Maingear Shifts Into A New Gear

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 11/4/2009

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Union, N.J. - Maingear this week introduced the Shift, a high-performance PC that the company is calling the everyday supercomputer.

Maingear's New SHIFT, $2,599The Shift takes Maingear's normal high-end production qualities to the next level and includes a new cooling system, advanced customer support and a three-year warranty, said company founder and president Wallace Santos.

Despite its high-performance capability, the Shift is not being marketed as a gaming computer, Santos said, but as a computer for enthusiasts who are looking for the best of the best. However, he added, it is a great gaming computer.

The build-to-order Shift line is comprised of two SKUs, the Intel P55 and Intel X58, with the former being powered by an Intel Core i7 800 series processor and the latter jumping up to the Intel i7 900. The P55 has a base price of $2,199 while the X58 is $2,599.

The higher-end model comes with an ATI Radeon HD or Nvidia GeForce video card, up to 12GB of DDR3-2000 memory or 24GB of DDR3-1600 memory, up to six conventional or 12 solid-state hard drives, DVD or Blu-ray optical drives, speakers from Razer peripherals and a variety of Auzentech sound cards.

The towers utilize both a closed liquid-cooling system and a new industrial design that places the fans at the bottom of the chassis and vents along the top to take advantage of natural heat convection. This allows Maingear to use lower-powered fans, keeping the unit's ambient noise down and using less energy, said Santos.

Shift owners also have a special level of customer service available. Instead of speaking just with an assistant, the consumer can discuss any issues directly with the technician who constructed their computer, said Chris Morley, Maingear's chief technology officer. For improved service the technician can access the computer remotely, and the company has on-site support capabilities if the problems require such attention, he said.