Get your wallet ready

ORIGIN sent along a custom gaming rig based on the Core i7-4930K and a pair GTX 780s.

While I was preparing for the release of Intel's Core i7 Ivy Bridge-E processors last month ORIGIN PC approached me about a system review based on the new platform.  Of course I rarely pass up the opportunity to spend some time with unreasonably fast PC hardware so I told them to send something over that would impress me. 

This system did.

The ORIGIN PC Millennium custom configuration is one of the flagship offerings from the boutique builder and it will hit your wallet nearly as hard as it will your games and applications.  What kind of hardware do you get for $4200 these days?

  • ORIGIN PC Millennium
  • Intel Core i7-4930K (OC to 4.5 GHz)
  • ASUS Rampage IV Gene mATX motherboard
  • Custom Corsair H100i 240mm water cooler
  • 16GB (4 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866 memory
  • 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB SLI
  • 2 x Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD (RAID 0)
  • 1TB Western Digital Black HDD
  • Corsair AX1200i power supply
  • Corsair Obsidian 350D case
  • Windows 8

Our custom build was designed to pack as much processing power into as small a case as possible and I think you'll find that ORIGIN did a bang up job here.  By starting with the Corsair 350D micro ATX chassis yet still including dual graphics cards and an overclocked IVB-E processor, the results are going to impress.

If you haven't seen our overview of the Corsair Obsidian 350D case, you might want to check that out before moving on.  It is a great little chassis with a lot of cool features with a small, space saving design.  One area I am not a fan of though is the way optical drives continue to destroy the appearance of otherwise incredibly clean cases; the 350D is no different.

The real beauty is on the inside though with the mass of components on display through the large side-panel window.  The cable clutter is completely hidden from the user and the layout of the system is pretty close to perfect.  I would like to see ORIGIN include more options for storage expansion (the retail case has 2.5-in bays under the optical bays) for users that want to double up on standard spindle based storage. 

Powering everything inside is the Corsair AX1200i, one of my favorite large capacity units that will have no trouble with the products here and offers room for expansion and upgrades down the road.

The Core i7-4930K 6-core processor is overclocked to 4.5 GHz and is cooled by a 240mm self contained water cooler that is obviously of Corsair descent, likely an H100i.

Ah man, not just one but TWO GeForce GTX 780 3GB graphics cards running in SLI?  It's going to be really hard to find anyone with a better single GPU graphics configuration among your gaming friends as the only card faster today is the GTX TITAN.  You aren't going to have ANY problems gaming at 2560×1600 or even 4K resolutions with this pair of these GPUs.

The Rampage IV Gene motherboard from ASUS might be mini, but it doesn't lack in features.  Plenty of USB ports and Gigabit Ethernet keep you connected while the support for dual graphics cards allowed ORIGIN to plug in a pair of GTX 780s.

The backside of the case reveals the slight cable mess that was left behind.  ORIGIN did as good a job as could be expected with stock parts and attempted to keep the areas you might need to access, like the CPU back plate, open and available.

Of course what is a custom built gaming rig without some LED lights?  ORIGIN sent it along with some red ones along the top and it meshed well with the green LEDs on the GeForce GTX logo.

As expected, CPU performance is pretty much off the charts for a consumer and workstation system build.  If you are a designer or work with processor-limited applications on a regular basis you will definitely benefit from the performance of this 6-core / 12-thread system.

Graphics performance also was impressive as we spent quite a bit of time…testing it.  We played through some GRID 2, Bioshock Infinite and even Metro: Last Light at 2560×1600 and were able to average more than 60 FPS at maximum quality settings.  Oh yah, and the new Battlefield 4 beta was really no match for this configuration either.

 

With all of these pre-built, custom made systems there is going to be some markup for the construction and support going forward.  For a high end system like this, we expected the cost difference between building yourself and buying from a builder like ORIGIN to be a bit larger.

Made as close to our build as possible today, the ORIGIN PC Millennium has an asking price of just over $4200.  With that you get the assurances of quality from ORIGIN, a 3-year warranty and the support of an entire team of people that are dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction with the initial product and support for the future.

What if you wanted to build this on your own?

Using PC Part Picker I was able to construct a similar system for about $3200-3300 which puts the ORIGIN Millennium at quite a premium.  We have a lot of faith in the quality and reliability of this team though so the price difference can be somewhat mitigate by that fact. 

The truth is though that ORIGIN PC, and other boutique system outlets, are building PCs for people that simply don't have the time, patience or knowledge to build their own.  Some users are comfortable paying a bit more and having the dirty work of testing and troubleshooting handled by someone else.  And having a phone number to call if something does goes wrong can be helpful as well.

If you aren't that kind of user, this article is more about a hardware showcase.  If you are that kind of user, then ORIGIN hopes that its collection of products and services will meet your needs while offering a value to you in the long run.  I know that I enjoyed my time with the Millennium and its outrageous collection of components; now the only problem is sending it back…