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(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

We've received a few e-mails since our post last week on Apple's new Mac Pro and its higher-end 3D graphics card option, AMD's Radeon HD 4870. Echoing the comments in the original post, some folks wanted to know how we tested. Others wanted us to test the Mac Pro in Boot Camp. Also, AMD wanted us to show actual test results to back up our claim that the combination of the Mac Pro and its Radeon HD 4870 card was not great for gaming, especially compared with competing Windows desktops.

We're happy to oblige everyone.

As you may have read, we are impressed by Intel's Core i7 965 Extreme Edition desktop processor. It's fast not only because of the chip itself, but also because of the changes Intel made to the way it interacts with your system memory. Such chip-specific information is great for the DIY crowd, but what about those of you less inclined to build your own PC?

Dell's Core i7-based Studio XPS.

(Credit: CNET)

We've spent the better part of November reviewing Core i7-equipped desktops, five to be exact. The highest-end model, the $8,000 Falcon Northwest Mach V, set records on every desktop benchmark in our arsenal. The surprisingly affordable Dell Studio XPS and Gateway FX6800-01e also impressed us, not only with their relative speed, but by allowing up to six system memory sticks, in the case of the Dell, or by allowing you to add two 3D cards in an sub-$1,500 desktop with the Gateway. Both of those upgrade options speak well of the flexibility afforded by Intel's new Core i7-supporting X58 chipset. We also loved the Gateway's tricked-out chassis.

Gateway's FX6800-01e has a slick removable hard drive array.

(Credit: CNET)

In between, we saw a Core i7-based Alienware Area-51 X58 with 2TB of traditional hard drive storage, as well as a pair of Samsung solid-state hard drives. That's a truly impressive amount of hardware, even for its $6,500 price tag. We just wish there was an overclocking option with that system. And finally, Velocity Micro's upper-midrange Edge Z55 impressed us as PCs from that company often do, with its workman-like design and superior performance for the dollar.

We reviewed Intel's new Core i7 CPU already, as well as two desktops with the chip inside, but today is the first day you can actually make a Core i7 purchase. Dell has the best starting bid, with a deal on its Studio XPS with a Core i7 920 chip and a 20-inch LCD for $999. Gateway's FX 6800-01e is also impressive, coming in at $1,249 for a Core i7 920 in a PC that can accommodate two 3D cards. Look for the Gateway review this evening, with a review of a more expensive version of the Dell up shortly after.

Dell's Studio XPS has an Intel Core i7 CPU inside

(Credit: CNET)

On the higher-end of the spectrum, both the $8,028 Falcon Northwest and the $2,499 Velocity Micro PC's we reviewed are also available for order. Maingear has a Core i7-based Ephex on offer as well, starting at about $3,850. We're disappointed, however, to see that neither Voodoo's swanky Omen desktop, nor HP's Blackbird 002 have made the switch yet.

Intel takes the wraps off a brand new desktop CPU family today. Core i7, formerly named Nehalem, will hit stores and desktop vendors' config pages before the end of the month, but reviews with benchmark and pricing information had the greenlight this morning.

Intel's new Core i7 CPU blasts through benchmarks across the Web today.

(Credit: Intel)

We ran our own tests and found the flagship $999 Core i7-965 Extreme chip is the new fastest game in town. The usual round of enthusiast sites also found lots to like about both this chip and the other members of the new Core i7 family. A required new motherboard will add $300 to the price of adopting any of these new CPUs for the moment, making Core i7 a decidedly enthusiast platform for the time being, but we expect gamers, digital media editors, heavy multitaskers, and others who demand fast multicore performance will be very interested in this new platform.

In addition to the wealth of reviews emerging today, our coverage will expand throughout the next two weeks with reviews of Core i7 desktops from Falcon Northwest, Gateway, Velocity Micro and Alienware. If you're not a system builder yourself but you still want in on the fast PC action, stay tuned.

Read the full review of Intel's Core i7-965 Extreme Edition CPU.

Enthusiast coverage:

Anandtech

Bit-Tech

ExtremeTech

HotHardware

PC Perspective

It seems that Michael Dell is breathing new life into his company.

A year ago, Dell was brave enough to backtrack on its Vista-only policy for consumer machines (Dell brings back XP on home systems). It also showed some independence from Microsoft by offering Linux to consumers. And again, Dell is innovating.

Fact 1: As of June 30, large computer manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard can no longer offer Windows XP preinstalled on new computers, though Microsoft has said it would consider re-evaluating the deadline if there's enough customer demand.

Fact 2: Anyone who buys a copy of either the Business or Ultimate versions of Vista is entitled to also get Windows XP Professional.* Each computer manufacturer decides whether, or how, to implement this.

Until now, consumers who exercised their right to get XP Professional when they purchased Vista got a computer with Vista preinstalled and an XP image CD in the box (an image CD is very different from a retail Windows CD).

Dell's innovation? It will do the XP image installation for you. It may not sound like much, but the net result is that the computer leaves the factory with Windows XP Professional on it, rather than Vista.

Deadline? We don't need no stinkin' deadline.

Microsoft can't be happy about this, though a cynic would note that even though Dell computers leave the factory with XP on them, Microsoft can tally it as a sale for Vista.

It's an interesting power play between the two companies. Will other companies follow Dell or toe the Microsoft line?

According to Randy Copeland, president and CEO of Velocity Micro, after the June 30 deadline, all of its computers will ship with Vista preinstalled. The company will offer the XP Professional "downgrade" in the traditional way, by including an XP image CD in the box. Interestingly, each XP image CD will be mated to one, and only one, computer.

Dell has a Web page devoted to its new policy, Windows XP Availability, which notes that the last day to buy a computer with Windows XP preinstalled under the current rules is June 18. Afterward:

When selecting your operating system, you will see an option called "Genuine Windows® Vista Business BONUS" and "Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate BONUS." With these options, you may...have Dell factory install Windows XP Professional. You will also receive a backup media disc for Windows XP Professional, as well as the media for Windows Vista.

In other words, Dell provides optical discs for both XP and Vista, so you can change over at any time. This is not like Apple's Boot Camp, however; the computer can have only one operating installed on the hard disk at a time. But Dell provides technical support for both XP and Vista. Whether its tech support is worthwhile is another matter.

According to Infoworld, Dell will offer this new "buy Vista, get XP Pro preinstalled" service on some Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision systems for free. It will also offer it on some Vostro and XPS systems for a small fee.

For more about getting Windows XP after the June 30 deadline, see my previous posting, Who's selling Windows XP in July?

*NOTE: Microsoft allows a "downgrade" only to XP Professional, not to the Home or Media Center editions. According to InfoWorld, large organizations with site licenses can "downgrade" from any version of Vista.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

Ah, Vista. It has forced many to return to the waiting arms of Windows XP, while sending others fleeing to the other camp. There are those who still remain in a holding pattern, waiting for Vista SP1 to be rolled out before plunking down for a new PC. If you're among this last group, Velocity Micro has a computer to sell you. It says it is the first system builder to begin selling systems preloaded with Vista SP1. A quick scan of its competitors' sites today--including those of Dell and HP--revealed nothing to contradict Velocity's claim. It's only a matter of time until every vendor has updated its lines with the latest version of Vista--Microsoft has previously stated that volume license customers would have the code by tomorrow--but we have to give Velocity credit for its hustle. At the very least, it could save you from a very looooooong download.

Velocity says it will begin shipping systems with SP1 on February 18. Celebrate Presidents' Day with a service pack!

Alienware's Area-51 7500 CF has Intel's new quad core chips.

(Credit: Alienware)

Our review of Intel's new Core 2 Extreme quad-core chip went up last week, and our findings, along with the general consensus around the Web, were that the Core 2 Extreme QX9650 is the new king of the CPU hill. Today you'll find these new chips available from various system vendors in their high-end gaming rigs, although it's interesting to see who has the chips and who doesn't. Here's a rundown of the big names:

The haves:
• Alienware's Area-51 ALX CF
• Falcon Northwest's Mach V
• Maingear's F131 SLI
• Velocity Micro's Gamer's Edge PCX

The have-nots:
• Dell's XPS 720 H2C
• HP's Blackbird 002
• Voodoo PC's Omen

As of now, HP's Blackbird 002 only offers Intel's older quad core CPUs.

(Credit: CNET)

We expect the have-nots will get onboard sooner or later, likely by January at the latest in time for a CES announcement. Dell has a history of latching onto one chipset per model, in its XPS 700-series systems, so it might require a line refresh before we see an Intel X38-based system. As HP and Voodoo, we're surprised that neither has the new chips yet. As a smaller vendor, Voodoo can usually be more nimble with its parts offerings. We were also told by HP that the Blackbird would be similarly quick to adopt new technologies (and ironically, the Blackbird's configurator went live this afternoon, already out of date compared with the rest of the high-end gaming PC market).

All of these vendors could certainly update their sites soon, and we've sent them e-mails asking for time tables. We'll let you know if we hear anything concrete. Just be sure to look at each vendor's offerings carefully if you're shopping for a high-end gaming rig this holiday season. Otherwise, you could end up plunking down more than $5,000 for a gaming rig that's a generation behind.

The Dell XPS M1730 we just reviewed took home an Editors' Choice award. This massive, 11-pound laptop is about as good as it gets for mobile gaming. It serves up a most powerful mix of components, from a Core 2 Extreme CPU to Nvidia SLI graphics. The M1730 even finds room for Ageia's PhysX processor. While we liked what we saw from the M1730 in our labs, what helped it score so highly was a number of new features absent from previous XPS models. There's a gamer-friendly, 10-key number pad, a useful status LCD above the keyboard, and Dell's Wi-Fi Catcher that lets you search for wireless networks without having to boot the system. Sure, we'd like it if Dell included a Blu-ray drive (it's a $550 option) in a laptop that tops the $4,000 mark, but the M1730's leading performance and big feature set help to justify the cost. Dell's flagship XPS laptop isn't the only game in town, however. We've seen two other 17-inch models and a plucky 15-incher that deliver the goods gamers require.

If you pass on the XPS M1730, Dell would hope you'd fall into the arms of Alienware, its wholly owned subsidiary. We wouldn't blame you. The Area-51 m9750 we reviewed at the end of the July is still tops with a DirectX 9 game like F.E.A.R.. (The XPS M1730 uses the newer GeForce 8700M GT, which is slightly slower than the GeForce 7950GTX but supports DirectX 10.) It's a little lighter than Dell's 17-inch XPS, slipping in below 10 pounds, but it doesn't have an HDMI if you're looking for a one-cable solution for outputting video and audio to an HDTV. It's obvious this luxury machine is crafted with care, though opinions may vary on the Alien-head motif. Lastly, we like the fact that Alienware gives you a choice of Vista or XP. (That performance-minded Alienware chose to outfit our review unit with XP should tell you something about the hit you take with Vista.)

The Toshiba Qosmio G45 is more of portable home theater than mobile gaming rig, but its lone GeForce 8600M GT card still serves up solid frame rates. While it holds its own as a gaming laptop, its real charms lie with its multimedia goodness. True, its 1920x1200 resolution is the same as found on Dell's and Alienware's 17-inch laptops, but it costs about $1,000 less than those models, trading raw performance for features that include an HDMI out, Harman Kardon speakers with subwoofer, and multimedia controls that make it easy to manage your media.

If a 17-inch laptop is just too big for your purposes, Velocity Micro has an interesting configuration. Its 15-inch NoteMagix x25 uses a desktop CPU, which helped the system excel on CNET Labs' benchmarks. The downside? It's big and bulky and generates a lot of heat. And its battery life is abysmal. In the end, it's probably no more portable than a larger 17-inch laptop because of its heft and poor battery life. But you do get all of that raw muscle for less than $2,000.

Why, yes. Double down, even. If not for the intense feelings I had for Intellivision (you never forget your first), I may have ended up a PC gamer instead of strictly a console guy.

(Credit: Digital Press)

Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm a console gamer. Always have been, since my friend down the street in Minneapolis got an Atari 2600 in 1979, and I trumped him a year later with Mattel's Intellivision. (Along with George Plimpton, we found Intellivision's Major League Baseball to be clearly superior to Atari's Home Run baseball. Intellivision baseball, hockey, and skiing were pretty much all I cared about in 1980.) Like Larry King with wives, there's long list of consoles that I traded in for newer models over the years: Intellivision to Intellivision 2, to NES, to Sega Genesis, to PlayStation, to Xbox, to Xbox 360. As I moved from console to console, I never did find the need to plunk down for a gaming PC, and thankfully any old PC can run an Intellivision emulator.

If I were a PC gamer (and I happened across a pile of money), however, there are five systems that would definitely be on my list. Since May, we've reviewed one gaming PC each month that has really impressed us. These five desktops are all overclocked, and all but the AVADirect system feature a quad-core processor, so you know your investment--prices of our review units range from $3,600 to nearly $6,600--is well equipped to stand the test of time. Three of the five earned an Editors' Choice, including the HP Blackbird 002, which is only the highest0rated desktop we've ever seen at CNET--at least since Rich Brown and I have been here. (The other two award-winners came from Maingear and Velocity Micro.)

For a specs comparison, videos, and the reviews themselves, I've assembled this page for your viewing pleasure.