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Select Page1 - Maingear Prelude Evaluation - Introduction 2 - Part I - Product Overview: Purchasing, Packaging, and Presentation 3 - Part I - Product Overview: System Build and First Impressions 4 - Part II - Stability and Support 5 - Part III - Performance Evaluation: General Usage 6 - Part III – Performance Evaluation: Gaming 7 - Part III - Performance Evaluation: Gaming Summary 8 - Maingear Prelude Evaluation: Conclusion

Introduction

We invite you to take a moment to read our editorial on how the [H] Consumer Systems Evaluation program works.

In our opinion, the best way to evaluate a PC is to go through the entire customer experience ourselves. We intend to evaluate not only the hardware but also the entire purchasing process from start to finish. We also evaluate the technical knowledge and the support of the vendor. And the only way to do this is to purchase a system, just like any other customer would.

We don’t get hand picked, extensively tweaked systems that are not for consumer consumption. Instead, we take a sample from a company’s everyday production queue and look at everything from a consumer-eye view.

Maingear puts its hardware on the line

We’ve previously used the evaluation program to review computers from Gateway, Velocity Micro, ABS, PC Club, Falcon Northwest, and Dell. This is our first computer from Maingear.

“You can get it in red.”

We ordered the Maingear Prelude, the lowest end of the Maingear offerings, an SLI ready system with Socket 939. Our base configuration cost us $1478.09 plus $99 S/H at the time we bought it in late October, although there have been some configuration changes by Maingear since then. Currently you can get this configuration from Maingear with a much faster 6800 GS 256MB video card for about $100 less.

If you wish, you can also have the computer chassis painted with automotive paint for $299, so if your computer absolutely must be red, Maingear can serve your needs.

We decided to get a mid-range Athlon 64 3500+ CPU and a NVIDIA 6600 GT 128MB graphics card for both a good gaming and multimedia experience. We were drawn to Maingear’s selection and use of quality components, as well as their claim that every PC that leaves Maingear’s doors are “tested, benchmarked, and burned in.” And we were interested in seeing if we could get premium-quality components and service in a mid-range price.

What We Bought

* We ordered an MSI K8N Neo4/SLI NVIDIA nForce4. Maingear upgraded us at no charge to the Platinum version when they had a shortage of the regular type of motherboard

** The second RJ-45 jack is only available with the Platinum version of the MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard.

*** There have been some configuration and price changes in Maingear’s offerings since this computer was ordered.

****Editor's Note: Originally we printed that this system came with an additional 8X DVD burner. In fact that was a error and it only came with the Plextor burner.

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Select Page1 - Maingear Prelude Evaluation - Introduction 2 - Part I - Product Overview: Purchasing, Packaging, and Presentation 3 - Part I - Product Overview: System Build and First Impressions 4 - Part II - Stability and Support 5 - Part III - Performance Evaluation: General Usage 6 - Part III – Performance Evaluation: Gaming 7 - Part III - Performance Evaluation: Gaming Summary 8 - Maingear Prelude Evaluation: Conclusion