At $700, Ultra’s Crysis Warhead PC Comes Benchmarked, Burned-In and Ready To Go

**Arisen Dragon** · 09-13-2008, 09:30 PM

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You don’t have to buy the Ultra Optimized PC to play Crysis Warhead properly, but you’ll be getting one hell of a deal if you do. This afternoon, the man responsible for the build, configuration and marketing of the $700 machine told GameCyte that not only will the system come with everything you’d expect, but every machine will be individually tested, benchmarked and burned-in before arriving at your doorstep.

When we spotted the specs for the official Crysis Warhead PC late yesterday afternoon, we were immediately impressed with the bang-for-the-buck value — and yet quite suspicious of how they managed to offer all that hardware for such a low price. Speedy computer components cost a certain amount no matter how hard you try to scrimp, and so bargain PC companies usually try to hide their cost cutting efforts by using slower chips that retain a big brand name (Intel Celeron, NVIDIA 8500, I’m looking at you.) But here, that obviously wasn’t the case; it’s hard to go wrong with a Core 2 Duo E7300 and a GeForce 9800GT. Plus, the entire system build was vetted by game developer Crytek. So what gives?

Looking at the system specs above, we saw two possible issues right off the bat. The system doesn’t list any kind of OS, and purchasing a new copy of Windows will typically set back gamers $100. Second, looking at the X-Blaster case in which Ultra chose to house the system, we noted that no case fans were included. Might gamers fire up their new PCs, begin playing Crysis and then be confronted halfway through by the sickening smell of fried video components? Taking a further look around TigerDirect, we noticed that they sell a variety of barebones kits, including one that has some pretty respectable specs… but includes a graphics card that doesn’t fit properly in the case. Might new Crysis Warhead PC owners open up their box and find a untested bag of components to piece together themselves?

Confronting Ultra’s product development manager Garrett Bain with these concerns, we were told that our worries were for naught. “We’ve validated all these components together in our engineering labs,” said Bain. “We’ve benchmarked and burned in everything… and when you power it on, you’ll boot into Windows and be ready to install the game.”

We’re not getting the bare-minimum Windows Vista Home Basic, either. Bain confirmed that the Crysis Warhead system will come with a pre-installed copy of Windows XP Professional updated to the latest Service Pack. To our partial embarrassment, the product development manager also confirmed that case fans were most definitely included, and that TigerDirect offers a one-year warranty on the entire build. He noted that gamers would only need to provide their own monitor.

While we weren’t able to get an exact parts list — “We’re still sourcing,” said Bain, who told me that the above image of an EVGA graphics card was not final — we were assured that Ultra would only deal with first-tier partners.

Bain said that no particular deals needed to be made to drive down the price, “just a lot of hard work.” He expressed hope that should the Warhead PC succeed, it might help change the preconceived notion that thousands of dollars are required to play the latest PC titles.

Ultra claims the Optimized PC will run Crysis Warhead on the highest DX9 graphical setting, “Gamer,” at an average 30FPS. The game was specifically optimized for this exact PC configuration; in particular, Bain said the game was fine-tuned for the NVIDIA 9800 GT video card.

Preorders will begin next week, and Bain expects units to ship to consumers and retail CompUSA and TigerDirect stores shortly after the game’s release on September 16th.

While the exceptionally computer-savvy might still find better deals, you’re not going to get that warranty, testing and optimization. We have to admit, a ready-made gaming PC like this is practically unheard of.

Source: At $700, Ultra’s Crysis Warhead PC Comes Benchmarked, Burned-In and Ready To Go | GameCyte

Ultra & Crysis at TigerDirect.com

Very awesome deal I think. I wanted to build a pc and this is perfect to get to save me time and worrying if I do it right or not.

TaeketsuFFXI · 09-13-2008, 10:43 PM

Pretty decent deal, but you could build better with $700.

**Arisen Dragon** · 09-13-2008, 11:09 PM

Yeah I know but it does have a warranty which if I build it wont. Plus its better then pretty much any 700 dollar pc dell or hp makes.

Ayers88 · 09-13-2008, 11:29 PM

Know if this is a limited time offer type thing or is gonna be around for awhile? Take awhile to save up haha

**Arisen Dragon** · 09-13-2008, 11:30 PM

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Originally Posted by DragginThru

Know if this is a limited time offer type thing or is gonna be around for awhile? Take awhile to save up haha

Yeah I know dude lol. Well my pc is over 5 years old and my laptop is a year old but I need a new pc and this seems great. They are taking preorders next week so I might just wait till after they have them in stock to see how people like them.

Shike · 09-14-2008, 01:45 AM

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Originally Posted by Arisen Dragon

Yeah I know but it does have a warranty which if I build it wont.

The individual parts have warranties, which IMO > OEM warranty.

Proof in the pudding, trying to get Dell to support my laptop took a month and needle nose pliers on a few teeth.

**Arisen Dragon** · 09-14-2008, 02:04 AM

Yeah I guess but it will still save me time then building one. Considering I never built one before and this is a pretty good deal for those specs.

TaeketsuFFXI · 09-14-2008, 02:13 AM

Building a PC really isn't hard, it took me a few days because I didn't have enough time to sit down but it should take a first timer around 2 hours to get it all running. You have to start somewhere, building a PC is fun and you get experience out of it. Soon you can be making money because all your friends come to you for their repairs.

**Arisen Dragon** · 09-14-2008, 02:17 AM

I guess I will see what happens but it is still a great deal nun the less.

jimmy_Bish · 09-14-2008, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaeketsuFFXI

Building a PC really isn't hard, it took me a few days because I didn't have enough time to sit down but it should take a first timer around 2 hours to get it all running. You have to start somewhere, building a PC is fun and you get experience out of it. Soon you can be making money because all your friends come to you for their repairs.

Money? I get beer or a bottle from a few, sex from one or 2 and sweet FA from most!
The ones who have ultimately asked for help and given me nothing in return no longer call me since I'm usually late turning up for unreliable on purpose.
I just try to keep the ones who offer sex now. I can buy my own alcohol, thanks!!

I've built so many PCs in my time I'm completely over it. These days I wouldn't hesitate to buy a pre-built system like this one and save myself the hassle. But I don't regret building my PCs in the past. It's bloody easy for anyone who can read to do and you learn a little about how it all works.