FreshTech Solutions GTX 1080 Titan Gaming PC Review

John Williamson / 8 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

At the time of writing, the FreshTech Solutions GTX 1080 Titan is available from the company’s website for £1699.00. To determine a system’s value proposition, we endeavour to compile an identical self-build and compare the price. This allows us to analyse the fee (if any) that a system integrator is choosing to charge customers for its services. Please note all prices include shipping and we don’t permit Windows 10 keys from disreputable sites. Of course, you might want to acquire a digital code much cheaper, but it’s not something we’re happy to recommend as many keys can be MSDN-based with limited activations.

Case: Game Max Titan Gaming Case = £49.00
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 5 = £158.39
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K = £260.99
Processor Cooler: Corsair Hydro H80i V2 = £83.99
System Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz DDR4 = £69.98
Main Boot Drive: 256GB Samsung 950 Pro NVMe = £138.99
Additional Storage Drive(s): 1TB SATA 7200RPM HDD = £41.94
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1080 Founders Edition 8GB = £619.99
Power Supply: Corsair RM750x 80+ Plus Gold Modular = £98.53
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit = £71.99
Optical Drive: Samsung 24x DVD Writer = £12.37

Once calculated, an identical self-build costs £1606.16 which is a saving of £92.84. As a result, the pre-configured system doesn’t have a hefty tax and some users will feel that the 3-year warranty and excellent cable management is worth the extra fee.

Overview

Freshtech Solutions have based this particular build on a red and black theme which caters towards the mainstream gaming demographic. This combination works remarkably well and they’ve carefully considered which components compliment each other. While this colour scheme is overdone, it’s going to have a wider appeal. The memory’s glossy black heatspreaders works alongside the chassis integrated red LED fans to form a striking yet professional appearance. Smaller touches such as the red SLI connector covers enhance the system’s visual flair. Overall, I’m really impressed with the system’s appearance apart from a few caveats.

It’s a crying shame that the chassis flawed design detracts from the build’s luxury feel. While the steel aspect is relatively well-made and doesn’t exhibit much flex, the plastic front dust filter is prone to come loose far too easily. Of course, I’m not expecting aluminium construction for the price point, but I think something like the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M would have been a better choice. The most glaring fault is the extremely dark side panel which obscures essential components and attempts to mimic the glass panel seen on the revised Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX. This poor quality imitation is plagued by an inelegant mounting system and the screws don’t slot into place very well.

Once powered, only the GeForce logo is visible and the reflective finish attracts fingerprints at an alarming rate. Adding some vivid LED strips would help matters but that doesn’t resolve the issue that the side panel is just way too dark. It might seem like I’m being overly critical especially since the chassis costs around £50, but it’s because there are many great elements to its design philosophy. For example, the embedded power supply cover aids cable management and there’s an abundance of well-positioned routing holes. Clearly, this isn’t Freshtech Solutions fault but it might be worth altering the case to a more expensive option in lieu of the system’s price point.

On a more positive note, the cable management is superb and Freshtech Solutions have used an abundance of zip-ties to keep everything tidy. Furthermore, the logical cabling arrangement groups essential cables together without applying undue pressure on the zip-tie mounts. Also, the cables remain well within the confines of chassis which make it really simple to close the side panel door. While the chassis has loads of room for cable management, it still requires a high skill level to achieve a wonderful finish.

The Corsair closed-loop cooler looks fantastic due to the braided tubing and customizable RGB CPU block logo. It’s able to cope with an overclocked i7-6700K remarkably well and doesn’t have an aggressive fan profile. Honestly, I’m surprised how quiet the system was under load and expected the pump and fans to ramp up substantially. In comparison to its nearest rival, FreshTech Solutions has a more sensible overclock and utilises the kind of voltage I’d expect.

When it comes to performance, the system’s NVMe boot drive offers absurdly fast read speeds which make a complete mockery of SATA drives. Of course, this comes with a hefty premium but it’s always advantageous to have a blisteringly fast boot drive to make Windows feel snappier. I was underwhelmed by the write speeds and expected more from the Samsung 950 Pro. Saying that, it’s probably just a poor samples and you’re likely to experience better numbers.

The GTX 1080 outputs amazing frame-rates even when paired with a 4K monitor. It’s possibly the first graphics card I’ve encountered to cope with intense presets while pushing a vast number of pixels. Throughout demanding games, the GTX 1080 excels and it’s a revolutionary move towards high-quality 4K gaming. If you’re using a lower resolution monitor, the graphics card is suitable for high refresh rates and I’d personally pair it with a premium 3440×1440 ultrawide. Evidently, the GTX 1080 is expensive but you do get a lot of performance for the money.

Pros

Almost silent under load
Attractive build
Balanced overclock
Exceptional NVMe read speeds
Good temperatures
Impressive packaging
Superb warranty
Very proficient cable management
Wonderful gaming performance

Cons

Dark side panel window covers up components

“The FreshTech Solutions GTX 1080 Titan consistently outputs mind-blowing performance and utilises some of the best hardware money can buy. Not only that, it looks the part and has been built to the highest standard.”

Editors-Choice