Maingear SHIFT Super Stock X79 System Review
Software, Accessories, & First Boot
The size of the system bundle will depend on how many accessories you dropped into your virtual cart when configuring your rig. Maingear offers a number of peripherals and add-ons, including monitors, speakers, keyboards, mice, game controllers, and more.
Our system shipped with a plastic binder stuffed with items including:
- Maingear branded miniature toolkit
- Maingear t-shirt
- Mousepad
- Free game codes
- Windows 7 Home Premium install disc
- Asus Rampage IV Extreme driver disc
- LG Super Multi Blue install disc
- Various user manuals,
- Invoice
- Benchmark and burn-in report
We don't want to overstate the bundle, but Maingear's binder is the sort of the thing that lets you know you're shopping from a boutique system builder and not a bulk OEM.
;)
Maingear advertises a "Zero Bloatware" policy that's a refreshing change of a pace in this era of loading up pre-built systems with third-party software. Of course, you're paying a premium for this level of PC cleanliness, and performance robbing crapware is how some OEMs can sell their systems so cheap, but if given the choice, we'd rather shell out a few extra dollars for a pristine setup rather than spend the time cleaning up the pre-installed crud.
;)
At the time of this of this writing, Maingear has a number of special promotions going on, including several free game offers. If you remember to check the boxes, you can receive Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Just Cause 2, and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action for free when you order a SHIFT Super Stock X79 system.
The only pre-installed software that shipped with our review unit was Cyberlink's Blu-ray Disc Suite, a utility that ships with the LG optical drive that allows you to watch high-definition Blu-ray discs, burn media, and perform a handful of other tasks. By request, you can also have Maingear pre-install Microsoft's Security Essentials antivirus program. If not, Maingear drops an installation file on your desktop, along with another installation file for OpenOffice.
