Mesh Xtreme i7 920 review

Mesh has included a full set of peripherals with this PC, too. The Iiyama PLE2403WS-B1 monitor is a budget model that, nevertheless, provides decent quality. Colour reproduction is impressive, and there's no potentially distracting backlight bleed. The budget price does mean that there's no adjustable stand, but the presence of an HDMI port is ideal for entertainment use.

The 5.1 Creative Inspire T6200 speaker set pumps out decent sound, thanks in part to the dedicated sound card. It's reasonably high quality - although audiophiles will still want specialist equipment - and suitably immersive thanks to the five satellites, although we'd still give the audio advantage to the Chillblast, which also comes with dedicated sound card, as well as slightly better 7.1 speakers.

Our major qualm surrounding the Mesh Xtreme i7 920, though, is the price. At £1,701, it's almost £400 more expensive than the Fusion Juggernaut, and a massive £635 more than Cyberpower's current A List champion. There's undoubtedly a premium to be paid for new technology - and the motherboard, DDR3 RAM and CPU aren't cheap - but we'd be more understanding if the Xtreme i7 920 included one of the quicker Core i7 parts. As it is, though, this is far too expensive to wholeheartedly recommend, despite the stellar performance - only early adopters need apply.

Author: Mike Jennings