MaximumPC 2006 12

When you’re used to the specs, fi t, and fi n-

ish of systems that cost more than some

cars, a roomful of midrange PCs can be a

shock to the system. It’s not that we were

expecting $900 paint jobs, but we were

expecting fewer problems. Of the seven

boxes we received, no fewer than four

had issues that we deemed major enough

to mention. From recurring registry errors

to unstable overclocking to sub-par per-

formance and non-functional USB ports,

the review roundup certainly didn’t go as

smoothly as we thought it would.

The competition also caught some

of our vendors fl at-footed. Old-hand

Alienware, who we expected to at least

place in the top three, if not win, ended up

being dead last with its single-GPU confi g.

Perhaps the company found the $2,500 limit

uninspiring. Velocity Micro—another favor-

ite—also bobbled the ball by reaching too

far with its overclocking attempt. Even the

winner—Overdrive’s “I Can’t Believe It Runs

On Air” 3.46GHz overclocked Core 2 Duo

box—wasn’t our initial favorite. We actually

preferred the far more complete loadouts of

the CyberPower, Systemax, and Gateway

rigs. In the end, however, we’ll always

choose performance and stability over

specs. On these counts Overdrive deliv-

ers. Because, let’s face it: Whether a rig is

$2,500 or $10,000, you don’t want problems

right out of the box!

Overdrive’s Core2.GX2 backs into the

winner’s circle, but that shouldn’t tarnish the

achievement. The company’s hardware hack-

ers managed to get a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo

E6600 to a stable 3.46GHz with a stock Intel

heatsink. That in itself is worthy of praise.

A Messy Win Is

Still a Win

77 777 77

7

DECEMBER 2006 MAXIMUMPC 

Overdrive’s overclocked monster takes

the win, thanks to flaky performance

by its competitors.

UNDER THE HOOD

POLYWELL VELOCITY ALIENWARE CYBERPOWER SYSTEMAX GATEWAY OVERDRIVE

BOOT

DOWN

VERDICT

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E

(2.66GHz)

Intel Core 2 Duo E

(OC’d to 2.95GHz)

Intel Core 2 Duo

E6700 (2.66GHz)

Intel Core 2 Duo E

(2.93GHZ)

Intel Core 2 Duo E

(2.66GHz)

Intel Core 2 Duo

E6700 (2.66GHz)

Intel 2.4GHz Core 2

Duo E6600 (OC’d to

3.46GHz)

MOBO Asus P5N32-SLI SE

Deluxe (nForce4 SLI Intel

Edition chipset)

nForce 570 Engineering

Sample

Intel D975XBX Intel D975XBX Intel D975XBX Intel D975XBG Gigabyte GA-965P-

DS3 (Intel 965P

chipset)

RAM 2GB DDR2/800 2GB DDR2/800 2GB DDR2/800 2GB DDR2/800 2GB Corsair DDR2/800 2GB DDR2/667 2GB DDR2/800 OC’d

to 963MHz

STORAGE Two Western Digital

150GB Raptors in RAID 0

Western Digital 320GB

SATA

Samsung 250GB

SATA

Western Digital

250GB Caviar

SATA

Two Western Digital 74GB

Raptors in RAID 0; one

Seagate 320GB SATA

Barracuda

Two Western Digital

150GB Raptors in

RAID 0

Seagate

250GB SATA

Barracuda

OPTICAL Sony DW-Q120A Lite-On DVD-RW SHM-

165H65; Lite-On DVD-

ROM SOHC-5236V

NEC DVD-RW ND-

3550A

NEC DVD/RW ND-3550A Lite-On DVD-RW SHW-

160P65; Lite-On Combo

SOHC-5236V

Hitachi HL-DT-ST

GSA-H11N; HL-DT-

ST GWA-4165B

Sony DW-Q120A

VIDEOCARD Two Nvidia GeForce

7950 GT in SLI (550MHz/

700MHz)

Two GeForce 7950

GT in SLI ( 550MHz/

700Mhz)

ATI Radeon X1950 XTX

(650MHz/1GHz)

Two ATI X1950 XTX in

CrossFire

(650MHz/1GHz)

Two ATI Radeon X1950 XTX

in CrossFire (650MHz/1GHz)

Two ATI Radeon

X1950 XTX in

CrossFire (650MHz/

1GHz)

Nvidia GeForce

7950 GX2 (600MHz/

776MHz)

SOUNDCARD Onboard RealTek Onboard RealTek Creative X-Fi Extreme

Music

Onboard Sigmatel Creative Labs Sound

Blaster X-Fi

Onboard Sigmatel Onboard RealTek

CASE Unknown Lian Li custom Custom Alienware CoolerMaster Mystique Systemax Gateway Cooler Master

CMStacker 830

51 sec 42 sec 45 sec 49 sec 53 sec 49 sec 33 sec

8 sec 9 sec 23 sec 11 sec 12 sec 12 sec 20 sec

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