Specifications and Mainstream

We would have loved to see the Ultimate M1 ship with Serial ATA hard disk drives, but supply is still nonexistent for the most part, despite expectations that the technology would emerge before the end of the year. The ASUS A7N8X Deluxe doesn’t include Parallel ATA RAID capabilities, so an add-on HighPoint IDE RocketRAID 133 controller is used. Two Western Digital 80GB Special Edition drives are organized in a performance-oriented RAID 0 configuration, giving the disk-subsystem a particular knack for powering through intensive content creation applications.

Power cables are protected with electrical tape

All the cables are neatly bundled

Another cable shot

In addition to expansive storage space, the Ultimate M1 sports a pair of optical drives that should take care of everything except DVD burning. A Lite-On 52X write, 24X re-write drive fits the bill for CD burning and a Pioneer 16X DVD drive facilitates a cinematic experience with the help of the RADEON 9700’s decoding capabilities.

The Ultimate M1’s asking price includes a few peripheral devices as well, like a Viewsonic G810 21” CRT with a .21mm dot pitch. It also supports a maximum resolution of 2048x1536, albeit at a hard-to-bear 61Hz. Moreover, the system includes Logitech’s Z-680 speaker system. For those unfamiliar with the 500W RMS system, it includes a 188W subwoofer, four 62W satellites, and a 69W center channel. It also decodes Dolby Digital and DTS audio for use with a PC, PS2, Xbox, or standalone DVD player (the decoder can be connected to four input devices at the same time). There’s also a wireless remote, though it isn’t nearly as useful when you are in front of the PC anyway. The package is topped off with a Logitech Access keyboard and Microsoft optical mouse.

Covering the mainstream

We also had the opportunity to test ABS’ Bravado 2150, a more conservative desktop that costs less than half of the Ultimate M1 at $1,050. You can win this Bravado system by entering our quiz giveaway at the end of this review. Of course, armed with an Athlon XP 2200+, we didn’t expect it to compete with the gaming rig. The Bravado sports an MSI KT4 Ultra with 256MB of Kingston PC3200 memory. Like the powerful Ultimate M1, the Bravado 2150 includes an Enermax power supply, this time rated at 330W. It’s also got an ASUS V8420 GeForce4 Ti 4200 card that will appeal to casual gamers and overclocking enthusiasts alike thanks to its proven flexibility. ABS anticipates most home users will pick a system from the Bravado line, so it equips the machine with a 10/100Mbps Ethernet adapter and a modem. A 40GB IBM Deskstar covers disk storage, and a Lite-On 48x CD-RW / Pioneer DVD drive combination takes care of the system’s optical capabilities. The asking price for the Bravado 2150 also includes an economical 17” Samsung 753DF monitor and Logitech’s 33W Z-340 2.1 speaker system.

The Bravado value gaming rig

Beautiful case, just heavy

The MSI KT4 Ultra

There are a couple of important notes about the lower-end Bravado. First, the case isn’t aluminum and consequently, it’s extremely heavy. Secondly, as an intelligent cost-cutting measure, the system utilizes onboard audio, which we’ve been taught to shun. The KT4 package includes an optical/coaxial output header that ABS has put to use here, though. If you must have an add-on audio card, then by all means make the upgrade, but the system will output a digital signal in addition to six-channel analog.

The back of the case

We have included the Bravado 1250 in our tests of the Ultimate M1, but try not to make direct comparisons between the two – one system costs nearly $2,500 and the other is just over $1,000.