Velocity Raptor Signature Edition Gaming PC

The good: One of the fastest PCs we've tested; a PCI Express RAID card helps media encoding performance; typically immaculate Velocity Micro assembly; strong, three-year warranty.

The bad: Feels inordinately expensive (but less than the competition); loud cooling hardware; software could use some more attention.

The bottom line: We have one major issue with the Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition (the price), and two minor ones (it's loud, for one), but those aside, this is one of the most feature-complete high-end desktops we've reviewed. Its performance is media-creation- and game-minded, and anyone buying it for those or almost any other purposes won't be disappointed.

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Description: The Velocity Raptor Signature Edition Gaming PC is a Core 2 extreme-based, performance personal computer. Compared to other performance desktops on the market, it is very expensive at around $5,995. This PC comes with 2 GB RAM, and a 150GB hard disk.

Pros: Has a nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics chip, which is considerably better performing than some similarly priced desktops. The Core 2 extreme based processor installed on this machine is fast enough to handle demanding applications, such as graphics and multimedia.

Cons: None noted, given available product data.

Suitability: A performance desktop, suited for image editing, digital video, and 3-D gaming, beyond basic computing tasks. The nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics installed on this PC is reasonably fast when it comes to handling 3-D graphics. Store massive amounts of data on DVD using the DVD burner included in this computer. You can compile music CDs with this desktop’s CD writer.

Value: Overall, this desktop's features are in line with its price.

Suggestions: (1) Using this PC's Firewire (1394) port, you can connect to many digital camcorders and other equipment and rapidly upload data to the computer's hard drive. (2) Consider adding a more powerful graphics card if you plan to use this PC for graphics design or CAD applications.