Product Reviews

The latest games feature increasingly detailed and realistic graphics that depend on a component of Windows called DirectX. The latest version, DirectX 10, can handle new effects that weren't possible with DirectX 9, but is currently only available with Vista and demands a compatible graphics card.

Mesh's Elite E6600 R600 desktop PC comes equipped with one of ATI's first DirectX 10 graphics cards, the high-end Radeon HD2900XT. As our 3D benchmark score shows, the Elite has no trouble playing demanding games at high resolutions with detailed graphics settings. It stacks up favourably against nVidia's rival GeForce 8800GTX card.

Bizarrely, though, the HD2900XT doesn't support ATI's Unified Video Decoder (UVD), which is present in the cheaper HD2400 and HD2600 cards. UVD allows the graphics card to assist in the playback of HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies, freeing up the PC's main processor for other tasks. This is disappointing, although it's not a critical flaw unless you plan on upgrading the Elite with a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive (neither is included) and like to watch movies while performing other tasks on your PC.

If you want even faster 3D graphics, you can plug another ATI graphics card into the motherboard's second PCI Express x16 card slot. Doing so would block off one of the three empty PCI slots, but this isn't a huge inconvenience, since the things you'd most likely add on a PCI card - wireless networking, FireWire and eSATA connectors, for example - are already integrated into the motherboard.

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Elite is more than capable of handling more serious general work, such as video and image editing tasks, as the results of our 2D application benchmarks show. With 2GB of RAM, running several applications simultaneously shouldn't be a problem.

The bundled 22-inch widescreen monitor has a native resolution of 1680x1050 pixels, which gives you a spacious Windows desktop. It's fine for everyday tasks and movies, but flawed for image editing. While areas of pure white were displayed brightly and consistently, with wide viewing angles, there was noticeable dithering (speckling caused by the inability to differentiate enough shades of colour) in our greyscale and colour transition tests. This is disappointing, and we'd expect more from a monitor included with a PC at this price.

A roomy 500GB hard disk is included, and there's room for up to three more hard disks. You can choose to configure these as a RAID 0, 1 or 10 array if you like, to help ensure your data is always safe. There's also room for three more DVD drives and a floppy drive. You won't need to add a memory card reader, as one is already built in.

The 5.1 surround sound speakers, made by Creative, are good enough for watching DVDs and gaming, but music fans may want a better set - they sound woolly and muffled overall. We'd have liked to see an EAX-compatible sound card included, as this can produce more realistic sound effects in games that support it, such as Doom 3.

While the Logitech wireless mouse is fine for everyday use, the wireless keyboard's springy keys can be tiresome to type on for extended periods. Dedicated gamers and frequent typists might prefer to replace them with a more responsive USB set.

The Elite E6600 R600 is a fast gaming PC that will be able to cope with the latest demanding games for some time to come, and is quick in Windows too. It's expandable, with room inside for more PCI cards and extra drives. The three-year onsite warranty is undeniably generous. Unfortunately, the monitor and other peripherals don't do full justice to this impressive system.