Specs: CPU: Intel Core i7-950 @ 3.68GHz; Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P; RAM: 6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600MHz; HDD: 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11; GPU: Gigabyte GV-N285UD-1GH (GeForce GTX 285); PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 600; Optical Drive: LG GGC-H20L; OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)

Although not every boutique builder offers under-warranty overclocking, the service is one of the primary reasons to go with a custom PC company over a traditional vendor or building it yourself. CyberPower’s Gamer Xtreme SI features an Intel Core i7-950 running at 3.68GHz (a 620MHz overclock) that ran stable through all our gaming and Prime 95 stress tests. Additionally, this sub-$2,000 system featured a GeForce GTX 285, 1.5TB hard drive, and 6GB of DDR3-1600 memory.

CyberPower installed Asetek’s LCLC to achieve the stable 3.68GHz overclock, and there are a total of five system fans to move system heat away from the components. At the front of the Gamer Xtreme SI, two 120mm fans (parallel to the long hard drive cage) pull outside air into the case, while a 120mm fan at the bottom of the case and a 230mm side-panel fan push hot air out of the system. The rear 120mm fan is connected to Asetek’s LCLC radiator. The five fans made the system a little noisy, but the interior was nearly as cool as our testing lab.

CyberPower added blue lights to the front- and side-panel fans to add a little panache to an otherwise plain-Jane case. The builder did an excellent job of routing cables behind the motherboard, so the interior hardware was accessible and easy to view from the side-panel windows. The Gamer Xtreme SI sent to us also includes LG’s GGC-H20L BD reader and DVD writer; a 12-in-1 memory card reader; and front-panel ports for eSATA, USB (three), and audio. To deliver graphics power, the build includes a Gigabyte GV-N285UD-1GH (GeForce GTX 285), and Gigabyte’s GA-EX58-UP4P motherboard offers three PCI-E x16 slots for SLI performance, so you could upgrade the system in the future.

CyberPower’s processor overclocks help the Gamer Xtreme SI excel at our CPU-intensive benchmarks. For example, its 4014.33pps (pixels per second) score was one of the highest we’ve seen from a Nehalem processor. Its SiSoftware Sandra 2009 marks of 77.7 Dhrystone ALU and 66.8 Whetstone ISSE3 results were also some of the highest we’ve seen. In terms of the gaming, the Gamer Xtreme SI produced the type of results we’d expect of a single-GPU system, such as 15fps in Crysis and 11fps in Crysis Warhead at 2,560 x 1,600. Although it’d take more cash, serious gamers may want to invest in a Two-Way SLI or dual-GPU card Gamer Xtreme SI configuration.

We like to see overclocked systems that run stable through our benchmarking process, which isn’t too easy on hardware. And with thoughtful interior cooling, the Gamer Xtreme SI will help keep your components from breaking down prematurely. All in all, it's a well-designed system that stretches the value of the internal hardware.

by Nathan Lake

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