Fresh Tech Solutions Ultimate Collection 6700K Review

The Ultimate Collection 6700K is presented in the Fractal Design Define R5, a fine chassis that balances modern, clean looks with solid, low-noise performance. Specifically, the black windowed version has been used, giving users an easy means of showing off their gear. The system arrived double-boxed and generally packaged fairly well.

The motherboard used is Gigabyte's Z170X-Gaming 5, a fairly high-end board from the company's portfolio with a decent feature set. The system relies on the onboard Realtek ALC1150 audio and has great connectivity, including two USB 3.1 connections (one Type-A, one Type-C). For networking, you get two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one Killer and one Intel. Wi-Fi is not fitted as standard but Fresh Tech says it will install it should a user purchase a Wi-Fi card together with the system.


The CPU installed is Intel's top-end LGA1151 model, the Core i7-6700K, and it has been overclocked to a respectable 4.5GHz with a vcore of 1.3V. It is paired with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 running at 3,000MHz – this is a good choice, as 8GB feels a little limited in high-end builds these days, and 32GB is unnecessary and a waste of cash for most.

The GPU is a real monster; a triple fan, triple slot, factory overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB from Zotac. One issue we did note is there is an observable bend from the weight of the card. In fairness, other than installing a custom support bracket, there's little Fresh Tech could do about this. The card's backplate means it is strengthened against its own weight, and the PCI-E slot on the Gigabyte motherboard is also reinforced, so it shouldn't be much more than a minor eyesore, even as time goes on.


Power comes from the Corsair RM750x, which is 80 Plus Gold rated, fully modular and has more than enough wattage to power this rig. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that it has too much, and that a lower wattage PSU would have been more suitable, especially as adding a second overclocked GTX 980 Ti at a later date (the main reason to have spare power) would be pushing 750W very close to or even beyond its limits, meaning it possibly isn't much use for that either.

Fresh Tech has made sensible choices when it comes to storage. The Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB may not take advantage of the blazing fast M.2 slot on the motherboard here, but the real-world benefits of NVMe drives for most users are very slim. This way, you get a healthy amount of space for our OS and numerous games for a decent cost. The addition of a single 2TB 3.5in HDD means there's also lots of room for mass storage of less important files.


This is predominantly an air-cooled system, although the CPU is fitted with Corsair's H80i V2 all-in-one liquid cooler, with both fans present and acting as the system's primary exhaust. The roof of the Define R5 means there would be room for the quieter H100i V2, which would be more in line with the low-noise design of the case, but this would involve taking off the ModuVent blanking plates in the roof, thus potentially negating this benefit. On balance, the H80i V2 is a solid option.

For air intake, Fresh Tech leaves the two 140mm intake fans in the Define R5, and these are connected to the case's three-speed fan controller too. Corsair's Link software handles fan control for the H80i V2, meanwhile, with Fresh Tech having created a custom cooling profile for this system – a neat touch. One small criticism we have is that the top drive cage has been left in despite having zero drives installed inside. This partially blocks airflow from the front fan. It's unlikely to make a big difference, but ideally it would be removed and packaged separately with the rest of the accessories.


Aesthetically, we have few complaints beyond the lean on the graphics card. All the cables are black, and they're neatly routed and cable tied too, with very little excess on show in the case. We also find a red LED strip installed along the left edge, just below the window, which creates a pleasant internal glow. The Corsair logo on the H80i V2's pump unit is white, but you can change this to any RGB colour using the Link software.