SYS International Performance 2000+ 1.67GHz

WHAT'S HOT: Powered with a 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ processor and 256MB of 333-MHz DDR SDRAM, this system earned a score of 119 on PC WorldBench 4 tests--average compared with similarly configured systems we have tested.

WHAT'S NOT: The lightweight Altec Lansing AVS300W set of two speakers and a subwoofer, when paired up with the integrated ACS97 sound system, produced tinny trebles and muffled bass in our sound quality tests. A separate control for adjusting bass levels is located inconveniently on the subwoofer's right side.

WHAT ELSE: Like many systems we see from Sys Technology, the Performance 2000's interior is well designed for upgrades and repairs. IDE cables and connecting wires are neatly bundled out of the way, providing easy access to the three vacant bays for removable media drives and the two available bays for hard drives. A four-port USB 2.0 adapter, attached to the motherboard via cables, fills one slot on the rear of the system, leaving four slots free for expansion cards. No USB ports are located on the front panel.

The bundled 19-inch Optiquest Q95 CRT monitor is ranked number four on our current Top 10 chart of 19-inch monitors, earning that spot thanks to a very low price combined with solid text and graphics quality.

The system's gaming scores were on the low side. The Leadtek WinFast A170 DDR T card pumped out a modest 36 frames per second on the game Return to Castle Wolfenstein and 34 fps on Unreal Tournament 2003 at 1280 by 1024 resolution and 32-bit color. Both scores are well below the 60 fps which we consider the minimum score for a card that is unlikely to suffer stuttering or other image problems in complex game scenes.

Documentation includes a thin manual with basic setup, repair, and troubleshooting information. Our test system came with Corel WordPerfect Office 2002 and Norton AntiVirus 2002 (but it's limited to three months of antivirus signature updates), plus the games Aquanox and Master Rallye.

UPSHOT: Entertainment frills are minimal, but this system does offer plenty of power and expansion room for office work.

SUMMARY

Sys Technology Performance 2000+ $