MaximumPC 2004 04

Reviews

I

t’s hard to ignore iBuyPower’s

Gamer Extreme PC, what with its

ever-so-eye-catching exterior: The

neon green tower, designed to mimic

an anime robot (or a Transformer?!),

is unique, to say the least. But the

attention this case attracts may not

all be positive. Opinions on the

matter were decidedly mixed here at

the Maximum PC office; some editors

gave a thumbs-up to the case’s flashy

styling while others found it garish

and unappealing.

Still, the double-takes garnered by

the GE’s exterior can’t compare with

reactions to the interior, which will

undoubtedly make

onlookers gawk.

Here’s why: At

the heart of the

Gamer Extreme

lies a powerful

and relatively

rare Pentium 4

Extreme Edition

processor. We say

“rare” because

the P4EE has

yet to be openly

embraced by

major system

manufacturers.

In fact, the

Gamer Extreme

is one of the first

P4EE-equipped

systems to roll

through our lab

despite the fact

that Intel offi-

cially launched

the processor back

in November. As

you might guess, we

were more than eager

to put the Gamer

Extreme through our

rigorous tests.

Thankfully, the

3.4GHz P4EE isn’t the

Gamer Extreme’s only

high-end compo-

nent—it comes loaded

with an Intel 865PE-

based Asus P4P800

motherboard and two

512MB modules of dual-channel

Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM. A

256MB Radeon 9800XT powers the

included 19-inch Viewsonic E90F

monitor, while an Audigy 2 pumps

impressive sound through the mid-

range Logitech Z-640 5.1 speaker set.

The usual complement of optical

drives are also present, though we

were underwhelmed by the NEC

dual-format R/RW drive; not only

does it offer less than stellar CD-R

burn speeds, but the tray door has

been spray-painted a dull green that’s

at least three shades lighter than the

rest of the case. Also disappointing

was iBuyPower’s decision to include

just one hard drive. Ordinarily, we

would be more than happy with the

Seagate 120GB SATA, but when you

consider that systems in this class

usually offer twice as much storage

and come equipped with two drives

in a RAID array, the Gamer Extreme’s

lone HDD seems wimpy.

These may sound like minor

quibbles, but we’ve come to expect

top-of-the-line hardware from

gaming rigs, and the little details

can make or break our assessment.

Thankfully, this PC doesn’t stumble

when it comes to performance.

Out of the box, it scored a decent

189 in the brutal SYSmark2004

suite and powered its way through

the MusicMatch, Premiere Pro, and

Photoshop tests with high marks all

around. Given that Intel is mar-

keting the P4EE to gamers, we were

particularly interested in seeing how

the Gamer Extreme would perform

in our game benchmarks. After all,

iBuyPower didn’t name the system

the Office Worker Extreme, right? In

these tests, the Gamer Extreme per-

formed admirably, scoring 37.9 and

56.2 frames per second in Halo and

Jedi Academy, respectively.

In the end, the Gamer Extreme is a

solid system held back by a few poor

design choices, namely the inclusion

of the NEC dual-format DVD +/- RW

drive and the lack of hard drive

storage space. The system’s case is also

a sticking point, although it’s encour-

aging to know that iBuyPower is

willing to show some daring in the

realm of case design.

—TAE KIM

 MAXIMUMPC APRIL 2004

� ��� ��� ��� ���

�������������

����

�����

������

�����������

�����������

������������

�������������

�����������

����

���

������

������

������

�������

�������

����

���

���������������

�������

������

������

������

�

������������������ ������

Our zero-point system includes: a 2.2GHz Athlon 64 FX-51, an Asus SK8N mother-

board, 1GB of Corsair Registered TwinX DDR400 RAM, an ATI Radeon 9800 XT, a

250GB Western Digital WD2500JB hard drive, Plextor PX-708A DVD burner and a PC

Power and Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe power supply.

iBuyPower Gamer Extreme PC

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto—this PC’s case design stands out big time!

3.4GHz P4EE. ‘Nuff said.

OPTIMUS-PRIME

BUMBLEBEE

Single HDD, weak optical drive selection.

$2,740, http://www.ibuypower.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 8

UNDER THE HOOD

DISPLAY

Videocard 256MB ATI Radeon 9800XT

(412MHz core, 365MHz DDR)

Monitor 19 in. Viewsonic E90F (18 in.

viewable)

STORAGE

Hard drive Seagate 120GB (7,200 rpm

SATA)

Optical NEC ND-1300A dual-format DVD

burner (4x DVD+R, 4x DVD-R, 16x

CD-R), Artec 16x DVD-ROM drive

Other 1.44 MB floppy drive

BUNDLE

Windows XP Home, Norton Antivirus 2004

THE BRAINS

CPU Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition

3.4GHz

Mobo Asus P4P800 (Intel 865PE

Chipset, 800 FSB)

RAM One GB Kingston PC3200 dual-

channel DDR (two 512MB sticks)

I/O ports Six USB, one parallel, one serial,

one FireWire

LAN 3COM Gigabit LAN PCI

Controller

AUDIO

Soundcard Sound Blaster Audigy 2 OEM

Speakers Logitech Z-640 5.1

Case Green NZXT Guardian case, Works

Power 420-watt power supply, one

blue cold cathode light

Fans/extras Four tri-color LED case fans, LED

and fan controller

Mouse Green Mitsuko optical mouse

Keyboard Green Mitsuko keyboard

FINE DETAILS

BOOT: 40 sec. DOWN: 18 sec.

David Hasslehoff fans, your PC has arrived!

Wait till you see the red oscillating LEDs on

this hot rod’s “hood.”

WARRANTY

One year iCare Deluxe warranty