Review: Dell, MicronPC top list of best power PCs

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By the PCWorld Test Center

(IDG) -- Dell and MicronPC remain atop our chart, but three newcomers enter the lower half. The Sys Performance 1700, at number six, boasts the highest PC WorldBench 2000 score yet for a Pentium 4 system. NuTrend's Athlon Mega 2 lands in seventh place, and Dell's Dimension 8100 takes number eight.

Tech trend: Are two hard drives better than one?

As processor and memory speeds continue to soar, some vendors are using RAID to help hard drives keep pace. A Redundant Array of Independent Disks enables a computer to see two or more hard drives as a single, contiguous disk, increasing the speed at which the system can move data to and from the drives. Traditionally, RAID has been the province of high-speed (and high-cost) hard drives using the SCSI interface. But some systems now use RAID cards to link two of the less-expensive IDE hard drives found in standard desktop PCs -- either to increase data throughput or to permit the user to make duplicate copies of data in case one drive fails.

In theory, IDE RAID offers a considerable performance boost. The current IDE interface, ATA/100, can move data to and from the hard drives at up to 100MB per second in small bursts. But even the fastest IDE hard drives can sustain transfer speeds of only 20MB to 40MB per second. Consequently, running two hard drives simultaneously via RAID lets you squeeze up to twice as much data through the pipe.

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Roger Cox, chief analyst with Gartner Dataquest, explains that you may not see double the performance with every application in a RAID system, but you should notice a boost with disk-intensive operations such as video editing. "They've been proven to do well in situations where you need high streaming rates," says Cox. "[They work] very, very well with video."

It's less clear whether IDE RAID will speed up office computing. In our PC WorldBench 2000 tests, RAID-equipped systems like the number three Polywell Poly 880KR-1300 and the number nine Xi Computer 1333 DDR MTower SP did not outperform similarly equipped competitors that were configured without RAID.

If you often work with hard-drive-hogging streaming-media data, IDE RAID may offer an inexpensive way to speed things up. But for regular computing, or even for power tasks that don't constantly access the hard drive, one disk will do.

Top 10 high-end PCs

1. Dell OptiPlex GX400: With speed, a beautiful monitor, and high-end management features, the OptiPlex GX400 will suit corporations that demand desktops with extra kick.
2. MicronPC Millennia Max XP2: With easy upgradability, fine speed, and an excellent display, the XP2 has the chops for any small office.
3. Polywell Poly 880KR-1300: If you can justify the $2799 cost, this Poly will give you serious processing power and multimedia extras.
4. Micro Express MicroFlex 1333A: It's not loaded with leading-edge extras, but the MicroFlex 1333A provides more than its sticker price suggests.
5. Gateway Professional S1500: The Professional S1500 is a powerful performer. With its excellent display and IEEE 1394 ports, it would work well as a digital video processing machine. Its strong software bundle makes this workhorse Gateway ideal for any small to medium-size office.
6. Sys Performance 1700: The Performance 1700 offers a powerful foundation with plenty of room to expand in the future.
7. NuTrend Athlon Mega 2: This speedy small-business system can pinch-hit as a multimedia workstation for tasks such as video editing.
8. Dell Dimension 8100: Its beautiful monitor makes the Dimension 8100 a good choice for business users who spend long hours in front of their screens, but this system doesn't deliver the peak performance its price and processor might suggest.
9. Xi Computer 1333 DDR MTower SP: This system offers buyers many extras, but we've clocked better performance from lower-priced machines.
10. HP Vectra VL800: The VL800 offers blazing speed and excellent display quality for the corner office in a well-heeled corporation.