Product Reviews

Technologies that once seemed prohibitively expensive often drop quickly in price. Quad-core processors are no different. PC Nextday's latest quad-core PC costs a mere £504. Whether the compromises made to accommodate its powerful processor are the right ones depend on your computing needs.

The PC has an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor and 2GB of RAM. It sped through our benchmarks with a particularly high score of 439 in our video-encoding test. However, the Zoostorm is remarkably quiet.

One compromise made to accommodate

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the Q6600 is the use of an integrated graphics processor. If you want to play 3D games or connect a second monitor for extra desktop space, you'll have to buy a dedicated PCI Express graphics card.

Another compromise is the basic 19in Cibox monitor, although it is a widescreen model and is fairly bright. There was a slight blueish cast to whites and images looked a bit grainy, but it's otherwise adequate for everyday use. The weedy-sounding stereo speakers won't do justice to your music, though.

If the 250GB hard disk isn't spacious enough, the Zoostorm can accommodate another two internal SATA disks. There's also space for adding another optical drive. The two empty PCI slots and the PCI Express x1 slot can be used to add peripherals such as a TV tuner or sound card, although if you plan lots of upgrades then you may need to replace the 350W power supply.

There are a lot of compromises for a quad-core processor that won't provide much - if any - benefit in most of today's applications. If you're desperate to get a quad-core chip the Zoostorm is good value, but it's certainly not a well-rounded package.