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ABS Ultimate M5-64

90

Superior

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Full Specifications
Street price when ranked	Expensive: $3699 (5/3/05)
WorldBench 5	Good: 107 (Windows XP Home)
Base configuration	Very Good
CPU	2.6-GHz Athlon 64 FX-55
System memory	1024MB of DDR400 SDRAM
Hard drive (GB)	348GB (RAID)
Monitor size and model	19-inch Samsung SyncMaster 910T LCD
Graphics	256MB EVGA E-GeForce 6800 Ultra
Case type	Midsize tower
Open bays, slots	3 internal accessible bays
Extra features	Good
Removable-media drives	16X DVD±RW, 16X DVD-ROM drives
Sound card	Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Speakers	Logitech Z-680
Communications	Network adapter, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 3 FireWire ports
Software	Microsoft Works Suite 2004
Graphics quality	Outstanding
Setup and ease of use	Very Good
Vendor's reliability/service	Insufficient data
	One-year parts and labor warranty; 9-hour weekday toll-free support during warranty period; 1-year onsite service with two visits.

ABS Ultimate M5-64 Review

by Scott Plamondon

- In a way, today's high-end PC gaming is what street racing was to an earlier era. In both cases, top speed produces the bragging rights. Making a strong argument for those bragging rights this month is the Ultimate M5-64, a high-end gaming system from ABS. Powered by AMD's flagship 2.6-GHz Athlon 64 FX-55 processor, dual 74GB hard drives in a striped RAID 0 array, and a 256MB EVGA-E GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics card, the M5 took honors as the second fastest PC we've tested to date, turning in a smoking 107 on our WorldBench 5 tests. Only the Alienware Aurora 64 FX-55, which we tested at the same time, was faster, with a recording-setting WorldBench score of 110. The ABS also fell just behind the Alienware in graphics performance: In our Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Unreal Tournament gaming tests, both systems pumped out graphics at a blistering average of nearly 300 frames per second.

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