WHAT'S HOT: This system is a speed demon and a gamer's delight. Packing AMD's latest processor, the 1533-MHz Athlon XP 1800+, it blasted to a PC WorldBench 4 score of 119--a negligible two points behind our current speed champ, the Falcon Northwest Mach V, which uses the same processor. The Performance 1 uses a Leadtek GeForce3 TDH graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM to deliver equally powerful game play. The system smoothly handled Quake III and Unreal Tournament, even at our highest settings of 1600 by 1200 resolution and 32-bit color. Our judges were impressed with the quality of the images in both games.

WHAT'S NOT: Games might look even better on a different screen. Our test system's 19-inch Hitachi CM715 monitor produced dull, unconvincing color when displaying a photograph of a group of children as well as when we played an action scene from our test DVD movie, Gladiator. And though we adjusted the brightness, our movie appeared too light. Text looked reasonably good; 12-point letters were not as crisp as we would like, but they were easy to read. We'd still opt for another monitor, however. Check our monthly Top 10 Monitors chart for good substitutes.

WHAT ELSE: The sound system disappointed us, too. This ABS includes the hulking Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 speaker set, which has performed very well with other home systems and won our World Class award in July. While the Klipsch speakers still sounded pretty good on this PC, a constant hissing sound diminished the listening experience. We got the same results when we hooked up other speaker systems to the unit, so we suspect the problem may lie either in the Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 SB0100 sound card or in its software driver.

This Performance 1 resides in ABS's standard beige midsize tower case. It doesn't provide advanced features such as tool-less drive bays or slots, but it's solidly built. The interior is roomy and fairly neat, with power cables bundled out of the way. The case has two available bays for externally accessible drives and just one free PCI slot, but this system is already well stocked: It includes a 16X DVD-ROM drive, a 24X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, a V.90 modem, a network adapter, and a card carrying three IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire) ports for attaching high-speed external drives or digital video camcorders. Together with the bundled Ulead VideoStudio Basic 4.0 LE software, a big hard drive, and a fast CPU, this system is well equipped for video editing.

ABS includes its usual three-ring binder with plastic sleeves for all software discs and component manuals. The system manual provides good general information that applies to all ABS systems. A nice foldout setup poster gives instructions for setting up various video and sound system configurations, and it prominently features the URL and phone number for ABS tech support.

A Microsoft Internet Keyboard (one of our favorites) provides a half-dozen handy Internet and system shortcut keys and allows smooth, accurate typing. It keeps company on your desk with a smooth-moving Microsoft optical mouse.

UPSHOT: The ABS Performance XP System is a powerhouse that should please gamers and digital media fans.

SUMMARY

ABS Performance 1 PC WorldBench 4 score of 119, Athlon XP 1800+ CPU (1533 MHz), 256MB of DDR-266 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 60GB hard drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, 24X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, Leadtek GeForce3 TDH graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, 19-inch Hitachi CM715 monitor, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1 SB0100 sound card, Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 speaker set, network adapter, V.90 modem, midsize tower case, Corel WordPerfect Office 2002, Ulead VideoStudio Basic 4.0 LE, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, Dronez and Gunlok games, three-year parts warranty, lifetime labor warranty, free unlimited 9-hour daily toll-free tech support. $1899 800/876-8088 www.abspc.com