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Maingear unveils enthusiast-oriented SHIFT desktop PC
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.
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.
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.
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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User Comments (38)
Post a comment| TomSEA on November 2, 2009 1:35 PM | LOL...19 grand? I'll buy two. 
|
| Colonel Lance on November 2, 2009 1:38 PM | Yeah, if anyone is willing to spend 19 grand on a computer
more power too them. Personally I'd rather buy a car. |
| freedomthinker on November 2, 2009 1:38 PM | Mm... once again i would love to have this to replace my
freakin 5 year old desktop  . But seriously 19 grand ? I
can't make up my mind if thats good or bad ,both have pluses
.
|
| Eddie_42 on November 2, 2009 1:54 PM | 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. |
| kibaruk on November 2, 2009 1:59 PM | I don't see the deal in here, way expensive to what you can arm by yourself with some pretty equal configuration. |
| nomasteryoda on November 2, 2009 2:03 PM | 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!! |
| kibaruk on November 2, 2009 2:14 PM | 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? |
| Rick on November 2, 2009 2:23 PM | Colonel Lance said: But for someone who already has a nice car, why
not? :-) If you have the money...Personally I'd rather buy a car. 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. |
| lynxon on November 2, 2009 2:30 PM | So for a mere 19 thousand dollars I can buy a computer
that'll play Crysis maxed out 20 times? Neato |
| kaonis92 on November 2, 2009 2:44 PM | Good deal! Everyone should get one xD |
| lxtrix on November 2, 2009 2:44 PM | That is definitely a high end machine, i wonder though if you can find more bang for your buck for that much. |
| JieMan on November 2, 2009 3:20 PM | 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 .. |
| BlindObject on November 2, 2009 3:25 PM | 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. |
| MBK on November 2, 2009 5:34 PM | Rick said: There is always a massive markup
when buying a pre-built rig.Colonel Lance
said: 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. Personally I'd rather buy a car. 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.. |
| elkhin on November 2, 2009 5:40 PM | 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... |
| skitzo_zac on November 2, 2009 6:35 PM | 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. |
| IvanAwfulitch on November 2, 2009 6:47 PM | skitzo_zac said: 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.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. 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. |
| xclusiveitalian on November 2, 2009 7:34 PM | 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? |
| ken777 on November 2, 2009 7:35 PM | 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. |
| InsaneVr6 on November 2, 2009 7:59 PM | 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. |
| ElShotte on November 2, 2009 8:23 PM | 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. |
| guyfred26 on November 2, 2009 9:34 PM | 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. |
| 9Nails on November 2, 2009 9:42 PM | ElShotte said: But overkill is defined as a $16K
Mac Pro, isn't it? Overkill.... The Best Configuration Mac Pro you can build on the Apple Website costs $16,136.  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. |
| shalimar on November 2, 2009 10:23 PM | nice try.. but stupidly over priced = looser it's that simple now esp given the current lack of "extra cash" for most people. |
| ElShotte on November 2, 2009 10:37 PM | I was just sayin... if I had unlimited funds I'd simply rather get the Mac Pro... But then again, I kind of like building my own just as well, and way cheaper. 8K would in fact get you a nice beastly machine easily, personally, I would rather spend half the money now and have some spare change to upgrade in the future, keep the system lifetime going. |
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