I was skimming through Wired.com’s Desktop Reviews this morning and came across a pretty interesting 7K gaming machine called the Maingear Shift. On the outlook it just looks like your normal gray tower case – the thing measures 21.5 x 8.5 x 24 inches, and weighs just over 40 pounds.

It’s CPU is the 3.3 GHz Intel Core i7-975 Extreme, with 6 GB of RAM. The GPU is 3 GPUS! Three ATI Radeon HD5870 graphics cards. Wired says that these babies averaged 65 to 70 frames per second inCrysis andCrysis Warhead (highest settings at1920 x 1200 resolution), and dropped to the mid to low 50s cities, complex scenes, and intense fighting.

Invest 7K in a desktop and you better expect high end hard drives! The Maingear shift has two 80-GB solid-state drives for using the operating system and games and it comes with a 2-TB spinning hard drive at 7,200 rpm. It also comes with a Blu-ray burner and a ton of ports: 10 USB ports, 2 Firewire, eSata, a multiformat card reader, and Coax and Digital SPDIF ports for 8-Channel surround-sound support. It’s got a 1,200-watt power supply which gives you a ton of power and plenty of space for upgrades.

Probably the most interesting thing about the Maingear Shift is the case: it’s bland on the outside but highly complex and beautiful on the inside. The first thing you’ll see is the immaculate wiring job: Cables are tied down but they’re within easy reach for disconnecting components and swapping new parts in. It has six drive bays, each can hold either a 3.5-inch drive or two 2.5-inch drives. That basically means that you can install six 2-TB drives or even 12 SSDs if you budget can afford it. Maingear really knows their stuff! Installing or removing a drive is as simple as unlocking and sliding out the plastic tray, dropping your new drive in, attaching the appropriate cables and sliding the tray back into place. No tools required! It’s got an improvement heat management system: the liquid cooled CPU is aided by 3 large slow fans that pull the outside air into the case and blow it out through the top.

Wired asks is the Shift is worth seven grand? The components price out at about $4,480 leaving $2,450 for labor! That’s a lot of cash for building a system. The case does have an interesting design which adds a lot of overall value to the package. the package. The improved heat management means greater longevity for your parts. The case allow easy access to core components which also means that future upgrades will be a breeze.

Video Review

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