Mesh Elite Quad Storm Pro

In a world populated by exotic-looking hardware such as the iMac and the Commodore XX, it's easy to overlook the systems produced by British manufacturers such as Mesh and PC Specialist. But just compare the price difference between the Commodore and the Mesh Elite Quad Storm Pro - £900 inc VAT is enough of a saving to make the most discerning aesthete pay attention.

So along with the Commodore's paint scheme, what else do you sacrifice in return for your £900 profit? Not much - the Mesh's key specifications are something to behold. The Commodore might have Intel's second-best quad-core chip installed, but Mesh has installed the true top-of-the-line chip, the QX6850. Running at 3GHz on each of its four cores, and backed up by a whopping 4GB of RAM, the Elite Quad Storm Pro was born to make light work out of demanding processing jobs. It ran through our demanding 3ds Max benchmark at a remarkable pace.

The hunt for compromises is equally pointless elsewhere. The Commodore has 800GB of storage, but even that's beaten by the Mesh's 1TB, supplied in the form of two 500GB disks running in a RAID array. The graphics processing power is comparable, too, with a single ATi Radeon HD 2900 XT capable of driving the latest games. Our Call of Duty 2 test, run at its highest settings, produced a respectable 35fps. Even Call of Juarez, at its high settings, ran at 14fps. External storage is supplied by a single optical drive - capable of writing to all formats of standard-definition disc including DVD-RAM - and a memory card reader, which caters for all the major formats.

Unlike the Commodore, the Mesh is a complete system, too. Add sufficiently high-end components to the Commodore and you'll be looking at a final bill directly comparable to that of a second-hand hatchback. By contrast, the Mesh comes with a Mirai DML-522W100, which has become a stalwart of mid-range PCs. The 22in panel has a 1,680 x 1,200 resolution, which is more than enough for tasks such as high-resolution photo and video editing. It's a good-quality panel: the only caveat is for film and game fans - colour saturation is lacking and, while this is potentially desirable in the quest for colour accuracy, it makes entertainment apps less punchy.

But if the panel represents a tiny compromise, there's little else to grumble about. The motherboard is the Asus P5W Deluxe, built around the Intel 975X chipset and there's plenty of expandability, including a spare CrossFire-compatible graphics card slot. There are also six spare SATA ports, plus an external SATA port for high-speed external backup. Two ports on the backplane support Gigabit Ethernet.

Sound is catered for by the onboard Realtek HD audio chip, which pumps 8.1-channel sound via 3.5mm jacks, or via either the coaxial or optical S/PDIF ports. The accompanying speakers, a 5.1 set of Creative T6100s, are reasonable: they'll never be mistaken for high-end audio equipment, but they're good enough for a study or games room.

The only real disappointment with the Mesh is the out-of-the-box experience. Buying the Commodore might incur a call from a bank manager, but at least you can see where the money has gone. The Mesh uses the same chassis it's had for years Admittedly, the Elite is fast, but it's like taking the spirit of a Ferrari and hiding it in the chassis of a 1983 Ford Fiesta (to continue our car analogy).

Looks aren't the only disappointment for the money - the warranty is a mere year's on-site service. Should anything go wrong after that, you'll be left with a terrifying bill. But if you fancy playing a more than reasonable set of odds, the Elite Quad Storm Pro is a lot of PC for not much money.

Author: Dave Stevenson