Vadim Cepheus Q80

Conclusions

Build quality is undoubtedly excellent; the hardware is as good as you can get and you have a great warranty and after sales support to complement it, but naturally this all comes at a price. The question is if the value of the case, hardware, and after sales support is worth the price that Vadim asks.

You aren’t going to buy it if you are after a generic box to just do a job. Even many gamers will buy into a cheaper box because computing hardware doesn’t hold its value for very long. It’s hard to argue that a quad-core CPU and dual GeForce 8800 GTXs will offer the same excessive benefit in 6-12 months, or even be worth owning in 2-3 years. Even as close as in the next 3 months after R600 is released and everyone’s drivers mature in Vista, the industry is often played by ear.

However, Alan Wake for example, is “made for quad-core” and will be out next year (supposedly). Both DirectX 10 and Windows Vista are very new at the moment, meaning that the drivers are immature and need work. Realistically though, things can only improve on this front. Should you wait for R600 and the CrossFire alternative? It’s a hard question to answer, since it’s not only the hardware you have to consider but also driver support in your favourite games as well. Despite the fact that AMD is said to be doing mutli-GPU “correctly” finally, it’s yet to be seen. Also, the only Core 2-based motherboard to support CrossFire with an ATI chipset is the DFI’s LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G. Of course, you could go down the 975X route, but decent choices are limited on the 975X front.

Since current processor, platform and OS technology are all so new, there’s arguably never a better time to invest. Instead of waiting to upgrade and putting it off until the next round of hardware hits or prices drop again, just getting it done and upgrading all in one go has its benefits since you get a guaranteed working system right now. With the Core 2 design here to stay for a while and Vista driver support getting better and better, that hardware will be good for quite some time and there will be a comfortable upgrade path.

Those of us who have been through the upgrade and overclocking frenzy at some point have come out with a great deal of hardware knowledge, but then all you end up wanting is simply a working PC that does everything you ask of it. There’s only so many times you can install windows or try to debug that new, strange hardware configuration before you just long for something that just works when you switch it on.

Watercooling is expensive, even more so when done in a way that seemed to be carved out of the case structure itself. It looks like it fits, rather than being added in as an afterthought or without matching the case design to the setup. Despite the fact it’s the weight of a house; the Vadim is also built like one. You can even transport it upside down, making it an entirely practical PC, even despite its weight. Vadim has successfully shipped machines worldwide, fully kitted with watercooling without issue. To do this kind of thing yourself requires a lot of research, and without plenty of experience to go along with it, the likelihood of getting it wrong and / or wasting time and money is certainly high.

Value

It is £1500 more expensive than the Alienware, however the case is something that’s entirely personal and unique. Very few people own them, and for £60 more, to get a personalised cut on the side no one will have the same case as you. It’s the same ideology that is echoed by our own community: not wanting to stand in the crowd of grey boxes or macophiles. It’s even been commented in the office that it has elements of Orac3 about it with the colour and tubing design.

Right now, the PC is let down by elements outside of the company's control: Windows Vista and NVIDIA's current Vista drivers. These will inevitably get better in the next few months, and it’s not like the system is unplayable in the games we’ve tested. However, we had issues with some software we tried that refused to run in Vista, so you inevitably suffer from being an early adopter.

This has been the situation with every new Windows release: 2k and XP offered similar initial frustrating difficulties. If I was buying right now, I would personally specify the machine with Windows XP Professional and then upgrade to Vista Ultimate only when Direct X 10 games arrive. It is an inevitable upgrade, but then you’ll be paying for yet another thing in the future, which goes against the point of investing in a package like this. Considering the state of the drivers and software compatibility and the pedigree of the PC you’re buying, Vadim should offer the option of a free upgrade at a later date once things have smoothed out a bit, instead of either XP or Vista.

Vadim admits that you could build a machine with exactly the same specifications, design, build, resource and cut chassis for around £1,000 less than the company charges. However, you will have to build it yourself and commission and organise the cutting, as well as forgoing the after sales support. It’s a personal preference as to whether you feel that the effort Vadim goes into for you provides a service worthy of the cost and therefore increases the value. But at the same time, it’s still extremely expensive and very unaffordable for the majority of people who want a gaming PC.

Final Thoughts:

Despite the fact there are very few people who will really consider this PC for purchase, we feel that Vadim does fill a certain market niche incredibly well. If you are in the market for an ultra high-end PC and have appreciably deep pockets, but don’t have the skill of our modding forum gurus there are really very few alternatives to consider. For £5,000 surely you don’t want a generic box, you want to invest in something special and unique but without the stress of organising it yourself, and that’s exactly what this Vadim machine is.

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