Velocity Micro Rapter Extreme Edition Powerhouse PC Review
There really isn’t one bad thing about this system, except for it’s price tag. This wouldn’t be your average computer you would buy for your kids education, put it that way. This system defines the word MORE. The Velocity has more processor power, more ram, and more drive space than your average high-end PC, so you really do get your money’s worth. Intel, which invented a chip for this powerhouse allows this system to do so much more then the average computer. The chip, which is the Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, is especially built for the Velocity as a normal Pentium 4 chip couldn’t handle the power the Velocity needs. Nvidia uses it’s latest video card in the Velocity, and at 256 MB of memory, any game from now till a long time from now will be able to run on it. Any competition that goes up against the Velocity will have no shot at taking it down, while the only thing holding this machine off is the price. At a whopping $4,972.00, this system is very pricey, and the size of the system will take up an entire deskspace. So who would really want this system? Well unless you want to impress your friends, or you are a hardcore gamer that loves entertainment, I wouldn’t recommend this system otherwise. $5,000.00 is a lot of money for your average computer, and this is no average machine.
The design of the Velocity alone is perfection. When you open up the inside of the machine, every wire, and hardware is neatly placed with enough space to get in between one another. Although the tower is huge at 18 by -7.5- by -21- inches, you’re bound to ask yourself where you are going to put it. The monitor it comes with is 22 inches, 60 pounds, which is a monster. Most people don’t even lift 60 pound weights on average, let alone lift a monitor on a desk, so it is a heavy system. To add to the mayhem, the speakers complete the system and makes the system bigger than most normal sized desks. What I would recommend is a desk with an opening at the bottom, where you can put the PC. Make sure the top board is big enough to handle the 60 pound giant monitor, unless you are planning on spending additional money on a lighter monitor, and make sure the speakers can fit towards the top so you can hear them well enough. With four 5.25- inch drive bays, two external 3.5- inch drive bays, and five internal 3.5- inch drive bays, this system makes enough room for much more hardware, so you can only imagine how big the machine is. With 6 USB ports, and Firewire capability, this is a system for the hardcore gamer. Overall the space that is provided is more than enough and is no problem for anyone.
The processor that runs this monster machine is clocked at 3.2 GHZ, which is not only the fastest chip available right now for a Pentium 4 chip, but also has an extra layer of Cache to back up the speed, so the system doesn’t even need to use the main memory to get from one program to the next. The processor feature of the system is a huge part of the price at $900.00. RAM is no problem in the Velocity, at 1 GB (1000 MB) of speedy Random Access Memory the functioning of memory will be no problem, and with a 400 MHZ bus backing it up, there will be no errors to worry about. Not only do you get a huge 250 GB 7,200 Seagate Hard Drive, but you get two 36 GB Western Digital 10,000 RPM SATA drives with a bug 8 MB of cache, located in a RAID array. Topping everything off is the 256 MB Nvidia video card, which runs at a core speed of 500 MHZ, which is enough to blow any game out of the water. Any gamer would want this machine… it is just coughing up the 5 G’s to pay for it. When it comes to display, the monitor is probably the heaviest piece of hardware. At 60 Pounds, and 22 inches, you are just asking for a broken back when trying to lift the monitor. Alone you might need a forklift. Although the monitor is very good, and strong, the weight could of been reduced highly. The Velocity comes with a 52x/32x/52x CD-RW Drive, and a DVD-Rewritable Drive that can burn to DVD+R at 8x speed. Power DVD is included with the Velocity, which is probably the best DVD software. Many other features include Microsoft Works, and Microsoft Office. The speakers are very nice as they are Klipsch’s Pro Media Ultra 5.1, and are connected to a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Sound Card, so you can expect distortion free sound. Overall the features are enough to make anyones day, so if you are looking for the total package, this is your machine.
Overall the performance of the Velocity is flawless. You can run programs at millisecond speed, without any errors, and while running Anti-Virus software there is no difference in the way the speed fluxuates. Intel’s Extreme Edition Chip was only limited to the very high-end machines, so they are limited. AMD was set to make a chip just as powerful, but Intel beat them to it, and released it to the Velocity. Researchers expected the Intel’s Extreme Edition Chip to perform well, but not this well. Many gamers tried out the Velocity with games such as Doom 3, and they had no problems whatsoever. Even though the Nvidia card integrated in the Velocity is not the best card you can get, it is the best card installed on a machine. Normally I like to replace the video card with one of my own, but with this machine there is absolutely no need, unless you want to waste some money, or you have the money to burn. The Velocity comes with a valuable 3 Year Warranty, and includes one year of VelocityCare which is 24\7 service on the Velocity system only. Many people rated this machine on average between 7 and 9, with some 10’s in there as well. The price is the only problem, but for any hardcore gamer, this would be the machine to go with.
