Product Reviews

If the term 'overclocking' conjures up images of pale-skinned basement-dwelling geeks with screwdrivers instead of fingers, here's a PC that will re-educate you. Running PC processors at higher speeds than their makers intended is a trick traditionally associated with super-fast gaming rigs hand-tweaked by experts, but these days it's much more useful and exciting at the lower end of the price scale.

Chillblast's Fusion Shinobi demonstrates how pre-overclocked systems can save everyday PC buyers a great deal of money. The benchmark score on the opposite page would imply that this is a very fast PC, and indeed it is, but all that power is squeezed from a lowly Pentium Dual-Core processor. These chips were brought in by Intel, under the old Pentium name, as a low-cost alternative to the successful Core 2 Duo family, and they're most commonly found in budget home PCs where performance isn't the first priority. Typically, they're ready and willing to keep Windows Vista and everyday programs running, just not quick enough to handle intensive tasks like video editing, applying effects to high-resolution photos, or playing demanding games without some degree of compromise or slowdown.

But if you tinker around in the PC's BIOS, as Chillblast has done, and boost the core frequency from the standard 2GHz (two billion instructions processed every second) to a much more potent 3GHz, a Pentium Dual-Core can perform just as impressively as a processor that would cost you several times the price. One common penalty for running a chip faster than intended is overheating, but in this instance the trick has been achieved using the standard basic Intel cooler rather than bolting on extra fins or fans, showing just how efficient Intel's current processors are. Chillblast has backed up this speed boost by including 2GB of memory and a high-end Asus motherboard to ensure everything stays reliable.

And reliable it proved. During testing, we had several applications open at once - flicking between a Word document while editing an image in Photoshop and browsing the Internet for more software to add to the mix - and the Fusion Shinobi coped effortlessly. Admittedly, the issue of heat did arise: the machine got a tad louder as the case fans sped up to keep things cool. But that's a small price to pay for a level of performance way beyond the usual at this budget.

You'll also be able to enjoy 3D games on it, despite the affordable price, thanks to ATI's latest mid-range family of graphics cards. The Radeon 3850 may not have you racing through the jungles of Crysis with all the fancy bells and whistles enabled, but it managed an eminently playable 37 frames per second at 1280x1024 pixel resolution with medium settings. Admittedly, you miss out on some of the more glorious lighting effects, but this cutting-edge game was far more enjoyable than we imagined it could be on a mid-range card.

High video settings were slightly beyond its capabilities,

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but there are very few current games that require anywhere near the muscle demanded by Crysis. As if to prove this, the Chillblast achieved 38 frames per second in our usual 3D test, in Call of Duty 2, complete with the graphical wonders of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. You'd have no problems at all running slightly older games.

Full package

Performance aside, the Shinobi has plenty else going for it. The name, incidentally, comes from the case, rather than what's inside it; we're not entirely sure why such a standard piece of hardware gets such an overblown moniker, but it does look smart and there's plenty of room inside. The single 320GB hard disk sits lonely in an otherwise empty rack, so you can add extra storage to your heart's content, and you also have a selection of unoccupied PCI and PCI Express slots to install any expansion cards you might need. The 500W power supply should be enough for a second graphics card if you wanted to add one later.

The DVD writer can burn to single layer formats at a speedy 20x, and, like most these days, also records dual layer (DL) and DVD-RAM discs. There's no memory card reader - probably not a huge issue unless you take a lot of photos - but slots are provided on the front if you want to add one yourself. The power button is rather awkwardly placed on the side, and you might find the six USB ports even more difficult to reach around the back - top or front-mounted ports are surely more convenient for most setups. But alongside them on the rear there's a useful eSATA port, allowing you to add an external hard disk that goes as fast as an internal, as well as FireWire to connect your MiniDV camcorder.

The graphics card has two DVI ports, both with the HDCP support needed to play new copy protected high definition movies. One of these will hook up to the excellent 22 inch monitor supplied. It's a widescreen model from LG, with a resolution of 1680x1050 pixels, and its very fast response time of 2ms means it's ideal for games and entertainment as well as general Windows tasks. We were impressed by the accuracy of the colours, and the backlight was good and even.

There are no built-in speakers on the monitor, but that's not an issue as Chillblast also bundles a proper external 5.1 surround set. They're from a brand called Gony, and while the name might be amusingly unfamiliar, that isn't reflected in the quality of the sound. They're loud, with a decent level of bass, and will certainly fill a small room with atmosphere.

The Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse are suitably comfortable companions, and Windows Vista Home Premium completes the package. A single year of collect-and-return warranty is the only aspect that seems less than generous.

The tweaking of budget processors - as seen here, in the Cyberpower system on page 31, and in last month's Top Value RL Modula 42000C (search for 147834) - opens up a host of possibilities. If you can leave the messy details of overclocking to the PC maker and get reliable performance at a higher speed, why bother breaking the bank for the latest ultra-fast chips? Not only does this give system builders the opportunity to offer more speed for a given budget, it should also spur on the chip makers to price faster processors competively.

With this in mind, plus the great monitor, speakers and graphics card, the £704 Chillblast Fusion Shinobi is a fine example of getting more for less.