Our Pre-launch Magnetar NS+ was reviewed here and won Digital Arts Best Buy Award (Nov 2008). Following the review we've now upgraded it, so 12GB of memory is now offered as standard with an future upgrade path to 24GB. The Magnetar NS series are built on Intel's new Core i7 architecture, smashing the performance of the Core2 architecture and providing workstations users with a significant boost across a full range of workstation applications. As an example, an entry level Core i7 920 is faster than the top of the range Core 2 QX9770 3.2GHz in many Pro 3D applications like 3ds max 9. The Core i7 manages to more than double memory bandwidth, thanks to the triple channel DDR3 controller built on-die within the processor. It'’s a Quad-Core processor but it's able to execute 8-threads concurrently, which can provide up to a 35% increase in rendering performance for example. More details on how it accelerates professional DCC applications can be found here Anandtech Core i7 review

 

Prices	Ex. VAT	Inc. VAT
Intel® Core™ i7 930 2.80GHz/8MB L3 Processor £1,972.63 £2,317.85 Intel® Core™ i7 960 3.20GHz/8MB L3 Processor £2,202.63 £2,588.10 Intel® Core™ i7 970 3.2GHz/6c/12MB L3 Processor £2,477.63 £2,911.22 Intel® Core™ i7 Ext. 980X 3.33GHz/6 Core Processor £2,577.63 £3,028.72
Last Updated 19 July 2010

Case

Chenbro SR105 Chassis with Hot-Swap SAS/SATA Bays and Armari Bezel

• Suitable for Extended ATX workstation and server motherboard
• 3 x 5.25" External Bays, 4 x Hot-Swap 3.5" SATA/SAS Hard drive bays
• Cooling: 1 x 120mm exhaust fan (Rear), 90mm HDD Cooling Fan
• Front panel: USB2.0 port x 2
• Dimensions 533mm(D) x 198mm(W) x 425mm(H)
• Note: Hot-Swapping of drives on live systems requires RAID controller
• More information is available here

 

PSU

Corsair TX750 750 Watt PSU

• Suitable for Single and Dual CPU Socket systems.
• High 80% efficiency rated. Single 14cm Ultra-quiet Cooling fan
• Power Spec: +12V @ 60.0A
• Power Spec: +5V @ 28.0A, +3.3V @ 24.0A,-12v @ 0.8A,+5Vsb @ 3.0A
• Suitable for Dual Graphics card (SLI / CrossFire) Systems
• Manufacturer 5 year limited warranty
• More information is available here

 

System Cooler

SanAce - Low noise fan Kit for Magnetar NS+ (Chenbro SR105 Chassis)

• The latest quiet fans from world famous Japanese fan maker Sanyo Denki
• Each fan is computer balanced to reduce vibaration and noise
• Dual ball bearing 40,000Hr+ long life fans
• Single 12cm, 17dB(A), 48CFM rear fan
• Single 9cm, up to 22dB(A), 37CFM front fans

 

Motherboard

Asus P6T Deluxe Core i7 LGA1366 DDR3 PCIe2 Motherboard

• Intel X58+ICH10R Chipset. (Supports nVidia SLI & ATI Crossfire)
• Supports Intel Core™ i7 Series processors
• Up to 24GB of DDR3 up to 1333/ memory, 2 x 3 set of DIMMs
• Slots: 3 x PCIe2 (x16+x16 or x16+x8+x8), 1x PCIe x4, 2x PCI
• 6 SATA-II RAID,2x SAS RAID,8ch.HD Audio,2x Gb-LAN,8x USB 2.0,2x1394a,1x eSATA
• ASUS True 16-phase Power Design
• More information is available here

 

CPU Cooler

Manufacturer supplied, standard factory CPU cooler(s)

 

Memory

2 x 6GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) SDRAM Kit

• 3x 2GB matched memory modules with Classic Heat Spreaders
• Tested at 1333MHz with JEDEC standard 9-9-9-24 Latency at 1.5V
• memory kit designed for Intel Core i7, X58 Chipset motherboards
• More information is available here

 

Graphics

PNY QuadroFX 3700 PRO-3D 512MB GDDR3, PCI-E x16 Graphics Card

• 512MB DDR3 Memory @ 51.2GB/sec
• 3D Primitive Performance - 250 Million trianges/sec, 28 Billion texels/sec
• 78Watts power consumption. Single Aux. 6pin PCI-E power required
• OpenGL 2.0, DirectX 10, Shader model 4.0
• Display connectors: 2 x DVI-I (2 x Dual-Link), Stereo
• Supports Dual Quadro FX 3700 cards in SLI
• More information is available here

 

Hard drive

Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB SATA-II Hard Disk HD103UJ

• Capacity: 1TB
• SATA 3.0Gb/s interface, 7,200 RPM Rotational Speed
• 8.9ms Average Seek, 32MB cache. Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
• Acoustics: Idle Mode 27 dBA (average), Seek Mode 29 dBA (average)
• 3 Year Manufacturer Warranty
• More information is available here

 

CD/DVD Drive

Sony NEC Optiarc Multi-Format DVD Writer (SATA)

• Black bezel. Tray loading drive. SATA Interface
• Average Acess Time: 180ms (DVD), 150ms (CD)
• Max Sustained Transfer Rate: 21MB/s (DVD 16x), 7MB/s (CD 48x)
• Writes: DVD+/-R 18x,+RW 8x,-RW 6x,+R DL 8x,-R DL 8x,DVD-RAM 12x
• 1 Year Limited Warranty. Includes Nero 7 Software Suite
• More information is available here

 

O/S

Microsoft Windows XP Professional 64Bit (OEM)

• Supports up to 128GB system memory and 1 or 2 physical processors
• Each processor can additionally have Dual Cores or Hyperthreading
• We include original Microsoft factory Installation CD with each system
• More information is available here

 

Warranty

Armari 2 Year Standard Workstation Warranty for Systems

• 1st Year on-site, 2nd Year RTB (Parts & Labour)
• 2nd Year Optional collection & return service £55 per callout
• Collection is via protective flight case so you don't need to keep the box!
• Terms & conditions of on-site warranty available on request
• On-site service applies to UK Mainland only