Monarch Furia Evaluation @ [H]Consumer

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, May 15, 2006, 11:15 AM EDT

[H]Consumer (sister site to [H]ard|OCP) has evaluated a mid-range Furia system from Monarch. Unfortunately, Kyle and crew ran into a few problems with regard to how this system was built and configured. It seems a few components didn't match the original order, and a few missteps were made during the build process as well.

"We decided to build a mid-range computer with room for upgradeability. We ordered a Monarch Furia - Monarch's 939 pin, 64-bit AMD product line. We chose an ATI, rather than an NVIDIA, motherboard for the sake of variety. We added a 1-year warranty with 24/7 tech support and a 30-day DOA "freight paid both ways" plan. By far the most expensive component in our build was the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard with CrossFire support. You can get a similar system for less from Monarch by going with a cheaper motherboard, but we wanted something that was CrossFire ready with the ability to upgrade down the line. The motherboard cost $235.69 when we ordered it, bumping up the total cost to $1326 + $75 for shipping and handling."

Tags: ATI, Evaluation, consumer, arc, Mer, Lua, AR

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com