Velocity Micro Edge Z55: Core i7-940 with CrossFire 4870
by Matt Campbell on December 12, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Specifications
As we'll discuss in more detail later in this review, we actually ended up with two different review systems. The review configuration of the Edge Z55, as first received, had two 150GB Raptor drives in RAID 0, along with a 1.5TB storage array. The second PC used for the bulk of the benchmarks strictly had a 1TB storage drive, and that is the configuration we've used for the baseline below. With the Raptors, the configuration costs around $4000; as configured below, it's about $3600.
| Velocity Micro Edge Z55 System Specifications | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 940, overclocked to 3.2 GHz |
| Motherboard | Intel DX58SO |
| Memory | 6 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 |
| Video Card | Two (2) ATi Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
| Power Supply | 850-Watt Modular |
| Case | Velocity Micro GX2-W Aluminum |
| Hard Drive | One (1) 1.0 TB Hitachi SATA |
| OS | Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP1 |
| Removables | Memory Card Reader |
| DVD Burner | Lite-On Blu-ray Reader Lite-On 20x DVDRW with Lightscribe |
| CPU Cooler | Stock Intel HSF |
Exterior and Interior
The system arrived in a brown box bearing the Velocity Micro title and information. It wasn't overly large and was extremely easy to carry thanks to the solid handles in each side.
It may sound silly, but it's a bit of a letdown to many if they order a $3,000+ gaming rig and it arrives in a big, plain brown box - there's a nice mix of branding here.
Overall, this is great packing job - the small "tray" containing the keyboard, mouse, and other accessories sits above the case and handles, giving a positive surface to push your fingers against while carrying. The Styrofoam inserts fit well and are easy to remove. We also like that the technical support information is listed directly on the box (though the hours have recently changed), and when the case is revealed it's undeniably good-looking.
First system with RAID0
Second system without RAID
Though the box claims we are supposed to get a quick set up poster and a user guide, we got neither in our shipment. This may be attributed to the fact that VM had to rush to get us a Core i7 review system; however, these items as well as an owner's binder, preferably with benchmark results, are what we expect to see in a system at this price.
The case itself is nicely constructed and light, with a side window and some carbon fiber-esque accents on the top and bottom of the front face. The Velocity Micro logo is cut into the front panel with blue backlighting and looks quite nice when powered up, and the side window likewise has the name and logo cut into the plastic. It's a nice branding effect without being overpowering. Two thumbscrews on the side panel allow tool-free access, and overall, the system is well constructed and has very neat wire routing.
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leexgx - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link
it utterly destroys hard disk performance when it gets stuck doing an shadow copy for 1hr until it give up and stopson my d: drive it has an tendansy to read my 3dmark vantage setup file 4 times as i can see it doing it in resource monitor repeatably reading the same files
but i must admit system restore on vista does work alot better when useing it and tends to brake less things when ran
UNHchabo - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
I looked at some of their machines, and they do offer Norton Suite pre-installed as an optional extra.One small request: jpegs make sense for posting gaming screenshots or photos, but could you please switch to .png files when posting screenshots of regular windows programs? The lack of artifacting makes it easier to read things like the System Information window.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Grap...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Grap...
leexgx - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link
is there any way to make MSpaint on vista allways pick PNGi can see why web sites do not use PNG still but realy users should be useing Opera (still works on win95 and up)/Firefox 3 with 2-3 plugins for exploits/ IE7 (maybe not IE with lots of 0day problems at this time but should be installed and fully up to date)
PNG should be used nowadays or very uncompressed JEPG (do not use msPant as it has no compression settings)
Voldenuit - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
Intel stock cooler? And wait, what is this I'm hearing... *chipset fan*???Blegh.
Cuhulainn - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link
This is just unbelievable to me.Spending that kind of scratch on a system with the latest greatest Intel processor (which is known to run hot!) and not getting an aftermarket cooling solution?!
It's like buying a fine wine and drinking it out of a dixie cup.. or something.
mmntech - Sunday, December 14, 2008 - link
It certainly is chintzy. If you're spending $2100 on something like that, I would expect at least high end air.UNHchabo - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
At Core i7's launch there were only two LGA1366 aftermarket coolers on Newegg, and both had reviews saying that the stock cooler actually did a BETTER job of cooling the CPU.strikeback03 - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
That is the stock Intel cooler on an Intel board, and it looks like it overhangs the first DIMM slot?Matt Campbell - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
Good eye - yes, it does.afkrotch - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
I read Anandtech a few times during the week and noticed this review. One thing I feel is lacking is the Customer Service portion. I like the way HardOCP deals with it. They call customer service with an issue to see how it gets resolved. They act like a regular customer with a regular problem and rate it based on their experience.