Another month, another leap in processing power. The latest milestone to be passed is the 2.53GHz mark, the clock speed of Intel's latest Pentium 4 processor. It's this high-powered chip that forms the basis of Evesham's new machine, the aptly named Evolution 2.5.

Initially, the Evesham refused to work, so our labs engineer was called into action, and a loose-fitting graphics card was soon identified as the cause.

That little hurdle cleared, we got down to the tests. Is the Evolution 2.5 the fastest PC we've reviewed? Well, with a SYSmark score of 236, the answer is yes. Is that impressive? Of course, but we wouldn't expect anything less of a £2,000 computer.

Alongside the fast-paced processor sits 512Mb of DDR memory and, for long-term storage, the 100Gb hard disk drive is unlikely to run out of room.

The machine comes with an LG 19in monitor. Our review model was missing this particular item, but fortunately the Flatron 915FT is a popular choice among PC manufacturers, and we had a couple in the labs. It's a fine display; flat-screened and expansive. We're sure Evesham's stock doesn't differ from the competition.

When it's not supposed to be making any noise, the Evolution idled at just under 41dB in our new NoiseMark test. But we have to report that a boisterous CD-RW drive upped this figure to almost 49dB when in action.

The Evolution 2.5 is king of the PC castle - for now.

Price: £1,996.33 (inc. VAT)

Specifications:

Contact: Evesham 0870 160 9500
www.evesham.com