PC Review: Mesh Elite Core 2 Duo PCW

The latest Core 2 Duo PC to arrive in the PCW Labs is Mesh's Elite Core 2 Duo PCW.

Mesh has gone for the E6600 Core 2 Duo processor, which has a slightly slower clock speed (2.4GHz) compared to the E6700 (2.67GHz) as seen in the Hi-Grade and Evesham Core 2 Duo PCs we've previously reviewed.

As expected, 2GB of DDR2 400MHz Ram supports this processor.

Read our Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processor reviews for more information on Intel's new CPUs.

The system is housed in a smart looking and sturdy aluminium case. A door flips open at the front and provides access to the DVD drives. It also reveals a Musketeer control panel , which provides temperature information and the ability to change fan speeds.

Instead of opting for the more common Nvidia SLI dual graphics, Mesh uses an ATI Radeon X1900XT and a Radeon X1900 Crossfire Edition card; both have 512MB of devoted Ram.

In Sysmark 2004, the Elite Core 2 Duo PCW sits just behind Evesham's Solar Plus . The E6600-driven Mesh managed 322, while Evesham's E6700 beat it by 11 points with a score of 333.

However, the tables were turned in PCmark05. The Mesh clocked up a score of 6,653 while Evesham's PC lagged slightly behind with 6,476 points.

In the graphically-intensive 3Dmark05 benchmark, the Elite Core 2 Duo achieved a score of 9,841. Due to system not being set up in Crossfire mode when we received it and the short amount of time we had the system for, we don't at present have the Crossfire score for 3Dmark05, but we expect it to sit around the 11,500 mark. Keep and eye on our benchmarking site for updates.

The Viewsonic VX922 monitor is a 19in model and has a 2ms response time, which will please gamers. What won't go down so well is the fact that, like most other 19in TFTs, it has a native resolution of 1,280 x 1,024.

Considering the powerful graphics capabilities of this PC, limiting it to this relatively low resolution really holds it back. It helps keep the price down, but we feel Mesh would have been better off biting the bullet and going for a 20in or 21in model.

Other components include a 500GB hard drive, two optical drives (one DVD-RW, one DVD-Rom), a Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse set and a software bundle including Microsoft Works 8.5 and a Cyberlink video suite.

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition is the operating system of choice, but you'll need to invest in a TV tuner if you want to take full advantage of all it has to offer.

A set of Creative Inspire T7900 speakers are also included. This eight speaker set (seven satellites, one sub-woofer) might take a while to set up and will results in a clutter of wires, but they're a great way to add surround sound to the powerful graphics.

This is yet another impressive Core 2 Duo system. Although opting for the slightly slower E6600 processor doesn't appear to have impacted on performance too much, we would have preferred to see a larger monitor to make the most of the powerful graphics.

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