My Velocity Micro review

[rondocap]

Over the last few months, I have been researching new PC technologies and looking into a few different PC builders for my next PC. I decided now was a good time to buy, with the new Intel chipset with dual core technology out. I was going to build my own at first, but I decided against it as it did not offer too much over going to a good builder in my eyes.

Before deciding on Velocity Micro, I was looking into the following companies, and below I explain why I did not go with them.

1.) ABS- They had very good prices, and they were cleary my second choice. I went with VM instead because they were significantly more polished, and I liked some of the hardware options more. (Like an Intel 955 mobo for VM, while ABS only offered an ASUS 925XE)

2.) Alienware- Like ABS, their prices are decent, having improved over the last few years. I did not choose them because I've read far too many negative reviews on customer service, and the case is a bit too plastic and toyish for my tastes.

3.) Falcon NW and Voodoo- These are fine builders, but extremely overpriced. Velocity Micro had the same hardware and similar service for far less.

And now, to talk about the actual computer and service:

It took 11 days from my order to delivery, which is very fast. Velocity Micro had constant e-mail updates, and I was able to talk to a representive with virtual no wait time. They have a very professional website, and the service was just as high. I called to change three parts, and thankfully they did not delay shipping as it was done before the building process began.

I've had the system a short time, but it is extraordinary. The window panel with the neon blue light is very beautiful, and compliments the case well. The system is very quiet, I can barely hear it over my AC. I decided to go with a P4 3.6 660 instead of a dual core CPU for now. The Dual core is much more expensive at the moment, and this difference does not show up in benchmarks as much as I can justify. I do have the i955 motherboard, so I can upgrade in the future if the gap widens.

I've played a few games (Battlefield Vietnam, WC3, Half Life 2, Far Cry, Doom 3) and the 6800GT is very fast. The graphics are amazing, and the card is a lot less noisy then a 6800 Ultra would be.



Of course, no review is complete without some minor complaints! (And I mean minor!) I would of liked the new ASUS SLI motherboard, but it had a 10 day delay over the Intel 955. This is more of a supply and demand issue, and not really VM's fault, of course. SLI was not the main concern, I just would of liked the ASUS because I've read it is more versatile in terms of tweaking. No big deal though. Also, it would of been nice if they bundled something like Microsoft Works, instead of cheaper alternatives like Corel Office or Open Office. It came with Battlefield 1942, but perhaps another game or two in the bundle would of also been nice. That is pretty much it for complaints, as you can see, they are very minor and do not hold much importance.

So far, I enjoy it tremendously. Everything from the customer service, to the packaging, to the system experience has exceeded my expectations of Velocity Micro. I will definitely recommend them to my friends and family, and I am very happy with the experience.


These are the specs:

LX-W Black - Velocity Micro Signature Case - Pure Aluminum with side window, easily removable front door
Power Supply 550 Watt Antec® TRUE Quiet Power Supply with Dual Smart Fans
Case Lights Single Blue Cold Cathode Chassis Light Kit
Motherboard Intel® D955XBKLKR 955X Chipset Motherboard with DDR2, PCI Express Motherboard with DDR2, PCI Express )
Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 660 with HT, 3.6 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, EM64T, XD, LGA775 Socket
CPU Cooling Zalman® Heatsink w/80mm Ultra Quiet Fan, Arctic Silver™ 5 Compound
DDR2 Memory 2048MB Mushkin™ DDR2 PC4200 DDR533 Enhanced Memory (4x512)
PCX Video 256MB eVGA™ NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 GT PCI-Express, with Battlefield 1942!*
Audio SoundBlaster® Audigy 2 ZS with 1394 FireWire Port, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 channel
Hard Drive 1 2 x 74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000rpm SATA, 8MB Cache - 147GB RAID 0 Stripe
Hard Drive 2 200GB Western Digital WD2000JD 7200rpm SATA/150, 8MB Cache
Optical Drive 1 16x/48x Lite On® DVD-ROM, Black Bezel
Optical Drive 2 52x/32x/52x Lite On® CD-RW, Black Bezel
Floppy Drive & Media Reader 1.44MB Floppy Drive, Black Bezel
Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
Network Adapter 2 or WiFi Adapter NetGear® WG311 802.11 B+G WiFi Wireless Adapter with antenna, 11MBps/54MBps
FireWire Integrated IEEE 1394 FireWire Port
USB 2.0 Ports 6 USB 2.0 Ports
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home w/Service Pack 2 on original CD, Installed & Performance Tuned
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
Assembly Immaculate custom hand wiring and origami-style folded drive cables for ultimate air flow
Warranty** 3 Year VelocityCare™ Parts & Labor Limited Warranty, 1 Year 24/7 Support with Emergency Hours, and On-Site Service

 

[Velocity_Micro]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rondocap.

 

[GDGD]

This will help with my decision. Thanks!

 

[digiram]

Corel's Wordperfect is 100x better than MS word. Honestly. The ability to view the codes and edit them within a document is priceless.

 

[rondocap]

I've had the system for almost a week now, and here are some more impressions:

My initial impressions of the performance were correct, it is absolutely fast. Everything runs so much smoother then on my old 2ghz P4. The hyperthreading on the 660 helps a lot, as It almost feels like a dual core processor system. I often am ripping a CD while playing a game, and even something like Battlefield 2 on high settings still worked smoothly! (Also due to 2gigs of ram and raided 10k drives.)

My brother has a Dell XPS with an ATI 9800xt, and his system makes a lot more noise then mine. The cooling and air passages are very good, and the noise levels are moderate. I can still hear my Mozart adagios with the tower 2 feet away from me on the desk!

At first I thought getting the blue cold cathode light t might be cheesy, but it is actually very sleek looking, and it gives me a great view of the internal components, neat cables and all. The case is very professional looking, nothing like other plastic and toyish cases out there.

I have been very impressed with VM's tech support. I've had a few small issues and questions, and everything was addressed well.

The only significant problem I've had so far is the video card. I installed different drivers, and even reformatted, but the card was still giving me glitches. Temperatures are stable, no overclocking, and I have adequate power- Antec 550 PSU. I got an RMA and the new card should arrive tomorrow, hopefully that will fix things. But at least they sent a new card as soon as the problem could not be fixed otherwise!

 

[bkuhl]

Glad to hear your happy with them. I just submitted my order tonight for a system through VM and your experience makes me a little more comfortable going with a smaller vendor.
I found your situation amusing. I was upgrading from a similar P4-2.0/GeForce 3 system. I investigated Alienware and ABS, but didn't like the Alienware case and ABS made me nervous since they seemed smaller.
Anyway, I decided to go with an A64 X2 4800, 7800GTX, 2 GB RAM. I may call back tomorrow and add the $35 blue-light. I was debating this but left it out of the final order. This is my first time using a smaller vendor and my first AMD system. It is going to be hard to wait for this system to arrive!

-BKuhl

 

[rondocap]

bkuhl,

Since we both had similar specs prior to the new system, I think you will be amazed at the speed difference. (Especially with dual core.) I can have Battlefield 2 open, along with a bunch of programs, and I don't even see any slowdown. It is remarkable!

I think you should add the blue cathode light. I did not initially have it in my order, but I called to add it. I am glad I did, the interior looks beautiful with the light, especially in the dark.

It was my first time ordering from a smaller vendor as well, and the service feels a lot more personal.

Did you upgrade to the Zalman fans? My system is pretty quiet, with the Antec 550 power supply as well.

The system took a total of 11 days from when I ordered it until it shipped, Not so bad. They even shipped it a few days earlier then the estimated ship time. I got my RMA video card, and everything is working perfectly. The last card was just defective, and they sent me an RMA right away.

A funny anecdote: My system shipped on a Friday, and I tracked it as it went through UPS and arrived on Tuesday, at about 2pm. The video card RMA also shipped last Friday, and I tracked it the same way. It arrived Tuesday at 2pm. What nostalgia from the previous week!