Xotic PC Executioner Stage 4 Gaming PC Review
Introduction & Specifications
When Xotic PC asked us to be judge and jury of its Executioner gaming system, we thought to ourselves, "this better be one helluva setup to warrant its killer moniker," and spoiler alert, it is. We'll get to the benchmarks and other particulars in due time, but there's more to this $6,500 PC than raw performance alone.
Yes, we said $6,500, which is the rounded up cost of the version Xotic PC sent us. When shopping an Executioner, you begin by picking one of four baseline setups dubbed Stages 1-4. Ours is a Stage 4 configuration that starts at just shy of $5,100, though with the custom upgrades Xotic PC decided to showcase, the final price tag is around $1,400 higher.
All four Stages come standard with a Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube enclosure in various color options. A handful of other cases are available with an up-charge of $10 to $20, save for the SilverStone Temjin TJ11B, which carries a $490 premium over the Carbide.
Obviously a higher end Executioner build isn't for the faint of wallet and Xotic PC makes no apology for that, nor should it. As configured, the Executioner is an intimidating beast for those who can afford to splurge on a gaming PC. More specifically, it's armed with an eight-core Intel Core i7-5960X processor, dual EVGA GeForce GTX 980 SuperClocked graphics cards, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and a 480GB solid state drive for primary OS activities along with a 2TB hard drive for storage duties.
Believe it or not, Xotic PC practiced a bit of restraint in configuring the setup it sent us. Had the boutique builder decided to go bonkers, it could have decked this thing out with 64GB of RAM, four higher-end graphics cards, and several more storage drives, including both M.2 SATA and PCIe-based SSD options. That would have been fun for us to benchmark, and maybe for you to read, but given the cost of going all out, Xotic PC chose the saner route.
We're not saying there are tons of gamers who can afford to drop $6,500 on a PC, but they're out there, and in greater number than those with a budget of $15,000 to $20,000. But enough about price, let's have a closer look at the Excutioner and see what it can do, shall we?
Yes, we said $6,500, which is the rounded up cost of the version Xotic PC sent us. When shopping an Executioner, you begin by picking one of four baseline setups dubbed Stages 1-4. Ours is a Stage 4 configuration that starts at just shy of $5,100, though with the custom upgrades Xotic PC decided to showcase, the final price tag is around $1,400 higher.
All four Stages come standard with a Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube enclosure in various color options. A handful of other cases are available with an up-charge of $10 to $20, save for the SilverStone Temjin TJ11B, which carries a $490 premium over the Carbide.
Obviously a higher end Executioner build isn't for the faint of wallet and Xotic PC makes no apology for that, nor should it. As configured, the Executioner is an intimidating beast for those who can afford to splurge on a gaming PC. More specifically, it's armed with an eight-core Intel Core i7-5960X processor, dual EVGA GeForce GTX 980 SuperClocked graphics cards, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and a 480GB solid state drive for primary OS activities along with a 2TB hard drive for storage duties.
Believe it or not, Xotic PC practiced a bit of restraint in configuring the setup it sent us. Had the boutique builder decided to go bonkers, it could have decked this thing out with 64GB of RAM, four higher-end graphics cards, and several more storage drives, including both M.2 SATA and PCIe-based SSD options. That would have been fun for us to benchmark, and maybe for you to read, but given the cost of going all out, Xotic PC chose the saner route.
We're not saying there are tons of gamers who can afford to drop $6,500 on a PC, but they're out there, and in greater number than those with a budget of $15,000 to $20,000. But enough about price, let's have a closer look at the Excutioner and see what it can do, shall we?
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Processor |
Intel Core i7-5960X (20M cache, 8 cores, 16 threads, 3GHz-3.5GHz) |
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Memory |
16GB custom painted Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-2666 (4x4GB) |
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Graphics |
2x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Superclocked (SLI) |
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Motherboard |
ASUS X99-Deluxe |
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Storage |
480GB Intel 730 Series SSD 2TB WD Black HDD (7200 RPM) |
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Optical |
Asus Blu-ray burner |
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Power Supply |
1500W Corsair AX1500i |
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Chassis |
Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube (White) |
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Cooling System |
Custom Frostbite CPU and GPU liquid cooling w/ custom hard acrylic tubing |
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Connectivity |
Dual Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi |
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Front Ports |
2 x USB 3.0, Headphone, Microphone |
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Rear Ports |
10 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, audio, 6 x DisplayPort, 2 x HDMI, 2 x DVI |
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Operating System |
Windows 8.1 64-bit |
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Dimensions |
16.3 x 13 x 18 inches |
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Warrany & Price |
1 year parts, lifetime labor w/ lifetime 24 hr support $6,452 (as configured), 3% cash discount available |
The Executioner is a robust system in terms of performance and features. Looking beyond the horsepower of the CPU, GPU, and storage, there are a plethora of input and output options, plus a Blu-ray burner (optional) for watching Blu-ray movies or backing up data.
With the chosen motherboard (ASUS X99-Deluxe), you also get dual LAN ports and Wi-Fi connectivity. Xotic PC forgot to include the wireless antennas for the motherboard's Wi-Fi, and had we bought this system, we would have had them rectify the oversight.
