Product Reviews

AMD has enjoyed some success with its 3D-accelerated K6-2 processor. Last year saw the company release a sequence of ever-faster versions, culminating in the pre-Christmas launch of a 400MHz chip, which was rapidly adopted by Mesh for its Elite K6 3D desktop.

Both AMD and Mesh are after the home market and the smaller budget with the K6-2 but, while some cost savings have been made by not following the Intel Slot 1 route, the Elite's core configuration is by no means cut down. This makes sense since home users tend to be multimedia and games enthusiasts, so the 128Mb of fast PC100 SDRAM, the capacious and speedy 7,200rpm 10Gb hard disk and the 8Mb AGP graphics are good inclusions.

The medium-sized midi-tower case has an unremarkable fascia design and an audible but not markedly irritating cooling fan. The effect is along the lines of sensible shoes: sturdy and not too expensive, with an emphasis on the practical.

The keyboard Mesh supplied is an unimpressive object of middling build quality and robustness, with a distinctive and potentially annoying brittle action. For once the mouse wasn't made by Microsoft or Logitech, but it's a pretty good copy of an IntelliMouse, right down to the clickable scroll wheel between the buttons. Handling and character were similar to the Microsoft version, so it was pleasant enough to use.

Audio is dealt with internally by an Ensoniq PCI bus wavetable sound card based on a Creative Labs processor, and externally by a pair of Yamaha YST-M20 DSP speakers. These speakers are a popular choice with PC manufacturers for the simple reason that they're relatively inexpensive and produce pretty good audio quality. Together with the Ensoniq/Creative sound card they make up a solid, versatile sound

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subsystem. It could be expanded by adding a Yamaha subwoofer if you want a bit more punch in the bass.

Graphics are handled by an 8Mb Matrox Millennium II AGP graphics card working in conjunction with a 17in Taxan Ergovision 735 monitor rated to the latest TCO 99 emissions and environmental standards. The unit is built around an FST with a screen diagonal of 16in. It gives a vertical refresh rate of 85Hz at a resolution of 1,024 x 768 for a pleasantly flicker-free image.

Setup is achieved via the usual OSD. It offers quite a comprehensive array of geometry tuners for tidying the edges of the picture, along with a choice of several preset colour temperatures and an RGB-adjustable custom colour channel in case you need it.

Image quality was fair but not excellent because of a slight, generalised lack of focus. This wasn't really enough to reduce the readability of the screen, but it was sufficient to keep the Taxan out of the top rank as far as picture clarity is concerned.

When I opened the case, I was greeted with the usual, fanatically tidy build that's characteristic of Mesh review samples. The smallish Asus motherboard is tucked neatly at the lower back of the case, providing excellent access to the memory sockets (of which one remains free), the expansion slots and the rear of the drive compartments.

Although this is a Socket 7 motherboard, it's been reorganised along the same ATX lines now standard to Slot 1 boards, so that the processor socket doesn't get in the way of the expansion slots. There are five of these free in total - three PCI and two ISA - with one shared backplate, giving you a choice of two of each type or three PCI to one ISA. As there's a V.90 voice/fax/modem installed already, this should be enough for most people. There are also two 5.25in and two 3.5in empty drive bays. Only the lowest 3.5in bay is internal only.

The Mesh doesn't deliver the same speed as some comparable Pentium II/400 machines, even if it isn't far off. The problem for AMD is that manufacturers are now delivering systems based on the 400MHz and 450MHz Pentium II processors at incredibly low prices. Mesh is to be congratulated for offering such a high level of components and a decent 17in monitor at this price, but if maximum speed for minimum cost is your thing, there are better systems on the market.