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Xi Mtower Pcie

82

Very Good

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Pros
Strong performance
Low-cost power system
Cons
Could use more hard drive space
Bundled LCD monitor could be better

Pricing: Inexpensive: $2659 (7/29/2008)
Performance: Superior: 92
Features: Fair: 68
Design: Very Good: 89

Find out how these four scores, and their relative weights, combine to produce the PC World Rating.

Pricing

Inexpensive: $2659

Performance

Superior: 92

WorldBench 6 Tests - Superior: 121

WorldBench 6 Component Results (seconds)
Adobe Photoshop CS2	307
Autodesk 3ds max 8.0 SP-3 DirectX	320
Autodesk 3ds max 8.0 SP-3 Rendering	532
Firefox 2	193
Microsoft Office 2003 with SP-1	327
Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9.0	186
Multitasking	231
Nero 7 Ultra Edition	347
Roxio VideoWave Movie Creator 1.5	193
Winzip Computing WinZip 10.0	178

Graphics Tests (frames per second)
Overall Graphics Score	Very Good
Doom 3, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	129.83
Doom 3, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	169.03
Doom 3 with AA, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	129.97
Doom 3 with AA, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	155.63
Far Cry, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	203.28
Far Cry, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	204.12
Far Cry with AA, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	204.66
Far Cry with AA, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	208.27

Features

Fair: 68

Basics
CPU	3-GHz Core 2 Duo E6850
System Memory	2048MB Memory

Video & Display
Graphics Adapter	XFX 1X 8800 GTX
Graphics Board Type	PCI Express
Graphics Board RAM (MB)	768
Graphics Board RAM Type	DDR3
Monitor Model	DCL 24a
Monitor Type	LCD
Monitor Size	24

Storage
Hard Drives	2
Total HD Size (GB)	300GB Hard Drive
RAID Type	striped
Optical Drive Type	DVD+R DL/DVD±RW
Optical Drive Speed	4
Second Optical Drive Type	DVD-ROM
Second Optical Drive Speed	16

Expansion
PCI Slots	2
PCI Express Slots	5
Open PCI Express X16 Slots	1
Open PCI Express X1 Slots	1
Open Slots	5
External Drive Bays	6
Open External Drive Bays	3
Internal Drive Bays	3
Open Internal Drive Bays	1

Ports
Serial Ports	0
Parallel Ports	0
Front USB Ports	3
Rear USB Ports	6
Front FireWire Ports	1
Rear FireWire Ports	1

Other
Audio Adapter Model	AD1988B-8CH Dolby Master Studio
Audio Channels	7.1 surround
Network Adapter	gigabit network adapter
Case Type	Midsize tower
Operating System	Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit)
Other Included Hardware	SLI Bridge Connector, SATA power cables, stereo audio cables, two DVI-to-VGA adapters, mouse pad, VGA cable, SATA cable, S-video cable, S-video to component cable, internal drive rails.
Included Software	Power DVD, BitDefender Antivirus, Nero Suite, Intervideo Windvd 5, Full games: Ghost Recon and Lost Planet.

Warranty & Support
Labor Warranty (years)	Lifetime
Parts Warranty (years)	Three
Weekday Support Hours	24
Saturday Support Hours	24
Sunday Support Hours	24
Toll-Free Support	Yes

Design

Very Good: 89

Xi Mtower PCIe Desktop Computer Review

by Richard Jantz

- Xi Computer's MTower PCIe is one of the best power desktop computers we've recently tested. Reasonably priced at $3149 (as of November 2, 2007), the system includes a 24-inch wide-screen LCD monitor and delivered impressive performance. Considering what some competitors offer, disk space could have been more generous, but you do get two 150GB Western Digital Raptor hard drives configured in a RAID 0 array (both run at 10,000 rpm). You can also custom-order your machine at Xi's site, or choose an overclocked system (covered under warranty), such as the speed-demon MTower IGE-Stacker that we've previously reviewed.

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