Music: Photo: Video:

The moniker on this system didn't help it take first place in any of our performance tests, but the ABS Awesome 3450 sure does have an awe-inspiring price. Getting a system with a best-of-breed CPU for under $2,000 is always a deal, even though you do have to accept a few cut corners.

The first thing you note when taking the PC out of the box is how easy it is to do so. A neat handle design on top marks a distinctive gray case. The monitor is even better to look at, being one of the sharper CRTs around: the 19-inch Samsung DynaFlat 955DF with a 0.20mm dot pitch and 1,600-by-1,200 resolution. As with the Falcon and Polywell machines, the ABS Awesome has a 128MB ATI Radeon 9700 Pro card driving the video.

After these components, the insides of the Awesome 3450 start to feel more budget-driven. Two optical drives include a 52X CD-RW, which can burn a music CD in about 2 minutes flat (which we tried again and again and again, of course). But the DVD is read-only, not the DVD burners now common on higher-end machines. The hard drive is a generous size at 120GB and is a 7,200-rpm unit, but seems lonely when compared to the RAID configurations in the other machines.

The integrated 5.1 audio sounds good, helped by a decent set of Logitech Z-640 5.1 speakers. They're not loud (70 watts total), but should be ample for most multimedia. Two front USB 2.0 ports make connecting external devices easy, and you'll find four more on the back—not to mention two rear FireWire ports.

With its low price, this neat-looking ABS system is an acceptable way to get in the high-end game, or to do some high-end gaming. The software bundle is light (just Ahead Nero for CD burning), but the building blocks are here. And the support is a decent combo of one-year onsite service, three-year parts coverage, and lifetime labor coverage.