Mesh XGS ProFire review

Although it has a handle on top that gives the Mesh XGS ProFire the appearance of a gaming machine, we were quite taken by its appearance. The classy black grilles on the front and neat, swooping handle go together surprisingly well.

For this kind of money you’ll be expecting raw power and the XGS ProFire doesn’t disappoint. The Intel Core i5-760 processor is a brilliant choice. This model is a true quad-core chip, rather than the majority of the rest of the range, which have two cores and Hyper Threading.

Mesh has given the processor an extra boost by overclocking it from 2.8GHz to 3.6GHz. Combined with the 4GB of DDR3 RAM (all of which can be used thanks to 64-bit Windows), this PC stormed through our tests scoring 159 overall.

We have seen PCs with this overclocked processor score a fair bit higher, but these have been noisier. Using a large heatsink and 120mm fan, a 120mm fan at the rear and large 200mm fan on the top, Mesh manages to keep this computer running both cool and quiet, with only a distant hum coming from the case.

Fortunately, there’s the graphics performance to keep up thanks to the ATI Radeon HD 5850 graphics card. This powered through all of our tests managing a staggering 88.9fps in Call of Duty 4 and 44fps in Crysis at a resolution of 1,680×1,050. Turning the resolution up to 1,920×1,080 we managed 41fps in Crysis.

This means that you can definitely get the most out of the 22in Full HD AOC F22+ monitor. This display has a funky look, ditching a regular stand for a foot that props the screen up at the correct angle. Its quality is pretty good. Whites were bright and blacks dark.

Colours edged towards realistic rather than being bright and punchy. A slightly speckled appearance in bright areas is visible on close inspection and the backlight bleeds through slightly at the bottom, but neither is bad enough to ruin the screen. There’s only a single VGA input, though, so you can only use a single device with this screen.

There’s a lot else to like about this computer. The Cherry keyboard and mouse are both pretty basic but comfortable to use. We found that the keyboard’s keys were a touch spongy, but we had no problem typing accurately at speed.

The 1TB hard disk should provide plenty of room for most people’s files. If you want to upgrade there’s plenty of room inside the case, although it’s slightly disappointing that there are no USB3 ports for super-fast external storage. You could add these later using an expansion card in the free PCI-E x1 slot (the second slot is blocked by the graphics card). This would still leave three PCI slots for expansion.

Should you want to upgrade the memory, there are two free slots and you can add up to 16GB in total. This should prove more than enough for even the most demanding of computer users.

It’s good to see that the XGS ProFire comes with a three-year warranty. The first three months are collect and return, with the remaining time RTB. Still, the lengthy period should add some peace of mind that if anything goes wrong, you can get your PC repaired.

Considering how quiet it is, the performance of this computer is pretty impressive. With a fast graphics card and decent monitor this is a fantastic all-round PC. However, if you can afford £50 more, Palicomp’s Core i5 Blast 760OC4-24 is faster in Windows, has a better monitor and more up-to-date expansion options, including USB3. It only has a one-year warranty, but if that doesn’t bother you, it’s a better buy.