Newcomer ElementPC send us their Millennium Gladiator which is a pre-built gaming system designed for mid-range usage and including NVIDIA’s GTX 970 graphics card.
Product On Review: Millennium Gladiator
Manufacturer & Sponsor: ElementPC
Street Price: £959 GBP
Building a custom PC is quite a wearisome task for many people. Some may not know how to construct a system and others may be uneasy about choosing suitable hardware. Whilst there is a huge market for the individual sale of computer components, system integrators have to cater for those who may not be up to the task of building their own machine. The facility of offering a pre-built system with warranty and technical support alleviates the concerns that many computer users have.
This is certainly a great idea because consumers can simply order a system based on their budget and purpose of use – not having to worry about the selection of components or building the actual system itself.
Today we turn to newcomers Element PC who are based out of the UK’s capitol city. Element PC was established last year but have already shown lots of potential by joining forces with a list of reputable brands and offering attractive after-sales services/support.
In the spotlight today is the Millennium Gladiator which is touted as a mid-range computer system based around Intel’s Haswell Refresh – Core i5-4690K and Intel Z97. Bolstering the 3D performance, this machine uses NVIDIA’s GTX 970 which, as we’ve seen in the past will undoubtedly offer great performance in any of today’s triple-a titles.
About Element PC
Element PC was founded in 2014 to revolutionise the Custom PC market for gamers across the UK. We aim to be the #1 choice for gamers looking for the perfect custom gaming PC at a affordable price without sacrificing premium components.
Unlike many of our competitors we are only committed to designing the best custom gaming PCs at different price ranges to meet every gamers budget. We refuse to use any unknown/untested components in any of our gaming PCs, unlike many competitors we are proud to show what manufacturers we deal with to ensure you have a stress free experience with your gaming PC.
Unlike many of our competitors we are only committed to designing the best custom gaming PCs at different price ranges to meet every gamers budget. We refuse to use any unknown/untested components in any of our gaming PCs, unlike many competitors we are proud to show what manufacturers we deal with to ensure you have a stress free experience with your gaming PC.
Technical Specifications
Our review sample today uses the base specification of the Millenium Gladiator with a few upgrades which are available from the landing page for this system.
Case
Rosewill Rise Glow Case
Processor
Intel Core i5-4690K (Overclocked to 4.2GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97P-D3
Memory
Avexir Core Series 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Blue LED
CPU Cooler
Artic Freezer 7 Rev.2
Graphics Card
EVGA GTX 970 4GB
Storage
Seagate 1TB Hybrid Drive
Power Supply
EVGA SuperNova 650W “Gold Rated” Modular PSU
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Rosewill Rise Glow Case
Processor
Intel Core i5-4690K (Overclocked to 4.2GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97P-D3
Memory
Avexir Core Series 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Blue LED
CPU Cooler
Artic Freezer 7 Rev.2
Graphics Card
EVGA GTX 970 4GB
Storage
Seagate 1TB Hybrid Drive
Power Supply
EVGA SuperNova 650W “Gold Rated” Modular PSU
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Closer Look: Packaging & Exterior
Element PC place the Gladiator system inside two computer case boxes for extra protection while the unit is on the way to its destination. As is typical with a computer case box, there are polystyrene blocks which keep the tower from shaking around inside the cardboard – there is no clear/fabric cover surrounding the chassis though.
Detaching the side panels on the tower we can see that Element PC has also kitted the case out with air cushions which is a great idea – preventing the components from moving around and getting damaged.
Gladiator uses the Rosewill Rise Glow 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. The style and theme of this case will complement most office environments and other office appliances. Oddly, though there is allocation for a 5.25” drive, no such device is supplied.
At the front of the Rise Glow case the perforated mesh panel detaches to reveal a trio of 120mm LED cooling fans. Having such a plethora of fans at the front of this configuration will bolster the thermal performance by bringing airflow across the motherboard. The panel which separates from the case acts as a filter and can be washed/cleaned.
Up at the top of Gladiator there is an assortment of ports and buttons to take advantage of. These include the following:
• Fan Controller
• 3x 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. The inclusion of a fan controller is also a brilliant inclusion as the noise/performance can be adjusted on the fly.
This fan controller can set the cooling fans to low or high speed – the middle point deactivates the LEDs.
Around the back of Gladiator there are further ports which offer even more functionality. In the upper section, the ports directly from the motherboard provide:
• 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
• 1 x PS/2 mouse port
• 1 x Serial port
• 1 x HDMI port
• 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
• 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 1 x RJ-45 port
• 3 x Audio jacks (Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
It’s quite strange to see a serial port on a motherboard nowadays as this is regarded as legacy and independent PS2 keyboard/mouse are also a rarity but some users many find them useful.
Below this we have an EVGA GTX 970 graphics card which can output using a selection of different ports including:
• 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 SuperNOVA 650W PSU which is 80 Plus Gold rated.
Closer Look: Internals
Detaching the side panels on Gladiator we are met by a rather sleek and very well-organised computer system. Element PC has certainly taken the time to carefully route the cables in a tidy arrangement.
Taking a closer look at the components selection, at the very heart of Gladiator is the Intel Core i5-4690K processor which is overclocked to 4.2GHz. Some might be querying why Element PC hasn’t opted for 6th Generation of Intel Processors (Skylake) in this build and the reason is quite simple. Element PC are still a young system integrator and as such lack the same buying power as some of the bigger names in the industry – but we’ve been told this week that they now have stock of Intel’s current chips.
The 4690K sits on a GIGABYTE GA-Z97P-D3 motherboard which as its name suggests utilises the Intel Z97 chipset and cooling this chip is the renowned Artic Freezer 7 Rev.2 – known for offering low-noise and great performance.
Since Gladiator adopts LED lighting from the Rise Glow chassis, Element PC has chosen to include Avexir Core Series 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 memory which displays a blue LED animation when the system is powered up.
For graphics delivery the EVGA GTX 970 graphics card has been used which provides mid-range 3D performance in the latest gaming titles.
Unlike many of the systems we usually come across which have a small capacity SSD and large capacity mechanical HDD, Gladiator opts for a single hard drive for storage – namely the Seagate Hybrid 1TB SSHD. This drive will offers solid state reliability in a larger capacity at a lower cost – so for this configuration its quite ideal.
Located at the front of Gladiator are a trio of 120mm cooling fans which emit a blue glow when the system is powered up and although this lighting can be switched off (via the fan controller switch) there is no denying that the lighting from these fans and the memory kit offer an impressive display.
On the subsequent pages we’ll be testing our Gladiator to reveal the performance available.
Benchmarks: Temperatures
For our first benchmark tests we observe the max. CPU temperature by loading the system with LinX and monitoring temperatures with RealTemp. For the GPU temperatures we use 3DMark and GPU-Z to read the maximum temp.
As you can see below, the temperatures are reasonable after 10-15 minutes of load – with the GPU reaching the regions of 70C and the CPU a mere 50C.
Benchmarks: Power Consumption & Boot Time
Next, we observe the power consumption by using 3DMark to load the system and then monitor DC readings with an energy tool. Using a digital stopwatch we also monitor the Windows 10 bootup time.
Benchmarks: Cinebench R15
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: X264 HD
Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. We think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.
Benchmarks: PCMark 8
Since launch, SiSoftware has always been at the forefront of the technology arena, being among the first providers of benchmarks that show the power of emerging new technologies such as multi-core, GPGPU, OpenCL, DirectCompute, x64, ARM, MIPS, NUMA, SMT (Hyper-Threading), SMP (multi-threading), AVX3, AVX2, AVX, FMA4, FMA, NEON, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, Java and .NET.
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, Star Wars Battlefront, The Witcher 3
Our system uses the mid-range GTX 970 graphics card. To test how effective the 3D capabilities are, we’ll be benchmarking some of the biggest gaming titles out there.
Conclusion
Gaining notoriety as a newcomer in the systems integrator market is no mean feat but Element PC has shown potential today with the Millennium Gladiator.
From a visual standpoint the Gladiator adopts a rather sleek and professional design. All of the internal components look great to the eye and the chosen case; Rosewill’s Rise Glow adds a touch of class too. A handful of reputable brands have been used for the component selection which will bode well with customers who value high-quality hardware. This hardware not only brings with it great looks and reliability but throughout our benchmark suite, Gladiator demonstrated how much of a capable mid-range machine it really is.
Those who are avid gamers will be pleased to know that Gladiator can handle the very latest gaming titles as shown on the previous page and by Element PC adding a conservative overclock to the Intel Core i7-4690K common tasks have been given greater processing prowess.
We’re really pleased to see a solid, trustworthy brand being used for the power supply because of all the components that make a computer system, this is an area that should certainly not be scrimped on. Choosing low-cost, no-frills power supplies can compromise a system and there is a temptation for new and existing companies to use such a device to maximise the markup but we feel using the EVGA SuperNOVA is certainly a wise decision and route to take.
Under the reviewed configuration customers can expect to pay £957.59 GBP for Gladiator, which represents good value for money when you consider the quality of the components included and the calibre of performance on offer. It’s also worth noting that Element PC give all customers a courtesy call 48 hours after delivery to confirm everything is as it should be, they also offer 2 years warranty with 1 year collect and return and lifetime technical support.
Although Element PC are new to the scene, they’ve shown some excellent potential in the Millennium Gladiator. This system is very well-presented, features high-quality components from reputable brands and offers great performance.
Pros
+ Well-packaged
+ Great performance
+ Fan controller to adjust noise/performance
+ Sleek, professional design
+ High-quality components throughout
+ Good value for money
Cons
– Handling marks inside/outside
– Previous-gen platform
+ Well-packaged
+ Great performance
+ Fan controller to adjust noise/performance
+ Sleek, professional design
+ High-quality components throughout
+ Good value for money
Cons
– Handling marks inside/outside
– Previous-gen platform
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
