Maingear has introduced the Pulse, a small form-factor PC featuring the NVIDIA Ion chipset. The basic configuration ships with a 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an integrated GeForce 9300 GPU, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. The Ion components and an 80-percent efficient power supply are claimed to reduce power consumption, while customers can also add a GeForce 9800 GT ECO GPU or 65-watt Intel Core 2 Quad processors. The company claims a fully-loaded Pulse draws less than 145 watts under load while gaming.

The systems are available in a variety of configurations, with options for Core 2 Duo CPUs up to 3.33GHz or Core 2 Quads up to 2.6GHz. Customers can also add a 512MB GeForce 9600 GT ECO or a 512MB/1GB GeForce 9800 GT ECO GPU.

The basic Pulse system is now available and carries a price of $800.