DCA Gaming PC

Well-specced and boasting solid performance, but let down a little by shoddy build choices.

As you approach the $3,000 mark you start to see a whole other breed of PC. In both of the samples on test there’s a dual-card SLI solution, overclocked CPUs, and, of course, a huge boost in performance. These are classic gaming machines.

DCA Computers’ entry sports two Galaxy 9800 GTX cards and a Q9300 CPU overclocked from its stock frequency of 2.5GHz to a far juicier 3.2GHz. DCA does extensive stability testing on its overclocks, and with a few exceptions this rig was able to handle our benching with aplomb. The only sour note at the this stage of the game is the 4GB of RAM the machine comes with; this machine only sports the 32bit version of Vista, and so with two 512MB graphics solutions, a large portion of that RAM lies unaddressed. When, oh when, will people realise that building a PC isn’t just about the biggest numbers!

The DCA PC’s build quality was similarly bit of a mixed bag. The case is a little on the twee side, and two out of four of the front USB ports were simply not working. It’s a neat build other than that, with the cabling nicely tied off and the bulk of it stored behind the mobo mounting plate. Airflow was therefore pretty good, though another fan may not have hurt too much. Certainly, it would have been a wiser choice than the extra un-used RAM.



You’re at least getting a very good bundle aside from the PC itself. DCA has managed to package a mess of Logitech peripherals into this sub-$3,000 kit. There’s a G5 mouse and a chunky G15 keyboard (which WoW players swear by, apparently), and X-240 speakers as well. The speakers in particular are a nice touch, and sound surprisingly strong for a mere 2.1 set-up. The PC is rounded out by a 22in ASUS VW222 LCD display.

It’s a hard choice to split this machine and the Trinity entry in terms of excellent value. There’s a $1,000 difference, of course, but you do get a lot of performance for that extra cost. In the end, given the completeness of this kit on top of the overclocking, we think DCA just pips the Trinity. Similarly, while the NRG Tornado system performs better again for slightly more, DCA’s entry did managed to pip it in 8x AA Crysis testing. Even in this price bracket, it still has a slight edge over its competitors, though it is held back by some poor build choices and a lack of quality control in some areas.