Scan 3XS Velocity X79 SLI Extreme review

Despite this, there’s the occasional sign that Scan’s build isn’t as impeccable as usual. There’s a big bunch of cables through the middle that we’d normally expect to be hidden behind the motherboard tray, and another unsightly bunch at the top of the chassis is gathered around the watercooling unit, SATA dock, and Blu-ray drive.

The Corsair H100 cooling unit hides a 240mm radiator in the roof of the case, so its water block doesn’t impede much of the motherboard – the four spare DIMM sockets, with two either side of the LGA 2011 socket, are easily accessible.

Upgrade room isn’t quite so generous elsewhere. The two graphics cards mean that only single PCI Express x1 and x16 slots are free on the motherboard – and even then they’re difficult to access. The empty SATA ports are just as tricky to reach, and you’ll only be able to add one extra hard disk or SSD, as half of the side-facing, tool-free bays have been removed to accommodate the graphics cards.

Our thermal and power tests offered mixed results, too. The Corsair cooling worked extremely well, reining the overclocked processor in to a maximum temperature of 74°C, and both graphics cards peaked at a perfectly fine 83°C. The idle and peak power draw results of 231W and 843W make for less impressive reading, though, and noise was also an issue: the noticeable rumble when idling upgraded to an irritating roar during those stress tests.

If you don’t already have any, you’ll want some beefy speakers to drown out the noise, but when you’re already spending £2,686 inc VAT that’s disappointing. There’s no denying the sheer gaming power of Scan’s latest, but if you’re willing to accept a small step down the performance ladder the Chillblast will save you almost £1,000 – and that’s too much to pass up.