I saw this in an email I received from the Computerandvideogames website.

Sounds impressive, but is it really?

Since I know very little about these things, I posted the article here for anyone with some knowledge of the subject to let me (and anyone else) know how good this really is (or isn' t).

Here goes...

Small on the outside, plenty on the inside

5 Oct 04 The Armari XB-X800 is a small computer with a big heart. A 2.2GHz Athlon 64 3400 and Radeon X800 Pro work together in near silence to pump out some impressive benchmark scores, low load times and a 48fps average in Doom 3. The machine itself is slightly larger and more heavy-duty than the average Shuttle, but the Antec Cube case is roomy enough for three hard drives, an AGP card, three PCI slots and an integrated 300W PSU with large diameter rear fan.
Initial tests revealed that if you have any small children in your family, the XB-X800' s dimensions, shiny aluminium skin and large glowing buttons will have a hypnotic effect on them, and the non-slip rubber top invites them to carry it into the bathroom and stand on it.


SO BEWARE.
Highlights from the benchmarks include 10,001 marks in 3DMark03, 40fps in
Far Cry and 97fps in UT2K4. The 1GB PC3200 RAM and 7200rpm, 8MB cache Barracuda contributed to some fast loading in Far Cry and Battlefield 1942 - shorter wait times can often make an appreciably better gaming experience than slightly higher frame rates.

The XB-X800 includes an Audigy2 card and Pioneer DVD +/- burner, and ships
with Windows XP Home and Logitech' s Cordless Desktop MX kit. I' m not a fan of the latter, but you can delete it from the specification and save 70.

The only negative points are Armari' s 2 per cent credit card surcharge, amounting to almost 30 for a 1,400 machine, and the standard one-year warranty - most rivals including Demonite and Dell offer three times as long for no charge.

PC Zone staff