Commodore XX Gaming PC

Item: Commodore XX Gaming PC
Author: Richard Swinburne

Written by Richard Swinburne

July 31, 2007 | 12:41

Tags: #analysis #benchmarking #case #evaluation #overclocking #performance #review #setup #xx

Companies: #commodore

Value

Other "gaming" brands on the market include the Vadim Fusion CS AM2 which with a few tweaks can be had for £2,722.48, but that only comes with an AMD Athlon X2 6000+, not a quad core CPU. The Fusion CS Intel-775G2 is kitted out with a quad-core but it'll only come with the Q6600 and not the far more expensive QX6800. The other components used are comparative, but are instead sitting in an all aluminium, albeit "plain" looking Lian Li V1000 at a similar price of £2,739.46.

That's with "just" Premium Cable management though: having seen the quality of Supreme Cable management and the watercooling option we would certainly consider spending more and upgrading. Commodore doesn't include the same variety, even if it is competitive on price with the C-Kin option included, where Vadim charges extra for the special window cuts and complementary lighting effects.

The Alienware Area-51 ALX in comparison is a lot more expensive at £3,361.68 including VAT. In comparison, everything is optional and there is no option for two Western Digital Raptor hard drives, but there is the choice between RAID 0 and RAID 1. Alienware also doesn't offer a high end Creative X-Fi option although it does come with a liquid cooling system. There is an option of an overclocked 3.3GHz quad-core processor (at extra cost) as well and that'll mean the system is faster than the Commodore.

The AMD alternative with a Athlon X2 6000+ comes in at a shade under at £2,660.20, but with the same options as above and two cores shy. There's also the consideration of actually liking the Alienware case. It's splits opinions in a very Marmite way: you either love it or you hate it, there's no "meh, don't care" like the Commodore (without the skin).

Finally, the awesome looking Dell XPS 710 actually falls far short in the hardware department. There's no option for Western Digital Raptors, even though there is RAID 0 available and, again, everything is at an extra cost. The highest CPU we can select is only a QX6700, not QX6800, and amazingly the fastest memory option is only 667MHz, compared the to 1066MHz memory included in the Commodore. Just as crazily, the XPS 710 only offers on-board High-Definition sound rather than anything discrete from Creative or another add-in card manufacturer.

The XPS 720 with watercooling actually improves the situation by offering a proper sound card and 800MHz memory, but still doesn't include an option for Raptor hard drives. It is a lot bigger and heavier, but it should be a lot quieter than the Commodore. Of course, this specialised watercooling system increases the cost quite significantly and the whole thing will set you back £3,131.98 when specced out as close as possible to the Commodore.

So, in all the Commodore represents pretty good value, especially in the hardware stakes. It may not have all the possibly options other companies offer, but it does include the right kit at the right price.

Final Thoughts

In all, as much as we wanted to like the case for its correct method of embossed branding and professional C-Kin (negating the fact we aren't a fan of this particular art), it just doesn't feel in any way really very special. Underneath is still your bog standard PC case made of plastic and steel. In comparison, the Dell XPS looks phenomenal lit up, even though it's also only steel and plastic and weighs a ton.

A Vadim PC may also use a standard case, but there's a vast variety of aluminium cases and the quality and presentation is in a completely different league. There is obviously a price difference, but if you're in the big leagues of splashing out you'll want Ferrari looks, not a family hatchback/sedan with a Ferrari engine inside. We feel this case is more suited to the Commodore G or GS, rather than the XX.

Even though Commodore does not set a time scale for updates, it is keen on keeping the XX up to date with the latest technology, so as soon as someone releases something high end, expect Commodore to include it in its line up.

All in all, for a first effort, Commodore is aiming in the right area and there's always a compromise to what can be actually offered and what everyone might like. What's on offer should certainly suit a vast majority of people who don't want to spend the time and effort researching what makes a good gaming system, it's all provided here.

Fortunately for Commodore, this ignorance may be bliss in noise consideration, however you don't get top end hardware without a certain noise cost. True, this particular system won't appeal to most of you reading this that prefer to make your own gaming systems, but it does offer good value for money as a complete system and the G/GS options could be great for family or friends who need a general purpose PC yet still enjoy a bit of gaming now and then.

So the Commodore XX represents good value, and the skins offer some variety even if the case is a bit ambiguous underneath. If we had to drop £3,000 on a pre-built PC, the Commodore would still be a definite consideration for the shopping list but we'd probably still go for a Vadim or Dell XPS 720.