14 DAY TRIAL // Home-theater personal computers are characterized by their small cases, but Velocity Micro wanted its system to be stronger than most, so while it did stick to the idea of compact form factor, it went for a wider and longer chassis than usual.
The purpose of the more spacious case is tied into the dependence of gaming performance on the graphics card.
Games don't run well on weak CPU integrated graphics, and the Core i5 and Core i7 Intel CPUs up for selection definitely can't do much there.
And since the better an add-in video card is, the larger, especially longer, it gets, there was a need for room.
The solid aluminum enclosure of the Raptor MultiPlex, as the system is called, can hold one of several selectable NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600-series graphics adapters.
Coupled with the possibility of adding up to 16 GB of DDR3-2133 RAM (random access memory), it all makes for a significant variety of hardware configurations.
None of them is exactly cheap though. It turns out that having compactness, good looks and high performance together demands sacrifices. That is why the starting price is of $1,899 / 1,420-1,899 Euro.
The rest of the hardware list is as follows: an Intel 520 Series boot solid-state drive (SSD), up to three 2 TB HDDs in RAID 5 mode, High Definition 9.1 Channel audio with S/PDIF out and all the necessary connectors and interfaces (Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi, USB, etc.).
All the hardware is unified by the Asus P8Z77-V Pro Motherboard with Thunderbolt and run by the Microsoft Windows 8 Pro operating system.
Finally, the Raptor MultiPlex can behave like a DVR, Blu-ray player, audio receiver and even media streaming box.
"Since our early days, Velocity Micro's focus has been largely in two categories – powerful enthusiast desktops and stunning home theater PCs," said Randy Copeland, president and CEO of Velocity Micro.
"With the Raptor MultiPlex, we've essentially brought those two categories together to create something really awe-inspiring. It was a natural progression for us and we think our customers are going to love it."