Reviewed on September 5, 2007HP's Blackbird 002 earns the highest rating this editor has ever given a desktop PC. Its design rivals the Apple Mac Pro, it takes risks that benefit your upgrade path, it's fast, and it's competitively priced. If you can afford it, and you want a high-end gaming PC, buy this one. End of story.TAGS:Voodoo, latch, media card reader, video card, HP, power supply, DNA, gamer, hard drive
Reviewed on February 21, 2008Maingear's Ephex combines aggressive overclocking and a refined sense of what gamers want in a high-end PC. Crysis remains a challenge for even a top-of-the-line PC like this one, but if you can get past that hitch (and the multi-thousand-dollar price tag), we'd recommend this system in a second.TAGS:Maingear, Crysis, Radeon, ATI Technologies, video card, hard drive, Intel, games, PC, Microsoft Windows
Reviewed on July 11, 2007The HP Pavilion Media Center m8120n boasts a quad-core Intel processor and outstanding overall performance, particularly for the price. Media consumers and creators alike will love its speed and AV connections but may rue the lack of a next-gen optical drive.TAGS:quad-core, HP Pavilion, Media Center PC, PCI, HP, slot, video card, TV, hard drive, PC, video, games
Reviewed on January 5, 2007We have one major issue with the Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition (the price), and two minor ones (it's loud, for one), but those aside, this is one of the most feature-complete high-end desktops we've reviewed. Its performance is media-creation- and game-minded, and anyone buying it for those or almost any other purposes won't be disappointed.TAGS:Velocity Micro, quad-core, Alienware, video card, PC, hard drive