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Digital Storm Benchmark Crusher

Benson Hong — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:50:46 -0600

You want power? You got it. The beastly Benchmark Crusher from Digital Storm provides stellar performance and a workout all in one package. A few bench presses with this machine will whip you into tip-top shape in no time. Inside this hefty package are enough high-end performance parts to make any hardcore gamer wet his pants.

Hit the jump for more of this crushing review.

iBuypower Gamer Paladin 990

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

IBuypower’s Gamer Paladin 990 is a strange beast. After we completed our testing, we were left wondering just what iBuypower was trying to accomplish with its half exotic, half midrange rig.

Take, for example, the videocard situation. The machine sports a pair of Nvidia’s newest GPUs, but not the company’s top-end offering, the GeForce GTX 280. Instead, iBuypower uses a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 260s. If these GeForce cards weren’t midrange when they were first released, they certainly are now, as Nvidia has taken a blowtorch to prices to keep the GTX 260 competitive with ATI’s Radeon HD 4870.

Full review after the thing.

Puget Systems Deluge-i A2

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:58:23 -0500

There’s a civil war brewing within the PC: Intel says the CPU is the head honcho while Nvidia argues that the GPU is boss. With its Deluge-i A2, Puget shows whose side it’s taking in this debate. This budget gaming box spends big on the videocard but skimps on the processor.

Did they side with the right team? Find out after the jump

CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad

Gordon Mah Ung — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:39:51 -0500

For all those readers who have added up the price of the parts in an OEM box and screamed into the night air: “Hell, I can build it cheaper than that!” CyberPower has a retort: Beat this one, sucker! While you might think you’re up to the challenge, we suspect the price-to-performance ratio of the CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad is impossible to match—unless you’re using boosted parts. In fact, we’re not sure how CyberPower is making a profit off this stacked and packed rig.

Falcon Northwest FragBox II

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:28:37 -0500

Can you get Ferrari performance for the price of a Camaro? That’s the
question we asked when we uncrated Falcon Northwest’s small formfactor
FragBox II. Falcon, the recognized father of the modern gaming PC's,
normally throws us lustworthy $9,000 gaming rigs. At $1,500, the
FragBox II is no such home wrecker.

Click Read More for more.

Hypersonic Sonic Boom OCX

Nathan Edwards — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:44:12 -0600

January 2004. DirectX 9 had just shipped. SCO had begun its ultimately
futile crusade against IBM. And Hypersonic’s brightly colored Sonic
Boom, featuring Intel’s newest processor, was smacking our benchmarks
around.

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AVADirect Core 2 Duo SLI Gaming System

Nathan Edwards — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:33:49 -0600

Our first thought upon opening AVADirect’s new Core 2 Duo SLI Gaming
System was, “Wow, this is heavy.” Our second, “Oooh, but it’s pretty!”
was followed shortly by a third, “It’s bleeding!” A cursory
inspection revealed that the system was shipped without one of its two
CPU-cooler hose clamps, and was indeed leaking AVA’s “bloody red”
coolant into the machine. Disconcerting, to say the least. We notified
AVADirect of the problem, and they dispatched a tech to fix it.
Thereafter, despite some red residue on one of the 8800’s DVI ports,
the rig worked perfectly.

Click Read More for more.

Dell XPS 720 H2C

Nathan Edwards — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:09:51 -0600

Boom. Boom. Boom. The 800-pound gorilla has arrived. Dell’s
latest XPS system, the 720 H2C, packs some serious power and plenty of
extras, but its balls-to-the-wall approach doesn’t completely
overshadow its proprietary roots.

Click Read More for more.