Overclockers UK Titan Bayonet Review

Overclockers UK Titan Bayonet Review

Manufacturer: Overclockers UK
UK price (as reviewed): £1,123.92 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): N/A

Earlier today, Nvidia launched its new GTX 1060 card into the all-important mid-range GPU market. New graphics card launches are regularly followed by system integrators designing PCs that incorporate them, and Overclockers UK is one such SI that has wasted no time in integrating the GTX 1060 into some of its current range. Specifically, we're looking at its Titan Bayonet system, available as usual in a range of configurations but presented here with a specification that will set you back just over £1,100. This puts it in competition with the Scan 3XS Z170 Performance GTK4 that we saw recently for £1,090 and which used an AMD Radeon RX 480 – the GTX 1060's main competitor.


The CPU here is an overclocked Intel Core i5-6600K, pretty much the de facto choice for a solid gaming PC – the four cores, boosted here to 4.4GHz, will provide plenty of CPU grunt in games, and it strikes a good balance for cost as quad-core CPUs below this in Intel's stack aren't overclockable, while on the other side few games will benefit from the HyperThreading of the Core i7-6700K or the extra cores of an X99 system. 4.4GHz is relatively low compared to what we've seen from other SIs, but it's unlikely to make a big difference in many things, and it allows OCUK to keep the core voltage quite low as well at 1.275V, which should mean temperatures and noise aren't issues. The OC profile is also saved in the BIOS for easy access.

OCUK has paired the CPU with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX memory running at 2,400MHz. We're used to seeing 3,000MHz, but again it shouldn't have much performance impact and you can easily select the 3,000MHz kit in the configurator for an extra £10 if you're concerned.


The Asus Z170-E motherboard isn't especially fancy, but it still has more than enough to handle a moderate overclock and a fairly basic single GPU system. What's more, you get true USB 3.1 connectivity with a Type-C connector, something that Scan's system was missing, and the colour scheme is nice and neutral. You also get a full-size M.2 22110 port with full PCI-E 3.0 x4 bandwidth, giving you an easy avenue for a speedy storage upgrade in the future.

As mentioned, the GPU is Nvidia's GTX 1060. The price we've quoted for this system is for one that includes a Palit GTX 1060 Dual, which comes with reference clocks but a custom cooler. However, you may have noticed that in the pictures the system sports a Founders Edition card. This won't actually be an available choice since it's being sold exclusively through Nvidia's online store; instead we've used our own sample in order to get this system tested and reviewed as soon as possible – GTX 1060 stock hadn't landed at OCUK when they sent us the system last week. Since the Founders Edition also runs at reference clocks, performance will be virtually identical to the figures we have in this review, but users will be able to select certain pre-overclocked GTX 1060 cards as well if they want a bit more performance.


The chassis chosen here is the excellent Eclipse P400 from Phanteks. This would be our other mid-range mid-tower of choice along with the NZXT Source 340 that Scan used in its system – both have a great feature set, solid build quality and neat aesthetics. The P400's dual chamber design really lends itself to neat systems, and the Titan Bayonet takes full advantage of that. The main chamber is very tidy, with barely any cables on show, and while the cable tidying job behind the motherboard tray isn't as neat as it could be, this area of the PC will never be on show, and the Velcro cable ties will make it pretty easy for users to do upgrades in the future should they need to without having to cut loads of zip ties.

For storage, you get a 250GB Samsung SSD 750 Evo and a standard 1TB hard disk, a common combination that nets a good balance between capacity and speed. Both drives are neatly hidden out of sight in the drive cage in the case's lower chamber, and there are of course various upgrade options on the OCUK configurator if you need more. The Phanteks chassis can have up to four more 3.5in/2.5in drive trays installed in the main chamber (each tray is purchased separately), and there are two unused dedicated 2.5in sleds behind the motherboard tray too so there's plenty of scope for future upgrades.



Powering everything is the SuperFlower Leadex 550W PSU – this will have more than enough wattage for this system and is 80 Plus Gold rated, semi-passive and fully modular, so we have no complaints.

As well as a pair of front USB 3.0 ports, the Eclipse P400 has some RGB LEDs. By default, they're only present at the power button and the bottom logo, but OCUK has taken advantage of the internal header to add a Phanteks RGB LED strip, which is fitted along the front and bottom of the main chamber. Using the front panel controls, you can change all the LEDs to one of 10 colours. The LED strip is nice and bright and it's a good way of adding some extra pizazz to an otherwise plain system, but you can take it out and save yourself £15 if you don't want it.


CPU cooling is handled by the Alpenfohn Brocken 2, a fairly standard tower cooler with a single 120mm fan – this is one of the few things you can't change in the configurator. System cooling, meanwhile, relies on the standard Eclipse P400 fans – one 120mm front intake and one 120mm rear exhaust. All fans are connected to motherboard headers and they are set to their Standard PWM profiles in the BIOS. The chassis is also fully protected against dust at the top, front and bottom.

OCUK's standard dispatch time is within seven working days. The three-year warranty includes an impressive two years of collect and return, while the final year is parts and labour only (upgrades are available too).

Specifications

• CPU Intel Core i5-6600K (4.4GHz)
  
• CPU cores Four physical, four threads
  
• Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2,400MHz
  
• Graphics Palit GeForce GTX 1060 Dual 6GB (3 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x DL-DVI-D, 1 x HDMI 2.0b)
  
• Storage 1 x 250GB Samsung SSD 750 Evo (OS), 1 x 1TB Seagate 7,200 RPM hard disk
  
• Motherboard Asus Z170-E
  
• PSU SuperFlower Leadex 550W (80 Plus Gold, modular)
  
• Optical Drive None
  
• Cooling Alpenfohn Brocken 2
  
• Case / Dimensions (mm) Phanteks Eclipse P400 / 210 x 470 x 465 (W x D x H)
  
• Networking 1 x Gigabit LAN
  
• Audio 8-channel Realtek ALC887 Codec (onboard)
  
• Operating system Windows 10 64-bit
  
• Audio and USB Ports Rear: 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 6 x 3.5mm jacks; Front: 2 x USB 3.0, headphone, microphone
  
• Warranty 3 years (2 years collect and return, 3 years parts, 3 years labour)