14 DAY TRIAL // Since Intel's six-core Gulftown processor is now the most powerful central processing unit on the consumer market, it is hardly surprising to hear that so many gaming rigs support it so soon after it was reviewed. In fact, companies like Origin, CyberPower and Maingear have already taken the chip in and set it up as king over their respective, suitably overpowered gaming systems. Now, since it would have been too surprising for the Core i7 980X to only be adopted by these three, Velocity Micro and Digital Storm have shown off offers of their own.
Velocity Micro is now offering the six-core CPU as an option on not one but two of its gaming systems, namely the Raptor and the Edge, as well as on the ProMagix HD60 workstation. These configurations are predictably packed with high- to top-end components that only a lot of money can buy, with starting prices being set at $2,825.
The situation is only slightly different when it comes to the system offered by Digital Storm. This PC maker is offering the six-core as part of its Black|OPS gaming rig, which also features an EVGA X58 motherboard, 6GB of RAM and two Radeon HD 5970 graphics adapters as recommended parts. Consumers should be careful around this configuration, however, because it is far less financially gentle than Velocity Micro's system, with a price of $5,642.
"With the launch of the Core i7-980X, Intel has given us the means to create a whole new level of benchmark crushing, ultra performance PCs," Velocity Micro Vice President Chip Lowell said. "By utilizing this new technology in conjunction with our meticulous craftsmanship and patented engineering methods, we're able to offer some of the most powerful, record breaking consumer desktops on the market."
"The introduction of a six core processor with hyper threading capabilities is a momentous occasion for gaming enthusiasts," Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's director of Product Development, remarked. "With our TwisterBoost overclocking package, we can overclock the i7-980X to a record breaking 4.4GHz. The results we've recorded on our test bench have been nothing short of astounding. I can honestly say that our Black OPS machines with this new CPU resulted in the most impressive gaming experience I've ever had."
Consumers interested in having their wallets and/or bank accounts debilitated may wish to consult Digital Storm's and Velocity Micro's respective websites.
