Aria Gladiator HD2-K Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 20th June 2011 | Source: Aria | Price: £1399 |
Introduction
We've recently taken a look at some bundles from Aria which were all the basic bits you'd need to build a rig around.
Today we're moving away from the pre-overclocked CPU/Motherboard/RAM combinations and into a full system, the Gladiator HD2-K.
This is a seriously specced bit of kit, only requiring a monitor, keyboard and mouse to be up and running.
Technical Specifications
Often pre-built systems have a selection of hardware that you feel are a compromise to get the system down to a price, or even if it's at quite a steep price you end up with bits you're unhappy with.
The HD2-K has got a seriously good selection of parts. It starts with the i5-2500K, the best performance per pound processor on the market. That's mounted in an ASUS Sabertooth P67 motherboard, the best P67 motherboard in the world. Mushkin provide the 8GB of DDR3 and an OCZ SATA 6Gbp/s SSD runs the Windows 7 OS. There is also a 2TB WD Caviar for your storage so there is no lack of either performance or capacity.
Gaming performance is handled by two Radeon HD6870 in Crossfire. With a Samsung Blu-Ray player and the excellent Asus Xonar soundcard you've got all the HD Media dealt with too.
• FREE CPU Overclocking up to 4.80GHz*
• Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
• 2x ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card in CrossFire
• 8GB Mushkin Ridgeback #996987 (2x4GB) DDR3 1866MHz 9-11-9-27
• OCZ Solid 3 120GB 2.5" SATA-III Silent Solid State Hard Drive
• 2TB Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 3.5" SATA II Silent Hard Drive
• ASUS Sabertooth Intel P67 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• 680W Be Quiet! Straight Power CM BQT E8 ATX2.3 Silent Power Supply
• Corsair Obsidian 650D Midi Chassis
• Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro Dual Fan Silent CPU Cooler
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Extras Supplied:
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Pre-Installed
• Samsung Blu-Ray SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive
• Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card
The asterisk upon the overclocking is to indicate that, because not all processors are equal, you'll get between 4.6 and 4.8GHz as your overclock. Kudos to Aria for being up front about this rather than just highlighting the maximum they've ever obtained and hoping nobody notices if your own isn't quite up to snuff.
Most Recent Comments
Is 1.4v a 24/7 safe voltage for an i5 2500k?Quote
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Originally Posted by BigIan88
Monster of a machine and not that different from my current setup Is 1.4v a 24/7 safe voltage for an i5 2500k? |
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Originally Posted by marsey99
Brains sure can build a nice looking system can't he |
I'm looking forward to building these though
QuoteAnyway, its a good system. Though Ive had my problems with it. Firstly the secondary HDD wasnt connected or initialised for use. That's a bit shabby imho.
Also Ive suffered frequent of crashes & BSOD's when using it. Its completely frozen with monotonous regualarity whilst watching blu-ray discs & while gaming requiring a full power off at the plug. It suffers from the sleep problem that afflicts these sort of systems & while pressing buttons trying to 'wake up' the system I've had bios reports of overclock fail. Oh and & well, its a bit noisy. Especially if you turn the fans up on the graphics cards but that might just be me, I guess its what youre used to. I usually build my own.
On the plus side it does run at a very good lick & games look stunning on my TV when it's buzzing away happily.
But .the worst thing about this system isnt the system itself but the .you guessed it .customer services. Or lack of it.
12 days after emailing 4 named members of Aria staff (from their website forum) & the generic customer services address Im yet to get a reply....from anyone, apart from the automated well try & reply within a day drivel ofc.
So Im just going to assume I built this thing myself & sort out its problems, Im used to it but if youre after a problem free expensive games station & you're thinking of buying just be aware that after youre money has gone out of your account more than likely youll be on your own unless you know what you're doing. You could always ring the 60p per minute technical services number. I daresay thay have someone on hand to respond to you.
Having spent £1200 or even £1400 if you did at the full price youd be entitled to expect to be treated a little better than that. I dont recall customer services being all that unavailable when they were emailing me & calling me to arrange the purchase & delivery.
Just a word of truth from a(nother) slightly disgruntled customer, and it's not the first time for me either but I won't go into that.
Peace, and have fun.Quote
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