Last week Shuttle unleashed its mini-sized "extreme gaming solution "with liquid I.C.E. cooling, the SDXi Carbon. Mmmm tasty.
One week ago, Shuttle Inc. announced that its new custom liquid-cooled SDXi Carbon PC--looking more like a plastic footstool or filing cabinet than a gaming rig--has gone retail, sporting enough gaming hardware goodness to ignite grandma's pacemaker on fire. The company touts the rig as an "extreme performance system for gamers, enthusiasts, and even professionals" dabbing in CAD or animation. The product website even states that the SDXi Carbon is not the ordinary gaming PC, and from the hefty price tag and specs, the company isn't joking around.
Although the base system starts off at a whopping $2,599, the Shuttle SDXi Carbon ultimate rig comes packed with the quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor (3.2 GHz), a dual-slot Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, and high-speed DDR2 memory. According to the company, the SDXi Carbon also features the "world's first" Liquid I.C.E. technology, or rather, the world's only small form factor water cooling solution. "By designing our own cooling, case, and motherboard, we are able to take full control of the thermal design and create an incredibly efficient and quiet system," said the company. "Now with Liquid I.C.E., you are free to push your processor to new limits while enjoying a near silent system."
The company said that the motherboard features a front side bus of 800/1066/1333 MHz, Intel's G45 + ICH10 chipset, Realtek's ALC888 with 7.1 channel High Definition audio, and four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM slots, offering a total 16 GB of memory. Consumers can choose between a wide variety build-to-order options, with various Intel Core 2 choices, hard drive options spanning sizes up to 1 TB via a Serial ATA 300, and optical drives ranging from a 20x20 DVD+-RW dual layer SATA to a 4x Blu-Ray triple writer SATA. Other optional graphic card choices include the GeForce GTX 285 with 1 GB GDDR3 and the ATI Radeon HD4850 512 MB GDDR3.
The computer not only offers a choice between Vista home Premium 32-Bit and Vista ultimate 32-bit, but Microsoft's Windows XP Professional downgrade feature for those who just can't get their game on in Vista. However, just for grins, a maxed out SDXi Carbon will cost consumers a whopping $6,245.99 that includes the three-year warranty, carrying bags, two 19" LCD monitors, both drive bays loaded and the Shuttle PS21 2.1CH multimedia speaker system.
Still, when a gaming rig starts with a $2,599 price tag, it's hard to imagine what manufacturers are thinking during a time of economic crisis. Sure, what PC gamer wouldn't want the meatiest rig around, sporting hi-resolution framerates that slide together like melted butter? However, it will be surprising if Shuttle can get anyone to invest in a costly computer no matter what parts are crammed under the hood.