Pros
- Strong performance for its processor
- Extremely easy to upgrade
Cons
- Not especially game-friendly
- No FireWire or eSATA
The Veriton M670G-UQ9550C is a pretty good system with a reasonable price ($999 as of February 1, 2010). But good isn’t great. You can find faster, less expensive value PCs that handle games better.
The M670G-UQ9550C’s Intel 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor is fairly strong, and the system’s 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory certainly helps. But the configuration we tested relied on a single 640GB hard drive, and the standard Hitachi CD burner lacks any Blu-ray capability.
In our WorldBench 6 test suite, the M670G-UQ9550C held its own against the similarly priced Velocity Micro Edge Z5 (equipped with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Quad Q9400) and Dell Studio XPS 435 (carrying a 2.66GHz Core i7 920). The scores for all three of these systems range between 124 and 126.
The big gap appeared in our gaming tests, where both the Edge Z5 and the XPS 435 crushed the M670G-UQ9550C in sustained frame rate. The Veriton system’s ATI Radeon HD 4350 Pro graphics clearly was no match for the cards included in those machines; it delivered frame rates of 8 frames per second in our Unreal Tournament 3 and 7 fps in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (both tested at 2560 by 1600 resolution and high quality)–unplayably poor results. In contrast, the XPS 435 managed frame rates of 70 fps and 61 fps, respectively; and the Edge Z5 came through with rates of 68 fps and 49fps, respectively.
The M670G-UQ9550C provides ten USB ports (six on the back and four at front), but no FireWire or eSATA options. The other connections available are an HDMI port, VGA and DVI display outputs (one each), gigabit ethernet, and jacks for 7.1 surround sound.
The black-and-gray case is no beauty, but it looks okay. Inside, neon green locking mechanisms and hard-drive rails make installing new devices in the one free 5.25-inch bay and the five free 3.5-inch bays a breeze. Similarly, a tabbed locking mechanism simplifies the process of adding a new PCI device to the motherboard. The system itself sets aside room for two PCI upgrades and one PCI Express x1 upgrade.
The mouse bundled with our test unit was an utterly unremarkable two-button device. The included keyboard won points for having media buttons, but its design was bulky and uneven.
For its price, the Acer M60G-UQ9550C is a reasonably good PC, but you can find machines with better connections and better gaming performance for less money.