Processor: 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad Q6600
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Storage: 500GB hard drive
Optical Drives: DVD±RW
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3450 (512MB)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
With budget desktops, it’s not wise to hope for much more than a decent price: Performance from systems costing less than $750 is often only adequate at best. Often, but not always, as ZT Systems’ Affinity 7225Xi proves.
After you purchase the $749.99 machine, you can go to the ZT Systems Web site and claim a rebate that will also net you an 80GB Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini portable hard drive, the PC Mover migration utility (for moving files, programs, and settings from your old computer to your new one), and a D-Link DGL-4300 GameLounge wireless gaming router. All in all, more than $200 of additional value.
But discounting the premiums, the Affinity 7225Xi still comes across well. With its 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card, and Windows Vista Home Premium, the system is better equipped than most of the others we saw in our recent roundup of five under-$750 desktops. The ZT system bested them in most of our performance benchmarks, too, generally earning scores more in keeping with Dell’s $1,500 Vostro 410 in every area but gaming. There, the Affinity 7225Xi proved its low-cost provenance with poor frame rates in Company of Heroes at 1,280×1,024, nabbing 5.3 frames per second (fps) using the DirectX 10 (DX10) shader, and doing slightly better with the DX9 version by reaching 15.7fps.
Great gaming isn’t generally associated with budget systems, though, and even a better-than-average choice, like Cyberpower’s Gamer Infinity 1000, requires some compromises. That’s true of the Affinity 7225Xi, too, as you’ll need to contend with somewhat limited port connectivity (no FireWire or surround-sound audio) and restricted interior expansion room. There’s space for one external 5.25-inch drive, one external 3.5-inch drive, and three internal 3.5-inch drives, but no more RAM. In terms of slots, one PCI Express x1 slot is blocked by the graphics card’s cooling assembly, and of the other two PCI slots, one contains a modem. On the plus side, a multiformat card reader has been included up front.
Although you may have to rein in your expectations somewhat, those rebate-ready extras will definitely help soften the blow. But it’s a real point of strength that—even with its limitations—the Affinity 7225Xi delivers a lot for its price.
