Fall Extreme Gamer System Shootout Part 2: ABS M6

Look And Feel

The M6 system is housed in a Thermaltake case with full-sized side window, heavy and sturdy metal front panel. The entire front of the case pops off with ease when unlocked. Firewire, USB, headphones and microphone ports are located on the top of the case hidden underneath a popup section. The case is air-cooled, starting with a stock heat sink, but there is an upgraded Thermaltake fan on the processor.

A traditional cooling layout is used in this case. A 120 mm fan draws air in the front and out a second 120 mm in the back. An additional 80 mm fan is strategically placed in the side panel window of the case blow air over the twin NVIDIA 7800 reference cards. However, we would not expect that any consumer would receive these cards, as they are specifically marked "Not for resale" and "Pending FCC and CE approval."

The three hard disks are cabled very tightly - albeit not nearly as neatly as many higher priced systems. The accessories used to support the cabling are not of the highest quality. In several instances, the cables are just wrapped or stuffed into a tight corner. This works well to clear the case for air ventilation, but when purchasing a high-performance gaming PC, we would expect better cable organization from a system that costs over $4,000.

Overall, the cabling is what we would expect from a do-it-yourself system that has been put together without sufficient planning of the cable layout. In our opinion, this is not the expectation of the gamer purchasing a system in this price range.