Thumbs Up:

The Velocity Micro Edge Z-5 delivers the best gaming performance in its class, offers solid everyday application performance, has plethora of upgrading options and all this comes in a compact and attractive case.

Thumbs Down:

The Velocity Micro Edge Z-5 doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive option and the system is overshadowed by the Dell from the same price range in multitasking and multithreaded applications.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Manufacturer: Velocity Micro

Price: $699.00

Part Number: EdgeZ5

Desktop type: Budget desktop system and   Gaming system

Processor: Intel Quad-Core Q9400 / 2.66 GHz

Hard Drive: 750 GB, 7,200rpm Standard

Optical Drive: Dual-layer DVD burner

CPU: 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Quads Q9400

OS Provided: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition

Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Graphics: 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850

Razzle Dazzle:

Priced at $999 the Velocity Micro Edge Z5, definitely is a praiseworthy sub $1,000 desktop, especially if you are looking for a potent yet affordable gaming PC. The potent Edge Z55’s chassis is a strong black Velocity Micro Signature LX and has the same compulsory windowed side panel. Inside the panel, everything looks precisely arranged, and clean, thanks to precise cable routing. The interiors get a splash of light with the glowing blue fan LED. If you like flashy systems then you even can get single or double cathode-light kits. Most of the casing of the system is tool-less, though you will need a screwdriver for the removal and installation of the driver-bay components. Positioned alongside the bottom edge of the system, there is a FireWire port, two USB ports and the headphone and microphone jacks. Located at the back of the system, there are six more USB ports for, dual Gigabit Ethernet, jacks for the integrated 7.1-channel audio controller and for an additional FireWire.

Inside Dope:

The Velocity Micro Edge Z-5 comes in the smallest casing in the Velocity Micro’s present lineup, the MicroATX MX-2W. We had our review unit in total black, although you can also get the system in silver color as well. Although, the system casing is comparatively compact, but still there is ample space for any future upgrading. We had room for two additional memory sticks, two additional hard drives, a PCI Express card, a customary PCI card and for the next optical drive. All this space makes the system immensely powerful for the users and you can easily turn your system into an immensely powerful system. It’s interesting that even though the Micro Edge Z-5 offers plethora of options at the time of purchase, it doesn’t have the option for TV tuner or Blu-ray drive.

One another drawback that, we found here was the Nvidia NForce 630i chipset,  which again is not CrossFire or SLI accommodating and leaves you stuck with only single graphics card. But there are few dual-chip options available in Edge Z-5 if you want to upgrade to an 850 watt power supply. We had our review unit with a 550 watt power supply, which presently is adequate for the present configuration of the system.

Considering the price of $999 for the Edge Z5, the system offers plethora of vital things, although the system gets a neck-to-neck competition from Dell Studio XPS-122B. the prices for both the systems are almost same, but the Dell Studio comes with Intel’s all new Core i7 920 CPU, while the Velocity Micro is powered by an over clocked Core 2 Quad Q9400 chip. Even the graphic card in the system is over clocked, and even though the Dell Studio also uses the same Radeon HD 4850 as the Micro Edge Z5, but the stock speed for Dell is pretty decent.

If you compare the Micro Edge Z-5 as a gaming desktop with the Dell Studio, then the Dell won’t stand in front of Z-5. This is because of the special over clocked version of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphic card. We tested our Velocity Micro by playing a couple of games in the system and were pretty impressed with the quality and the performance that the Velocity Micro delivered. Even in the other application tests the Micro Edge Z-5 gave pretty decent fight to the Dell Studio, which is its closest contender. Both the system performed exceedingly well in the Photoshop performance, and just like the Photoshop testing the other test produced the same constantly varying results with Micro Edge Z-5 up in one and down on other and so on.

Velocity Micro backs Edge Z-5 with there in-house business hour phone support on weekdays from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT, and on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. the standard warranty offered by Velocity protects the system from one year parts and labor warranty. There is a wide range of other support available at Velocity’s Web site and you can get FAQs, driver downloads and some other helps as well. Consumers can also get plenty of other price rebates with their buy, depending on what’s on offer from Velocity.

Nitty Gritty:

The Velocity Micro Edge Z-5 in general is a pretty decent desktop, and with the latest upgrades in the internal components for attaining maximum 3D performance, the $999 Velocity Micro Edge Z5 is one of the finest lower-end gaming desktop we’ve ever tested. We would recommend the Velocity Micro Edge Z5 to any user who doesn’t have any problem in giving up a little bit of productivity, but wants a gaming PC.

Random Posts