Every few months we have the urge to go over the top. We see a lot of great hardware here at CPU headquarters, but that's not enough to satisfy us for very long. We want the very best stuff money can buy. We want systems that make us dizzy. And we want them all at once. Last year (April 2002) we satisfied that urge with a "Leaders of the Pack" special featuring three systems from three of the top PC makers. The systems we reviewed were an exercise in decadence, and it's been too long since we've had that pleasure. It's time to bring back the Pack, the very best PCs from the very best companies.

There are plenty of good system makers out there who aspire to be the best, who dream of creating the ultimate systems, and who do, in fact, produce some great PCs. But a great PC in and of itself does not qualify as a leader of the pack. We need something more. We're looking for Lamborghini rather than Lexus. Bentley rather than BMW. Ferrari Maranello rather than Ford Mustang. We're indulging ourselves in the best luxury systems around, made by a small cadre of companies that know how to do it best: Alienware, Falcon Northwest, and Voodoo PC. These three stand out among the crowd because their systems are always superb, always eye-catching, always made with the best components, and always crafted with love for the machine, and they've been doing it for years.

We invited Alienware, Falcon Northwest, and Voodoo PC to send us the best, most powerful, most outrageous systems they could muster, and they did not disappoint. If words like "Canterwood," "Barton," "Serial ATA," and "7.1 THX home theater" make you shake, you'd better strap yourself in really tight before you read this article.

Each of the systems here is jaw-dropping gorgeous right out of the box, but they aren't merely show ponies. These systems are ready to rumble. We spent a good amount of personal time with each PC so we could get to know it better, and in the process we ran a slew of benchmarks on each one.

We began with a pair of 3DMark tests: 3DMark2001SE for those of you who don't care for 3DMark03 and 3DMark03 for those of you who don't care that others don't care for 3DMark03. We also ran PCMark2002 and SYSmark2002, although we couldn't get SYSmark2002 to run on the Alienware system, despite all of our troubleshooting, tweaking, and swearing, so we cut it out completely.

We also threw a battery of gaming demos at each system, beginning with the old-school Quake III benchmark. Next we had each system tackle the tough AquaMark 2.3 demo. (Sadly, version 3.0 was not quite ready at the time we tested the systems.) The systems finished their seven-course benchmark feast with an Unreal Tournament 2003 demo (version 2.3), courtesy of our boys over at [H]ard|OCP.

Great looks, cutting-edge hardware, tremendous power, high sticker prices—these systems have it all. We think after reading the next few pages, you'll agree that these three PCs do indeed deserve to be called the Leaders of the Pack.



Alienware

With its 200-point preship quality testing process, Alienware is famously meticulous. So meticulous, in fact, that the company skinned its teeth getting the system shipped to us in time for thorough testing, but it was worth the wait. Once the system landed, it won us over immediately. The detail sticklers at Alienware built an awesome green beauty fashioned after the predator from the "Alien" flicks and called the Area-51, with a full tower's worth of guts filled with heavyweight components, some not yet on the market.

The front of the case looks like a tall psychedelic steam engine, complete with elongated ventilation grilles along the bottom that glow with green light. A large door occupies the top front of the case and conceals the optical drives, floppy drive, and seven-in-one media card reader. All other ports are in the rear. On back, a removable grille made of durable black plastic lets you channel all connected cables through a single hole and thereby end cable clutter. Alienware also banished clutter from inside the case by bundling cables and tucking them out of harm's way.

The system's core burns with a fast 3GHz Pentium 4 CPU that crunches digits beneath a colossal heat sink/fan unit. Underneath lies Intel's current mother of all motherboards: the D875PBZ (aka Bonanza). It includes the i875P chipset (code-named Canterwood), a mind-boggling 800MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR400 support (Intel now calls this PAT for Performance Acceleration Technology), five PCI slots, and an 8X AGP slot, plus USB 2.0 and SATA support. Corsair 512MB DDR400 modules occupy two of the four memory slots for a total of 1GB memory.

Alienware took full advantage of the mobo's SATA support when it included twin Seagate 120GB SATA hard drives. The Area-51's Lite-On CD-RW drive is fast at 52X/42X/52X. The Sony DRU-500A is the sweetest optical deal of all; it supports both the +R/RW and -R/RW families of recordable DVD media. The media card reader handles seven formats: Compact Flash Type I/II, IBMMicroDrive, Memory Stick, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital Card, and SmartMedia Card.

As with the other two systems in this review, multimedia reigns supreme in the Alienware. It includes ATI's new Radeon 9800 Pro, an 8X AGP video card with 128MB DDR. For our viewing pleasure, Alienware threw in a super-sharp 22-inch CRT from NEC. In the audio department there's a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 Platinum EX card and a Klipsch ProMedia GMX D-5.1 SurroundSound speaker set with subwoofer. Additional highlights include a Microsoft Internet Keyboard and IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 in matching cyborg green, an integrated Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit network adapter, a utilitarian software bundle, and WinXP Pro.

As the benchmark chart indicates, the system seared through our benchmarks like nobody's business. And as we expected, the Area-51 also performed well in our standard practical tests. DVD video looked and sounded flawless. And after popping in an audio CD, turning up the volume, and closing our eyes, the sound system transplanted us to a sound studio disconnected from space and time. Truth be told, the entire package drew us in from beginning to end, and we loved every minute of it.



Falcon Northwest

hen we asked Falcon Northwest to build a leading system for us, we told the company "anything goes, as long as it's high-end." Falcon Northwest took "high-end" to a totally new high with a creative system plan. The company went well above and beyond the call of duty, providing us with a PC that doubles (or perhaps we should say triples or quadruples) as a home theater system, using the very best equipment from Klipsch, one of the most respected names in audio hardware.

The Mach V that Falcon Northwest sent us is by far the most expensive system of the three, but most of that money (almost three-quarters of it) is tied up in its home theater gear. The PC, sans peripherals, is an almost down-to-earth $5,250. The Mach V uses AMD's rocket-fast 3000+ "Barton" CPU, which is nestled into the heart of an nForce2-based ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard. Falcon Northwest included ATI's wicked-fast Radeon 9800 Pro video card and Sony's oh-so-versatile DRU-500AX DVD recorder. As cool as those components are, the Mach V's best feature (well, inside the case anyway) is the pair of 36GB, 10,000rpm WD360 Raptor Serial ATA drives from Western Digital.

Falcon Northwest does so much more than simply slap a lot of good hardware inside a PC. The system's cables and cords are neatly tucked away to improve airflow inside the case, and several pieces of strategically placed foam reduce the noisiness of the system. The case for our Mach V sports a gorgeous black metallic Exotix paint job featuring the Falcon logo on one side. The system has a window and a pair of blue cold cathode tubes so you can see all the good stuff inside.

The real crown jewel of this system is the home theater equipment, which is worth an additional $16,600. The Mach V included a 7.1 speaker system composed entirely of Klipsch's Reference series speakers. We connected the impressive speaker system to an Aragon Stage One preamplifier/processor ($4,000) and an Aragon 2007 THX Ultra2 amplifier ($3,000) that Falcon Northwest included in the home theater package. We had to do a lot of wiring to set up this system. When we tested it, it thundered like nothing else we've ever heard.

Falcon Northwest included a 22-inch NEC FE 2111SB monitor with our system, but that's hardly sufficient for watching DVD movies. So the company sent us a Sony VPL-HS10 "Cineza" projector ($2,999), which can display a screen size from 40 inches to 300 inches.

We watched a DVD (OK, several of them) with this setup, and we were blown away by the sound and the video quality. Watching the "The Lord Of The Rings" with the Falcon Northwest setup was nearly as good as seeing it in the theater. Actually, it was better, because we didn't have a row of unruly kids sitting in front of us. We also watched "Terminator 2." Every time Arnie squeezed the trigger on his sawed-off shotgun, the boom rippled through the walls and through us.

The Sony Cineza projector is HDTV-compatible so you can get the full wide-screen effect when watching DVDs. We were nearly as impressed with the quality of the Cineza's video as we were with the audio quality of the Klipsch speakers and Aragon amps.

We didn't limit ourselves to watching movies with the Falcon system, however. You can't let a home theater system like this slip through your hands without jamming your favorite tunes. We grabbed some CDs and turned up the volume. There's no way we could max out the speakers without destroying our eardrums. Not even close. The Klipsch Reference Series speakers are deafening, but they always retained their pitch-perfect clarity. These are really amazing speakers. The warmth and precision with which they make music is practically unparalleled.

This system isn't all about music and movies, though. It's a high-octane PC, so naturally we had to play a game. We fired up Unreal Tournament 2003. The game looked exquisite on the NEC FE 2111SB monitor, and the Radeon 9800 Pro cruised through the graphics at every resolution. Listening to Unreal Tournament 2003 through a Klipsch 7.1 sound system was totally surreal.

The combination of Falcon's best system with Klipsch's best speakers and Aragon's best audio equipment is almost more pleasure than we can bear. It's like driving a Ferrari while eating a filet mignon with Ali Landry riding shotgun. This is the way to set up a home theater.

Voodoo PC

We knew we could count on Voodoo PC to whip up a system full of good mojo. Voodoo PC has been working its magic on power users for many years, and the F-Class system we received from the company put us under its spell right away. It has a dark, menacing look that seethes power. The case's exterior is shelled in Range Rover Black, as are several of the system's components. The white "Electric Veins" case lighting gives the system an eerie glow. But even though this PC is a looker, like the others in the pack, it's what's inside that counts.

The F-Class system, like the Falcon Northwest, uses an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with an AMD 3000+ CPU and a gigabyte of PC3200 DDR SDRAM. Voodoo also outfitted our F-Class with a pair of 120GB Seagate Serial ATA drives. That's a lot of storage, and the Serial ATA connection will help accelerate data transfers. This PC is all about speed.

On the multimedia side, Voodoo PC gave us an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card and a set of Logitech Z-680 speakers, an excellent power user audio/video combination. Obviously the speakers aren't in the same league as those that Falcon Northwest sent us, but they're much, much more affordable, and they still sound great. Voodoo PC decided not to outfit our rig with a sound card. At first we were disappointed, but we gave the nForce2's integrated audio a try, and we were pleasantly surprised. We received a note with the system to connect the Logitech Z-680 speakers to the PC with a digital coax cable (included) rather than the usual three analog inputs. We did, and we discovered that the audio was actually really good.

The F-Class's design is hard to beat. The case sports Voodoo PC's distinctive "Eye of the Storm" window cutout and a cold cathode light to showcase the sweet hardware inside the system. The case's paint job feels as smooth as glass, and the system's speakers and monitors also have a fresh coat of paint. The metallic black Logitech Z-680 speakers look exceptionally cool. Voodoo PC also painted the drives' bezels rather than replacing them with simple black plastic bezels. The buttons on the drive are painted as well, and you'd be hard-pressed to find even a hint of stray paint creeping over the LED openings or any other part of the case where paint doesn't belong.

Voodoo PC is the best at hiding cables inside the case. Every single cable under this hood is pulled taut and tucked away to the point that they seem nearly invisible. The hard drive cables are folded origami style over each other and essentially pinned to the back side of the case interior. The main power supply cord is tucked away on top of the power supply, and the Serial ATA cables are buried behind the drives and the case fixtures so they're nearly out of sight. Some madman at Voodoo PC must have spent many long nights figuring out how to hide the system's internal cables this well. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it improves airflow inside the case, reducing the system's internal temperature.

Voodoo PC incorporated several nice little touches into the F-Class system we received. A Card Keeper retainer secures the video card so it won't come loose when the system is in transit. One of the fans has a customized Voodoo PC chrome grill, and the Voodoo PC logo also appears on the front of the monitor. There's not going to be any doubt where this system came from.

There's also no doubt that the F-Class excels at everything it does. To get a real feel for how this system handled, we watched DVDs, listened to CDs, and played a little Unreal Tournament 2003 on the system, and it performed beautifully each time. The DVDs we played looked sharp on the system's NEC FE 2111SB display, and the movie's audio sounded excellent through the Logitech Z-680 speakers, despite the integrated sound. The dialog and ambient noise was clear and well defined, and the Logitech Z-680's subwoofer added a satisfying rumble to the action scenes in the movies.

We pulled out several of our favorite CDs and gave them a spin once we were done watching DVDs. As we mentioned earlier, the F-Class didn't come with a sound card, and although that seems like an oversight to us for a high-end PC, the integrated audio really wasn't too bad. The music sounded clean, with rich bass tones. The higher frequencies were sharp and clear. We can't complain about the lack of a sound card in the F-class because the audio sounded fine to us in every test.

Finally, we took Unreal Tournament 2003 out for a short spin. The video quality of Unreal Tournament 2003 was identical to that of the Falcon Northwest system, which is no surprise because both systems use the same motherboard, CPU, video card, and monitor. The Logitech speakers hammered out the audio in the game with just as much gusto as they did when playing DVDs.

Voodoo PC may not have quite as much name recognition as Alienware or Falcon Northwest, but these people know how to design an excellent system. The finishing touches in this machine really stand out, such as the care with which the internal cables are wrapped up and hidden, the exceptional quality of the system's paint job (especially the drive bezels), and the Card Keeper to keep the video card in place. That's a sure-fire sign of a company that takes its work very seriously. Like Alienware and Falcon Northwest, Voodoo PC has earned its place among the leaders of the pack.

by Michael Sweet and Cal Clinchard

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