, the inclusion of the Samsung 840 120GB as a boot device is amazing and compliments the 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD perfectly.  You get the best of both worlds, super-fast boot times with Windows 8, plenty of space for games, music, documents and anything else you plan on storing.

Touching on the finer details of Overclockers UK’s building, the cable management was sublime.  Real care and time has been taken to ensure the cables have been routed correctly, that the back panel comes on and off with ease and that the cables don’t restrict air flow, which is very important in my opinion.  The only bad point here is the blue SATA cables; they were left hanging and no effort was made to secure them in but it isn’t a huge problem as they can be easily tucked away and they could have popped out during transit.

Price wise, the system really does pack a punch, coming in at just over £800, small minor improvements could be made but overall, it provides decent value for money and given your preferences lie with AMD, this system would fit the bill perfectly.  This would have easily won the Value award but due to the bottlenecking issue, it falls just short but I am more than happy to award the Titan Krypt our design award due to the amazing cable management, sleek design of the Bitfenix Shinobi and the packaging which ensure not a single scratch/mark was able to penetrate to the system itself.