City of Industry (CA) - Shuttle, the makers of toaster-sized barebones systems, is getting into the premium gaming market with its hand-painted Shuttle SDXi system. Striking red flames have been airbrushed on the chassis, along with the Razer Mouse and Saitek gaming keyboard. But the computer doesn't just have looks; the insides are powered by 10,000 RPM Western Digital Raptor hard drives and at least 2GB of Crucial Ballistix RAM.

Click here for pictures of the Shuttle SDXi...

Buyers can upgrade the default Core 2 Duo E6600 processor to a quad-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700 for $1200 more. Two ATI Radeon X1950s in Crossfire mode should provide enough graphics for the most intense games, while the CoolIT liquid-cooling system should keep temperatures low.

The SDXi comes with two fast-spinning Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM drives in 150 GB, 250 GB or 400 GB capacities. At least 2 GB of Crucial Ballistix memory is included, but users can customize the computer to have more.

Shuttle spearheaded the compact PC craze with its small-form factor barebones systems that let users customize drives, processors and memory. In recent years, however, the company has tried to branch out into pre-made systems and multimedia boxes.

Prices for the SDXi range from $3450 for the "basic" model to $6000 for a tricked-out version. The price does not include a monitor, but buyers do have an option to add a monitor for a slight discount.