On the game grid, the bull's-eye is a moving target—and the Velocity Micro Gamers' Edge PCX ($5,126 direct, $5,495 with 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor) comes close enough to it to satisfy some gamers. But no matter how fine the system may be, our current Editors' Choice, the HP Blackbird 002, outshines it. Nonetheless, the PCX is a fine bang-for-the-buck choice on the game grid, with performance to rival those of the systems that edged it out on both the benchmark-test and the price-ceiling drag races. This is a system for the well-heeled gamer who wants to pay for someone else's expertise, while keeping some cash in reserve for the electric bill or ISP charges.

Velocity Micro's new build philosophy is to forgo fancy liquid cooling for air cooling by taking great care in choosing the parts shipped with the systems. The company tests each component, like the CPU and memory, to make sure it will work at full stress while overclocked. Thus Velocity Micro can build computers that will see use on the game grid day after day without requiring exotic cooling—a departure brought on by the arrival of experts from Overdrive PC after Velocity Micro snapped up that gaming firm in mid-2007. Like its Overdrive cousin, the Overdrive PC Core2.SLI, the PCX is one of the few all-air-cooled and overclocked gaming rigs on the market today. It uses an enthusiast heat sink based on integrated heat tubes with internal cooling liquid. Unlike in other gaming systems here, there are no other pipes snaking through the case and no external radiator elsewhere in the case. This design reduces points of failure and theoretically increases the reliability of the system. One of the drawbacks is more noise than some gaming systems, though the PCX is quieter than the loud, water-cooled ABS Ultimate X Magnum.

Through a window on the side you can see a full complement of internal lights that show off the neatly organized wiring and the twin GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards. The case is Velocity Micro's familiar "extended" Signature case, with a front-mounted cooling fan and other fans all over. The front fan cools the two speedy hard drives and any other drives you see fit to install later. (You should be able to fit two or three more drives in the drive cage.) There's an additional PCIe x16 slot for a future physics card and a PCIe x1 slot for other upgrades like a TV tuner. Since this system came with 2GB, not 4GB, of RAM, there are two DIMM slots for additional memory down the road.

The PCX's performance was admirable, if not class-leading. Though it didn't place first on any of the benchmark tests, it came quite close on many. It excelled at 3D tasks, with 109 frames per second on Prey and 137 fps on Company at Heroes (CoH), both at 2,560-by-1,600 resolution. In fact, at CoH, the PCX placed second, behind the Overdrive PC, which scored 156 fps. Likewise, the PCX was near the top on 3DMark06, with a score of 13,452 points at 2,560-by-1,600. (Keep in mind that few people can tell the difference between 137 fps and 156 fps.) It's notable that even though the PCX uses the "slower" GeForce 8800 GTX card, it beats or matches several gaming systems that have the top-of-the-line 8800 Ultra cards.

A multimedia powerhouse, the PCX finished the Windows Media Encoder test in 43 seconds 3 seconds behind the top PCs, and the Photoshop test in 28 seconds 6 seconds behind the leader, the ABS Ultimate X Magnum. Although you may not be able to brag that you have a class-topping system, your multimedia projects will get done fast.

The PCX isn't quite as sexy as the HP Blackbird 002 or as imposing as the Dell XPS 720 H2C, but it certainly is attractive, with the largest window I've seen on a desktop lately. And you'll want to see what's inside, since every cable is cut to length and recrimped. The PCX is a lot cheaper than the Falcon NW Mach V (8800 Ultra SLI), the Dell XPS 720 H2C, and the ABS Ultimate X Magnum.

The Velocity Micro Gamers' Edge PCX makes its case as a high-performance system, offering excellent bang for the buck. It should be a contender for your gaming dollars, particularly if you have about $5,000 to $6,000 to spend.

Check out the Velocity Micro Gamers' Edge PCX's benchmark test results.

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