Review: PCs customized for the serious gamer

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By Eric Dahl

(IDG) -- When it comes to PCs, gamers always want the absolute coolest accoutrements: cavernous cases, lightning-fast graphics boards, and speakers that offer home-theater-quality sound. Alienware and Falcon Northwest make their living by blending components like these into the fast PCs that gamers love.

But hey, any system that has enough processing muscle to handle hard-core gaming is also going to be one fast box. So we tested two such systems (both 1.4 GHz): Alienware's $3599 Aurora DDR, and Falcon Northwest's $3195 Mach V.

Each system carries a list of impressive specs: a 1.4-GHz Athlon processor, 256MB of DDR SDRAM, a 16X DVD-ROM drive, a graphics card featuring NVidia's GeForce3 chip, and Plextor's reliable 16/10/40A CD-RW drive.

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It's a hot configuration that translated into some of the fastest Windows Me performance scores we've seen. The Aurora DDR and the Mach V scored 193 and 197, respectively, on our PC WorldBench 2000 tests, about 20 percent higher than a comparable 1.7-GHz Pentium 4 system such as the $2279 Dell Dimension 8100.

In addition, both systems managed admirably on our graphics tests. Our "Quake III" tests on the two PCs ran at a staggering average of 138 frames per second at 1024 by 768 resolution in 32-bit color.

Of course, that kind of performance is to be expected from expensive, custom PCs. But look inside either one, and you'll also discover evidence of painstaking attention to detail. For example, every cable is routed carefully so as not to disrupt airflow. And printed documentation is top-drawer: Each maker offers a custom-printed binder holding extra, vendor-specific information.

The Aurora's case deserves mention -- the large black enclosure is easy to open and includes features such as four cages for the cooling fans and lever-released drive bays for internal hard drives.

The very sharp 22-inch NEC FE1250+ flat CRT monitor and the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 500-watt THX speakers make great additions to a loaded system. The Aurora also is very stylish, with case and peripherals all in sleek black.

Falcon Northwest's Mach V feels slightly less inspired due to its merely adequate Optiquest Q95 monitor and plain beige case. (Falcon does offer optional superior monitors.) But the Mach V is every bit as loaded as the Aurora, starting with a sound system powered by Klipsch's ProMedia 4.1 speakers and Hercules's Game Theater XP. Its more-compact case should work better in space-constrained situations.