Maingear Building 2 Exclusive AMD Systems for Battlefield 4

PC gamers looking for pre-built power houses to specifically play Battlefield 4 can look no further than Maingear. The boutique system builder announced on Wednesday the upcoming launch of two new exclusive branded flagship gaming desktops designed with EA's highly-anticipated shooter in mind, packed with the AMD Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Limited Edition graphics cards.

Maingear said on Wednesday that it worked closely with AMD and Electronic Arts to build and fine-tune the new SHIFT and F131 systems, with starting prices of $3,789 and $2,199, respectively. Both sport exclusive Battlefield 4 aesthetics, including artwork that is illustrated on the side panel of the SHIFT and laser etched on the F131. The SHIFT even includes "subtle touches" of the Battlefield 4 orange color on the exterior and interior, whereas the F131 has a glowing orange Maingear logo.

"We're pleased to work with AMD and EA on these exclusive Battlefield 4 systems featuring the exciting AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card," said Matt Skynner, AMD's corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit. "AMD has been a great technology partner and the new Radeon R9 290X is a fantastic addition to our award winning lineup of high performance gaming PCs. Forward-looking technologies like TrueAudio and especially Project Mantle show AMD's commitment to gaming. And bundling Battlefield 4 is just icing on the cake!"

A rough list of specs show that the baseline SHIFT hardware includes the Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard, an eight-core AMD FX 9370 processor clocked up to 4.7 GHz (16 MB Cache), 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 1.5 volt RAM (2 x 8 GB), and two AMD Radeon R9 290X cards in CrossFire with 8 GB total GDDR5 VRAM.

The SHIFT rig baseline specs also include a 250 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD (w/TRIM) in HDD Bay 1 out of 6, a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RE\PM SATA 3 HDD with 64 MB of cache (in HDD Bay 2), a 24x dual-layer DVD-RW drive, Gigabit Ethernet, an SD card reader, and 7.1 Channel High Definition Surround Sound supporting S/DIF optical out. All of this is powered by an 860 watt Corsair Professional Digital Series AX860 80+ Platinum Certified modular power supply.

The cheaper F131 gaming rig isn't quite so spunky, using a Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 motherboard, an eight-core AMD FX 8350 CPU clocked up to 4.2 GHz (16 MB Cache), and 8 GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 1.5 volt RAM (2 x 4 GB). This model only provides a single AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

This F131 model also provides a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM hard drive (in HDD Bay 1 out of 4) with 64 MB of cache, an 8x dual-layer slot-loading DVD-RW drive, integrated high definition audio and Gigabit Ethernet. The F131 is powered by a 600 watt Corsair Builder Series 80+ Certified power supply.

"Powered by the AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card, the latest and greatest in graphics technology, the MAINGEAR SHIFT and F131 desktops are ready for combat in 'Battlefield 4'," Skynner added. "The partnership between AMD and MAINGEAR delivers high performance rigs designed to bring the finest PC gaming experience for ultra-enthusiasts."

To configure and purchase the SHIFT or F131, head here. The estimated ship date is October 23 for both machines.

  • clonazepam
    "with 8 GB total GDDR5 VRAM"

    This article does well to suggest that the more expensive system has 8GB VRAM available in crossfire, while the second only has 4GB available to its single card.

    I'm not suggesting it does or it doesn't, but it could be more clear about whether the graphics cards in system 1 have 8GB each, or a 4+4 situation, and by total they are already assuming the potential customer knows that 4GB from one card is simply mirrored.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    Yeah, I go to their site, and when configuring, they use the word total as well. They do use the exact same SKU though for the gpu in both configurations. That's a little confusing, or am I crazy?
    Reply
  • CaptainTom
    But "AMD has heating and driver issues?" Or maybe ORIGIN is full of S**t...
    Reply
  • fonzy
    Is Battlefield 4 turning into the most over hyped game of all time?
    Reply
  • JD88
    11692165 said:
    Is Battlefield 4 turning into the most over hyped game of all time?

    It's already there.
    Reply
  • g-thor
    Wait! Didn't Maingear get the memo from nVidia?
    Reply
  • g-thor
    Wait! Didn't Maingear get the memo from nVidia?
    Reply
  • bemused_fred
    11692091 said:
    But "AMD has heating and driver issues?" Or maybe ORIGIN is full of S**t...

    Well any system that uses a 200W+ CPU is going to have them.....

    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    11693141 said:
    11692165 said:
    Is Battlefield 4 turning into the most over hyped game of all time?

    It's already there.


    Pfft it doesn't even have its own flavor of Mountain Dew.
    Reply
  • spp85
    AMD GCN Rockzzzzzzz
    Reply