Velocity Micro Review

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Velocity Micro Review

Computers and Accessories

Sunday, 09 January 2005 00:00

When you buy a PC it all comes down to the components. You can build your own or have a third party do it for you. This review is as much about the Velocity Micro experience as much as it is the PC itself.

The Velocity Micro AMD 64 3800 + system we reviewed featured the ASUS A8V deluxe motherboard, 1gig of memory, an ATI 9600 dual head Radeon, on-board serial ATA RAID with two Western Digital WD1200JDs striped in a RAID 0 configuration, the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS, and a 7-in-1 Floppy/Media all assembled in a slick black case featuring front access to both USB and Firewire ports.

Velocity Micro positions itself as a premium provider of PC systems using retail grade components, meticulous assembly and a 3 year limited warranty on parts and labor to back it all up. So how's that different from ordering a PC from say Dell or Alienware?

Velocity's web site is much easier to navigate and it's a simpler process to order a custom PC. Unlike Dell you don't have to labor your way through page after page of suggested accessories to jack up the price of your PC. Velocity is geared more towards the power user and someone who knows a little about PC components. When ordering a system there are less options to choose from than say Dell or Alienware but the components that are available appear to be of better quality such as name brand motherboards and optical drives from Plextor.

Velocity does a pretty good job of suggesting appropriate systems for specific applications. We would like to see the company offer higher-end power supplies such as those from PC Power and Cooling.

The company claims there is a difference in the retail components it uses versus OEM parts used by the bigger PC suppliers. We can't say we've ever noticed a major difference in all of our years building computers. However, Velocity does include a decent 3-year parts and labor warranty to back up its claim and that's much longer than you'll get for most white box OEM parts.

If you are putting a system together for someone in your family and don't want to be 'Mr. Tech Support' for the next several years this isn't a bad way to go. The systems come with excellent documentation, complete retail parts and packaging and a rescue DVD boot disc that will restore the PC to it's original configuration, provided all the components are still up and running of course.

The Vision A/V/D system we tested was neatly wired however the main ATX power supply was crimped in such a way that if we decided to pop in another optical drive, such as the Pioneer A08, which has a deeper profile than the bundled Liteon, we'd have to move it or choose another bin.

We also expected a better case for this moderate system. The brackets that hold the drives are cheap and the material does not have enough density to attenuate the fan noise inside the case. It's fine for users that won't tweak their systems too much but at this price point I would expect a little tweaking.

Performance wise the Vision A/V/D system cooked along nicely. Vegas, Combustion, Sound Forge, ULead'a DVD Workshop and other media packages were right at home on this system. For the most part the system kept time with our work pace. Rendering MPEG video files and composites in Combustion always takes some time on any PC but the Vision system competed nicely with similarly priced PCs from other suppliers.

You can build your own PC for less but if you require a system with support, for the technology challenged in your life, Velocity Micro is a decent way to go.

Visit Velocity Micro for more information.

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