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.
