With super high frame rates on a modest budget, this BF3-playing beast lives up to its name.
The BF3 runs an AMD FX-4100 quad-core CPU, but those who have traditionally run an Intel CPU need not worry, as the already mighty 3.6GHz chip has been overclocked to 4.2GHz. To provide hardcore graphics grunt, the BF3 has a powerful Radeon 6970. You also get 8GB of 1,600MHz RAM, a 1TB HDD, DVD drive and the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Home with SP1. This tasty hardware is housed inside a Cooler Master Elite case, which includes a bundle of fans and a clear side window (plus some blue LEDs) to admire the goodies inside. The overclocked CPU has a Cooler Master heat-pipe cooler on it and inside, the internal cables are neatly routed and tied away. In a move we love, a special support has been added between the Corsair TX650W PSU and the GPU to make sure it stays put when you travel to your next LAN party.
The design goal behind the BF3 is the ability to run Battlefield 3 (aka BF3) on the highest settings, so we put it through a battery of tests. First up we ran 3DMark 11 and while it’s now a bit long in the tooth, we also included 3DMark Vantage benchmarking. Why? Well, not everyone has made the switch and it’s still a useful way to compare performance from home. The BF3 Ultra pushed out an impressive score of P16,139, though more telling of the high-end processing power is the P4,986 3D Mark 11 score. The Heaven DX11 Benchmark cranked out a score of 1,103 at 43.8fps.
You might be wondering what all this means for real-world gaming, but fear not -- the BF3 lives up to its name and can run BF3 with all settings cranked, with 60+fps even in heavy fire fights and 120+fps the rest of the time (we did extensive 'testing'). It’s safe to say the BF3 will run your latest gaming obsession with ease and will handle new releases for a long time to come.
The BF3 has plenty of connectivity options, including nine USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports (two of each on the front of the case) and the usual smattering of audio, network and FireWire/eSATA connectors. You also get a PCI Wireless N card with three antennas for the stable yet simple gaming connection you need.
As is the way with any high-performance PC, the BF3 is not exactly silent. Still, it only emits the muffled murmur of powerful fans until you really push the GPU hard and it cranks up the fan speed. The upside is airflow is very good, with the fans well set up to direct cool air over your hardware and out the top and rear of the PC. It does draw 260W under load, but that’s to be expected from a hardcore gaming machine.
Like all PCs from PCG4M3R, it’s totally customisable. Want more storage? No problem. A different GPU? Consider it done. If you happen to live in the Sydney metropolitan area, you can even get free delivery.
Available from PCG4M3R, retailing for $2,000.
APC rating: 7/10