Scan 3XS WI4000 Viz
A WELL-BALANCED WORKSTATION THAT’S JUST PIPPED FOR AN AWARD BY THE EIGHT CORES IN THE PC SPECIALIST ALTERNATIVE
SCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE £2,083 (£2,500 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk/3xs
Scan scored the top accolade for its more expensive entry into this Labs, and while it can’t repeat that success with its lower-priced entry, it epitomises the specification you would expect for around £2,500 inc VAT. Naturally, at this price, Scan opts for the more consumer-oriented Intel Core i7, but still includes the pinnacle of the recently released eighth generation, the 8700K.
Scan has been quite aggressive with the clock of its 8700K, although not as much as Overclockers. This six-core processor has been set to 4.8GHz, giving a welcome boost over the 3.7GHz nominal rating. The processor is partnered with 32GB of 3,000MHz DDR4 SDRAM, supplied as two DIMMs and leaving two memory slots free for upgrades.
Graphics are standard for a 3D-oriented workstation, coming in the shape of Nvidia’s Quadro P4000. With 1,792 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR5 memory offering 243GB/sec bandwidth, there is lots of modelling acceleration power on offer.
Scan also opts for the usual combination of SSD and hard drive,
with a 512GB Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2 unit partnered by a 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 SATA drive. The SSD is one of the quickest this month, offering 3.2GB/sec reading and 2GB/ sec writing, but the hard disk is one of the slower performers, with just 186MB/sec reading and writing.
The WI4000 performs as expected. The overall score of 278 in the PC Pro benchmarks is one of the lowest this month, but still quick compared to most PCs. Likewise, the Maxon Cinebench 15 rendering score of 1,559 is excellent on a grand scale but low amongst the competition in this labs, as is the Blender render duration of 2,236 seconds. Adobe Media Encoder scores are on par with other systems using the 8700K processor.
This system’s biggest strength is its modelling, with good SPECviewperf 12.1 and Maxon Cinebench 15 OpenGL scores. The particularly impressive SolidWorks, Catia and Siemens NX results make the Scan workstation highly suited to both product and engineering design.
Overall, the Scan 3XS WI4000 Viz is a competent system for the money. It holds no major surprises, but the only weakness is the lack of USB 3.1 Gen 2 on the motherboard. Other than that, this is a solidly designed and balanced workstation.