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Mesh Elite Ice 5 Pro review

in Desktop PCs

Mesh Elite Ice 5 Pro

Verdict

Superb performance, great peripherals and even an SSD for a remarkable price

Review Date: 22 Sep 2009

Reviewed By: Mike Jennings

Price when reviewed: £869 (£999 inc VAT)

Overall Rating
5 stars out of 6

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
5 stars out of 6

Performance
3 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Details
Part Code Elite Ice 5 Pro
Review Date 22 Sep 2009
Price ex VAT £869
Price inc VAT £999
Overall rating 5 stars out of 6
Performance 3 stars out of 6
Features & Design 5 stars out of 6
Value for Money 5 stars out of 6
Warranty
Warranty 1 yr return to base
Basic specifications
Total hard disk capacity 814
RAM capacity 4.00GB
Screen size 24.0in
Processor
CPU family Intel Core i5
CPU nominal frequency 2.66GHz
CPU overclocked frequency N/A
Processor socket LGA 1156
HSF (heatsink-fan) Intel low profile cooler
Motherboard
Motherboard Asus P7P55D
Motherboard chipset Intel P55 Express
Conventional PCI slots free 2
Conventional PCI slots total 2
PCI-E x16 slots free 1
PCI-E x16 slots total 3
PCI-E x8 slots free 0
PCI-E x8 slots total 0
PCI-E x4 slots free 0
PCI-E x4 slots total 0
PCI-E x1 slots free 1
PCI-E x1 slots total 2
Internal SATA connectors 6
Internal SAS connectors 1
Internal PATA connectors 1
Internal floppy connectors 1
Wired adapter speed 1,000Mbits/sec
Memory
Memory type DDR3
Memory sockets free 2
Memory sockets total 4
Hard disk
Hard disk Samsung SpinPoint F1
Capacity 760GB
Hard disk usable capacity 698GB
Internal disk interface SATA/300
Spindle speed 7,200RPM
Cache size 32MB
Hard disk 2 make and model OCZ Vortex SSD
Hard disk 2 nominal capacity 64GB
Hard disk 2 formatted capacity 59
Hard disk 2 spindle speed N/A
Hard disk 2 cache size N/A
Hard disk 3 make and model N/A
Hard disk 3 nominal capacity N/A
Hard disk 4 make and model N/A
Hard disk 4 nominal capacity N/A
Drives
Optical drive Samsung SH-S223B
Optical disc technology DVD writer
Optical disk 2 make and model N/A
Optical disk 3 make and model N/A
Rear ports
USB ports (downstream) 10
FireWire ports 1
eSATA ports 1
PS/2 mouse port yes
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports 1
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports 0
Modem no
3.5mm audio jacks 6
Graphics card
Graphics card HIS ATI Radeon HD 4890
Multiple SLI/CrossFire cards? no
3D performance setting High
Graphics chipset ATI Radeon HD 4890
Graphics card RAM 1.00GB
DVI-I outputs 2
HDMI outputs 0
VGA (D-SUB) outputs 0
DisplayPort outputs 0
Number of graphics cards 1
Monitor
Monitor make and model Iiyama ProLite E2407HDS
Resolution screen horizontal 1,920
Resolution screen vertical 1,080
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Pixel response time 2ms
Contrast ratio 1,000:1
Screen brightness 300cd/m2
DVI inputs 1
HDMI inputs 1
VGA inputs 0
DisplayPort inputs 0
Additional Peripherals
Speakers N/A
Speaker type N/A
Sound card ATI HD Audio
Peripherals N/A
Case
Chassis NZXT Hush
Case format Full tower
Dimensions 193 x 513 x 418mm (WDH)
Power supply
Power supply X-Power ATX-700TW
Power supply rating 700W
Free drive bays
Free front panel 5.25in bays 3
Front ports
Front panel USB ports 2
Front panel FireWire ports 1
Front panel memory card reader no
Mouse & Keyboard
Mouse and keyboard Logitech Deluxe 660 wireless keyboard and mouse
Operating system and software
OS family Windows 7
Recovery method Recovery disk and partition
Software supplied Cyberlink video editing suite
Noise and power
Peak noise level 36.0dB(A)
Performance tests
Overall application benchmark score 1.89
2D graphics application benchmark score 2.11
Encoding application benchmark score 1.67
3D performance (crysis) low settings 49fps
3D performance setting High
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User comments

If you buy a Mesh, I hope your "buying experience" is a lot less gut wrenching than mine's been.

In essence (and to save a great deal of typing) a Slayer Dragon was delivered after a great deal of messing around with a US graphics card.

A month later it is back in for repair with a suspected US graphics card.

A shame as my last Mesh experience some 4 years ago was excellent. I won't be going near them again.

By derekdobson on 29 Oct 2009

Great machines. Poor service.

Their ordering system made an error. Deliveries were delayed without informing me. Emails go unanswered. Phone calls can be on hold for 20 minutes. And I still didn't have a PC. I cancelled, that's just too many things wrong.

The specs are very, very good. But woe betide you if you have a problem.

By John_Samuel on 4 Nov 2009

Shocking Service

Four weeks after placing my order and no sign of a delivery, I phoned Mesh and was told the processor was out of stock, but deliveries where due and my system would be shipped within four days. Five days later I was told the graphics cards where now out of stock and they could not give me a new delivery date. Needless to say I cancelled my order.

By xxxxx on 16 Nov 2009

Continuing supply problems

I've had a similar experience 4 weeks almost and no PC

Apparently there are no graphics cards available

The only comment from my elusive salesman is try ringing next week, my emails go unanswered, helpdesks that don't help or have any answers, try someone else than Mesh if you want a PC on time or at all I’m cancelling mine.

Strange the PC mags have no trouble getting a review PC and have no qualms recommending them either! shame

By Treeboy on 19 Nov 2009

MESH problems

I've had a similar experience 4 weeks almost and no PC

Apparently there are no graphics cards available

The only comment from my elusive salesman is try ringing next week, my emails go unanswered, helpdesks that don't help or have any answers, try someone else than Mesh if you want a PC on time or at all I’m cancelling mine.

Strange the PC mags have no trouble getting a review PC and have no qualms recommending them either! shame

By Treeboy on 19 Nov 2009

And another long wait

Ordered a similar Ice 5 750CS with i7 860 and 5850 graphics on the 1st Nov and still waiting. Supposedly the status is "Production Pending, Components Allocated to Machine", but it's been like this for over a week. Seemingly you're expected to pay the extra for Fast Track build - hopefully I'm not being further pushed down the queue by other purchasers choosing this option!

By jehu01 on 26 Nov 2009

Mesh change graphics card on Ice 5 750 CS

I ordered one of these excellent value beasts on the basis of the great reviews but failed to notice that Mesh have changed the grphics card and are no longer fitting the Radeon 4890 but the cheaper 5770.
Now some might prefer the 5770 but most will agree that the 4890 is a faster card.
I suppose that the change is in response to the shortage of ATI cards (see article on this site) and that ATI says that its 5770 cards are not affected by the shortage problem.
I'm in a quandry - do I press for the 4890 to be fitted and wait - or do I accept that I should have noticed the change?
In my view, the 750CS no longer meets the rave reviews that it had in the mag and on this site.

By redkiteyorks on 28 Nov 2009

... another long wait ended

In the interests of fairness, the Ice 5 750CS I ordered on 1st Nov (see above), was dispatched on 4th Dec and arrived the 7th after the weekend.

Everything fine so far, apart from the initial setup of Windows 7 which would hang on a black screen, rectified by rreinstalling from the supplied CD.

Better (any!) communication from Mesh over the delays in delivery would have been appreciated - I'm happy to accept that the system may be delayed as long as reasonable time frames and options are given. None were given in this instance.

By jehu01 on 9 Dec 2009

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