Review: Cyberpower Liquid Gamer Infinity SLI desktop computer

Tag : Computer Case Desktop

The most interesting thing about the Cyberpower Liquid GamerInfinity SLI, and its most distinguishing feature, is that it'scooled not using fans (like most PCs) but using water.
Although that might sound odd, it's a technique that's been aroundfor years in high-end computers. The water system is sealed, usinga radiator to remove heat, so it works a little like a home centralheating system in reverse.
Normally we don't see the point of computer cases with see-throughpanels, but in this case it's justified, because the fluorescentglow of the green water pipes provides a light show in itself (ifyou're that way inclined you can even add more lights when buyingthe computer).
It uses an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor , one of the fastest in the range, and comes with 4 GB of memory , which is as much as you'll find in any modern home computer. Boththose and the pair of Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS 8 graphics cards inside (SLI is the name of the technology used to work with twographics cards rather than one) helped it to some stunning resultsin our lab tests, running new games in high detail without breakinga sweat.
Computers this powerful – and this expensive – aretailored for games-playing (as you can tell from the side panel)and the Liquid Gamer certainly doesn't disappoint on that score. Ifyou're not a gamer, then you don't need this much power – amuch cheaper PC will suffice. But if you want to use the computerfor things other than games as well, the Liquid Gamer won'tdisappoint – for video editing, another typicallypower-hungry application, it would be an excellent choice.
All this power comes at a cost – in addition to the up-frontprice – the computer has a 900W power supply, so at full tiltit will be quite a drain in electrical terms, something to worryabout in an age of high fuel prices. And in addition to thepurchase price you'll need to factor in the cost of a keyboard,mouse and monitor, none of which are included (though you can add amonitor at purchase time, for an extra charge). It's also a shamethat it's slightly noisier than you'd expect from a water-cooleddevice (there are still two fans inside, one of which is for thehard disk).
Cyberpower hasn't skimped on non-gaming features, either: the PCcomes with a one- terabyte hard disk , DVD writer, Creative Labs X-Fi sound card (which givesgreat-quality sound, and is something you don't often find bundledwith computers), eight USB ports, two Firewire ports (handy for video editing), network portand optical and standard sound outputs.
The Liquid Gamer Infinity SLI is phenomenally powerful, and well-suited to gamers, but itselectricity cost and noise shortcomings let it down slightly.
Vista compatible: Yes
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