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Maingear Prelude (AMD Phenom X4 9850): Maingear's AMD midrange Prelude desktop clearly has the Dell XPS 630 in its sights. The Prelude is faster almost across the board and at $1,499 it's less expensive. Our only reservation is with its interior. The Prelude case is very attractive on the outside, but to achieve its unique,...; Tags: Processors, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Voodoo PC, AMD Phenom, Prelude, Maingear; Product reviews 2008-06-04
Puget Deluge-i L2: If we've learned anything about the first part of this year, it's that you can get an outstanding gaming PC for about $1,500. That's why we're so stymied by Puget Systems' Deluge-i L2. For $4,877, this system only barely edges out its midrange competition. It also can't compete with a...; Tags: Processors, Deluge-i L2, Puget Systems, Intel Core 2 Duo, Maingear, hard drive, PC; Product reviews 2008-04-08
Maingear Ephex (Intel and ATI): Welcome to $5,184 of gaming PC. We haven't reviewed a high-end desktop like this Maingear Ephex in a while, largely because we've wanted to upgrade our gaming benchmarks. Now that we're able to tackle the high end again, we're surprised at what we've found. On most titles, you can expect...; Tags: Games, Desktops, Intel Corp., performance, Uberclok, ATI Technologies Inc., Maingear, Maingear Ephex, PC, game; Product reviews 2008-02-21
Maingear F131 SLI (Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600): Maingear's new F131 SLI gaming PC comes at our recent Velocity Micro Editors' Choice winner strong and hard. Both are equally well-designed, and while the Maingear is a bit more expensive at $4,200, it also includes a few features the Velocity Micro lacks, at least in the PC it sent...; Tags: Games, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), DVD, Consumer electronics, Processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Corp., Maingear, Velocity, Velocity Micro; Product reviews 2007-06-29
Gateway FX530XT (Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX): With this newest reiteration of its high-end FX530XT, Gateway finally brings it flagship desktop in line with the other enthusiast PCs in its class. And all it took was a graphics card. Our $4,449 build comes with an overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX. Combine that with the system's familiar overclocked Intel...; Tags: Video cards, Games, Processors, NVidia Corp., Gateway Inc., Gateway FX530XT, Maingear, Nvidia GeForce; Product reviews 2007-05-31

Maingear X-Cube (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800): Maingear may not have changed its X-Cube's case since we last looked at one about a year ago, but the hardware and software on the 2007 model are entirely brand new. With the latest in everything, this high-end, semiportable gaming system has a comparable price tag, coming in around $4,570...; Tags: Performance management, Processors, Intel Corp., Intel Core 2 Duo, Maingear X-Cube, Maingear, performance; Product reviews 2007-05-09
Shuttle XPC P2 3700g: The Shuttle XPC P2 3700g is the newer, Intel version of the AMD-based XPC P2 2700 model we reviewed earlier this year and adds a couple of important upgrades. First, the P2 3700g features Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, which our tests show improve overall performance. Using the same chassis...; Tags: Desktops, Processors, Shuttle, Maingear, power supply, Falcon Northwest, card, SFF, graphics; Product reviews 2006-11-20
Maingear X-Cube: We don't usually get to make sweeping declarative statements, but Maingear has given us the opportunity. Its small-form-factor SFF X-Cube gaming desktop is the most advanced PC in its class. No other vendor of a pseudo-portable gaming computer offers a more up-to-date system. This $3,300 PC is by no means...; Tags: Chipsets, Desktops, Semiconductors, Processors, Network technology, Maingear X-Cube, Maingear, PC; Product reviews 2006-06-20

Additional Resources

Velocity Micro Vector Campus Edition: We normally have good things to say about Velocity Micro's Campus Edition back-to-school desktops. This year's model, the $999 Vector Campus Edition, leaves us disappointed because of its uninspired configuration. We still find Velocity Micro's desktop design among the best in the industry, and this system's visual appeal and...; Tags: Processors, Network technology, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Velocity Micro, Velocity, Vector Campus Edition; Product reviews 2008-07-10
AVADirect Core 2 SLI DDR3 Gaming System: If you consider this upper midrange $3,220 AVADirect's Core 2 SLI DDR3 Gaming System representative of the value and build quality available from this small custom builder, we can report that we were mostly happy with this PC, even if we found it loud and its gaming performance a bit...; Tags: Games, AVADirect Core 2 SLI DDR3 Gaming System; Product reviews 2008-07-02
Gateway FX7026: Continuing in their line of desktop computers with quad-core processors, the Gateway FX7026 offers a loaded computer that can go head-to-head with other high end gaming and media heavy machines. The $1,099 price tag is more than fair for the amount of high performance features and comparable to a similar...; Tags: Desktops, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), DVD, Consumer electronics, Gateway FX7026, Gateway Inc.; Product reviews 2008-06-25
Gateway FX541XT: Gateway's FX541XT occupies a strange gaming PC middle ground. At $3,500, it's not in the same price category as high-end PCs such as Dell's XPS 730 H2C, but it's also about $2,000 more than the emergent $1,500 gaming desktop we've seen this year, most recently in the Maingear Prelude....; Tags: Desktops, DVD, Consumer electronics, Network technology, Gateway FX541XT, Gateway Inc., PC; Product reviews 2008-06-18
Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week: Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the Maingear Prelude gaming PC, the 2008 Audi A5, the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music phone, and more. by CNET News.com; Tags: Audi AG, Photograph, Telecom & Utilities, CNET News.com; Image galleries 2008-06-07
Alienware Area-51 (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770): From its chrome trim to its customizable case lighting, Alienware's Area-51 ALX high-end gaming desktop bears all the visual hallmarks of a luxury-class gaming PC. Our $7,738 review model came configured with Intel's highest-end Core 2 Extreme CPU, overclocked, no less, and a quad-graphics card set up, which give it...; Tags: Games, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Corp., Alienware, Area-51 ALX; Product reviews 2008-06-05
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770): Falcon Northwest's latest Mach V ($6,957, as reviewed) remains true to the company's reputation of high performance and best-of-breed craftsmanship. But for a few exceptions, its parts offerings remain on the cutting edge, and its smart system building philosophy results in outstanding performance. If your goal is to build the...; Tags: Processors, Memory, Intel Corp., Falcon Northwest, Mach V, Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Core 2 Duo; Product reviews 2008-05-29
Dell XPS 730 H2C: Dell's brand-new XPS 730 H2C high-end gaming PC ticks off all the right boxes and even manages to pull off a few new tricks, at least for Dell. It's the first PC that Dell will ship with a factory-overclocked CPU and memory. Our $6,747 review unit features the latest quad-core...; Tags: Video cards, Processors, Dell Computer Corp., Maingear Ephex, XPS 730, XPS 730 H2C, hard drive; Product reviews 2008-05-01
Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week: Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the Dish Network's HD DVR, an overclocked quad-core gaming PC from Maingear, and an input device for graphic artists. by CNET News.com; Tags: Quad-core, Photograph, Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, CNET News.com; Image galleries 2008-02-23
AVADirect Core 2 Duo SLI Gaming System (Intel Core 2 Duo E6700): AVADirect's newly updated Core 2 Duo SLI system comes with a $3,600 price tag and a lot to like for a gaming PC. This particular configuration also has a few problems with it, mainly a dual-core rather than a quad-core CPU, as well as a seizure-inducing front-panel fan controller. You...; Tags: Games, Processors, Consumer electronics, DVD, Intel Core 2 Duo, AVADirect, game, Velocity Micro, Velocity, hard drive, Intel Corp.; Product reviews 2007-08-10
Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800): We've stayed away from the $6,000-plus gaming PCs for awhile, largely because the shift to Windows Vista has thrown the high-end PC market into a state of uncertainty. Still, we agreed to review this Mach V from Falcon Northwest because the company sent us a configuration with two long-rumored but...; Tags: Desktops, Processors, Consumer electronics, DVD, Falcon Northwest, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Corp., PC, Intel Core 2 Duo; Product reviews 2007-07-26
Velocity Micro Raptor DCX (ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT): We've given Velocity Micro plenty of good reviews in the past, but this might be the best PC we've ever seen from the midsize vendor. True to its specialty of building powerful, smartly configured gaming desktops, this Raptor DCX comes in at $3,995, but it feels like you're getting a...; Tags: Games, ATI Radeon, Velocity, Velocity Micro, Raptor, DCX, card, PC, game, ATI Technologies Inc., NVidia Corp.; Product reviews 2007-05-14