iBuypower Chimera AM3 SE

Review
Reviewed by: Bill O’Brien
Review Date: August 2009




ComputerShopper-In the world of PC enclosures, black has become the new beige. It’s getting increasingly difficult to distinguish one somber desktop-PC box from another—unless, of course, you’re a company like iBuypower. It has packaged its Chimera AM3 gaming PC in a black NZXT Guardian 921 case, featuring slits and slots to allow blue light to seep out from the inside. Furthermore, it has redubbed the case "Guardian Inferno," after applying enough yellow and orange flames to make a 1950s hot rodder green with envy. And those flames, though perhaps a cliché, are no exaggeration. This is one hot gaming system.



The right-opening cover might be a problem if you position your PC to your left. Likewise, the "front-mounted" ports are actually side-mounted and will be tricky to reach.


The base model in the Chimera series starts life at $999; our test version (dubbed the "Chimera AM3 SE") tipped the scales at $400 more: $1,399. The added dollars brought us a 3.2GHz AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor with an Asetek liquid cooling system on a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P motherboard. (That’s well above the base model's Phenom II X4 910 chip and its air-cooled heatsink.) Though 4GB of Corsair DDR3 memory comes standard-issue on both models, our test unit came with faster 1,600MHz memory, as opposed to the 1,333MHz variety in the base model. We also got a 50-watt bump up from the base 700-watt power supply, plus an upgrade from a 500GB hard drive to a 1TB drive. The real power upgrade, however, was the substitution of the standard 512MB video card (an ATI Radeon HD 4870) for a pair of 1GB Radeon HD 4890 cards configured in a CrossFireX dual-card arrangement. (For reference, you can read a review of a recent graphics card we tested based on the Radeon HD 4890 graphics processor, the Asus EAH4890.)

Sounds like a potent gaming platform? It sure is. While the Chimera’s 64-bit PCMark Vantage score (6,788) wasn’t quite up to the 7,200 mark set by the super-value Gateway FX6801-03 we recently tested, it's still among the top performers we've seen on that test, period. (The PCMark Vantage test measures general PC-application performance.) Another interesting set of results: On our 3DMark Vantage test, which measures 3D-graphics performance, the Chimera rang up an impressive score of 13,965 at 1,280x1,024 resolution, but the numbers that really amazed us were its scores running at 1,680x1,050 (10,885) and 1,920x1,200 (8,234). Those numbers are simply exceptional for a system in this price range.

In our real-world gaming tests, the Chimera proved itself more than able. In our testing with the game Company of Heroes, the Chimera consistently scored above 50 frames per second (fps), even at a sky-high screen resolution of 2,560x1,600. That’s a rarity since the advent of DirectX 10. It also posted scores in excess of 50fps, under both DirectX 9 and 10 and at all tested resolutions, in our tests with the much more recent (and demanding) game Far Cry 2. Considering that we tested Far Cry 2 at resolutions all the way up to 2,560x1,600, you'll have to try pretty hard (with the help of a very big monitor) make the Chimera break a sweat with most recent games.


The Chimera packs a full complement of FireWire and USB ports on its back panel.


Clearly, this Chimera has gaming well in hand for most mainstream gamers. It's also well-equipped for entertainment use. A 22x DVD burner comes in the base model, but iBuypower bumped our test unit's optical drive up to an LG GGC-H20L Super-Multi Blu-ray Drive that reads both Blu-ray and (now-obsolete) HD DVD discs, and writes to everything else. Officially, LG Electronics lists this particular drive as discontinued, but iBuypower assured us that it has a quantity on hand. Regardless, several Blu-ray-reader alternatives (as well as pricier Blu-ray burners) are available via iBuypower's Web-site configurator. None, however, is a Blu-ray/HD DVD combo unit like this one.

Naturally, the Blu-ray experience would be diminished without quality audio to back it up. To handle that, the motherboard supports eight-channel audio through both analog and the usual digital connections. (iBuypower can supply you with an HD-capable LCD monitor and a multichannel speaker set to complete the package, but neither came standard with our test unit.) The Chimera also has a 12-format card reader, so you can easily transfer your digital-camera photos onto the system (or do quick offline backups to flash cards, now that their prices have plummeted).

As tested (and even in its $999 base configuration, for that matter), the Chimera AM3 is a well-stocked system. If you think you'll need to augment the hardware down the line, though, you certainly can. You'll find room inside for three more front-facing drives (via two 5.25-inch bays and one 3.5-inch bay), as well as an additional internal hard drive. No internal card expansion is possible, though, due to the wide loads of the two Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards. Two memory sockets are open, and, in total, the motherboard supports up to 16GB of DDR3. Also, between what you’ll find on the side of the front panel and the rear of the case, you have 10 USB ports, three FireWire ports, and a pair of external Serial ATA (eSATA) ports for external expansion. That mix should cover most reasonable eventualities.



iBuypower has done a clean build inside the Chimera. Slot access is nil due to the dual graphics cards, but drive-bay and memory-socket expansion is available.



But wait—we did find one flaw! Most computer cases we've seen that sport front doors open from right to left. (That’s because most of us park our PCs on the left side of our desks.) The Guardian Inferno case bucks the trend by opening from left to right. Also, the front-panel ports are distributed along the left edge of the front panel, not on the front face itself. If you do typically stash your PC on your left, those ports will be out of sight and a bit tricky to access.

We can’t attest that the Chimera AM3 SE is an utterly extreme gaming platform—it’s not quite that. But for most mainstream and moderately serious gamers who aren't blasting away at stratospheric resolutions on a 30-inch monitor, it will do the job very nicely at a price nowhere near that of yesterday's $4,000 megasystems. And if you think of this PC in terms of iBuypower’s now-almost-unheard-of warranty (the company covers the system for three full years), it’s one of the best all-around desktops you’re likely to find for $466 per annum.
Price (at time of review): $1,399 (direct, as tested)

www.ibuypower.com
888-462-3899

Pros
Superb gaming performance for the price; more-than-ample external expansion; three-year warrantyKey Specs
Processor: 3.2GHz AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Storage: 1TB hard drive
Optical Drive: Blu-ray/HD DVD reader/DVD±RW burner combo
Monitor: None
Graphics: Two ATI Radeon HD 4890 cards (1GB each, CrossFireX)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)


Cons
No PCI Express- or PCI-slot expansion possible; awkward to access side-mounted ports

Editors' Take
The Chimera’s case may be sheer eye candy, but its gaming performance lives up to the flames. All but the most extreme gamers will find superior value in this PC.

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Philips Streamium NP2500 Review

CNET editors' review

* Reviewed by:
Matthew Moskovciak
* Edited by:
John P. Falcone
* Reviewed on: 07/31/2009
* Released on: 08/15/2008

Digital audio streamers generally come two ways: cheap solutions like the Airport Express that lack convenience, or expensive systems like Sonos that put all your music at your fingertips. Philips has always tried to find a middle ground; last year's NP1100 offered much of the performance of the Squeezebox Classic for considerably less. The NP2500 is Philips' successor to the NP1100 (although the NP1100 is still available for sale) and it offers several improvements, most notably more file format support, including audiophile-friendly FLAC and Ogg Vorbis. The biggest change is obviously the NP2500's color LCD screen, but we found it a bit of a mixed-bag in practice; we loved the album art eye candy, but browsing the 3.5-inch screen from across the room is a pain. If you can live with its quirks, the NP2500 offers much of the functionality of the Squeezebox Classic for less money and in a pretty package, but die-hard music fans looking for a wider variety of online audio service offerings will prefer the Squeezebox's perks despite its Spartan design.

Design
The NP2500 has a long, 9.9-inch rectangular shape and positioned right in the middle is a 3.5-inch color LCD screen. The screen is capable of displaying a couple lines of text, album art, and a full graphical user interface. It's a reasonable size on its own, but it looks comically small in the midst of the faceplate. The design makes more sense viewed in the full Streamium product line; the NP2500 essentially uses the step-up NP2900's design, with the speakers removed.

Still, the NP2500 would greatly benefit if the screen filled up more of the faceplate. Yes, it's easy to navigate if you're close to the unit, but the NP2500 is designed to be connected to a separate stereo or home theater system. If you're sitting on the couch, 8 feet away from the NP2500, the screen is tiny. Competing products like the Squeezebox Duet and the Sonos BU250 get around the problem with a remote that features an LCD screen, but those systems are more expensive. Meanwhile, the Apple TV is a more direct competitor that lets you browse your music collection using either the HDTV screen or via the Remote app available for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The Squeezebox Classic has a similar design, but it's text-only and is easier to read from afar.

The only buttons on the NP2500 are located on the top of the unit, and there are only four of them: power, volume up and down, and mute. That means you can't navigate your music collection using the controls on the unit; instead you have to use the remote. We would have at least liked a clickable wheel on the unit for times when the remote goes missing, or when you're standing right over the unit.

User interface and setup
The basic user interface is well-laid out, with simple menu options like Music, Internet Radio, Rhapsody, and Aux showing up on the home menu. When you start playing a song, the artist and song information show up on the display, with the album art in the background. We're meticulous about updating our album art and it was a treat to see the NP2500 automatically display it when it started playing our tracks. Album art is also available on Rhapsody tracks.


Unlike its predecessor, the NP1100, the NP2500 sports a color screen capable of showing album art.


While the NP2500 zips through the standard menus quickly, it's not quite as quick to sort through a large library of music. The competing Squeezebox Classic is much more responsive in this regard, where as the NP2500 chugs along at a slower--sometimes frustrating--speed, even when its SuperScroll function kicks in. It's not unbearable, but a bit more speed would really help the NP2500 with large libraries.


The NP2500 can feel a little sluggish when browsing through large music libraries.

As mentioned before, the only way to navigate the NP2500 is by using the included remote. It's a full-size clicker, which we like, but we did run into some issues. For example, the directional pad doesn't work exactly as you'd expect it to. Counterintuitively, the right and left directions won't move you right and left in the menus; you need to press "OK" to move right and the back button to move left. We got used to it, but occasionally we'd revert back to the more intuitive controls. Some people may also be annoyed that there's no option to fast-forward or rewind, which can be a minor annoyance, especially on podcasts. On the other hand, the remote does a good job of separating important functions like the volume rocker and playback controls, while the full number pad makes it easier to enter in search terms.

Features
Like all network music players these days, the NP2500 can tune in to the thousands of free Internet radio stations, instead of the standard AM/FM fare. If you can't stand what's available on AM/FM (neither can we) and don't want to pay for satellite radio (neither do we), there are plenty of great stations available online for just about everybody. Philips doesn't disclose what service populates its listings, but we found plenty of quality stations across several genres. If your favorite station isn't listed, you can register on Philips' Web site and add it yourself.

The NP2500 also offers access to the premium streaming-music service Rhapsody, which is a subscription service ($13 a month). Rhapsody allows you unlimited streaming from its gigantic catalog of music. We're fans of the service and the NP2500's integration is nicely done. All the albums you've stored in your library are available and you can search for new music, although it's a bit tedious with the remote. With the subscription cost, Rhapsody certainly isn't for everyone, but you can take advantage of the 30-day free trial to see if it's worth it for you.

In addition to media streamed off the Internet, the NP2500 is capable of streaming media off of a connected PC. The NP2500 comes with TwonkyServer software included, and our experience setting it up was fairly painless, which is quite a feat for a network music player. Our testing scenario included a networked-attached storage drive filled with music, including FLAC and OGG files, and we were easily able to point the TwonkyServer software at the applicable folders to create our music library.

Between Internet radio, Rhapsody, and your own music collection, the NP2500 can deliver tons of music options, but it's worth pointing out that the competing Squeezebox Classic has even more functionality. In addition to the NP2500's features, the Boom adds Pandora, Last.fm, Slacker, Live Music Archive, and MP3Tunes functionality. That might be overkill for most people, but hard-core music enthusiasts may prefer the Squeezebox's incredible array of options.


The included ports cover all the bases, including an auxiliary input to connect a portable audio player.

Around the back of the unit, the NP2500 offers up a few inputs and outputs if you want to use it with other equipment. There's a headphone jack for late-night listening, as well as a coaxial digital-audio output to connect to an AV receiver. There's a stereo-analog auxiliary input, which consists of two RCA jacks, rather than the more common minijack input. Rounding out the connectivity is an Ethernet jack.

Performance
The NP2500 is designed to be used with a separate audio system; how good the NP2500 will mostly depend on the rest of your components and the quality of the digital audio you're feeding it. Philips does include the "Full Sound" sound-processing mode, which purportedly "restores" the lost information from compressed music, but we found that it mostly boosted the bass. DBB (Dynamic Bass Boost) is another bass-boosting option, and we turned it off, too.

Apart from sound quality, we did run into a couple snags that dampened our experience a bit. The NP2500 isn't nearly as good as the Squeezebox Classic at playing back albums seamlessly (without gaps between tracks), on Rhapsody tracks, or songs from your PC. That might not matter to most listeners, but if you're listening to "Abbey Road" and there's a 3-second gap between "Sun King," "Mean Mr. Mustard," and "Polythene Pam," it can really take you out of the moment. Our other issue was that we had some difficulty getting the included TwonkyVision software to play back our albums in the correct running order. Upgrading to the latest version of TwonkyServer fixed the problem and luckily the included software worked with the updated software. Lastly, the NP2500 froze up on us a few times, sometimes taking a few minutes to finally wake up, but twice requiring us to unplug it and plug it back in. It didn't happen enough to really frustrate us, but we're hoping Philips updates the firmware to iron out some of these occasional hang-ups.

Product summary

The good: Digital audio streamer; unique color screen that displays album art; full Rhapsody integration; provides access to thousands of Internet radio stations; stylish exterior design; easy setup to stream music from connected PCs; less expensive than competitors.

The bad: Small screen difficult to see across room; interface can get sluggish with large music libraries; slight delay between tracks; no support for Pandora, Last.fm, or Slacker; included remote occasionally confusing.

The bottom line: The Philips NP2500 offers many of the features available on more-expensive digital audio streamers for less money and has an attractive color display, but it's hard to see from a distance and playback has some occasional hiccups.

Specifications: Device type: Network audio player See full specs

Price range: $195.70 - $209.86

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