Systems

CCL Computers Iris 200 Review

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March 2, 2016 10 Min Read
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In the spotlight; an Intel Skylake-based gaming PC equipped to take on the demands of 4K gaming via NVIDIA’s GTX 970 in SLI.


Product on Review: Iris 200 Gaming PC
Manufacturer & Sponsor: CCL Computers
Street Price: £1744.99 GBP

In the past six months there has been strong emphasis on 4K Gaming and VR, so it comes as no surprise that system integrators are keen to supply customers with platforms which are equipped to take on the demand that such activities place on a configuration. Today we turn to CCL Computers to see what they have to offer in their new Iris 200 Skylake-based PC which has been specifically designed to handle ultra-high resolution games.

Iris 200 uses the Intel Z170 chipset as its basis and therefore features the Intel Core i7-6700K. CCL Computers has applied a 4.5GHz to this chip and have also included a strong lineup of other components which include ASUS STRIX GTX 970s in SLI, 16GB of DDR4 and the Samsung SM951.


CCL Computers on their Iris 200 Gaming PC
The Iris range has everything in overdrive! Designed for 4K gaming, the Iris features Intel’s fastest Core i7 processor, factory overclocked graphics cards in single or SLI configurations, speedy DDR4 memory options and blisteringly fast SSDs, all powered by an 80+ Gold rated PSU and covered with a 3 year On-Site warranty.

Technical Specifications


Below are the technical specifications supplied directly by CCL Computers:

OS
Windows 10
CPU
Intel Core i7-6700K
CPU Cooler
Corsair Hydro H100i v2
RAM
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 2666MHz DDR4
Motherboard
ASUS Z170-A LGA 1151
GPU
2x ASUS STRIX GTX 970 4GB (SLI)
SSD
Samsung SM951 256GB
HDD
Seagate 2TB 7200RPM
PSU
EVGA GQ 750W 80 Plus Gold
Case
NZXT H440
Weight
6KG
Warranty
3 Years Warranty

Closer Look: External



CCL Computers use the computer chassis box to transport the Iris 200 system. Inside, care has been taken to ensure the configuration arrives intact – since we’re dealing with two graphics cards which are reasonably weighty, its great to see CCL Computer taking extra steps to support the components by way of thick foam padding.


Iris 200 uses the NZXT H440 for its computer chassis, this mid-tower follows an elegant design which features a large piece of Perspex for a preview of the configuration inside; this case also comes with bright red LED lighting. The style and theme of this case will complement most office environments and other office appliances. As we pointed out in our review of this excellent chassis – there are no optical drive bays so any CD/DVD media will require an external device to read such media.

Behind the front panel of the H440 – there is a detachable dust filter which can be removed and cleaned when necessary.


Up at the top of Iris 200 there is an assortment of ports and buttons to take advantage of. These include the following:

• 2x USB 2.0 Ports
• 2x USB 3.0 Ports
• Headphone and Microphone Jacks
• Reset Button
• Power Button

It’s great to see such an abundance of USB functionality on in an easy-to-reach location.


Around the back of Iris 200 there are further ports which offer even more functionality. In the upper section, the ports directly from the ASUS Z170-A motherboard provide:

• 2x USB 2.0
• 1x HDMI
• 1x Displayport
• 1x DVI/VGA
• 2x USB 3.0
• 1x PS2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo
• 1x USB 3.1 Type C
• 1x USB 3.1 Type A
• 1x Gigabit LAN port (via Intel I219V)
• 8 Channel Hi-Def Audio Jacks (via Realtek ALC892)

Again, quite an assortment of ports are available on the rear IO section of this system.

Below this CCL Computer has included a WiFi adapter which delivers 802.11ac/a/b/g/n at up to 867 Mbps. Below this there are two graphics cards (ASUS STRIX GTX 970) – each card offers:

• 1x HDMI port
• 1x Displayport
• 2x DVI ports (DVI-I and DVI-D)

And then we also have the power supply at the bottom which is an EVGA GQ 750W PSU which is 80 Plus Gold rated – this just requires a kettle-type power cable.

Closer Look: Internal




Detaching the side panels on Iris 200 we are met by a rather sleek and very well-organised computer system. CCL Computers has made a concerted effort to carefully route the cables in a tidy arrangement.


Taking a closer look at the components selection, at the very heart of Iris 200 is the Intel Core i7-6700K processor which is overclocked to 4.4GHz. The 6700K sits on an ASUS Z170-A motherboard which as its name suggests utilises the Intel Z170 chipset and cooling this chip is newly revised Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 which is a closed loop all-in-one liquid cooler. The radiator and respective fans sit in the roof of the chassis.

Immediately next to the CPU and its cooling block we have 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666MHz DDR4.


For graphics delivery this system takes advantage of two NVIDIA GTX 970s. CCL Computers are using two ASUS STRIX cards and have married them up via SLI to maximise the 3D performance. Since this system is designed to handle VR, having dual-GPUs will be especially useful – later in the review we’ll test out the 3D performance and see how this configuration handles VR.



As is common nowadays, Iris 200 uses a solid state drive for its primary storage. Rather than use a SATA-based SSD, CCL Computers have utilised the M.2 PCI-E 3.0-based slot to achieve greater transfer rate results. Iris 200 uses a Samsung SM951 which are well-known for offering great performance but are also notorious for getting toasty – and in this configuration, being completely concealed by the graphics cards, the drive has little chance to take advantage of case airflow.

Located at the front of H440 we have a trio of 120mm cooling fans which bring cool air into the case and direct it across the system and there is also a 120mm rear exhaust to assist with a push/pull airflow configuration.

On the subsequent pages we’ll be testing out Iris 200 to reveal the performance available.

Benchmarks: Temperatures

For our first benchmark test we observe the max. CPU/GPU temperatures of the system during a 20-minute run of Unigine Heaven 4.0. To report back on the temperatures we use RealTemp and GPU-Z which provide the peak figures.

Benchmarks: Boot Time & Power Consumption

In this test we observe how fast the boot into Windows 10 is by using a digital stopwatch. Power consumption is another important observation, for this we observe the wattage from the wall while the system is running Heaven 4.0.

Benchmarks: Cinebench R15 & x264 HD

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor is.

Benchmarks: PCMark 8

PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: 3DMark & Heaven 4.0

The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it’s not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It’s the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we’ve ever created.

Benchmarks: DIRT Rally, The Witcher 3, SW Battlefront, BF4

The Iris 200 uses two GTX 970s for graphics delivery, in this section we test the latest gaming titles to see how effective the 3D capabilities are at 4K resolution. We report on the average framerate using FRAPS.

Benchmarks: SteamVR Performance Test

The SteamVR Performance Test measures your system’s rendering power using a 2-minute sequence from Valves Aperture Robot Repair VR demo. After collecting the data it determines whether your system is capable of running VR content at 90fps and whether VR content can tune the visual fidelity up to the recommended level. For machines that are not VR Ready the tool can help determine whether capabilities are bound by Graphics Card, CPU, or both.

Conclusion


For anyone who regularly views our graphics card reviews, you’ll be aware just how demanding 4K gaming is. Even systems which use a high-performance, flagship single-GPU will struggle to offer 3840×2160 at high detail and smooth, fluid framerate. As such, CCL Computers has wisely opted for a dual-graphics card configuration with the introduction of Iris 200 – and as we’ve seen the results are great.

Throughout Iris 200, well-respected brands have been chosen for the component selection in a bid to reassure the customer. At the heart of this system is the Intel Core i7-6700K which is based on Skylake architecture and offers great performance over previous generations. CCL has also applied a 4.5GHz overclock to this 4GHz chip to squeeze out even more processing performance. Storage is another important factory in any computer system and with M.2 now supported with the Intel Z170 chipset, super-fast transfer rates can now be utilised; for the OS drive Iris 200 uses the impressive 256GB Samsung SM951. As we’ve mentioned, without the two ASUS STRIX GTX 970s inside this system, gaming at 4K would be an ordeal. Having both cards in SLI provides excellent performance across a range of games at high-detail presets.


A quick look without the side panels on the NZXT H440 case reveals a rather tidy and carefully organised configuration. It’s great to see CCL taking the time with the presentation aspect – not just for ease of use and visual appearance but to prevent any obstruction for the case airflow.

Our only criticisms come from the inability to switch off the LED lighting from a designated button. Not everyone likes LEDs and those fitted on the H440 emit quite a strong, red glow. The other slight niggle is the fact the SM951 sits on the motherboard completely engulfed by the two graphics cards – it’s widely reported that this Samsung drive gets rather hot under load and so it’s important to encourage as much case airflow across the drive as possible, sadly this doesn’t appear to be possible in this instance; partly down to the M.2 slot placement on the ASUS Z170-A.

At a cost of £1744 GBP, the Iris 200 is no small investment but on offer is a plethora of reputable hardware which, totalling up would cost you almost exactly the same price if you were to build this system yourself. CCL offers this system with or without the Windows 10 operating system – at this cost the OS is included. We also have a generous 3-years warranty too. NOTE: the configuration can be adjusted/customised according to your preference too which would change the specification/price.

Iris 200 is ready for its intended use; 4K Gaming. This powerful computer system will tackle the latest triple-A titles at ultra-high resolutions and is backed by a strong-lineup of reputable brands.

Pros
+ Attractive chassis design
+ Reliable brands/components used
+ Low-noise
+ Skylake-powered
+ Offers great 4K performance
+ Is VR ready
+ Uses fast primary storage drive
+ Offers WiFi functionality

Cons
– LED lighting is fixed
– M.2 drive lacks airflow


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