Product Reviews

This package from Chillblast aims to provide everything you need for all-round entertainment, with plenty of powerful components as well as a 22 inch monitor and surround sound speakers.

The processor is an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 2.4MHz. With four processors packed into the space of one, there's a huge amount of power at your disposal, as our benchmarks attested. A 2D (general) score of 248% means no applications will pose the Chillblast any problems.

There's also a decent graphics card, capable of playing almost all the latest 3D games. It's an nVidia GeForce 8800GT, one of the best of the respected 8 series. Our Call of Duty 2 test was dispatched with an excellent score of 244%. A couple of months ago we'd have been more than pleased with this, but some of the systems in this month's group test offer even more 3D power and cost less than the Phoenix, though they may not have the same all-round breadth of features.

The monitor is capable of showing off your games and movies to maximum effect. It's an Acer 22-incher with a resolution of 1680x1050 pixels, plenty of space for keeping multiple applications in view at once, and ideal when several people want to watch a movie together. Image quality was good, with bright, vivid colours and sharp edges.

The bundled surround sound speakers won't satisfy the most determined of audiophiles but, again, they're perfectly adequate for gaming, desktop work and web browsing. The five satellites are

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complimented by a beefy subwoofer that adds the necessary punch to films and games, and music sounded lively and loud thanks to the 45 watts of audio power.

Windows Vista Home Premium is installed. Chillblast have opted for the usual 32-bit version, which renders the generous 4GB of RAM partially redundant, as this operating system can't handle that much. Still, you get access to around 3GB, more than enough to keep several demanding applications running without serious slowdowns - and you don't get the hassles associated with 64-bit Vista, which wouldn't work with most of the peripherals included with this machine, as compatible drivers haven't been released yet.

Ins and outs

Scattered around the Cooler Master case are a good number of ports and sockets. Right on top - ideal if you keep your PC under your desk - are a pair of USBs, microphone and headphone jacks, FireWire and, impressively, an eSATA port, the fastest connection for an external hard disk if you manage to fill up the 500GB unit already inside.

At the rear of the case are yet more ports: the graphics card offers two DVI-I monitor outputs, and there are six more USB sockets and another eSATA port as well as a full set of audio jacks for connecting those speakers.

The interior of the Chillblast will be attractive to users who favour internal upgrades. Four extra bays can be stuffed with hard disks, making storage prospects astronomical, and there are four 3.5 inch bays for adding card readers, Blu-ray disc drives and the like. The motherboard has a couple of slots for adding an extra graphics card, so you could upgrade to an SLI setup for more games performance. The remaining two slots would be ideal for adding a TV tuner alongside the Creative sound card.

There's very little to detract from the Phoenix's credentials as an ideal all-round home system. It's not the fastest system you could buy for this money, but it's more than acceptably quick, the storage is roomy, and the monitor and speakers make games and movies sound and look great.