Check out AT&T's FREE camera phones
-
CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating -
Average user rating:
Write your own review - See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: Attractive, compact new case; fast application performance; wireless networking capability
The bad: Slow 3D scores compared with less expensive desktops; you can find comparable desktops for significantly less; smaller case limits expansion options.
The bottom line: Not every PC has to be a decent gaming box, but regardless, we expect them to be priced appropriately. Velocity Micro's ProMagix E2055 looks great and does well on some tests, but its gaming scores and its overall bang-for-the-buck fall short.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16 GHz); RAM installed: 3 GB DDR2 SDRAM; Hard drive: 500 GB Standard; See full specs
Price range: $999.99 - $1,499.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 02/25/2008
- Released on: 01/01/2008
Even though it has a sharp new case, we're underwhelmed by Velocity Micro's $1,500 ProMagix E2055 desktop. Yes, it has a fast dual-core Intel processor that challenges the performance of many quad-core-based PCs, at least on certain tests. It doesn't, however, offer much in the gaming department, at least compared with other desktops in the $1,000 to $2,000 price range. If you need fast application performance and aren't overly concerned with 3D power, you might want to give this desktop a look, but the PCs we're used to from Velocity Micro generally do well on both games and day-to-day tasks. Unfortunately, this one only delivers one of the two.
Velocity Micro only sells the ProMagix E2055 at Best Buy, so it's a fixed-configuration PC. It has a few extras, like 802.11g Wi-Fi, but for the $1,500 price it lags behind some of its competition. Compare the Velocity Micro with the $1,619 Dell XPS 630 and you'll see what we mean.
| Velocity Micro ProMagix E2055 | Dell XPS 630 | |
| Price | $1,499 | $1,619 |
| CPU | 3.13Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 | 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 |
| Memory | 3GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3850 | (2) 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT |
| Hard drives | 500GB, 7,200rpm | 500GB, 7,200 rpm |
| Optical drive | dual-layer DVD burner, DVD-ROM drive | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium | Windows Vista Home Premium |
Side-by-side, the two systems look similar, although major differences between each system's CPU and graphics cards stand out. The Velocity Micro's 3.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 is a dual-chip with a faster speed per core than the Dell's quad-core 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. The XPS 630, though, has a pair of faster GeForce 8800 GT 3D graphics cards, for a total of four times as much dedicated graphics memory as the Radeon HD 3850 in the Velocity system. Velocity Micro makes up a little ground with its wireless networking and faster RAM, but we're not convinced that those features or the Velocity Micro's slightly lower price tag are enough to make up the difference.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
Rendering Multiple CPUs | |
Rendering Single CPU |
Our benchmarks also tell an interesting tale. As you can see from our application tests, the Core 2 Duo E8500 in the ProMagix E2055 is indeed a far superior processor to the Phenom 9600 in the Gateway, at least in single and dual-threaded applications. In other words, for many applications you use on a day-to-day basis, such as iTunes and Photoshop, the Velocity Micro gives you performance appropriate to its price.
You'll notice on the multithreaded Cinebench test, as well as on our multimedia multitasking test, that the Velocity Micro system fell behind the Dell and was tied or slower than Gateway FX7020, both of which use quad-core CPUs. What this means is that on applications that can take advantage of more than two cores, such as some video-editing programs and a handful of games, the Velocity Micro is slower than its competition. We can certainly see wisdom in the stance that because most programs don't really benefit from quad-core yet, you're better off going for a faster dual-core chip. Still, because most computers will last for at least two or three years, we're more inclined to err on the side of future benefits, especially with the price of quad-core chips falling rapidly.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
|
1,920x1,200 | |
1,280x1,024 |
- See more CNET content tagged:
- Velocity Micro,
- Intel Core 2 Duo,
- Dell XPS,
- quad-core,
- Nvidia GeForce
User reviews
-
Average user rating:
0 stars
Not yet available
Back to product review - My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 1 of 1 user reviewSee 1 user review
- See 1 user review Write review
Submit your review
Where to buy
Velocity Micro ProMagix E2055:
$999.99 - $1,499.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
$999.99 | Yes |
|
|
Velocity Micro
|
$1,499.00 | Yes |
|
