Review: Origin Chronos Z

Introduction and design

The first thing I think to myself whenever I see the specs on a new PC is "could I have built this to perform even better for less money?" Too often, the answer, sadly, is yes.

Take the Falcon Northwest Tiki or Digital Storm Bolt II for example. Those are both wonderful PCs. The former is one of the best looking machines I've laid eyes on, while the latter makes up for its plain exterior by packing great components on the inside of its case.

Both of them, however, could be built for well under their $6,000 (about £3,700, AU$6,900) and $4,000 (about £2,500, AU$4,500) asking prices, respectively. I can say with absolute certainty that, unless you have a friend at Nvidia, it's near impossible to buy every component in the Chronos Z, Origin's new mini-ITX offering, for less than its $4,199 (about £2,584, AU$4,794) price tag.

But being a boutique machine at an almost-DIY-desktop price is really only part of the Chronos Z's appeal. Packing a GTX Titan Z GPU, this is by far the most power I've ever seen squeezed into the mini-ITX form factor.

That kind of power comes at a cost, though. No, I'm not referring to the price tag, but rather its incessant humming and potentially fire-hazard heat levels. First thing's first, though. Let's look at the outside of the box.

Design

The Chronos Z is available in four cases: The squat Corsair 250D; sleek Silverstone RVZ01; average-sized Corsair 350D; and trash bin-shaped Silverstone FT03.

The model sent to TechRadar was housed in a Silverstone RVZ01 case, my favorite option. It's not the most upgradeable of the lot – in fact, getting in and out turned out to be quite a struggle – but the vertical gray slits that perforate the top and bottom of the box are too appealing to resist.

Three of the four cases have front-facing USB 3.0 ports and out of the pack, but only the RVZ01 has the ability to lay sideways like its console rivals, the PS4 and Xbox One. Choose the FT03, though, and Origin will paint it red, white or pink for an extra $300 (about £180, AU$350). Choose any of the other cases and, well, what you see is what you get.

Along the sides you'll find three fans, two used exclusively for the GPU and one for the cooling unit. These are, as you can imagine, completely useful for a running system. The fans make more noise than I'd like – it's a near-constant hum whenever the system is on.

Also, this adds considerable heat to the surrounding area. It's a trade-off most enthusiasts would be more than happy to make (auditory discomfort for a little extra power comes with the territory). But, if you live in a poorly ventilated apartment, you might want to crank the AC a bit higher during the summer months to compensate for the additional warmth.

In it to win it

Getting inside the RVZ01's case was a bit of a problem without thumbscrews on the back panel. But one long search for a screwdriver later, and I was in.

The back panel slid out, but stayed attached due to the wire running to the 120mm cooling system. Everything you could possibly want to see is available on first look. The only component out of reach, though, is arguably one of the most important: the GPU.

It'd be easy to dock points for inaccessibility here. Upgrading can already be a tedious task without having to dismantle your entire machine and put it back together. But the Titan Z card makes a strong case that, honestly, any upgrades in this area won't happen for a very long time.

The other possible weakness of the Silverstone case is the lack of bays for 3.5-inch hard drives. Again, though, Origin uses the space to pack a single Seagate 4TB drive next to a 1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, ensuring that internal storage will never be an issue.

Specifications and performance

Now, I had claimed at the beginning of my review that it's impossible to build a machine of the same caliber for less than $4,000. For argument's sake, let's double check the math. Here is the Origin Chronos Z configuration sent to TechRadar:

Spec sheet

• Processor: Overclocked 4.5GHz Intel Core i7-4790K (quad-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.8GHz with Turbo Boost)


• Motherboard: Asus Z97I-Plus (Intel Z97 Chipset, mini‐ITX)


• Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan Z (12GB GDDR5 RAM)


• Memory: 16GB ORIGIN PC powered by HyperX (1866Mhz)


• Storage: 1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD; 4TB Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive


• Optical drive: 6X Slim Slot Load Blu-ray Writer


• Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.0


• Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64‐Bit Edition)


• Power supply: 700 Watt SFX Power Supply


• Cooling unit: Origin Frostbyte 120 Sealed Liquid Cooling System


• Ports: 2x 3.5mm audio ports (1 headphone/mic jack), 4 x USB 3.0, 4 x USB 2.0, PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port, 2 x DVI-D, 2 x D-Sub, 2 x DisplayPort, 2 x HDMI, LAN (RJ45) port, Optical S/PDIF out, 2 x Wi-Fi antenna ports


• Size: 15 x 4.1 x 13.7 inches (W x H x D)


• Warranty: 1-year limited with lifetime expert customer care

All of the following math will be done in US dollars, but prices should be similar overseas. The Intel Core i7-4790K retails on NewEgg for $340. While it would've been nice to see Haswell-E in here, the 4790K offers better performance per dollar than its system-burning older brother.

The Asus Z97I-Plus is only $160 and the HyperX memory, while impressive, only costs around $160. The biggest chunk of change will go to the Titan Z GPU which costs a bank-breaking $3,000. Toss in an $80 PSU, $75 water cooling unit, $100 Windows 8.1 license, $100 Blu-ray optical drive, $70 case, $500 solid state drive, $120 Seagate hard drive and you, my friend, have spent a hefty $4,705 (about £1,664, AU$3,000). And that's before tax.

It's rare for a boutique gaming PC to sell for less than the price of its components, and it's a real testament to how much Origin cares about value. While there are plenty of enthusiasts out there who would scoff at buying a complete system, you're paying for three intangible features: convenience, community and customer service. The latter two are what Origin claims its customers enjoy the most.

Looking for something a little more budget-friendly? The entry price of the Chronos Z starts at $2,799 (about £1,710, AU$3,200) with nearly every aforementioned part, save for a single 500GB mechanical drive replacing the HDD and SSD combo. You're also losing out on 8GB of RAM and dropping the Blu-ray drive – most of us already have one in our $400 consoles.

Performance

After testing the Digital Storm Bolt II just two short weeks ago I had thought, naively, that I could roughly estimate the kind of numbers the Chronos Z would pull in synthetic tests.

I thought wrong. Here are the results:

• 3DMark: Ice Storm: 184,862; Cloud Gate: 32,134; Fire Strike: 15,967


• Cinebench Graphics: 155 fps; CPU: 885 cb


• PCMark 8 (Home): 4,609 points


• Bioshock Infinite (1080p, Ultra): 186 fps; (1080p, Low): 346 fps


• Metro: Last Light (1080p, Ultra): 74 fps; (1080p, Low): 148 fps

While playing games on the lowest settings yielded familiar results, 300-plus frames per second on BioShock Infinite and around 150 fps on Metro, I did not expect to see the astoundingly high numbers on the FireStrike and ultra settings tests.

I never ruled out the possibility of playing Metro above 60 fps on ultra settings, but I had figured that these numbers were reserved for the Large Pixel Collider – or at least something a bit bigger than the Chronos Z.

This machine can easily play games at 4K resolutions and, more importantly, deliver buttery-smooth performance at 1080p for the life of the product.

Verdict

The Chronos Z is a sublime machine. It's built for speed and, as long as you don't mind a little extra noise during late night gaming sessions, you're rewarded with stellar performance.

It's also worth pointing out that it's rare that the math comes out as close as it did with this machine. A certain markup is expected, and while $1,000 of labor and support costs seems a bit excessive, you're getting a tuned, nearly future-proof PC that, pending regular maintenance, could easily last until the end of the decade.

We liked

I'd usually warn against putting all your eggs in the same basket, so to speak, with a PC. Frag boxes are costly pieces of technology. And if you're not the one creating it from scratch, upgrading and maintaining your machine can be a huge hassle. The Chronos Z, however, is nearly future proof.

With 5TB of storage, a cutting-edge Haswell processor and the best GPU on the market today, this machine can not only plough through the day-to-day activities – like checking email, listening to Spotify, watching YouTube – simultaneously, you will get absolutely insane performance at the ultra settings of your favorite games.

We disliked

As a general rule, I'm wary of spending $4,000 on anything, let alone a piece of technology. The Chronos Z proves it's worthy of every penny but, if you're willing to settle for a less slightly less powerful components, it would be better to build a system yourself if you have the wherewithal and skill set to do it.

And while the build quality itself is outrageously high, be prepared to feel the heat of the system – and, worse, hear the dull roar of the fans – for the next few years. It's a small price to pay for the power to play whatever 2016's Game of the Year turns out to be on the highest settings, but expect that constant minor annoyance nonetheless.

Verdict

The Chronos Z's top configuration is pricey, yes, but it's an exceptional machine. If that's a bit too rich for your blood, you can always look at the low-end model for $2,799 (about £1,710, AU$3,200) – even if it's just for the GTX Titan Z card.

Scoring 74 frames per second on the generally system-stalling Metro Last Light is a damn near miracle, and with a 3DMark FireStrike score of over 15,000, I promise UHD gaming is easily within reach.

There's some real weak points here, like the heat output and noise, but if niceties like support and general convenience matter to you, there's no better place to spend your money.

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