Velocity Micro Edge E2250

The good: Fastest application performance in its class; room for a second graphics card; 64-bit Vista supports up to 8GB of RAM; Wi-Fi capability.

The bad: Gaming performance not as powerful as more-affordable PCs; 500-watt power supply limits graphics card upgrades.

The bottom line: The Velocity Micro Edge E2250 is a very fast midrange PC, and it's one of the best PCs in its class for digital media editors. Gamers will find a strong foundation with some upgrade potential, but they can get better performance for the dollar elsewhere.

The Velocity Micro Edge E2250 is a well-rounded $1,999 midrange performance PC. What it is not is the best gaming PC at this price, as much as its overclocked quad-core chip and SLI-capable motherboard want you to believe otherwise. The overclocked chip especially helps this system's multimedia performance, but its 3D gaming scores fall to those from less expensive systems. The Edge E2250 is certainly a respectable gaming PC, but don't buy it if you're looking to get the most for your gaming dollar. Instead, we recommend the Edge E2250 if you spend a lot of time converting media files and multitasking, or as a upgrade platform for gamers willing to spend a little bit more.

We awarded Dell's XPS 630 an Editors' Choice back in February, and that system remains the primary competition for Velocity Micro among $1,000-to-$2,000 desktops. The Dell is a configurable model sold online, while the Velocity Micro Edge E2250 is a fixed-configuration sold only at Best Buy.

You can reconfigure the Dell so that it matches the Edge E2250 more closely on price and features, but the XPS 630 can't keep up in a few areas. Instead of the Edge E2250's overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9450 quad-core chip, Dell's only quad-core option is Intel's older, slower Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at stock speed. Velocity Micro also has the more recent NForce 750i SLI chipset, and the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. Dell lags on both of those options.

CineBench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

Velocity Micro Edge E2250

14034 

3939 

Uberclok Ion

11481 

3773 

Dell XPS 630

8482 

2459 

Gateway FX7020

6827 

1821 

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2

6790 

3539 

Of course, our test results reflect the XPS 630 we reviewed, which has less memory than the 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 RAM in the Velocity Micro Edge E2250. Between its larger memory allotment and its overclocked, next-generation Intel quad-core chip, the Velocity Micro system plows through all of our application tests, besting the Dell, the $1,999 Uberclok Ion, and others. Photoshop especially benefits from more memory, so it's obvious why the Velocity Micro is a strong performer there, but Cinebench is processor reliant, and shows similarly compelling results.

The Cinebench multiple CPU rendering test in particular puts all four processing cores to work to render a video image. Although the Velocity Micro and the Uberclok Ion each have a quad-core chip with the same 3.2GHz clock speed, the Uberclok's older Core 2 Quad Q6600 proves no match for the Velocity Micro's newer Core 2 Quad Q9450. The result is much faster multicore processing on the Velocity Micro system. This is why the Velocity Micro earns our admiration as one of the best multimedia performers in its class.

Unreal Tournament 3 (in frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

1,920 x 1,200

1,280 x 1,024

Dell XPS 630

106.3 

128.3 

Velocity Micro Edge E2250

93 

151.7 

Uberclok Ion

84 

146.4 

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2

80.2 

139 

Gateway FX7020

73.1 

110.5 

Crysis (in frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

1,600 x 1,200 (high quality)

1,280 x 1,024 (medium quality)

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2

15 

37.7 

Dell XPS 630

14.1 

39.9 

Gateway FX7020

13.4 

24.6 

Velocity Micro Edge E2250

12.1 

37.6 

Uberclok Ion

9.3 

34.7 

We're less enthused about the Edge E2250's gaming performance. It's definitely fast enough to handle every title currently on the market at a high resolution, with the exception of Crysis. That game continues to vex systems that cost twice as much as this one. The real problem is the Velocity Micro's gaming scores relative to the XPS 630. On our most important gaming benchmarks, namely the high resolution Unreal Tournament 3 test and the low-resolution Crysis test, the Dell system that costs about $300 less beats the Edge E2250 by a small but noticeable margin. The reason is likely because the Dell has two 512MB GeForce 8800 GT cards. One of those by itself would be slower than the Velocity's higher-end GeForce 9800 GTX, but in tandem they're faster. From a bang-for-the-buck perspective, the Dell has a clear advantage here, making the Edge E2250 hard to recommend if you're looking for a relatively affordable gaming system.

If the Velocity Micro has an role as a gaming PC, it's for those who are less concerned about price and who are willing to make post-purchase upgrades. Because even though the less expensive Dell beat the Edge E2250 on our gaming tests, it needed two 3D cards to do it. The Velocity system needs only one, and it still has a graphics card slot to spare. If you were to add a second GeForce 9800 GTX card (a $300 upgrade) on top of this already strong foundation, we suspect the Edge E2250 would blow by the highest-end XPS 630 you could configure. You should be careful going much higher than two 9800 GTX cards (we wouldn't try two GeForce 9800 GX2's, for example) as this system has only a 500-watt power supply.

Otherwise, this configuration is relatively typical among midrange PCs. We've always liked Velocity Micro's case design, and while the Edge E2250 does not use the new scaled down chassis that debuted with Velocity's ProMagix E2055, this model does include the same outward-facing hard drive bays that were introduced in that previous system. You probably won't swap drives out often, but when you need to, you'll be glad that Velocity Micro made it easy.

The Edge E2250 also has an 802.11a/b/g wireless adapter. We continue to find Wi-Fi in a full-sized desktop quirky. Since this system is likely not moving, why not just use a wired Ethernet connection that's interference immune and doesn't add to the cost? Still, we suspect some of you will appreciate the Wi-Fi capability, so we can't really find fault with it.

The rest of the features are straightforward, with one surprise. You get a dual-layer DVD burner, a separate DVD-ROM drive, and a media card reader, reflecting what's become the standard roll-out for removable storage options. The motherboard has two spare memory slots, so you can add as much as 8GB of RAM, and the Edge E2250 will recognize all of it, thanks to the 64-bit version of Vista Home Premium. This is actually a key differentiator, because 32-bit Windows recognizes only up to 2.5GB of RAM. As for the other implications of 64-bit Vista, we don't think you have much to worry about.

The biggest concern in the past with going to 64-bit Windows has been driver compatibility, but the various component vendors seem to have embraced 64-bit Vista and we've heard of no trouble. There's little in the way of consumer-level software that will take advantage of a 64-bit software environment (and 32-bit applications are compatible, so no worries there), so the biggest benefit for now is that 64-bit Vista will recognize more RAM. That's worth it in our opinion, and when more 64-bit software comes, all the better.

Supportwise, Velocity Micro's Web site stands out from other desktop vendors for its clear and thorough descriptions of various support issues. It's also recently updated its support site to include a support-ticket-tracking feature that lets you monitor the status of an online help request. The standard warranty for this system covers you for one year of parts and labor, with toll-free phone support available from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays. That's in line with the rest of the industry.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Dell XPS 630
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600; 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; (2) 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2
Windows Vista Home Premium; 3.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards; 500GB 7,200 rpm Samsung hard drive

Gateway FX7020
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.3GHz AMD Phenom 9600; 3GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics card; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Uberclok Ion
Windows Vista Home Premium (tested); Windows XP Professional SP2 (second partition); 3.2GHz (overclocked) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics card; 500GB 7,200 rpm Seagate hard drive

Velocity Micro Edge E2250
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 3.2GHz (overclocked) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card; 750GB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive

Intro: The Velocity Micro Edge E2250 is a Core 2 quad-based, performance personal computer.Compared to other performance desktops on the market, it is relatively inexpensive at around $2,000.This PC comes with 4 GB RAM, and a 750GB hard drive.

Noteworthy Features: Has a nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics chip, which is better performing than some similarly priced desktops.The quite large 750GB drive installed on this machine will provide oodles of room for storing thousands of applications and files.Also, this machine's Core 2 quad based CPU is beefy enough to handle demanding applications, such as digital video.

Weaker Features: None noted, given available product data.

Suitability: A performance desktop, suited for image editing, digital video, and 3-D gaming, beyond basic computing tasks.You can archive your digital videos using this unit's DVD recorder.Make sharing images through the mail easier: put them on a disc with the CD writer in this desktop.The nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX based graphics on this desktop will suffice for basic needs outside of professional design and advanced graphics tasks.

Value: Overall, this desktop's features seem a bit weak, even for its relatively inexpensive price.However, this PC combines burly processing power with plenty of storage.

Suggestions: (1) Using this PC's Firewire (1394) port, you can connect to many digital camcorders and other equipment and rapidly upload data to the computer's hard drive.(2) If you plan to be playing the latest 3-D games, you may want to invest in a more powerful video card from NVidia or ATI, which are popular with the gaming community (requires an open AGP or PCIe slot).