AVADirect Compact Gaming PC: Small Case, Big System
by Dustin Sklavos on October 4, 2011 2:00 AM ESTConclusion: Great Engineering, Change the Configuration
While our last review of an AVADirect desktop was the Nano Gaming Cube, which seemed to be practically bursting at the seams with hardware, the Lian Li enclosure used for the Compact Gaming PC we have in house seems far better suited to the tasks at hand. AVADirect's engineers were able to put together a smart, clean design and rise to the challenge of cooling such a monstrous machine to the best of their ability.
As the end buyer you can benefit from that without having to make so many sacrifices, though. The smart consumer will make two major changes to the build: go for a substantially cheaper Sandy Bridge-based system with an overclocked i7-2600K, and at most get a pair of GeForce GTX 580s in SLI. While AVADirect is willing to back up a configuration like this with a three year warranty, why even tempt fate? Four GPUs is overkill. Our own testing has revealed that two GTX 580s are going to get the job done just fine on their own, even in 5760x1200 surround gaming.
We're also dealing with a system where price clearly isn't an issue: the build we have in house is a show pony, the kind of halo product that a consumer can look at and go "well if they can handle something that extravagant, imagine what they can do with a more modest build."
Honestly I don't have any major complaints that can be linked directly to AVADirect; none of the upgrade prices seemed particularly unreasonable, although the red Lian Li case is no longer offered (much to my chagrin). I do take issue with the buying experience in one area, though: too many options. AVADirect'll let you build just about any computer you want, but the overwhelming selection makes me long for the more direct configurations of War Factory or the vetted component choices of Puget Systems. If you know exactly what you want but you can't be bothered to build it yourself, AVADirect's choices are great, but for casual buyers there's not much point in listing 150+ different memory configurations.
With all that said, if you're looking for a good boutique build with fair prices and strong customer service (the hallmark of buying boutique), it's hard to go too wrong with AVADirect...just make sure you pick the right parts. And isn't that what customer service is there for?
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TinyRK - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
That's right, because I am an ACTUAL engineer. With a degree in Electronics. English is not my mother-tongue, so my apologies, that I did not know what you consider an Engineer.I didn't want to piss on you leg as a Sanitation Engineer. Somebody has to clean up the trash, and I appreciate that you're doing that.
Keep up the good work!
Death666Angel - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
I honestly don't understand these systems.Maybe .001% can make use of such a system in a reasonable manner (GPU-computing, while taking advantage of the 6 cores). For most other people, even SLI/CF configurations are too much for gaming and of course, SNB would have been better as well for gaming.
This particular unit should have gone with water cooling in my opinion. Anything else is just..... As it stands now, this build is insane and nothing that the average person can't build themselves (at least I don't see specially made components). But I like to get something substantial for the money I spend, so I doubt I'm the audience for this unit. :P
ph0masta - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
If they're sending Anand a copy to review, why not send him the best build possible? I'm sure they expect the average customer to go with a more modest build.Thermalzeal - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
it's pink? (Perhaps the colors are off on my disp) I guess this is the one computer that won't get stolen at a LAN party...s1175290 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
Maybe I missed it in the article, but what power supply did this ship with? Looks to be 100% modular.benrico - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
There was a Lian Li m-atx case review up a week or so ago that was cast it in a negative light- cant remember why. one reason was non standard optical bay or something .. Any thoughts on the comparison of the two. Also, any thoughts on look/feel of the case...KamikaZeeFu - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
The spec table says that the front USB3 ports are wired to USB2 headers. I would like to know how this was done, as my online searches didn't bring up anything useful.I'm in the market for a new case atm, but my board only has USB2 (won't upgrade until Ivy) and all the cases that I like only have front USB3 ports.