Origin Genesis Review: Triple Titan Terror
by Ryan Smith on April 23, 2013 9:00 AM EST
As some of you might recall, as part of NVIDIA’s GTX Titan launch NVIDIA not only sent out individual cards, but also some custom concept systems to showcase the unique aspects of Titan. Specifically its high quality construction and how its blower-style cooler means it can be exploited to pack high performance systems into relatively small spaces. NVIDIA shipped us two such concept systems, a small form factor (SFF) Falcon Northwest Tiki, and at the opposite end of the spectrum was the obscenely powerful tri-SLI Origin Genesis.
Of course that was almost two months ago, and there’s no getting around the fact that as the reviewer assigned to the Genesis I’ve ended up turning in this review very late. An initial delay to focus on the Titan launch turned into a serious illness, followed by not one but two conferences, two more video card launches, and some other fun stuff in between. So living up to the motto “better late than never”, now that everything has settled down (relatively speaking) I can finally pick back up where I left off and finish our look at Titan with the final piece of the puzzle: Origin’s monster gaming machine.
With the Genesis the idea was that Origin would put together a triple Titan system to showcase just how quiet Titan’s blower-style coolers were even when the cards were tightly packed together. Instead Origin unexpectedly exceeded NVIDIA’s specifications and was able to get three Titans hooked up to water in time for the Titan launch. The end result somewhat defeats the original purpose of sending the system out – we can’t tell you what three stock Titans sounds like – but in the end we got something far more interesting: three Titans hooked up to water, creating a tri-SLI system effectively unrestrained by heat and cooled by one of the only things quieter than NVIDIA’s blowers. Ultimately if one Titan on its own is powerful, then three Titans is nothing short of obscene. This is the same sentiment behind the Origin’s Genesis system we’re reviewing today.
In Origin’s product lineup, Genesis is Origin’s brand for their line full-tower computers. As a boutique builder, Origin uses a number of different configurations on their Genesis lineup, offering multiple CPU/motherboard combinations and multiple cases under the same Genesis heading. As a result Genesis spans everything from relatively simple systems to XL-ATX monsters.
The Genesis system we’ll be looking at today is positioned at the top end of that lineup, and is intended to be the fastest thing that can be put together in an ATX form factor. Sparing no expense, Origin has assembled a Genesis system that packs in Origin’s best components, best cooling, greatest overclocks, and highest price tag. Based around the combination of a Corsair Obsidian 800D case, NVIDIA’s GTX Titan, and Intel’s X79/SNB-E platform, it’s a luxury computer like no other.
With that thought in mind, let’s take a look at just how a $9,000 luxury gaming computer is built and configured.
| Origin Genesis (2013) Specifications | |
| Chassis | Corsair Obsidian 800D |
| Processor |
Intel Core i7-3970X (6x3.5GHz + HTT, Turbo to 4.0GHz, 4.9GHz Overclock, 32nm, 15MB L3, 150W) |
| Motherboard | Intel DX79SR(X79 Chipset) |
| Memory | 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866 (expandable to 64GB) |
| Graphics |
3x NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan 6GB in SLI 3x (2688 CUDA cores, 837/6008MHz core/RAM, 952/6208MHz Overclock, 384-bit memory bus) |
| Storage |
2x Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB SATA 6Gbps SSD (LAMD), RAID-0 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200-RPM SATA HDD |
| Optical Drive(s) | Hitachi-LG 14x BD Burner |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX1200i |
| Networking | 2x Intel 82579L Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio |
Realtek ALC892 Speaker, mic/line-in, surround jacks, optical out for 7.1 sound |
| Front Side |
Optical drive 40-In-1 Media Card Reader 2x USB 2.0 2x USB 3.0 IEEE 1394a Headphone and mic jacks 4-channel fan controller Koolance RP-401X2 Reservoir |
| Top | - |
| Back Side |
4x USB 3.0 6x USB 2.0 Optical out IEEE 1394a 2x Ethernet Speaker, mic/line-in, surround, and optical jacks 6x DVI-D (3x GTX Titan) 3x HDMI (3x GTX Titan) 2x DisplayPort (3x GTX Titan) |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 |
| Dimensions |
24" x 9" x 24" (609.6mm x 228.6mm x 609.6mm) |
| Extras |
Card reader Custom liquid-cooling loop, CPU & GPU Custom LED lighting 80 Plus Platinum PSU |
| Warranty | 1-year parts, 45 days shipping, lifetime labor and 24/7 support |
| Pricing | As configured: $8,499 (+$479 paint job) |
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UltraTech79 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
All these idiots did was slap in the most expensive shit they could find. No real thought put into this. No thought put into how fucking loud this thing is or how usable. Its just one big circlejerk. I should charge them 100$ for wasting my time looking at it.Yoiu might think "yeah you say all that but if you got one youd be happy" Yeah, realistically Id be very happy, becuse Id sell the POS for 7-8k$ even if its individual parts and build a better PC for 2k and save the rest.
DPOverLord - Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - link
What are the thoughts on this driving a surround 27 / 30" 7680 x 1600 system? Are two titans enough or do you actually need 3?healingshoes - Friday, July 12, 2013 - link
something - ok a bunch of things - about this system build bother me... a lot.a lot a lot.
actually more than a lot a lot lol...
why use this "always on" power sucking money sink water cooling system, when the Titan SLI has fan control sensors so sensitive that it can respond to microscopic changes in environment?
and this cooling system, as the reviewer mentions, packs up all the free volume inside the casing, meaning the Titan's own cooling system is being completely sabotaged by origin's water cooling.... it doesnt have nearly enough internal volume of air to do what it's intended to do.
also, it's windows 7 not windows 8, so it has ZERO memristor pathing optimization, or green power consumption reductions, or auto fan control.
on top of all that, i have to look at that water cooling being stuffed in there, creating insufficient airflow for the titan's on board vents and fan, and what comes to mind is that the design of the air intakes and fan - look at the fan back casing on the titan... it;s an acoustic bouncer and amplifier. why would you AMPLIFY fan noise?
there can only be one reason for that. the shape of the rotor blades must be designed to combine the fan's low end air rumble with the air intake sound to create a harmonic which gives you SIGNAL CANCELLATION of your high end fan motor noise.
but without sufficient air volume inside the case, the morons turned signal cancellation into amplified motor noise because sound pitch gets altered, to a higher tone, and AMPLIFIED in a vacuum or partial vacuum. so instead of two layers of noise and two cancelled layers of noise, you end up with the 4 normal noise layers PLUS a harmonic which shouldnt be there.
and this reduced pressure from the fans not having enough air volume gives you a whole other problem in terms of creating more heat, BECAUSE WATER BOILS AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE AT LOWER PRESSURE!!!
I don't know what genius went and did this and for what reason, and I don't know how someone with this little basic knowledge of physics gets a job building high end computer systems, but I do know he sabotaged the performance tests. Badly.
To me, it seems like his water cooler was the noise and heat and power consumption problem, AND the 3rd card underperformance problem.