Most of the new desktops featuring Intel’s impressive Core i7 processor are straight-up gaming powerhouses, with pricetags to match. That’s why I’m so pleased to see a glowing review of Dell’s Studio XPS, which starts at a very affordable $US950. DesktopReview took it for a spin and found that, despite one or two small problems, the Studio XPS is lightning fast and a great deal.
According to Cnet test labs, the Falcon Northwest Mach V is the fastest PC on the planet, beating the Alienware Area-51 ALX. How fast you ask? How about being the first PC ever to hit 60 frames per second running Crysis on the highest graphics preset? Yes. That fast.
Intel’s Core i7 chips, otherwise known as Nehalem, are here and over at Bit-Tech they’ve got hold of an i7 965, 940 and 920 and run them through a testing process to check if they’re as crazy fast as we’d heard they were. And the results are that yes, indeed they are. If you’re a power user, doing fast video conversions or otherwise stressing your processor to the max across all its cores and with hyper-threading, then the top-end 965 is a beast of a chip, apparently. But at $US999 it’s steep. Bit-Tech rekons if you’re an enthusiast or a gamer you’re probably better off looking at the low-end 920 chip, which still delivers quite a punch for a mere $US284. Hit the link for the full review, processor fans. [Bit-Tech]
