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The LAN-Party Mini PC packed far more punch than any other budget system in our recent roundup, thanks in part to a 2-GHz Athlon 64 3000+ processor. Its WorldBench 5 score of 80 was well ahead of the pack. (The next-fastest model, Polywell's Poly 880NF2-MX, scored 71.) We also liked our test unit's 17-inch ViewSonic E70f flat-screen CRT monitor, which produced bright, rich colors good enough for photo editing.

However, for a system with "LAN-Party" in its name, its gaming performance was disappointing. A mere 18 frames per second in Unreal Tournament 2003 at 32-bit color depth and 1024 by 768 resolution is far below the performance level necessary for playing action games. (In comparison, the Poly 880NF2-MX hit 44 fps.)

On the plus side, the LAN-Party Mini PC has an available AGP slot for adding a dedicated graphics card--and its 350-watt power supply should provide enough juice for an add-in card and other hardware upgrades.

The "Mini PC" part of the name does hold up: The system's small and slender case makes it easy to transport to a LAN party. The bulbous silver-and-black plastic door on the front makes the unit look a bit like a boom box, too. Alas, the small case makes accessing or upgrading internal components a bit tricky. Despite IBuyPower's efforts to bundle and tie down cables, the cramped interior inevitably looks messy. The RAM slots aren't even visible; to access them, we had to loosen several screws and remove the PC's CD-RW drive. Another drawback is that the system has no room for an additional optical drive or a second hard drive.

Our test PC had neither notable software bundles nor Windows XP Service Pack 2, which installs several valuable patches for security holes and bugs. Upgrading via Microsoft's Windows Update service is usually a painless affair, but glitches can occur with some configurations, and buyers should back up their systems before making the upgrade.

Upshot: The LAN-Party Mini PC packs a lot of power into a small and reasonably priced package. But it needs a graphics upgrade to live up to its name.

Seán Captain