Introduction
Over the past three months we have brought you some of the best custom- built gaming systems available on the market as we set out to find the ultimate systems for the hardcore gamer. This exclusive user group seeks and is ready to pay for the best experience possible. The budget-minded gamer need not apply.
The systems we tested were based on the fastest gaming processor and graphics solutions available. We also asked popular system builders to send us their best rigs. Below is what we reviewed :
- All American Computers Liquid XS
- ABS M6
- Alienware ALX
- CyberPower Gamer Ultra XLC
- Falcon Northwest Mach V
- Totally Awesome Computers Ridiculously Insane
While the first round of articles mainly compared each system to our reference platform, we now review all of these computers bursting with good health against each other. How does each stand up against its high-performance peers ? Today, as the fall takes hold, we can answer that question and thus begins this "Clash of the Titans."
Specifications
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Liquid XS | ABS M6 | Alienware ALX |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Athlon 64 400+ | AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 | AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 |
| Motherboard | DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D | Asus A8N Deluxe | Asus A8N Deluxe |
| Memory | 1 GB Corsair XMS XL Pro - 2 x 512 MB | 2 GB Corsair DDR550 - 4 x 512 MB | 2 GB Corsair DDR550 - 4 x 512 MB |
| HDD | 2 x Western Digital 74 GB Raptors | 2 x Western Digital Raptors 74 GB in RAID 0 ; 1 x Hitachi 400 GB | 2 x Hitatchi Deskstar 80 GB in RAID 0 |
| DVD | NEC 3520A 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive | 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive, 16x DVD-ROM | 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive |
| Video | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 |
| Sound | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS |
| Power Supply | Antec Neopower 480W | Antec True 500W | PC Power & Cooling 510 Express 650W |
| OS | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | CyberPower’ XLC | Falcon Northwest Mach V | Ridiculously Insane |
| CPU | AMD FX-57 | AMD FX-57 | AMD FX-57 |
| Motherboard | Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe | Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe | Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe |
| Memory | 1 GB Corsair Xpert - 2 x 512 MB | 1 GB 2x512 MB Corsair Low Latency | 2 GB 4x512 MB SuperTalent Memory |
| HDD | 2 x Western Digital 74 GB Raptors 1 x Maxtor 250 GB MaXLine SATA | Maxtor 300 GB SATA 16 MB Cache | Western Digital 74 GB SATA Raptor |
| DVD | Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive | Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive | Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive |
| Video | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 | Rerfrence Cards : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX PCI-E 256 MB DDR3 |
| Sound | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS |
| Power Supply | Enermax EG565AX 2.0 SLI | Silverstone 650W | TurboCool T51X-SLI 510W |
| OS | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows Media Center |
