You don't have to buy the Ultra Optimized PC to play Crysis Warhead properly, but you'll be getting one hell of a deal if you do. This afternoon, the man responsible for the build, configuration and marketing of the $700 machine told GameCyte that not only will the system come with everything you'd expect, but every machine will be individually tested, benchmarked and burned-in before arriving at your doorstep.
When we spotted the specs for the official Crysis Warhead PC late yesterday afternoon, we were immediately impressed with the bang-for-the-buck value -- and yet quite suspicious of how they managed to offer all that hardware for such a low price. Speedy computer components cost a certain amount no matter how hard you try to scrimp, and so bargain PC companies usually try to hide their cost cutting efforts by using slower chips that retain a big brand name (Intel Celeron, NVIDIA 8500, I'm looking at you.) But here, that obviously wasn't the case; it's hard to go wrong with a Core 2 Duo E7300 and a GeForce 9800GT. Plus, the entire system build was vetted by game developer Crytek. So what gives?
Looking at the system specs above, we saw two possible issues right off the bat. The system doesn't list any kind of OS, and purchasing a new copy of Windows will typically set back gamers $100. Second, looking at the X-Blaster case in which Ultra chose to house the system, we noted that no case fans were included. Might gamers fire up their new PCs, begin playing Crysis and then be confronted halfway through by the sickening smell of fried video components? Taking a further look around TigerDirect, we noticed that they sell a variety of barebones kits, including one that has some pretty respectable specs... but includes a graphics card that doesn't fit properly in the case. Might new Crysis Warhead PC owners open up their box and find a untested bag of components to piece together themselves?
Confronting Ultra's product development manager Garrett Bain with these concerns, we were told that our worries were for naught. "We've validated all these components together in our engineering labs," said Bain. "We've benchmarked and burned in everything... and when you power it on, you'll boot into Windows and be ready to install the game."
We're not getting the bare-minimum Windows Vista Home Basic, either. Bain confirmed that the Crysis Warhead system will come with a pre-installed copy of Windows XP Professional updated to the latest Service Pack. To our partial embarrassment, the product development manager also confirmed that case fans were most definitely included, and that TigerDirect offers a one-year warranty on the entire build. He noted that gamers would only need to provide their own monitor.
While we weren't able to get an exact parts list -- "We're still sourcing," said Bain, who told me that the above image of an EVGA graphics card was not final -- we were assured that Ultra would only deal with first-tier partners.
Bain said that no particular deals needed to be made to drive down the price, "just a lot of hard work." He expressed hope that should the Warhead PC succeed, it might help change the preconceived notion that thousands of dollars are required to play the latest PC titles.
Ultra claims the Optimized PC will run Crysis Warhead on the highest DX9 graphical setting, "Gamer," at an average 30FPS. The game was specifically optimized for this exact PC configuration; in particular, Bain said the game was fine-tuned for the NVIDIA 9800 GT video card.
Preorders will begin next week, and Bain expects units to ship to consumers and retail CompUSA and TigerDirect stores shortly after the game's release on September 16th.
While the exceptionally computer-savvy might still find better deals, you're not going to get that warranty, testing and optimization. We have to admit, a ready-made gaming PC like this is practically unheard of.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Like the PS guy said on the other site (pc.ign.com/articles/908/908901p1.html), the system would be best with 2 drives, a dvd-writer and a somewhat futureproof motherboard. While I'm no expert, what he said made perfect sense.
I don't have the time or skills to add and remove parts, and I'm sure the warranty would be voided. I was all set to buy one until I educated myself a bit. Now I'll just buy a decent video card and have my brother put it in my current system.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
One minor point... doesn't Crysis use DX10 features that are only available in Vista, not XP? I'll admit that for the most part, Vista is unnecessary, but I thought that Crysis was one of the few games that actually warranted it.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
@Flowergal: The PS guy makes a couple of good points, but he's also confusing things more than need be.
He's absolutely right that the best value for your money these days (should you have a free 16x PCI Express port, and a decent power supply) is simply to buy a good video card and stick it in your existing machine.
A DVD-writer is also an excellent idea, and worth the extra $10 if you want to write DVDs. It is also entirely unnecessary for gaming.
For a basic gaming system, there's nothing wrong with a micro-ATX motherboard, and plenty seem to love theirs. Future-proofing when it comes to motherboards is vary rarely a consideration. By the time most people upgrade, new CPU and memory standards require new motherboards anyhow.
As for hard drives, while they are indeed a system bottleneck, you won't see much of a boost in games by doing as PS says. Load times might be quicker, but if you want a smoother experience in-game, you'd be better served by putting the extra money you'd save from a second drive into a better graphics card.
Lastly, the idea that you need skills or experience to change out basic computer parts is antiquated at this point. New motherboards are color-coded these days, and practically foolproof as long as you manage static electricity by grounding yourself on a nearby metal object.
Unplug the power, undo one screw, push in a tab, pull out the graphics card, push in a new graphics card, screw it in, plug in the power, update your drivers and you're done.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Not nearly as great a deal as you think:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9512706&WishListTitle=Crysis%20Warhead%20parts
The parts for this rig come in under $500; toss in the OS, and you're looking at $600. So, basically, you're looking at $100 extra for assembly, burn-in, and benchmarking.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
@HeartBurnKid: You're right, if they happened to pick some of the cheapest available parts that happen to match the spec, you're paying $100 for assembly, burn-in and benchmarking.
But compared to what all the other ready-made PC manufacturers charge for cheapo towers that would cower before this thing, that $100 might be a bargain.
If you're savvy enough to be able to pick out all those parts on your own and double-check that they're compatible, and have the extra hours to set up and burn in the rig, then you're definitely better off doing that. As I demonstrated in my prior article, you can get some of the best mid-range/low-end parts available for just $12 more than they're asking.
But you'll have to build it yourself, deal with individual manufacturer warranties for each part, and have no guarantee that the system will work. For years, those minor inconveniences have been more than worth it for the savings you'd receive going home-built, but with this PC the savings are minimal.
If you can find me a place that lets you buy a ready-made PC for this price that has specs of this caliber, then I will be very surprised... and pleased.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am
@Flowergal
If you can do legos, you can build a computer. It is very easy and take minimal knowledge and expertise. Just research the parts beforehand to make sure everything is compatible.
September 14th, 2008 at 3:57 am
This ULTRA OPTIMIZED PC won't play the first Crysis on max settings with no more than 25fps. I hope that Warhead will be more optimized than its predecessor...
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I tend to agree with Sean Hollister on this one...
Putting together a pc is like putting legos together, but if you don't buy pieces that work together "well" then you're just going to run into bottlenecks. Having it benchmarked will definately ease the worry of whether or not one of the parts won't work. My ram was getting clocked incorrectly by my MB bios the last time I built a pc and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why it kept shutting down 15 seconds after boot. I had to specifically try out each part in a friends system till the bios was the problem. Swapping every piece into a motherboard 3 times is quite a hassle, and not really worth $100 considering it took hours of research on the internet and a week's time to figure out and diagnosing what was wrong. It was only a matter of updating the motherboard firmware, but your average layman doesn't want to deal with even that.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
ohh yessss now the game will be mine HAHAHAAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAA
November 20th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
will this play the original crysis on full settings at 30fps as well? and what about all the other games out there at the moment, cod5 etc?
December 31st, 2008 at 4:58 am
@ Sean hollister.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227111
January 6th, 2009 at 12:40 am
@Kingo:
I don't mean to bust your bubble, but if iBUYPOWER is calling that a gaming PC, then they are pulling your leg. It doesn't have a video card, the most important piece in a gaming machine.
The rest of the specs aren't bad (LG 6X Blu-Ray combo drive will run you $100-something all by its lonesome) but you're looking at at an additional $100-$200 to buy a decent video card, and if they forgot to put a video card in the machine, I don't know if I'd trust the rest of the components either.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Hey Sean,
Have you had a hands-on experience with this machine yet? It seems almost too good to be true. I'm particularly curious about whether the components are as advertised, or if any changes were made to the components after this ad was released. Also, is the vid card an XFX?
Thanks in advance,
JS