GameBoxx Fx: Boxx delivers a solid, powerful gaming system.

Boxx Technologies has made a solid name for itself in the production community by creating reliable servers and high-end workstations at an affordable price. The GameBoxx series is no different. The GameBoxx is a fast and powerful machine targeted at people who perform high-end tasks, such as intense gameplay, game development, and digital media creation.

Like other Boxx machines, the GameBoxx is wonderfully built. The case is made of metal, including the front panel, which is bright red (blue, orange, black, and silver also are available). The system is lightweight, yet solid. The front of the machine contains two USB, one FireWire, and audio connectors. On the back is another FireWire connector, along with audio, four more USB slots, and a 10/100 Ethernet port. Boxx used the new Superbright LEDs for the front panel power and drive lights. While these certainly look cool, I found the LEDs so bright as to be distracting. The case is held together by thumbscrews, enabling tool-free maintenance.

The machine opens by sliding off the side panel. The first thing I noticed is that Boxx has taken the effort to tie down and properly route all the internal cables, making the guts of the machine very tidy indeed. The machine has a hefty 530-watt power supply, which should allow for a lot of expansion. There are plenty of fans to keep the interior cool, but the machine still manages to remain whisper quiet.

Boxx's GameBoxx FX model sports the AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 CPU with an Nvidia Nforce3-based motherboard. Memory is 1GB of fast DDR memory with ECC error correction. Memory speed clocked in at a lightning fast 5660MB/SeC. Like the Opteron, the Athlon 64 FX is a 64-bit chip with full support for 32-bit applications. A quick 32-bit Sandra test of the CPU gave a speed of 9099 MIPs and a floating-point score of 4486 Mflops. The integer score is equivalent to a high-end Pentium 4, although the floating-point scores fall a bit short. These are 32-bit tests, so being a true 64-bit chip means that the Athlon 64 will give you an extra performance boost once applications migrate to 64-bit code.

The machine is expandable, with six internal 3.5-inch drive bays, as well as four external 5.25-inch bays. I liked the fact that the internal bays were oriented so the drive cables faced outward; it will make ...