| Review Summary |
In a normal economy, we'd expect that Falcon Northwest's new Core i7 FragBox 2 would wow us with fast performance in a compact case. Instead, the price of this system as configured has been severely undercut by a competitor. An improved warranty takes the edge off somewhat, but the new market reality makes it hard to recommend this PC. |
Falcon Northwest's revamped, mainstream-oriented Talon gaming desktop puts its best redesigned foot forward with a new case and a strong, price-competitive configuration built around Intel's latest batch of Core i7 CPUs. Shop around, as many vendors will have adopted Intel's new chips, but for this build at this price, Falcon Northwest sets the example to beat. |
The AVADirect shopping experience can be daunting, but for the tech-savvy buyer willing to navigate the many options available for this system, you'll find that AVADirect's Custom Gaming PC is competently built, with options for blazing fast overclocking, all at an attractive price. |
Shuttle's XPC H7 5800 is unique mostly for the fact that it's the smallest system we know of to offer multigraphics card support and Intel Core i7 CPUs. If its options sound gamer-friendly, its price and configuration quirks are decided turn-offs. Unless you demand this particular balance of size and power, we'd look elsewhere. |
Velocity Micro's Edge Z30 is the best deal going right now for midlevel gaming PCs featuring Intel's new Core i7 chips. The overclocked Core i7 860, a fast Nvidia graphics card, and a solid selection of features all around make it easy for us to recommend this system to anyone looking for a capable gaming desktop. |
