The Velocity Micro Raptor Z90 ($5,499 direct) is VM's latest member of
the $5k club to grace our bench. Like previous Raptor gaming desktops,
it's a monster in both size and performance. It's filled with high-end
gaming components, including an Intel Core i7-980X processor and two ATI
Radeon HD 5970 video cards. It's not quite as sexy as systems like the
Maingear Shift ($6,399), but it performs on the game grid. Take a look
at the Z90 if you absolutely need high-performing components in your
gaming box, and you have the bankroll to support it.
Design
The
Raptor's chassis is one of Velocity Micro's extended signature cases,
which we've seen on several VM systems. It's your standard large box
with a side window for showing off the video cards, liquid cooling for
the processor, and hard drive sleds. The wiring is neat and well hidden,
plus the hard drives plug into a backplane, eliminating the need for
separate cables for each drive. It looks like every other system we've
seen from VM in the past six years: I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix
it.
The system maintains enough room to fit the two ATI Radeon
HD 5970 video cards, plus room for another, but as far as I know there's
no benefit (or support) for three 5970 cards simultaneously. A PCI slot
shares the same real estate as the free PCIe x16 slot, so you must
choose between one or the other. The system has three free DIMM slots
(to support the triple-channel processor and motherboard) as well as
three free slots in its hard drive cage. You can add up to three more
hard drives by simply connecting them to a hard drive sled and sliding
it into the cage. The aforementioned backplane handles all the hard
drive cable connections.
Features and Performance
Features
The
Z90 comes with 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM and two drives: a 64GB SSD for the OS
and apps, and a 1TB spinning hard drive for everything else. The SSD is
certainly speedy, but 64GB is on the small side. You'll have to
uninstall large games to make space for new purchases, unless you
install apps and games to the 1TB data drive. There's also a
BD-ROM/DVD±RW combo drive.
Performance
Velocity Micro Raptor Z90
Because
the Raptor is a gaming system, you'd expect it to perform near the top
of its class. And you'd be right. The Raptor's CPU is overclocked to
4.21 GHz, and the twin ATI Radeon HD 5970 video cards have four GPUs
worth of computing power at your disposal. Translation: the Raptor Z90
can play our most strenuous tests smoothly, whether Crysis, World in
Conflict, or our multimedia tests.
This is a solid system, if one that lacks the innovation and chart-topping performance other gaming PCs like the Maingear Shift
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