Hellcat Xtreme Machine has a roomy case where everything is nicely arranged. The radiator with its fans is located on the front panel, whereas the PSU is placed on the bottom due to its size.
Using screws with Plexiglass is easy, but not very safe. That’s why special screws were used, and you can see that on the following picture.
The PSU is modular Silverstone 1200W that has enough juice for the most demanding configurations. In our case, powering two HD 4870 and quad core QX9650 was a breeze. The system consumed maximum 560W.
Due to the materials used, Hellcat didn’t strike us as very portable. However, two weeks of moving the system around didn’t affect this case, and the only thing wrong with it was the damage it took in transport from the U.S.A. It seems like it fell or got hit, as the back panel, above the PSU, was cracked. We, of course, reported this immediately and Smoothcreation reacted in a timely manner and reinforced this Achilles’ heel so such things could never happen again.
An important thing about retail models is the alternate airbrushing we’ve already mentioned. The artwork is done from the inside so scratching it from the outside won’t affect the paint.
The insides of the case are accessible by removing the see-through side panel. It’s held in place by 4 screws on the corners, and since our model features an outer paintjob, the screws damaged the paint a bit.
We had no need to meddle with other panels, so the paint is left unscathed.
The optical drive and the GX panel are located above the radiator, firmly fixed in place. The opposite side houses the hard disks.
The primary hard disk is WD’s Raptor 300GB, whereas storage is a job for two WD’s 1TB disks. Next to them you’ll find a thick pipe that belongs to water cooling. You can use it to refill your water cooling, and water has been mixed with fluorescent green glow-in-the-dark paint.
The upper panel is very simple and it features only Power and Reset keys and the outlet for the pipe we’ve just mentioned.
Danger Den water cooling system is used for cooling the graphics cards, CPU and motherboard’s chipset. The pump is located on the bottom and it’s attached to the PSU.
The green lamp is placed on the back panel, and it helps the pipes radiate a nice green glow.
We had to move the lamp in order to remove the graphics cards, and you’ll find tiny holes that enable it to be removed by unscrewing it.
Diamond HD 4870 cards are overclocked from reference 750MHz to 780MHz for the GPU, whereas the memory got a major boost from 3600MHz to 4360MHz effectively. Koolance water blocks make sure that cards run stable.
Smoothcreation has a couple of exclusive deals with certain partners, such as Diamond, whose graphics cards were used in Smoothcreation’s rigs. HD 4870 Black Edition cards running at 800MHz are the weapons of choice.
The water block is, apart from the CPU, placed on the X48 chipset on Intel’s DX48BT2 motherboard. In our case, the processor is Core 2 Extreme QX9650, but if this isn’t enough for you, you can opt for Intel Skulltrail with two QX9775 processors and Crossfire made up of two Diamond HD 4870 X2 cards.
CPU temperatures are kept in check, and although it’s overclocked from 3GHz to 3.7GHz, the CPU never exceeded 50°C.
DX48BT2 motherboard works with DDR3 memory and officially supports speeds of up to 1600MHz, and Smoothcreation opted for Crucial DDR3 PC3-16000 9-9-9-28. We found in the BIOS that its speeds are downclocked to 1350MHz, and we left it like that during testing. Just to feed our curiosity, we tested the memory at its real speeds of 2000MHz and 1.9V, and it ran like a charm.
Just like CPU temperatures, graphics cards’ temperatures are very nice. We found that the GPU was at 29°C in idle mode, whereas during operation it heats up, but never exceeds 40°C.
CrossFire scores 15280 in Vantage mark, but GPU speeds can easily be adjusted for a better score. We played World in Conflict at 2048x1536 with AA on, and scored 46 frames.
Conclusion
Hellcat Xtreme Machine is a very interesting top performer that packs a lot of potential for further overclocking. Our test sample is not the retail version, so we found a couple of minor flaws, which were all fixed in the retail version except for the lack of the additional USB panel. Smoothcreation is obviously aimed at extreme gamers and enthusiasts, and the hardware used and its pricing stand as a testament to that. If you’re able to lay out $8,000, you can be sure that Hellcat will not fail to impress you.
Smoothcreation really went that extra mile to make this rig as good looking as it gets. Airbrushing the case is not an easy job and demands serious attention, and the good thing is that you can send your own case and pick the desired artwork to be applied on it. Apart from choosing the motif, there’s also an option to choose components for your future gaming rig.
Water cooling is excellent as it supplies additional overclocking room. Diamond HD 4870 and HD 4870 X2 cards are currently the crème of the crop, and gamers will be happy to hear that they’re watercooled, too. Any gamer knows that spending night after night in some hardcore gaming definitely requires some serious cooling.
Besides high end configurations, Smoothcreation offers some cheaper models at affordable prices. Hellcat Xtreme Machine is really one exquisite rig, but if you can’t afford it you might want to check out the rest of this company’s offer.