Mesh Ultimate Stealth QX9770 review

While most machines in this Labs have extravagant cases, Mesh has chosen to go down the tried-and-tested route. Its Ultimate Stealth QX9770 is housed in an unassuming Cooler Master Cosmos which, when compared with other PCs this month, looks middle of the road.

A quick glance at the spec, however, reveals the Stealth's strength. The processor, an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, is the fastest CPU in the Labs on paper - its core clock speed of 3.2GHz, 12MB of L2 cache and a 1,600MHz FSB ensure a respectable score of 2.07 in our 2D benchmarks, even though it can't match the overclocked CyberPower or theCore i7 Scan.

Gaming duties are handled by threeNvidia GeForce GTX 280 cards inTriple SLI - a configuration that easilydispatched our 3D tests. Its performance in our Crysis test wasn't far behind the front-running CyberPower or Scan machines - the Ultimate Stealth hit 50fps in our 1,920 x 1,200, very high quality test.

Call of Duty 4 and Call of Juarez provided decent results, but lagged behind slightly. More demanding resolutions in Call of Duty 4, too, saw the Mesh consistently losing out to every other system on test.

The case is still relatively quiet, though, and makes up for its unremarkable looks with tool-free entry, lots of free drive bays and acres of expansion space.

Future potential isn't the only thing that makes an ultimate PC, though. Even though the Mesh offers plenty of scope for upgrades - and healthy performance, especially in our 2D tests - the Ultimate Stealth falls down in other areas. The lack of customisation, attention to detail and slightly disappointing gaming performance mean that, this month at least, the Mesh doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts.

Author: Mike Jennings