Velocity Micro Edge E2250 review

If the Velocity Micro has an role as a gaming PC, it's for those who are less concerned about price and who are willing to make post-purchase upgrades. Because even though the less expensive Dell beat the Edge E2250 on our gaming tests, it needed two 3D cards to do it. The Velocity system needs only one, and it still has a graphics card slot to spare. If you were to add a second GeForce 9800 GTX card (a $300 upgrade) on top of this already strong foundation, we suspect the Edge E2250 would blow by the highest-end XPS 630 you could configure. You should be careful going much higher than two 9800 GTX cards (we wouldn't try two GeForce 9800 GX2's, for example) as this system has only a 500-watt power supply.

Otherwise, this configuration is relatively typical among midrange PCs. We've always liked Velocity Micro's case design, and while the Edge E2250 does not use the new scaled down chassis that debuted with Velocity's ProMagix E2055, this model does include the same outward-facing hard drive bays that were introduced in that previous system. You probably won't swap drives out often, but when you need to, you'll be glad that Velocity Micro made it easy.

The Edge E2250 also has an 802.11a/b/g wireless adapter. We continue to find Wi-Fi in a full-sized desktop quirky. Since this system is likely not moving, why not just use a wired Ethernet connection that's interference immune and doesn't add to the cost? Still, we suspect some of you will appreciate the Wi-Fi capability, so we can't really find fault with it.

The rest of the features are straightforward, with one surprise. You get a dual-layer DVD burner, a separate DVD-ROM drive, and a media card reader, reflecting what's become the standard roll-out for removable storage options. The motherboard has two spare memory slots, so you can add as much as 8GB of RAM, and the Edge E2250 will recognize all of it, thanks to the 64-bit version of Vista Home Premium. This is actually a key differentiator, because 32-bit Windows recognizes only up to 2.5GB of RAM. As for the other implications of 64-bit Vista, we don't think you have much to worry about.

The biggest concern in the past with going to 64-bit Windows has been driver compatibility, but the various component vendors seem to have embraced 64-bit Vista and we've heard of no trouble. There's little in the way of consumer-level software that will take advantage of a 64-bit software environment (and 32-bit applications are compatible, so no worries there), so the biggest benefit for now is that 64-bit Vista will recognize more RAM. That's worth it in our opinion, and when more 64-bit software comes, all the better.

Supportwise, Velocity Micro's Web site stands out from other desktop vendors for its clear and thorough descriptions of various support issues. It's also recently updated its support site to include a support-ticket-tracking feature that lets you monitor the status of an online help request. The standard warranty for this system covers you for one year of parts and labor, with toll-free phone support available from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays. That's in line with the rest of the industry.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Dell XPS 630
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; (2) 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2
Windows Vista Home Premium; 3.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards; 500GB 7,200 rpm Samsung hard drive

Gateway FX7020
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.3GHz AMD Phenom 9600; 3GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics card; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Uberclok Ion
Windows Vista Home Premium (tested); Windows XP Professional SP2 (second partition); 3.2GHz (overclocked) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics card; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Velocity Micro Edge E2250
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 3.2GHz (overclocked) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card; 750GB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive