Specifications

As we'll discuss in more detail later in this review, we actually ended up with two different review systems. The review configuration of the Edge Z55, as first received, had two 150GB Raptor drives in RAID 0, along with a 1.5TB storage array. The second PC used for the bulk of the benchmarks strictly had a 1TB storage drive, and that is the configuration we've used for the baseline below. With the Raptors, the configuration costs around $4000; as configured below, it's about $3600.

Velocity Micro Edge Z55 System Specifications
Processor Intel Core i7 940, overclocked to 3.2 GHz
Motherboard Intel DX58SO
Memory 6 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600
Video Card Two (2) ATi Radeon HD 4870 512MB
Power Supply 850-Watt Modular
Case Velocity Micro GX2-W Aluminum
Hard Drive One (1) 1.0 TB Hitachi SATA
OS Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP1
Removables Memory Card Reader
DVD Burner Lite-On Blu-ray Reader
Lite-On 20x DVDRW with Lightscribe
CPU Cooler Stock Intel HSF

Exterior and Interior

The system arrived in a brown box bearing the Velocity Micro title and information. It wasn't overly large and was extremely easy to carry thanks to the solid handles in each side.






It may sound silly, but it's a bit of a letdown to many if they order a $3,000+ gaming rig and it arrives in a big, plain brown box - there's a nice mix of branding here.










Overall, this is great packing job - the small "tray" containing the keyboard, mouse, and other accessories sits above the case and handles, giving a positive surface to push your fingers against while carrying. The Styrofoam inserts fit well and are easy to remove. We also like that the technical support information is listed directly on the box (though the hours have recently changed), and when the case is revealed it's undeniably good-looking.






First system with RAID0


Second system without RAID

Though the box claims we are supposed to get a quick set up poster and a user guide, we got neither in our shipment. This may be attributed to the fact that VM had to rush to get us a Core i7 review system; however, these items as well as an owner's binder, preferably with benchmark results, are what we expect to see in a system at this price.

The case itself is nicely constructed and light, with a side window and some carbon fiber-esque accents on the top and bottom of the front face. The Velocity Micro logo is cut into the front panel with blue backlighting and looks quite nice when powered up, and the side window likewise has the name and logo cut into the plastic. It's a nice branding effect without being overpowering. Two thumbscrews on the side panel allow tool-free access, and overall, the system is well constructed and has very neat wire routing.

Ordering Impressions Setup and Startup
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  • leexgx - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link

    it utterly destroys hard disk performance when it gets stuck doing an shadow copy for 1hr until it give up and stops
    on my d: drive it has an tendansy to read my 3dmark vantage setup file 4 times as i can see it doing it in resource monitor repeatably reading the same files

    but i must admit system restore on vista does work alot better when useing it and tends to brake less things when ran
  • UNHchabo - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link

    I looked at some of their machines, and they do offer Norton Suite pre-installed as an optional extra.

    One small request: jpegs make sense for posting gaming screenshots or photos, but could you please switch to .png files when posting screenshots of regular windows programs? The lack of artifacting makes it easier to read things like the System Information window.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Grap...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Grap...
  • leexgx - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link

    is there any way to make MSpaint on vista allways pick PNG

    i can see why web sites do not use PNG still but realy users should be useing Opera (still works on win95 and up)/Firefox 3 with 2-3 plugins for exploits/ IE7 (maybe not IE with lots of 0day problems at this time but should be installed and fully up to date)

    PNG should be used nowadays or very uncompressed JEPG (do not use msPant as it has no compression settings)
  • Voldenuit - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link

    Intel stock cooler? And wait, what is this I'm hearing... *chipset fan*???

    Blegh.
  • Cuhulainn - Saturday, December 13, 2008 - link

    This is just unbelievable to me.

    Spending that kind of scratch on a system with the latest greatest Intel processor (which is known to run hot!) and not getting an aftermarket cooling solution?!

    It's like buying a fine wine and drinking it out of a dixie cup.. or something.
  • mmntech - Sunday, December 14, 2008 - link

    It certainly is chintzy. If you're spending $2100 on something like that, I would expect at least high end air.
  • UNHchabo - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link

    At Core i7's launch there were only two LGA1366 aftermarket coolers on Newegg, and both had reviews saying that the stock cooler actually did a BETTER job of cooling the CPU.
  • strikeback03 - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link

    That is the stock Intel cooler on an Intel board, and it looks like it overhangs the first DIMM slot?
  • Matt Campbell - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link

    Good eye - yes, it does.
  • afkrotch - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link

    I read Anandtech a few times during the week and noticed this review. One thing I feel is lacking is the Customer Service portion. I like the way HardOCP deals with it. They call customer service with an issue to see how it gets resolved. They act like a regular customer with a regular problem and rate it based on their experience.

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