Velocity Micro Gamer's Edge 1500: Ideal choice?

[camelbackcinema]

Here are my configurations:

Case GX Blue - Velocity Micro Classic Case - Pure Aluminum for maximum cooling, matching aluminum drive covers, 2 x 120mm fans
Power Supply 550 Watt Antec® TRUE POWER 2.0 Quiet Power Supply with 120mm Smart Fan (SLI Certified by NVIDIA) (+$70.00)
Power Cable Standard Power Cable
Motherboard Asus® A8N SLI - NVIDIA® nForce™ 4 SLI MCP, PCI Express Motherboard with DDR
AMD® Processor AMD® Athlon™ 64 4000+ Processor, Socket 939
CPU Cooling Arctic Cooling® Freezer 64 Heatsink with Ultra Quiet Fan and Copper Heat Pipes, plus Arctic Silver™ 5 Thermal Compound
DDR Memory 2048MB Mushkin™ PC3200 DDR400 CL2.5 Low Latency Enhanced Memory with Heat Spreader(2x1024) (+$125.00)
PCX Video 2 x 256MB eVGA™ NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GT in SLI*, PCI-Express, 2 x DVI (+$440.00)
Video Cooling VideoCool™ Positive Pressure Airflow System - Speed adjustable, with light
Video Tuning Basic 3D Video Performance Tuning & Optimization
Monitor None
Audio On-Board Integrated Realtek Audio, 7.1 Channel Support
Speakers None
Hard Drive 1 300GB Western Digital WD3000JD 7200rpm SATA/150, 8MB Cache (+$25.00)
Hard Drive 2 None
Optical Drive 1 16x Lite On® DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Dual Layer, Black Bezel
Optical Drive 2 16x DVD/48x CD-RW Lite On® Combo Drive, Black Bezel
Floppy Drive & Media Reader 1.44MB Floppy Drive, Black Bezel
Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
FireWire 2 Integrated IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports, 1 front & 1 rear
USB 2.0 Ports 8 USB 2.0 Ports, 2 front & 6 rear (2 rear ports may be unavailable in some configurations due to available resources)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home w/Service Pack 2 on original CD, Installed & Performance Tuned
Software Bundle FREE - Nero Digital Creation Suite - Capture, Edit, and Author Video with immersive Dolby 5.1 Surround, plus Photo Editing Suite
Benchmark Software NEW - FutureMark® 3DMark06® Velocity Micro Basic Edition -
Recovery Disk Custom DVD Restore Disk, returns your system hard drive to the original factory installation
Internal Cables Standard Premium Ribbon IDE and Floppy Cables
Keyboard Velocity Micro™ Deluxe Multimedia & Internet Keyboard with volume control, custom made by Creative Labs - Black
T-Shirt FREE Velocity Micro™ Limited Edition T-shirt in Blue, size XL
Assembly Careful custom hand wiring and neatly folded drive cables for maximum air flow, assembled in Richmond, Virginia, USA
Quality Assurance Individual custom testing for complete component and software functionality, signed by the system builder and QA inspector
Documentation Owner's Manual and Accessory Pack
Installation None
Warranty** 1 Year Standard Parts & Labor Limited Warranty, 1 Year Regular Business Hours Support, and Depot Repair Service
Upgrade Plan The Velocity Micro Lifetime Upgrade Plan allows you to return your system for maintenance, discounted upgrades, and tuning
Gift Card $25 Best Buy Gift Card by mail with purchase of this system - Hurry, limited time offer!

2150 for a gamer's edge is pretty hefty and it's getting close to just going for the Dual X but I don't really need the fancy case or anything like that. I was wondering what things you would change on a strict price/performance point of view.

Here is why I took a 1500 over a dual x:
* A bit cheaper overall
* Don't need SLI 7800 GTXs but require GTs :)
* Don't need dual processors at this time.
* Quicker shipping (not a big deal)

Here are some of my concerns:
1.) Will I be able to upgrade the processor to X2 processing while keeping the same motherboard or will I not be able to completely...? I know that the next gen games will benefit greatly from dual processors but most games right now are having small issues.
2.) From what I read, I don't need hard drives set up in RAID 0 and it doesn't really improve performance much. I did have a concern with 72k vs 10k rpm speeds. Is it a very large difference when it comes to gaming?
3.) They only offer mushkin ram so I was wondering how good are these sticks? If I could opt for 256 or 512, I would just do that and newegg some ram but it doesn't seem like I could do that.
4.) For the PSU, is 550 sufficient or should i spend that extra $50 for the extra 50 watts?
5.) Again, is the motherboard pretty good? I saw the review of the 1500 and it was very stable so I am thinking that the motherboard handles pretty good.
6.) Will SLI increase system instability?

If you guys have any recommendations for my configuration, I would greatly appreciate it I am trying to find which upgrades I should pursue and not spend on frivolous things.

[camelbackcinema]

Here is Maingear's entry level:
Customizations:
Exterior Automotive Color:
Silver Aluminum Finish
Power Supply:
MAINGEAR 550W
Motherboard:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium nForce4 SLI
Processor:
AMD Athlon64 4000+ Socket 939 $281.60
CPU Cooling:
AMD Quiet CPU Cooler
Memory:
2GB Mushkin High Performance DDR400 (2x1GB) $138.37
Do you want us to overclock your CPU?: YES
Hard Drive One: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache - SATA II $22.75
Optical Drive One:
16X DVD-ROM - Black
Optical Drive Two:
Plextor 740A 16x DVD±R Dual Layer w/ DVD Recording and DVD Playing Software $120.00
Video Card:
2x NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCIe - SLI $836.25
Do you want us to overclock your GPU?: YES
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Keyboard:
Logitech® Media Keyboard
Warranty:
1-Year Maingear Toll-Free Phone Support

Reconfigure Prelude 64
Product Subtotal: $2,591.48

At over 400 dollars + 99 dollars shipping more than the VM 1500, I thought Maingear did not have enough extras (RMA support, cable organization) to warrant ponying up 500 extra dollars.

This makes me think that Velocity Micro might have the best dual 7800 GT system for the money on the market. Is there another boutique that can compare to these two great companies?

[HappyJack]

1.) Will I be able to upgrade the processor to X2 processing while keeping the same motherboard or will I not be able to completely...? I know that the next gen games will benefit greatly from dual processors but most games right now are having small issues.
2.) From what I read, I don't need hard drives set up in RAID 0 and it doesn't really improve performance much. I did have a concern with 72k vs 10k rpm speeds. Is it a very large difference when it comes to gaming?
3.) They only offer mushkin ram so I was wondering how good are these sticks? If I could opt for 256 or 512, I would just do that and newegg some ram but it doesn't seem like I could do that.
4.) For the PSU, is 550 sufficient or should i spend that extra $50 for the extra 50 watts?
5.) Again, is the motherboard pretty good? I saw the review of the 1500 and it was very stable so I am thinking that the motherboard handles pretty good.
6.) Will SLI increase system instability?

If you guys have any recommendations for my configuration, I would greatly appreciate it I am trying to find which upgrades I should pursue and not spend on frivolous things.

1) The case is fully upgradeable and can easily handle x2.
2) Raid is cool but not much faster.
3) Mushkin is a very good and well know brand, and I think this RAM made just for VM, but you can easily go to Newegg and save dough.
4) 550 is fine for anything you want to do with 7900GT in SLI, but if you might go to GTX, make the upgrade now.
5) The Asus A8N SLI is the standard for SLI, so you can't do much better than that.
6) As long as you have the 550 PSU you will be fine. The only problem I have read about is adequate power.

Nice system!

[Lokk]

I'm looking at purchasing almost the same exact system as you. Have around $2k to spend, and the maxed-out GE1500 definitely looks the best :) Let me know if you end up purchasing, or I might later today.

[kilgore777]

Concerning your question about RAID 0, I posted a thread (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=952798) about it a while ago- that may help you in your decision. Good luck with your purchase! :)

[HappyJack]

At over 400 dollars + 99 dollars shipping more than the VM 1500, I thought Maingear did not have enough extras (RMA support, cable organization) to warrant ponying up 500 extra dollars.
Maingear can't hold a candle to Velocity on price or support because VM is probably literally 30 times bigger. They may make a good PC, but they are just not stable/mature enough to be sure they are around in a year or two when shit hits the fan and you need help with replacement parts. Add in that they charge even a dime more, much less $500 (or 20% for you analyticals out there) they are toast - making it even harder to see them around in a couple of years.

So...what did you ever end up buying?

[thyshallsmite]

Maingear has freaken INSANE support when it comes to their comps, and they do cable oganization as a standard rather then an add on. Really the main reason i went with maingear over VM was support.

[lovemyPC]

how INSANE is this support from Maingear - worth $500? What do they do? come over and rub your back while they fix your PC? VM has good support and the sense not to charge hundreds of dollars for it.

Read the reviews - VM got good marks for support in every review. and they're cheaper. and they're gonna be around this time next year. the fact that Best Buy carries these computers means they're doing something right. I'm convinced that VM is the next big thing - esp. since the Delienware thing happened.

Looks like a really solid and upgradeable system that should last you for a long time. Did you end up choosing this one?

[lovemyPC]

they do cable oganization as a standard rather then an add on.

Cable organization? yeah, everybody reviewed here does that. It's a standard everywhere. Chill out on the Maingear KoolAid, why doncha?

[MaingearDude]

Cable organization? yeah, everybody reviewed here does that. It's a standard everywhere. Chill out on the Maingear KoolAid, why doncha?

LovemyPC,
Do you have something against MAINGEAR? Did you ever go through our purchasing experience? Chill out on the VM KoolAid, why doncha?

-Wallace :)