Chillblast Fusion Sidewinder in Desktop PCs

Chillblast was one of the first manufacturers in PC Pro's Labs to routinely take one of Intel's mid-range processors and overclock it, to stunning effect. The Fusion Sidewinder continues the tradition.

From the moment we pulled the Chillblast from its packaging, we had a good feeling about it. The Antec Three Hundred case is a superb start. It's well-built, sturdy, has plenty of expansion potential and good airflow - a fine building block on which to rest any PC. Peer inside, and it's clear this PC has been constructed with a level of care and attention that eludes many manufacturers.

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 rests in an Asus P5Q motherboard, and Chillblast has pushed it from its standard 2.4GHz up to an impressive 3.2GHz. The choice of an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler keeps things from getting too toasty, even under pressure, and the end result is a supremely fast PC - the fastest here by some margin.

Turning our attention to gaming, the Fusion Sidewinder couldn't defeat the SLI-equipped Zoostorm, but came very close, equalling the Eclipse's 40 frames per second in our high-detail Crysis test.

Elsewhere, the Chillblast's specification is solid and unfussy. The Samsung Spinpoint F1 hard disk provides an ample 750GB of storage, and the basic Logitech S220 speakers are a diminutive but good-sounding budget 2.1 set. The monitor is excellent, however. It's a Samsung SM-223BW and provides sterling image quality. Whites are pure and bright, skin tones natural, and although the default picture settings are a bit too bright, a few simple tweaks make all the difference.

The Fusion Sidewinder is a fantastic all-round PC. It doesn't offer the generous extras of the PC Specialist system, or the gaming grunt of the Zoostorm, but treads a wonderfully-judged middle ground. Build quality goes hand-in-hand with outstanding performance and is matched with a two-year collect and return warranty. For £700 (exc VAT) you won't find a better PC.

Author: Sasha Muller