Maingear unveils enthusiast-oriented SHIFT desktop PC

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Matthew DeCarlo

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Maingear has unveiled the SHIFT desktop PC, which is aimed at the high-end enthusiast market. Referring to the SHIFT as an "everyday supercomputer," the company says it will "reshape the current landscape of high performance computing" -- a bold claim if I ever saw one.

Externally, the SHIFT shows a clean-cut aluminum chassis, which lacks the excessive lighting of other gaming systems. Inside is a vertical airflow system that vents air through the top of the case, and the system can be based on Intel's P55 or X58 platforms.

General hardware includes Intel's Core i7 processor, your choice of Nvidia or ATI graphics (over a dozen configurations), 3GB to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 6 HDDs or 8 SSDs, a liquid cooling system, optional Blu-ray and plenty of other options, like the ability to have your system factory-overclocked.

The base P55 configuration starts at $2,199 and the X58 rig costs $400 more. Out of sheer curiosity, I maxed out the X58 system at just under 19 grand before shipping.

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Mm... once again i would love to have this to replace my freakin 5 year old desktop :D . But seriously 19 grand ? I can't make up my mind if thats good or bad ,both have pluses . ;)
 
I have to say the top side placement of all the wires would be weird. and in some situations difficult. I myself have the tower in a small cubie in my desk. Big 120 intake on the front, 140 in the back. I could see this style case just not being suitable for some folks (but that is probably the case with anything)

As far as components, for the base $2.2k, this system is quite pricey. A Geforce 250 (512mb GDDR3), quad core 2.8GHz, 750GB HDD WD Caviar, Win7 Home Premium 64-bit, 4gb Kingston Hyper X ram, and a 750W PSU. No monitor, keyboard, mouse, or other peripherals, just the tower.

Would most people after a high end PC likely purchase all the components and build anyhow? I would.
 
I don't see the deal in here, way expensive to what you can arm by yourself with some pretty equal configuration.
 
Holy pocketbook busters Batman! That thing looks so sweet, but what a price, but I would have to get the X58 configuration. I know I could use this thing to run my Mythtv setup would it be quiet enough for the den? Then again, it does have large fans is liquid cooled and has the fastest processor on the planet.

I would have to dual boot it with Linux to have the proper install of XBMC, Boxee and Hulu desktop and would put a BenQ MP512ST short throw projector on it for a great high-def display. Throw in a wireless pad, a couple of nun-chucks, a bluetooth chip and just think of what kind of awesome games this would play!!
 
Let me rephrase, this computer as a high end it indeed looks like something sweet, to say it will reshape... I mean... they just putted together the best there is out there (of course...) but, how will they reshape the extreme-user high end-enthusiast market? What's new in here? A unique cooling system that will allow to uber-clock the computer as is?

I repeat, it is indeed an awesome piece of hardware atop another awesome piece of hardware, but how it reshapes things?
 
Colonel Lance said:
Personally I'd rather buy a car.

But for someone who already has a nice car, why not? :) If you have the money...

I haven't crunched the numbers, the but they are obviously charging tons of money for the convenience of having this put together for you. For example. The i7 975 is $990 MORE expensive than the i7 925, when in reality, the 975 can be had for about the same price as the difference. That means there is a $250-$300 or so markup on just the CPU if you opt in for the highest performing one.

That's quite a premium to pay for the "convenience" of not having to put it together yourself or paying someone else far less to do it for you.
 
So for a mere 19 thousand dollars I can buy a computer that'll play Crysis maxed out 20 times? Neato
 
That is definitely a high end machine, i wonder though if you can find more bang for your buck for that much.
 
Its nice to see some good hardware for the not so savy consumer , but to call the people buying this "enthusiasts" is a long shot... A true enthusiast would much rather build there own ..
 
I'm pretty sure you can get more bang for the buck, this to me looks like a wild version of alienware, but meh, with that money I'd get something like a car. But that thing does look like it would eat Crysis, twice.
 
Rick said:
Colonel Lance said:
Personally I'd rather buy a car.
That's quite a premium to pay for the "convenience" of not having to put it together yourself or paying someone else far less to do it for you.

There is always a massive markup when buying a pre-built rig.

This does seem like the quite a beast of a machine. I wont be buying anything in this price range any time soon, but a man can dream..
 
much expensive, i'll be gear up the inside of PC not the outside, like old saying "don't judge the book by it's cover" meaning if the outside is look old but the inside is like having a F1 engine, lol...
 
Meh, just another pre-built, way to expensive, enthusiast computer.

On the other hand I really like the look of the case. I was pretty interested when SilverStone brought out the Raven series with vertical airflow systems. But this case looks nicer than the Ravens IMO, I would be interested in getting just the case if possible.
 
skitzo_zac said:
Meh, just another pre-built, way to expensive, enthusiast computer.

On the other hand I really like the look of the case. I was pretty interested when SilverStone brought out the Raven series with vertical airflow systems. But this case looks nicer than the Ravens IMO, I would be interested in getting just the case if possible.

I'm going to second the sympathies toward the case. It's a really sweet looking design. Given the chance, I might buy one, but only at a reasonable price.

As many have already said, it'd be far cheaper to just go to newegg and build one of these for far cheaper and just build it yourself. It's really not all that hard to learn contrary to popular belief. A couple of weeks of asking good questions on a forum got me the know-how to do it myself. And if I can do it, anyone can. To all of you out there that are dreaming of this kind of thing? Try it! Just wear gloves and then read the labels on the cables and on the motherboard/component. Plug it in and go. It's not very difficult. I'd even go so far as to say that the idea that it's difficult to learn this is a complete myth.

As for the idea of selling a pre-built high end rig like this? It has always been just that. An idea. It's a good idea, but it's not cost-effective. Clearly. 19 grand is a tuition payment at a very Ivy league school. Several years tuition at a lower end school. Or a half-decent car. A multi-thousand dollar computer? Gimme a break. If you're rolling in cash and you've paid off your house, then by all means. Most of us have yet to find a job.
 
Whoa! 19 grand o.0 no way! It will be outdated in 5 years anyway, plus, you can build your own pc and get a better deal. (if you know how) This computer is prob for rich kids who just want the high performace pre-made w/o the worry of anything else. Do you really need maxed out performace anyway? What are you trying to run...10 human brains trying to predict the future?
 
Looks really cool, but it seems like the target market for these systems (along with Alienware and Voodoo) is the same market that also builds their own PCs. It would be interesting to get some stats on just many "ethusiast" systems are actually sold each year. Can't imagine that it would be too many.
 
Honestly, I am against any prebuilt computers. Something about them just bothers me because they are way too overpriced.

When it comes down to it, your hardware can only perform to the limitations of the OS. You don't need 19k to make a computer powerful.

Have to agree with a few other posters that the case is very nice. The firs thing I saw when I looked at the article was the case so I thought a new one came out.
 
Overkill....

The Best Configuration Mac Pro you can build on the Apple Website costs $16,136.

Configuration:

Two 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
32GB (8x4GB) RAM
Mac Pro RAID Card
Four 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drives
4x NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
Two Apple Cinema HD Displays (30" flat panel)
Magic Mouse, Wireless Keyboard.

I'll take the Mac Pro over that SHIFT any damn day... 32 Gb of RAM? Nucking Futs.
 
This is very good if you have the money to afford one.
Or you can just bulit your own PC and pick the specs that you want with less the price. But to those who have the money and need a supercomputer at home this is for them.
 
ElShotte said:
Overkill....

The Best Configuration Mac Pro you can build on the Apple Website costs $16,136.

But overkill is defined as a $16K Mac Pro, isn't it? :)

Even if you take that Mac on 'roids, load Windows 7, (does 7 support dual CPU's, or do you need Server 2008 for that?) you still end up with a sub-par gaming rig next to this triple CrossFire Radeon 5870 HD beast with 3x 30" displays and the Intel Extreme CPU. It is the definition of excess.

You can take either system and get a pimped computer under $8K. But I'd still build my own - I just kind of wish I could get that case to start the build form.
 
nice try.. but stupidly over priced = looser

it's that simple now esp given the current lack of "extra cash" for most people.
 
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