V3 Gaming PC Avenger Review: A New Challenger Appears
by Dustin Sklavos on May 16, 2012 2:20 AM ESTConclusion: Odd Expectations
My time with the V3 Gaming PC Avenger has admittedly been more drawn out than I think any of us would've liked, but now that I've gotten a feel for it and put it through its paces I'm able to make some fairly educated assessments about both the boutique and the underlying hardware.
First, while I understand why the V3 Avenger is operating on the X79 platform, I still think it's overkill for the majority of users and amusingly enough, the guys over at V3 do agree. Where we diverge is on the i7-3820; this isn't the decrepit family member that the Yonah-based Core Solo was back in the day, but honestly I feel like it's a very niche product and echo Anand's sentiments. I'm of the opinion that if you're going X79, you should go big or go home: that means an i7-3930K hex-core and/or SLI.
Second, I'm sure approximately none of you are surprised to see the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 perform as well as it does on its own. This thing has been selling out consistently since release, and judging by our performance and power consumption numbers, there are very good reasons for that.
Third, running a pair of inexpensive SSDs in RAID 0 instead of just going for a single larger drive still feels like a net loss. When the notoriously SSD-friendly PCMark still defers to larger individual SSDs, the writing is on the wall. A single SSD and mechanical drive seems to be the way to go.
So what about V3 Gaming PC themselves? My experiences with them were good, but I'm also press, and that's going to skew things. With any young and/or small boutique there's always the question of their longevity, so while the system that I received was generally excellent (odd configuration choices notwithstanding), you have to evaluate whether or not you're willing to give these new guys a shot. V3 has only been around since 2010, which means that theoretically none of their desktops have ever gone out of warranty yet. That said, they've also done work locally and for the government that isn't on their site, and that speaks well to their future prospects.
If you're interested in going with V3, and I certainly think they're worth considering, I'd recommend (and I think they'd recommend as well) going with their more mainstream Convoy model. The Avenger is the top-of-the-line, "I have too much money" model, while the Convoy is the more aggressive workhorse. Ivy Bridge and Z77 (when the line is updated with them) are going to give you more bang for your buck anyhow, and bound to be more price competitive with other boutiques in general. As usual, it can pay to shop around, and having one more PC boutique to consider isn't a bad thing. Hopefully, we'll still be able to talk about V3 in another five years.
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gitano - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
the case looks awful, and the price a rip-offDustin Sklavos - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
Boutique machines are always going to be a little pricey, you're paying for the care of assembly and the customer service.As for the case, that's a matter of opinion. I've reviewed it personally:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4972/corsair-carbide...
I'm rather fond of it, myself.
ImSpartacus - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
I think many of us might've built up false expectations after reading your intro.As you mentioned, using X79 (especially for a quad), 16GB of RAM, and RAID SSDs is anything but a "balance".
Samus - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
I don't think there is anything wrong with the case. The carbide 500 is the only non-silverstone case I'd ever consider. As for it being white, mine has been crammed under my desk for 3 years so I could care less what color it is, as long as its functional.Bonesdad - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
I agree, though the case is not exactly my cup of tea, I have seen MUCH worse come across these reviews. I don't have a problem with the case really at all...now the price...?Samus - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
I generally don't comment on the prices, because when I read these botique reviews, I know I'd never buy one becuase I can't justify the price premium for someone taking an hour to screw it all together. As far as them 'testing choice components' I can already tell you without doing a second of research the best parts to put in any mid-to-high end gaming system ismainstream ASUS motherboard with USB 3.0
3GHz+ quad core i5
16GB GSKILL high speed memory
Corsair H80 water cooling kit
Intel 180GB SSD330 or SSD520
'pick your brand' 3TB SATA drive
Silverstone or Corsair case of your choice
PCP&C or similar 600 watt PSU
nVidia Geforce 670
Bluray drive
23+" IPS monitor (TN if 3ms difference really matters to you)
comfy keyboard and mouse
decent 2-channel speakers or headphones
APC or Tripp-lite 800va battery backup
Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
Comcast or other high speed internet and a Motorola DOCSYS 3.0 modem with a Linksys E3000+ router with gigabit
All under $2,000 and assembled using knowledge from a youtube video in under 2 hours.
watchdogusa - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
This is good suggestion, but it doesn't address this review. To me, a review on a system is how the system stacks up with other systems with price in consideration, i.e, performance vs price. If you put the above system together, it would not compete eye-to-eye with the review system, even with price in consideration. In addition, built quality, warranty and time spent on building/testing the system should be considered too. For many DIY say you can build a system much cheaper, only if your time is not valuable. For example, a lawyer who bills at $600 to $800 per hour spends 2 hours to build the system, you should tag another $1500 to the price tag of the system, because he just lost 2 hours of billable hours. Of course it is not that simple, but when compare DIY and building a system, you can't just compare the part cost alone. If that is the case, why not build everything you want? I am sure with youtube, you can even build an atomic bomb. I think if we are here talk about prices, we should compare it to other boutiques/retailers with similar components and services. This way, it would be an apple to apple comparison. That is just my $0.02.Jakeisbest - Friday, May 18, 2012 - link
Samus,You just described my exact setup, even my modem and router.
aguilpa1 - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
I'm in agreement. It used to be boutique vendors charged more but went further to present something unique in their cases, whether custom paint or design. This thing is just ugly. I notice the current trend is towards white cases but there is a reason they went away a long time ago. It becomes to obvious and cheap looking when you start to stick black plasticky components in the front and for the most part stick out like a sore thumb no matter where they go.EnzoFX - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - link
It annoys me when people say this about white cases. Those old cases, they weren't white, they were beige. Can you really not tell the difference?