Hasta La Gadget!

Not down with piecing together a gaming rig for yourself, eh? We’ll forgive you… this time. Thankfully for you, Digital Storm forgives eternally in situations such as this, with the pre-fab PC builder today cranking out one of its most beastly rigs to date. The Black | OPS Assassin is hailed as the planet’s “most advanced vertically cooled PC,” boasting an Intel Core i7-930 that’s factory overclocked to 4.4GHz. Other specs include 6GB of DDR3 RAM, an EVGA X58 motherboard, 750 watt power supply, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and your choice of an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 (1.2GB), ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1GB) or GeForce GTX 480 (1.5GB). Go on, wade over and start customizing — that $2,387 base price won’t sting too badly.

Continue reading Digital Storm tempts with 4.4GHz Black|OPS Assassin gaming desktop

Digital Storm tempts with 4.4GHz Black|OPS Assassin gaming desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 04:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Let’s face it — if you had a never-ending stack of cash and a computer room with no particular size constraints, you too would own a Thermaltake Level 10 enclosure. Regrettably, both financial and square footage constraints do indeed play major roles in most of our lives, including one Jeffrey Stephenson. This fine gentleman is quickly becoming the Ben Heck of wood-grained mods, this time cranking out a lovingly crafted iteration of the aforesaid chassis, but with that special wooden flair. The Level Eleven gets its inspiration from the gargantuan Level 10, but rather than taking things even bigger, Jeff decided to scale things down a notch; in fact, he constructed a fully functional PC within the handmade enclosure, all based around a VIA Pico-ITX mainboard and a 1.2GHz VIA Nano CPU. Thanks to the onboard VX855 media processor, this (comparatively) diminutive machine boasts an HDMI output and enough horsepower to pump out 1080p sans lag — but it doesn’t seem as if this bad boy is officially for sale. Not that he’d reject a five-figure offer or anything…

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 06:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Justin, who can’t afford both a high-end HTPC and textbooks for next semester. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I am a college student looking for a cheap way to hook up to my standard-def TV. It’s not HD capable but has an HDMI input. What do you think would be the best sub $500 HTPC for my home use?”

We served up a similar question a few years back for the high-end crowd, and we taught you how to build your own Blu-ray-capable HTPC last year for a solid grand, but this sub-$500 territory is all new. Anyone have any decent HTPC options that won’t break the bank? Any tips on constructing your own from an older desktop? Go on and share in comments below — it’s good for the soul, we tell ya.

Ask Engadget: best HTPC for under $500? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, okay — so maybe Compaq‘s Presario CQ1-1020 is good for a little more than just browsing the world wide web and sending the occasional email, but there’s no denying that this one’s aimed at the “casual user.” Outfitted with an Atom D410 processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, Intel’s GMA 3150 integrated graphics, a 160GB (7200rpm) hard drive and dual-layer DVD burner, the all-in-one isn’t exactly cut out to handle Crysis. Furthermore, it ships with Windows XP Home Edition, though we are delighted to see that 802.11b/g/n WiFi was tossed in alongside the Ethernet jack. You’ll also get inbuilt speakers, a 6-in-1 card reader, eight USB 2.0 sockets and enough bloatware to keep you busy with uninstallations for at least 10 to 12 minutes. It’s listed for the low, low price of $429.99, but that little “check back soon” message means you can’t order quite yet. Bummer, bro.

Compaq Presario CQ1-1020 all-in-one: Atom-equipped, ready for grandma’s email sessions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Origin PC kicked things off on Friday by shoving NVIDIA’s latest and greatest into its Genesis desktop, and now a few more in the custom PC game have upped the ante by offering a similarly delectable taste of Fermi. NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTX 470 and 480 have been all the rage over the weekend, and if those raucous benchmarks have you convinced that the time to buy is now, a trio of system builders are here vying for your attention. Digital Storm’s Black|OPS rig can now be ordered with a GTX 480 (starts at $2,891), while CyberPower is giving prospective customers the ability to add the latest Fermi GPUs into a smattering of towers. Maingear’s formidable SHIFT supercomputer is also seeing the update, but it’s really asking for trouble with a triple GTX 480 configuration that demands a minimum investment of $6,199. In related news, ASUS, Zotac and a slew of other GPU makers are cranking out new boards based on the minty fresh core, so you shouldn’t have a difficult time finding one if the rest of your rig is a-okay for now.

CyberPower, Digital Storm and Maingear add NVIDIA Fermi GPUs to flagship gaming PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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