ASUS CM6870 Pro Reviews

It's fast for what you throw at it, but the CM6870 could benefit from more polish.

One of the smart reasons you might want to buy a system with a brand-new processor and chipset like those found in the Asus Essentio CM6870-US-3AC is product longevity. With components inside that are just entering the beginning of their life cycles, you'll have a better chance that, a few years down the road, replacement parts or upgrade options will be readily available. The plethora of empty slots and SATA ports (and the couple of spare drive bays) in this system means you'll have plenty of options for adding more components, as well. In general, full-size towers are more upgrade-friendly than compact systems like the Alienware X51, and this Asus system, while it's far smaller than a full tower, has more potential on that front than recent systems we've seen from HP and others. The Asus CM6870-US-3AC doesn't have the best graphics performance we've seen in this price range, however, so if gaming is important to you, you may want to look elsewhere, possibly to a custom-built PC like the Velocity Micro Vector or a beefier semi-configurable system like the HP Phoenix h9z. But the Essentio CM6870's Nvidia graphics card does have enough muscle to make today's demanding games playable, so long as you're willing to dial down the resolution and in-game graphical settings.

In all but the most demanding of game settings, the Asus Essentio CM6870 is a great entry-level gaming desktop that offers plenty of bang for the buck, with an abundance of features, a sturdy CPU/GPU combination, and lots of room for expansion.

One of the smart reasons you might want to buy a system with a brand-new processor and chipset like those found in the Asus Essentio CM6870-US-3AA is product longevity. With components inside that are just entering the beginning of their life cycles, you'll have a better chance that, a few years down the road, replacement parts or upgrade options will be readily available. The plethora of empty slots and SATA ports (and the couple of spare drive bays) in this system means you'll have plenty of options for adding more components, as well. In general, full-size towers are more upgrade-friendly than compact systems like the Alienware X51, and this Asus system, while it's far smaller than a full tower, has more potential on that front than recent systems we've seen from HP and others. The Asus CM6870-US-3AA doesn't have the best graphics performance we've seen in this price range, however, so if gaming is important to you, you may want to look elsewhere, possibly to a custom-built PC like the Velocity Micro Vector or a beefier semi-configurable system like the HP Phoenix h9z. But the Essentio CM6870's Nvidia graphics card does have enough muscle to make today's demanding games playable, so long as you're willing to dial down the resolution and in-game graphical settings.

Intel's new CPUs are the most compelling feature in this new Asus Essentio CM6870 desktop. Otherwise, it's just another midtower.