Unashamedly expensive, the Serenity Gamer here has two important jobs to do. As with all Quiet PC systems, this PC has to compete with all challengers in terms of performance and features but, equally important, is its duty to perform this task while remaining whisper-quiet. See Group test: What's the best gaming PC?
Of course, plenty of your £2066.29 has been spent on some of the fastest components available in this round-up. Quiet PC has gone for a 3.5GHz Intel Core i7-3770K processor. Quiet PC is happy to elect for a more modest 4.2GHz and, in turn, reaps the benefits of a less assertive and therefore quieter cooling system, bringing you the most serene fragging experience you could possibly imagine. Take a look at Yoyotech Warbird 3570XTA too.
The cooling system in question is Thermolab’s Trinity heatsink which is a traditional fan-based cooler, albeit a jolly quiet one. It does its job adequately, but going beyond 4.2GHz with a small cooler like this isn’t really going to happen, especially if you want to keep the peace. And 4.2GHz perhaps really isn’t getting the most out of this expensive Core i7 chip, costing alone the wrong side of £250. See all PC reviews.
We’re talking about a PCMark 7 score of 5092, which is way down there with the slowest Core i5 systems. Gaming results are somewhat better though. See also Arbico 5300-HD Media Centre.
We have no qualms about the graphics card. It’s an nVidia GeForce GTX 680 and therefore one of the fastest cards of the you'll ifnd in a gaming PC.
As we’ve come to expect from Quiet PC, the build quality of this system is superb. It’s all about quality components and attention to detail. Quiet PC selects only the quietest components for use throughout and these tend to be more expensive.
The Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 system case is a good example, being fitted with sound-damping materials and hinged doors, excellent cable management and removable dust filters for trouble-free maintenance.
A Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D sound card has been installed, but we were disappointed to find just a DVD writer rather than a Blu-ray player. The included Zalman TM-230 monitor is also rather small and lacks the image quality available with some other displays. It’s more than adequate, but in a system costing over £2000 we would have hoped for something a little more special.
Also included is a set of high-quality gaming peripherals from SteelSeries, incorporating the weighty 7G keyboard with its gold-plated mechanical Cherry Black switches, PS/2 interface and the ability to handle every key being pressed simultaneously should you wish to do so. You also get the 8-button Sensei Raw Gaming mouse with programmable macros and an illuminated logo which can tell you which gaming profile you have loaded.
Lastly the Siberia v2 gaming headset with full-size ear cups, headband suspension and retractable microphone.
