(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
1,920x1,200 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) | |
1,440x900 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) |
In fairness, the Maingear Pulse actually held its own on the iTunes test. But with no consideration for power efficiency, the $1,200 Asus Essentio system proves too much for the little Maingear, blowing past it on every other test. Our Far Cry 2 test is particularly illustrative. To its credit, the Pulse actually outpaces the SLI-based Firebird 803 on 1,440x900-pixel resolution test, and we would submit that you're more likely to play games on a sub-$2,000 PC at lower resolutions, giving the 1,440x900-pixel test added weight. Our expectations fall out of alignment with the Asus delivering unflagging Far Cry 2 performance even at 1,920x1,200 pixels.
We gave the Firebird 803 an Editors' Choice award when we reviewed it in February in part because its performance was competitive among all systems in its price range--even though it lacked upgradeability. With the Pulse losing so handily to the less expensive Asus desktop, the Pulse's power efficiency is small consolation next to such a broad performance gap. The Pulse will perform most common tasks and let you play most 3D games without too much trouble, but if you're concerned with performance, you can find a much faster traditional desktop for less.
If you are willing to sacrifice performance for the sake of lower energy consumption, you might still be interested in the Pulse as it relates to the Firebird. In particular, the Pulse has an ostensible graphics card upgrade path thanks to the PCI Express graphics card slot on its motherboard. The Firebird's laptop cards aren't technically hardwired to the motherboard, but they present a daunting upgrade challenge. Given the specialized nature of the Pulse, however, we're not sure if its free card slot gives it that much of an advantage.
To keep power consumption down, Maingear uses an efficient 300-watt power supply in the Pulse. It also has a single slot, reduced-clock 3D card that requires no connection to the power supply. You can remove the card and replace it, but we're just not sure with what. The low wattage power supply already limits your card upgrade options, and we know of no 3D card faster than the GeForce 9800 GT Eco that will fit in the Pulse's 8-inch, single-slot design. With only two RAM slots, and room for only one hard drive, practically speaking the Pulse actually offers fewer upgrade options than the Firebird, which could at least accommodate a second hard drive. Maingear may be achieving some not readily apparent thermal benefit from situating the Pulse on its end, but we can't help thinking that its upgrade options might be improved with a more traditional toaster-style small form factor layout.
 Juice box |
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| Maingear Pulse | Average watts per hour | ||
| Off | 1.37 | ||
| Sleep | 3.67 | ||
| Idle | 79.21 | ||
| Load | 141.23 | ||
| Raw (annual kWh) | 340.08948 | ||
| Energy Star compliant | Yes | ||
| Annual energy cost | $38.60 | ||
We'll admit there's a certain irony in criticizing a power-efficient PC because it won't let you install a faster graphics card. At least with current technology, a vendor needs to carefully curate the parts that go into a desktop if it has efficiency in mind, especially if it also wants that PC to compete as a gaming box. Without the Firebird on-hand (we sent the old one back to HP), we can't compare it with the Pulse on our new power tests. Therefore, we reran our older, less polished power test and the Maingear fared better than the Firebird. On our updated tests, we can at least say that the Pulse requires less power than competing gaming PCs, but remember that the Maingear is also not as fast as the Asus or the much more expensive Shuttle, so its power savings, while commendable, shouldn't be a surprise.
As a boutique PC vendor, Maingear prides itself on its customer support. We can't verify any of its claims, but we have little reason to doubt stories we've heard about Maingear executives hand-delivering replacement parts on occasion. We've heard similar stories about Voodoo PC. On paper, Maingear provides a 14-month warranty by default, and reasonable, if not 24-7, toll-free phone support hours, ranging from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Its Web site also has a lot of handy support features such as a remote desktop connect utility, a knowledge base, as well as an active user forum.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Asus Essentio CG5290-BP007
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit; 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 920 (overclocked); 9GB 1,066 DDR3 SDRAM; 896MB GeForce GTX 260 (216 core); 1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive.
Dell XPS 625
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit; 3.0GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition; 6GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive.
HP Firebird 803
Windows Vista Home Premium
What You'll Pay
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