Maingear's Axess HD Gamer PC looks to blow your mind, empty your wallet

Make no bones about, Maingear's new Axess HD Gamer (and by merit of its namesake, HTPC, too) is nothing if not a powerhouse for those wanting to pay an arm and a leg for a souped up gaming experience. You want specs? At its best, we're looking at an Intel Core i7 on a X58 chipset, dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT in SLI, up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, Blu-ray, Windows Vista / Media Center, and two 3.5-inch storage bays supporting 320GB SSD or 2TB HDD. If you need more nerd cred, ghost of vaporware past Phantom Lapboard serves as one of the bundled input devices, as does the NVIDIA GeForce 3D vision kit and a 22-inch Samsung LCD. Starting price is $1,799, but if you wanna go for broke -- and whether not you can, you probably want to -- top configurations can run you well over $5,000.

[Churma @ Jun 19th 2009 4:47AM]

5k sheesh, I rather build one myself. =)

[dsteve303 @ Jun 19th 2009 4:47AM]

You should use this as an Engadget Recession give-away!!

[Cary Gordon @ Jun 19th 2009 11:09AM]

Seconded!

[Game_playa @ Jun 19th 2009 3:27PM]

WHY DO YOU GUYS CARE? It's not like you're going to win or anything.

[ArcticFox @ Jun 19th 2009 4:49AM]

Nice design, great cpu, loads of ram and they put dual 9800GTs in there and try and overinflate the price?

[Chris @ Jun 19th 2009 11:05AM]

It's a low profile machine. If you find more powerful LP cards, let us know. Till then it has more power and the same feature set as a GTX 260.

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 19th 2009 4:50AM]

So it can play Crysis...in 3-D? Thats fuckin hardcore!

[TareX @ Jun 19th 2009 4:53AM]

That's too much, and it's not even impressive.

[jontseng @ Jun 19th 2009 5:03AM]

Sorry, but in what sense does a pair of outdated low end GPUs qualify for the term "powerhouse".

More reporting, less recycling of press releases please!

[ijyt @ Jun 19th 2009 5:06AM]

Bwahaha, 9800 GT's.

[chris @ Jun 19th 2009 11:08AM]

Fastest low profile cards you can find. This guy is the size of a large blu-ray player. It's got 224 stream processors, faster even than a second gen GTX 260.

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 19th 2009 5:35AM]

I just built my $1058 i7 rig:


CPU: Intel i7 d0
Motherboard: Asus P6T SE
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 with OCZ Freeze
RAM: 1600mhz DDR 3 OCZ Platinum 7-7-7-24
Graphics: HIS Radeon HD 4890
PSU: 700w OCZ StealthXStream
Case: CM 690 all fans maxed out + 1 more fan
HDD: 640GB WD Caviar Black
Optical: HP Burner with Lightscribe

That is a ripoff. It is secksy though.

[tomasse @ Jun 19th 2009 6:15AM]

Yeah, that's for sure overpriced, considering the custom built-ones.
If thats the policy of these companies on charging a unique design and a overf***inoverpriced warranty,
(another excample is alienware)...well, i pitty the fools that buy these kind of products and credit and empower to keep making them.

[Dexter. @ Jun 19th 2009 6:18AM]

You guys are so lucky. In the UK, far beyond the reach of newegg.com, we are not as lucky as you with those prices :-(
You can come close, but certainly no cigar. For an example:

Intel X25-E 32 Gb = $383.00 (£232.918) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167014
Intel X25-E 32 Gb = £325.99 ($536.043) http://www.dabs.com/products/intel-x25-e-sata-solid-state-drive-32gb-sataii-2-5--mlc-5KFN.html?refs=50520

I know you didn't mention the Intel in your list, but that's just the most recent one I've found. It's a bitch if you don't know anyone who lives in the USA, because then you have to find a company that will ship to the UK, then pay VAT (currently 15%, but set to rise).

In short, you guys are very lucky!

[Ebzy @ Jun 19th 2009 7:14AM]

@Dexter

You really need to shop around.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase18.4&prodID=1688116
£288

[chris @ Jun 19th 2009 11:09AM]

Hmmm, I didn't know an Omaura TF8 + IR Kit was as cheap as a Coolermaster 690.

Apples to oranges, dude. ;)

Also, there is more that goes into a PC than COGS. Try building a business around it. You'd be surprised how you need this thing called "profit" to stay in business.

[hzaic @ Jun 19th 2009 6:12AM]

digg

[hzaic @ Jun 19th 2009 6:14AM]

haha

[Bakkoda @ Jun 19th 2009 6:57AM]

Are there shortages on 48X0x2 that I am not aware of?

[Yoshi360 @ Jun 19th 2009 7:04AM]

Aint that an Omaura case? I thought they ceased business?

[chris @ Jun 19th 2009 11:10AM]

Yes they are. We got plenty of chassis though.

[Evan @ Jun 19th 2009 7:44AM]

$5000 on a machine, just to play a few $60 video games?

[Access Granted @ Jun 19th 2009 10:45AM]

Pc games are $50 dollars... and no I wouldn't spend 5K on a rig when I have one that cost $500 and can play most new games @ 40fps...

[chris @ Jun 19th 2009 11:11AM]

At base price it plays all games fine. You don't need to max it out, the options are there if you want them.

[Benjamin Agner @ Jun 19th 2009 10:19AM]

I Really want that, but only because it comes in an Omaura case. I've been trying to find one for months for my current HTPC project.

[Ranger Rick @ Jun 19th 2009 11:02AM]

Brooklyn we go [H]ard

[poematik14 @ Jun 19th 2009 12:39PM]

9800GT? Really? Thats sooo 2008. With the prices they charge they should be offering AT LEAST a single GTS 250.

[chris @ Jun 19th 2009 1:06PM]

That's a joke, right? You do realize that the 9800 and the GTS 250 share the same G92 architecture? The 9800 GT has 112 shaders and the GTS 250 has 128.

Considering you get TWO 9800 GTs that's a total of 224 shaders - this thing will run circles around a single GTS 250.

[br4nd0nh347 @ Jun 19th 2009 3:03PM]

I don't think they are too crazy with the price, especially compared to Alienware.
However on Newegg:

i7 975 = $1024 (paying more on newegg)
Kingston 1333 DDR3 @ $182 (taking up 6 slots though)
Motherboard (I only found the Rampage II with one cpu socket) for $369
Intel X25 160gb SSD = $619 (cheapest 160gb ssd on newegg, the price is also around $300 less on newegg)

I don't have time to look up everything, but add a 3D monitor, 2 video cards, hdtv tuner etc and you can hit 2500-4000
Personally I would get rid of the hdtv tuner and get one of those black magic hdmi in hdmi out capture cards. (you can get cable boxes and sat tv receivers with hdmi out)

The only thing I can really criticize them on is the POWER SUPPLY. Only 500W available ??? Are you kidding me?

[Zut @ Jun 20th 2009 7:02AM]

Thats a terrible spec for the money. I dont care what shape the case is (which is fugly IMHO), for this kind of money you should get dual GTX 295s.

[JohnTech @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:18AM]

Looks pretty cool the way it all fits in the case.I Really want that,but the price of that machine is too high.