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Xi Computer MTower SP

86

Very Good

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Pros
Blazingly fast
Cons
Expensive price

Performance: Superior: 96
Features: Very Good: 83
Design: Very Good: 85

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

Performance
ACD Systems ACDSee	413
Adobe Photoshop	292
Adobe Premiere	331
Ahead Nero	163
Discreet 3ds Max DirectX	231
Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL	262
Microsoft Office XP	516
Mozilla	329
Multitasking	585
Musicmatch Jukebox	412
Overall Graphics Score	Superior
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit	162.33
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	154.63
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	152.37
Roxio VideoWave	288
Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit	408.36
Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit	405.75
Unreal Tournament, 1280 by 1024, 32-Bit	389.51
Windows Media Encoder	355
WinZip	261
World Bench 5 Score	125
World Bench 5 Word Score	Superior

Performance
WorldBench 5: Performance word scores reflect comparisons of PCs in the same category (power or value) running the same operating system. See Your Guide to the Top 100 for more details.	Outstanding: 125 (Windows XP Home)
Base configuration	Very Good
CPU	2.6-GHz Athlon 64 FX-55
System memory	2GB of DDR400 SDRAM
Hard drive (GB): Total capacity. May represent multiple hard drives.	600GB (RAID)
Monitor size and model	19-inch ViewSonic VP191b LCD
Graphics: Most integrated graphics systems use the PC's main RAM.	256MB EVGA E-GeForce 6800 Ultra
Case type: Vertical cases are towers (over 20 inches), midsize towers (15.5 to 20 inches), or minitowers (under 15.5 inches). Horizontal cases are desktops (5 inches or taller) or compacts (under 5 inches).	Tower
Open bays, slots	2 internal and 3 externally accessible bays, 5 slots
Extra features	Good
Removable-media drives	16X DVD±RW DL drive
Sound card	Integrated Realtek ALC850
Speakers	Logitech X-620
Communications	Network adapter, 6 USB 2.0 ports
Productivity software	Corel WordPerfect Office 11
Other	N/A
Graphics quality: Based on new testing begun in the November 2002 issue. Insufficient data for systems tested in previous months.	Outstanding
Setup and ease of use	Good
Vendor's reliability/service: A vendor's score is based on surveys of PC World readers. Vendors receiving insufficient data scores did not generate enough responses to our most recent survey for us to make a determination.	Insufficient data
: Lifetime refers to the lifetime of the product.	Three-year parts and labor warranty; lifetime 24-hour daily toll-free support.

What You Should Know about the MTower SP

Good Amount of RAM for Running Multiple Apps at Once

This computer includes between 1GB and 3GB of RAM, our recommended level for a new PC. This much memory lets you run any modern operating system and comfortably work with quite a few applications open. The more installed memory your PC has, the more programs you can run smoothly at once, and the better the system will perform. Upgrading memory in a desktop after you purchase the PC is a breeze, but usually it's worthwhile to buy the amount of memory you want preinstalled with the system.

To use more than 4GB of memory on your PC, you need the 64-bit version of Windows XP or Windows Vista. The PCs that you see equipped with 3GB of memory (instead of 4GB) tend to use the 32-bit versions of Windows that are limited to 4GB of addressable memory, the top portion of which is addressed by the various hardware devices on the system.