- High Quality Name Brand Components
- Highly Customizable
- Good Base Speaker Package Included
- Uses Single Channel Memory Chipset
- No DVD Burner Standard
- Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz with 800MHz Frontside Bus
- GeiL 512MB PC3200 DDR Memory
- Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm 8MB Cache Hard Drive
- Sony 16x DVD-ROM and Lite-On 52x CD-RW Optical Drives
- Integrates AC'97 Audio with Logitech Z-640 Speakers
- Albatron GeForceFX 5200 128MB Graphics Card
- Intel 10/100 Ethernet Port
- Eight USB 2.0 and Two FireWire Ports
- Windows XP Home Operating System and Corel WordPerfect 11 Productivity Pack
2/9/04 - ABS is a systems integrator rather than a manufacturer. This means they take various OEM components and piece them together into a specific computer package. The ABS Awesome 3500 is their mainstream desktop computer system package that offers a wide range of options.
The system is based around an ASUS P4P800S motherboard using an Intel i848P chipset. It comes standard with a Pentium 4 2.6 GHz processor with 800MHz bus. Matched up with this is a 512MB GeiL PC3200 memory stick. The only drawback to this configuration is the lack of dual channel support by the board. This slightly reduces the memory performance.
Storage has a wide range of options. The base configuration comes with a 80GB Maxtor hard drive that offers good performance. Optical drives are provided by a 16x Sony DVD-ROM and 52x Lite-On CD-RW burner. This is one of its drawbacks as most systems in this category now offer DVD burners standard. Of course, this is an option at purchase.
Graphics are fairly mediocre with the GeForceFX 5200 chipset. While DirectX 9 compatible, it is not spectacular in gaming. Audio is actually quite good thanks to the standard Logitech Z-640 5.1 speaker set. Most systems typically ship with a small set of two speakers.
In the end, the Awesome 3500 is a good system for those looking at a personalized system without the fear of putting it together on their own. It also makes a good gaming system with a few upgrades such as the video card.
