Product Reviews

With Intel's easily clockable Pentium 4 getting ever nearer to 3GHz, AMD is having to squeeze every last bit out of its ageing Athlon, which means there have been a few more changes to the latest chip - seen here in the Mesh Matrix XP 2700+RD97. To get the extra performance, AMD has increased the die size from 80mm2 to 84mm2 - spreading the eight million transistors over a larger surface area makes for lower thermals and thus higher clock speeds.

Not that 2.17GHz looks that special on paper. You might be asking how AMD has the nerve to brand a 2.17GHz chip with a 2700+ model number. The answer's easy enough - the front side bus speed has also been increased to 333MHz, which, combined with the Asus DualDDR nForce2-based A7N8X motherboard and two Corsair PC2700 CAS 2 DIMMs, makes for a synchronous system that kicks the posterior of any other system we've seen.

If you want proof, just take a look at the 2D PC Pro benchmark graph below - the overall result of 1.84 is miles ahead of anything else we've reviewed. By comparison, the 2.8GHz Pentium 4-based Evesham Evolution 2.8 (see Reviews, issue 97, p113) was lagging behind with 1.62, and even the Systemax Inspire 7312 (see Reviews, issue 97, p114), based on a 2.13GHz Athlon XP 2600+, is already looking dated with its 1.65.

Even the 3D performance is superb, with a Sapphire ATi Radeon 9700 knocking out frame rates beyond expectations. We ran 3DMark2001 SE at 1,024 x 768 in 32-bit colour with 32-bit textures and the Mesh smugly returned a score of 14,694 - peaking at up to 154fps (frames per second) in the Nature test - and this only dropped to 12,197 when running at 1,280 x 1,024. The only system to beat this is the aforementioned 2.8GHz Evesham, but its score of 14,728 is just marginally in front.

So AMD has conquered both 2D and 3D performance, but, more importantly, has done it without charging an extortionate amount for the processor. The fact that Mesh can build a PC this fast, with all the features you need for just £1,099, is impressive to say the least.

Okay, so it doesn't have the DVD burner

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found in the Multivision Vision Ultima XP (see p54), but it still has a 40x/12x/48x TEAC CD-RW for high-speed removable storage, as well as a 16x DVD-ROM.

Combine this with the on-board Nvidia APU hardware-accelerated, six-channel audio and Creative Inspire 5300 speakers and you've got a great multimedia setup for watching DVD movies with surround sound. However, the extra features - such as EAX Advanced HD - from a card like the new Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (see p155) are missed, but a few omissions have to be expected for the price.

Thankfully, the monitor isn't a victim of corner cutting. The 19in Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 920 is a fantastic-quality CRT that offers bright vibrant colours, a sharp picture and a lot of screen area - you can run it quite happily at 1,280 x 1,024 without squinting.

A lot of thanks can go to Asus for providing so much on the motherboard that you don't need any more PCI cards. In fact, the only PCI card in the Mesh is a 56K modem, leaving four slots free. The six-channel audio, four USB 2 ports and two Ethernet connectors can all be found on the backplane.

Serial ATA is also integrated on to the board, providing a great upgrade path if you ever buy a new hard disk. Serial ATA has proved itself to have a significant performance improvement on the Asus A7V8X (see p148), although the IDE-connected 120GB IBM Deskstar 120GXP hard disk still offers reasonable performance and a lot of storage space.

All the drives are connected with rounded IDE cables, which save on clutter inside and provide easy access to the board. Similarly, Mesh can be applauded for its superb case design - you just unlock the back clip, push down the catch on the side panel and the insides are all yours.

Meanwhile, there's a basic software bundle provided, incorporating Windows XP Home and Lotus SmartSuite Millennium 9.7, so you've got enough to start off with. There's also a three-year, return-to-base warranty supplied as standard. Although it's not on-site, it covers both parts and labour for a whole three years, which should see through the machine's lifespan.

Three years is a long time in computing, and with this level of performance the Mesh Matrix XP 2700+RD97 should see gaming enthusiasts - and anyone else for that matter - through the course. There's also a wide upgrade path available if things ever start to slow down. The most impressive aspect of this PC, though, is the price. This kind of new technology and performance would usually cost a lot more, but the fact that a PC this fast can be bought with a superb 19in monitor and 5.1 speaker set for just £1,099 means Mesh, AMD and Nvidia all deserve a pat on the back.