The Antares M500 may be based on a microATX motherboard design, but don't let that fool you. This year a new generation of smaller, lighter, more energy efficient but equally powerful PCs are taking over as the machines of choice for many gamers and enthusiasts. This system is based on the latest Asus enthusiast motherboard - the Rampage II Gene. It's very well equipped with 6x memory Dimm sockets, high quality on-board sound supporting X-Fi EAX software, plus its also a great overclocker. With support for *SLI and *CrossfireX and with ample cooling including a monster 20cm fan built into the roof, its runs very quiet as well as very cool. Despite the smaller profile the stylish Antec Chassis is still able to support 6 Hard drives and 3 optical drives. It features basic noise dampened panels and dust filters. The total package makes this a very desirable yet very affordable PC. To top it all off the processor is liquid cooled with the multi award winning Domino ALC, allowing for easy, reliable and quiet overclocking !
* for SLI or CrossfireX MultiGPU you need to upgrade to a 1000Watt PSU when you customise this system.

 

Prices	Ex. VAT	Inc. VAT
Intel® Core™ i7 930 2.80GHz/8MB L3 Processor £1,491.06 £1,751.99 Intel® Core™ i7 960 3.20GHz/8MB L3 Processor £1,731.06 £2,033.99 Intel® Core™ i7 970 3.2GHz/6c/12MB L3 Processor £2,006.06 £2,357.12 Intel® Core™ i7 Ext. 980X 3.33GHz/6 Core Processor £2,106.06 £2,474.62
Last Updated 13 August 2010

Case

Antec Mini P180 - EU microATX chassis Black (NO PSU included)

• Black tower steel case. Supports microATX Motherboards only
• 3x5.25" front drive bays. 5x3.5" internal drive bays
• Cooling: 1x 200mm fan (top), 1x 120mm fans 1x rear
• Top Panel: 2x USB, eSATA and Audio In/Out connectors
• Dimensions: 43.5cm (H) x 21.2cm (W) x 51.5cm (D). Weight 9.5Kg (net)
• 3-layer side panel to reduce noise
• 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

 

Motherboard

Asus Rampage II Gene Core i7 LGA1366 DDR3 PCIe2 microATX Motherboard

• Intel X58+ICH10R Chipset.(Supports 2-way, nVidia SLI & ATI CrossfireX)
• Supports Intel Core™ i7 Series processors
• Up to 24GB of DDR3 up to 2000MHz (O.C) memory, 2 x 3 set of DIMMs
• Slots: 2 x PCIe2 full x16, 1x PCIe2 x4, 1x PCI
• 6 SATAII RAID,X-Fi.HD Audio,Gb-LAN,12x USB 2.0,2x1394a
• onboard Jmicron JMB363 controller supporting:
• 1 x UltraDMA supporting 2 x PATA devices, 1 x internal SATA, 1 x eSATA
• onboard SupremeFX Sound Blaster X-Fi featuring:
• EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0, CMSS® 3D, 24bit Crystailizer, Optical S/PDIF out
• More information is available here

 

CPU Cooler

Domino ALC - Advanced Single CPU Liquid cooling system (LGA775/1366) 120mm Fan

• An outstanding high performance, cost effective, low noise and safe
• liquid cooling solution. Maintainence free and factory sealed for life.
• The performance of liquid cooling at the price of a good heatsink fan.
• Comprises of Single CPU block/pump/controller/fan and radiator unit that
• screws on to the back of most chassis that can support a 12cm fan
• Intelligent controller and large LCD backlit panel provides realtime status data.
• A Safety Alarm warns you of any problems with the cooling system.

 

Memory

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

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E with EyeFinity & CrossfireX

• ATI Radeon RV870 GPU. Core Clock Speed 850MHz. HDCP support
• Memory Clock Speed 1200MHz(DDR)/1GB GDDR5/256bit bus @ 153GB/sec
• 1600 stream processors,80 TMUs,32 ROPs. Full DirectX 11 & OpenGL 3.1
• 2 x Dual Link DVI, HDMI, Display port. 3-screen EyeFinity support
• Avivo HD - Hardware accelerated decoding of H.264,AVC and VC-1
• Dynamic power management with ATI PowerPlay™ technology
• Idle power: 27 Watts, Full power: 188Watts
• Card requires 2 x PCIe 6-pin power. Dual slot cooler
• More information is available here

 

Hard drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 32MB SATA-II Hard Drive - Model ST31000528AS

• Capacity: 1TB, Designed for High Performance Desktop systems
• SATA 3GB/s interface with native command queuing (NCQ), 7200RPM
• Average Seek - TBA, 32MB cache
• Acoustics: Idle Mode 2.5 bels (average), Seek Mode 2.7 bels (average)
• 3 Years Warranty
• ST31000528AS
• More information is available here

 

CD/DVD Drive

Sony NEC Optiarc Multi-Format DVD Writer (ATA)

• Black bezel. Tray loading drive. IDE 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
• Windows Vista is now supported
• More information is available here

 

Keyboard

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 710 Laser

• Requires USB or PS/2 Connection
• 5 Year Warranty
• Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Laser Mouse with Scrolling Wheel
• 27 MHz USB RF Wireless Receiver
• music, video, volume, email, IM, & Programmable Hot-Keys
• Features:-
• Contoured, wave-shaped key design conforms naturally to your fingers.
• A curved profile and uniform-size keys promote an ergonomically correct, more comfortable hand position.
• Cushioned, contoured palm rest
• Adjustable keyboard height
• Comfortable mouse design
• Audio cable management
• 4 x AA alkaline batteries
• Plastic keyboard dust cover
• More information is available here

 

O/S

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit (OEM) with Windows 7 upgrade

• We include original Microsoft factory Installation CD with each system
• Price includes Installation
• Features Aero 3D desktop interface and Media Center, but does
• not include; Remote Desktop, Business networking or Bitlocker encryption
• includes Upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium released on October 22nd
• More information is available here

 

Warranty

Armari 2 Year standard office/home PC warranty

• 1st Year on-site, 2nd Year RTB (Parts & Labour)
• 2nd Year Optional collection & return service £60 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
• Service applies to UK Mainland only

 

Power measurements are in Watts, taken from a calibrated meter on the mains input.
Measurements were taken from an Antares M500 system of the configuration below.
The GREEN left power icon represents a system running at idle with Intel Speedstep enabled
The RED right power icon represents a system running with full CPU load, all cores at 100%

Intel Corei7 Processor with Domino ALC liquid cooling
6GB Corsair XMS-1333MHz Memory
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 Hard Disk
BFG GTX 275 OC Graphics
Sony NEC DVD, Keyboard & Mouse

A Sound level of (( indicates as estimated noise level of 35 dB(A) under normal conditions
Noise levels will be higher under prelonged 100% load such as rendering / benchmarking