Velocity Micro Raptor Z90

 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