MaxForce Reviewed: 3-Way SLI and 4 GHz+

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

Conclusion

The results are pretty rosy for the MaxForce Revolution GTX3—it’s a solid, powerful PC that can shrug off anything you throw at it, created by a small communicative company with a strong warranty, and all for a reasonable price.

The MaxForce Revolution GTX3 is a good deal cheaper than competing high-end rigs, like HP’s Blackbird 002 LC or Falcon Northwest’s Mach 5, but it’s at least as fast and usually faster when it comes to gaming and includes a warranty that’s at least as good if not better.

Comparing it to the home-brew System Builder Marathon machine we made in March of 2008, the MaxForce is very close in cost when we look at today’s prices, but it removes the burden of system assembly and knowledgeable overclocking tweaks. At the same time, the firm offers a warranty that you wouldn’t get by doing it yourself.

Our only real issue is the lack of a water cooling option for the CPU. Our System Builder Marathon PC, in addition to the HP and Falcon Northwest machines, are water cooled for a reason: quad-core CPUs overclocked to 4 GHz put out a lot of heat, and we’re not so sure air cooling will handle it well in the long term. While the MaxForce warranty would cover any problems, 4 GHz for a quad is a lot to expect on air cooling. We thus think an option to add a liquid cooling system such as Swiftech’s H20-220 would hit the MaxForce Revolution GTX3 out of the park. Having said that, we still think the Revolution GTX3 is a great system for the money when all things are considered.

Don Woligroski
50 Comments Comment from the forums
  • neiroatopelcc
    "xtras 1BG USB Flash Drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_drive , Assassin ’s Creed (game)" on page 2 - sure u don't mean 1GB?
    Reply
  • wahdangun
    "a GDDR3 motherboard, and no less than three of the fastest video cards money can buy"

    hmmm i think it have alot of typo in here
    Reply
  • random1283
    OK maybe GDDR3 is a typo but GTX280s are the fastest SINGLE GPU video cards out there and I think thats what he meant
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    3 years warranty and water cooling don't go together. Water cooling requires too much maintenance compare with high-end air cooling.

    The choice of 2GB memory and Vista 32 sounds like a joke. Think of telling your friends your $4000+ system is running 2GB and Vista 32. 4GB should be minimum and 8GB optional.
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    Good luck for MaxForce. Hopefully their customer service comes close to Flacon.
    Reply
  • rubix_1011
    Are you kidding me? Offering 2GB of RAM and a 32 bit OS shouldn't even be a consideration when paying $4000+ for a performance machine. Give me a break: OEM builder Vista 64 is like $80 and I am sure you can get 'volume' discounts for boutique builders like these. Tossing in the other 2GB of DDR3 shouldn't set you back any more than $50 (again, volume purchase discounts).

    I say OS switch-out is negligible cost. You MIGHT see minor price increase due to 4GB RAM as opposed to 2Gb...but still 4GB should be the starting point in a system with this hardware.

    Running 3 280's? You are using over 1/2 your available system memory allocation due to GDDR. 64 bit only.
    Reply
  • smyter_m
    their website down? www.solaris-pc.com?
    Reply
  • cleeve
    rubix_1011Are you kidding me? Offering 2GB of RAM and a 32 bit OS shouldn't even be a consideration when paying $4000+ for a performance machine.
    Please tell me you're not serious. 2GB and Vista 32 is no good for a gaming machine? What are you guys smoking?

    If you guys can provide some evidence that Vista 32 can't stand up to Vista 64 when gaming, I'd be real interested in seeing it. 2 GB or not.

    It sounds to me like you gents are getting caught up in leetness without looking at the bottom line. Vista 64 and 8GB of RAM aren't going to supply higher framerates, gents.

    I thought we were about tangible performance, not bragging rights.
    Reply
  • cleeve
    smyter_mtheir website down? www.solaris-pc.com?
    The website is www.maxforcepc.com
    Reply
  • cleeve
    Pei-chen3 years warranty and water cooling don't go together. Water cooling requires too much maintenance compare with high-end air cooling.
    Falcon and HP managed to do it, admittedly with a slightly lower warranty. Frankly, chances are it will keep the CPU working longer.

    On a side note, MaxForce let me know that they will install custom kit like water cooling at the customer's request.
    Reply