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OP3 Europa review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £550
inc VAT

Plenty of connectivity options and a high-quality monitor, but performance isn't as good as other £550 PCs.

Specifications

3.8GHz AMD Phenom II X2 560, 4GB RAM, 22in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

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OP3 Europa Ports

The case is a decent size and has an interesting sliding front panel that hides the DVD re-writer, although it did feel flimsy. As well as two USB ports and front audio, there’s also a card reader fitted in the external 3 1/2in bay. A third USB port and support for most card formats is a useful addition. Inside the case, most of the loose cables have been bundled together, but they aren’t routed particularly well.

The motherboard is well designed for future upgrades. As well as two PCI slots and a single PCI-E x1 slot, there’s also a second PCI-Ex16 slot for dual graphics cards. The 550W power supply has enough extra connectors to install several extra disks or expansion cards. Around the back there are two USB3 ports for fast external storage, as well as four regular USB ports, an eSATA port and FireWire.

The bundled monitor is one of our favourites: BenQ’s G2222HDL. It’s one of the best budget monitors available, and image quality is excellent. The Logitech keyboard and mouse were also better than most budget peripherals; they were both comfortable to use and had quick response times. The included BullGuard Internet Security suite has a one-year subscription, which is a useful inclusion.

Even with a fantastic monitor and decent expansion options, the Europa’s performance is limited by the AMD processor and slow graphics card. CyberPower’s overclocked Intel machine is much faster, and can play games for the same price, making it the clear choice.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ***
Processor AMD Phenom II X2 560
Processor external bus 230MHz (2,300MHz HyperTransport)
Processor multiplier x16.5
Processor clock speed 3.8GHz
Processor socket AM3
Memory 4
Memory type DDR3
Maximum memory 16GB
Motherboard Asus M4A88T-V EVO/USB3
Motherboard chipset AMD 880G (SB700)

Ports

USB2 ports (front/rear) 3/4
Firewire ports (front/rear) 0/1
eSATA ports (front/rear) 0/1
Wired network ports 1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support none

Internal Expansion

Case midi tower
PCI-E x1 slots (free) 1 (1)
PCI-E x16 slots (free) 2 (1)
Free Serial ATA ports 3
Free memory slots 2
Free 3.5in drive bays 3

Hard Disk

Hard disk model(s) Samsung HD103SJ
Interface SATA II
Total storage capacity 1,000GB

Graphics

Graphics card(s) ATI Radeon HD 5570
Graphics/video ports VGA, DVI, HDMI

Sound

Sound Realtek ALC892
Sound outputs 7.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out
Speakers none

Removable Drives

Supported memory cards USB flash drive, CF, SD, MMC, Memory Stick Pro, xD
Optical drive type(s) DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Display

Viewable size 22 in
Screen model BenQ G2222HDL
Native resolution 1,920×1,080
Screen inputs VGA, DVI

Other Hardware

Keyboard Logitech K120
Mouse Logitech M120

Software

Software included BullGuard Internet Security
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option burn own restore disc

Buying Information

Warranty three years RTB
Price £550
Details www.op3.co.uk

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