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)

 

Component Selection and Build Quality
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  • sticks435 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link

    I agree with some other replies, they should have waited and used the 900D and also used thicker rads. That's the reason the fans have to be turned up so high. Those look like 35mm rads, which probably have a high FPI count (20-30) is my guess. If they had used thick 60mm rads, they could have turned the fans down much lower or only used 1 set and got the same or better temps at lower noise. Dual loops would have also helped, but at that point you might as well do it yourself lol.
  • rohini - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link

    oh God!
    What the hell will you do with such a config? You're wasting power nothing else. Even a single Titan is more than sufficient for all the latest games let alone the 3 way SLI.
  • Silma - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link

    For $9k I'm not expecting a 51dB loud computer but rather about 35dB.
    I have a loud computer with otherwise perfect specs and boy I am looking forward to the next one which will be silent as a priority.
    Also 240GB SSD is absolutely not enough, for the price I'm expecting 480GB at the very least.

    Otherwise it looks like a great PC.
  • ChuckyDB - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link

    Honestly, the cooling is clearly poor for that price.
    That crazy overclock sure is heating up the water, but not like those power hungry Titans.
    I have seen on a forum a dude with 2 Titans on water at around 40C.
    This build, with the cards being at 66C, that means the water is quite hot. No wonder the cpu is going over 80. For a build of this magnitude, it is quite sad.
    For cooling that CPU, I would have taken 2 radiators because of that overclock, and 2 radiators for each GPU to keep that water temperature down. That's 8 radiators total. 5 isn't enough for a single loop.
    Personnaly, I would have either:
    1) Made a double loop, that way the gpus could have heated the water all they wanted on their side and the cpu would have had more breathing space.
    2) Or, if I'm not mistaken, that looks like some Koolance quick disconnect plugs around the gpus. http://koolance.com/help-quick-disconnect-shutoff-...
    That means we could easily add a radbox on the back and get 3 more radiators in that system. http://koolance.com/radiator-mounting-bracket-with...
    That would give a much better thermal performance, and mabey give the chance to keep the fans a low speed at all time. Sure it looks ugly, but someone who can do it should in my opinion.
  • dishayu - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link

    This system has more frame buffer than RAM. :|
  • chazh - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link

    this is 8K stuff. beastly mainly. it must be targeted the enthusiast gaming user.
    with those triple titans it seem the motherboard is not quite match.
    otherwise, maybe maximus v extreme will be a wise choice.
    and without a discrete sound card..well i feel something missing in this rig.
  • wshawn - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link

    Let me buy a server and a couple of I7-3xxx systems and a decent laptop. I'll probably still have money left over. There isn't $9k worth of anything here.

    "These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along."
  • Conficio - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link

    +Ryan are you susing a DSLR type camera? If so you can reduce the glare and reflections on the cases by buying a polarization filter and using it accordingly. Would make great reviews even better!
    Thanks for your hard work.
  • fuzz111111 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link

    Are you sure it was the CPU holding some games back? Nvidia cards, without a patch, run at PCIE 2.0 on X79, and this apparently bottlenecks SLI setups:
    https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/516811/ge...
  • UltraTech79 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link

    Really? $9000 and they put fucking TITANs in there?

    Morons.

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