Troubles with TIM

GamePC caters to a more astute audience than your average retailer, but they took the easy way out and used the Thermal Interface Material (TIM) that comes standard on the bottom of the Athlon MP's heat sink. The TIM is AMD-approved, so there's no reason to believe that it won't be adequate to transfer massive amounts of heat away from the Athlon MP processor. Still, I would far rather have seen GamePC use thermal paste. Using an alternative thermal compound may not improve the heat sink's ability to cool the Athlon MP processors at all, but it will allow you to remove the heat sink as often as you wish. TIM pads have nice, even die coverage the first time you install the heat sink, but they're sticky, and removing the heat sink will ruin an otherwise even sandwich of conductive material.

When you remove the heat sink, you take a bite out of the TIM pad, which means you're not going to get an even TIM distribution when you put the heat sink back on. I don't know about you, but if I'm running a .18-micron AMD processor at over 1.7GHz, I'm going to want the best possible thermal interface between my processor die and heat sink.

IDE RAID
No professional workstation would be complete without a little RAID action, and GamePC includes 3Ware's 7210 2-port IDE RAID controller with two Western Digital 100GB Special Edition drives in the GPG X2. WD's Special Edition drives come with a whopping 8MB of cache, and they're the sweetest thing short of SCSI. (You can have GamePC add a SCSI storage subsystem to a GPG X2 if you want, of course.)

Originally, the GPG X2 was going to use an IDE RAID card from Adaptec, but GamePC found that 3Ware's offering was fasterd and change the spec. Very cool. The focus here is performance, and the fact that GamePC tests and even reviews a lot of hardware on their web site should ensure that customers are getting the fastest system possible.

In keeping with the performance theme, GamePC makes sure that each drive has its own IDE channel and connects everything with beefy, rounded cables that conveniently clear up air flow inside the case.

RAID 0 sacrifices redundancy for speed, so it's important to keep those two WD hard drives as comfortable as possible. To keep things cool, GamePC puts a fan right into the case's hard drive cage. Constant air flow over both drives should stave off any heat-induced hard drive failures. Just remember that you're always more susceptible to catastrophe when you run RAID 0. If you're more paranoid about your data, you may want to opt for a slower RAID 1 setup or cover all the bases with a couple extra drives for RAID 0+1 nirvana.

GamePC also throws in a PlexWriter 40/12/40 CDRW drive to complement the two WD hard drives. A high-end rig like this feels like it should have a DVD drive, and you can always add one, but for business use it might not be necessary.

Going pre-built
Some DIYers may shudder at the thought of buying a pre-built system, but it's not a bad idea, especially for businesses. GamePC isn't exactly a Dell, and the GPG X2 has more of a DIY feel than any other pre-built system I've dealt with.

One of the best things about building a DIY system is getting your hands dirty and putting together something from scratch, but trust me, the novelty wears off after a while. If you don't have a lot of free time on your hands, or if playing around inside a computer case is the last thing you want to be doing on the weekend, a pre-built system may be worth the higher price tag.

Not all pre-built systems are created equal. The GPG X2 is one of the better built systems I've seen, and that includes systems built by DIY enthusiasts. GamePC will install the operating system of your choice, complete with the latest drivers, updates, and a burn-in test, all for a fee, or you can opt for just a straight hardware assembly.

GamePC's overall attention to detail is good; internal cabling is zip-tied out of the way to improve air flow within the case, and the system even comes with Windows XP's fruity GUI disabled. GamePC actually has each system built by teams, with technicians checking over each others' work as a stack of individual components becomes a complete system. It's a smart way to do things, especially when you consider that each custom-built PC's unique hardware spec will require a different set of details to attend.

I'm not quite sure if GamePC missed a QA step with our review sample or if UPS was especially rough, but our GPG X2 arrived with its power supply unscrewed and loose inside the case.

Fortunately, there was no damage. GamePC's tight cable routing kept the power supply from touching any internal components, despite the fact that it wasn't screwed into the case. Had there been any damage, GamePC's warranty would have covered it. The basic warranty includes 30 days coverage for shipping damage, during which time GamePC will pay to ship a damaged machine back and get it working again.

A good warranty can be one of the biggest benefits to going to a pre-built system. Depending on how much you want to spend, you can get warranty coverage for your GamePC rig for up to three years. The standard one-year warranty covers parts and labor, plus advance replacement of any dead components within the first 30 days.