You may salivate at the prospect of gaming on a PC at 4K resolution, but unless you have some serious bucks to burn, getting your hands on such powerful PC gaming gear is probably out of the realm of possibility. Origin PC is trying to make this kind of horsepower a bit more obtainable by introducing a trio of Battlebox-branded systems that all start at under $4,000. All of them are stuffed with Nvidia’s super-powerful GeForce GTX Titan Z dual-GPU graphics card.
Related: AMD Radeon R9 295X2 reviewed, benchmarked
Origin PC’s three new systems are called the Chronos Z Battlebox, Millenium Z Battlebox, and the Genesis Z Battlebox. Here’s a breakdown of each system.
Origin PC Chronos Z Battlebox
The Chronos Z Battlebox starts at $3,114, and is powered by an Intel Core i5-4460 quad-core processor running at 3.2GHz, an Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive. Storing all this gear is a Silverstone RVZ01 Mini-ITX case, though you can opt for larger boxes, including the Silverstone FT03. Of course, adding any other bells and whistles to the system will push its price tag further north.
Related: Why Nvidia’s $3,000 Titan Z is and isn’t crazy
Though it’s the cheapest of Origin’s new systems, the Chronos Z still offers some future-proofing properties. The Asus H97I-Plus motherboard that it ships with by default will support Intel’s upcoming Broadwell CPUs, which are due out later this year. It also supports M.2 drives.
Liquid cooling comes standard with the Origin PC Chronos Z, along with a 450-watt power supply, and Windows 7 as well.
Origin PC Millenium Z Battlebox
One of the main differences between the Chronos Z and the Millenium Z lies in the size of each system. While the former packs its guts into a tiny box, the latter features a case that can fit multiple graphics cards inside. However, you pay quite a bit for the larger cage, considering that almost all of the core specs that the Battlebox Z Millenium ships with by default are the same ones that are in the Battlebox Z Chronos, save for the motherboard and the power supply.
Related: What kind of hardware do you need to play PC games at 4K resolution?
You get the same Intel Core i5-4460 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 500GB mechanical hard drive, and, of course, a Titan Z. You still get liquid cooling and Windows 7, but the PSU gets upgraded to a 650-watt unit. This configuration is priced at $3,673, which is $550 higher than the very similarly configured Chronos.
Origin PC Genesis Z Battlebox
The Battlebox Z Genesis stays under the $4,000 mark, but just barely. Priced at $3,955 by default, unlike the Millenium, the Genesis Z’s default component loadout at least comes with a substantial upgrade on the CPU front.
Instead of the Core i5-4460 found in the default configs for both the Chronos Z and the Millenium Z, the Genesis Z comes with an Intel Core i7-4820 CPU clocked at 3.7GHz. However, almost everything else is the same. You still get 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 650-watt power supply, liquid cooling, and Windows 7.
Is it impressive that these systems all include the Titan Z, which is a $3,000 graphics card, in rigs that all cost under $4,000? Yes, that’s without a doubt.
Is this the best way for you to go if you want a 4K-capable PC gaming rig while trying to keep costs down? Considering that the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 costs half the price ($1,500) and performs either as well as, or even better than the Titan Z, the answer is no. Only hardcore Nvidia devotees should get on in these new rigs from Origin.
You can learn more about Origin PC’s new Battlebox Z systems here.
