Wired2Fire Hellspawn XFire review

Wired2Fire’s first Hellspawn PC won a PC Pro award and a place on the A List. This machine follows suit, with two ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards running in CrossFireX matched to a very good specification.

The result is one of the best gaming performances we’ve seen, with the Hellspawn scoring 40fps in our 1,920 x 1,080 very high-quality benchmark. And in our 2,560 x 1,600 test it managed 28fps, an almost playable rate.

Processing power is provided by Intel’s Core i5-750 chip, overclocked from its stock 2.66GHz to 3.8GHz and cooled by a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF. The resulting benchmark result of 2.45 is impressive but not quite as quick as the original Hellspawn with its overclocked 2.66GHz Core-i7. Nevertheless, the XFire is still one of the fastest machines we’ve seen, offering enough power for the most demanding applications.

Elsewhere, the Wired2Fire impresses. The 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 hard disk is from the same stable as the 750GB drive that won our last hard disk Labs test, and the LG Blu-ray reader scored top marks when we reviewed it. The 4GB of included RAM is more than enough, too, and is clocked at 1,600Mhz.

The Antec Nine Hundred Two chassis is remarkably tidy given the wealth of hardware inside. It isn't the quietest machine we’ve seen – two 200mm fans and the pair of GPUs contribute to a near-constant whirr – but its noise level isn't intrusive. Nevertheless, the Mesh Elite Ice 5 Pro could be a better option if low noise takes precedence over power, as it uses the excellent NZXT Hush chassis, which has several noise-cancelling features.

Samsung's SyncMaster 2433BW is one of the best 24in panels around, with a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 and superb colour accuracy and sharp detail, and the Razer Salmosa gaming mouse offers both comfort and pin-point accuracy. Logitech’s X-240 speakers are a decent 2.1 set, and slightly punchier than the Logitech S220 speakers we’re used to seeing.

Wired2Fire combines devastating power with quality throughout its PC and peripherals. The Hellspawn XFire is certainly expensive but, when its all-round performance is considered, it’s worth the money

Author: Mike Jennings