Ginger6 G6 Apollo 2300 review
Although the Blu-ray re-writer and 8GB RAM are appealing if you're into video making, many will prefer better graphics and more upgrade potential.
Specifications
2.8GHz Intel Core i5-2300, 8GB RAM, 21.5in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Ginger 6’s G6 Apollo 2300 is a complete Sandy Bridge system with a few more multimedia features than most. The most immediately obvious are 8GB of RAM and a Blu-ray rewriter, which could be useful if you’re interested in editing your own videos and burning them to Blu-ray.
If you’re not a budding Robert Rodriguez, there’s a less to draw the eye. The case is a compact but rather nondescript black box. It doesn’t have many ventilation gaps, but there’s no sound or dust proofing either. However, the stock Intel cooler and single case fan don’t make a huge amount of noise. The case’s interior is bare metal, but the edges are rolled to keep you from cutting yourself. It’s not particularly big, but there’s not much in it either. Just one of the PC’s four internal 3 1/2in drive bays is occupied, while both externally facing 3 1/2in bays are empty. There are just two 5 1/4in bays, of which one is taken up by the BD-RE drive.
The Nvidia GeForce GT 430 graphics card is tiny and its performance is a minimal improvement on the integrated graphical capabilities of recent Intel Core processors. It produced frame rates of just 14.3fps in Call of Duty 4, 6.4fps in Crysis and 5.5fps in STALKER. Needless to say, you won’t be doing much 3D gaming with this PC. The only significant advantage the graphics card has over the Asus P8H67-M LX motherboard’s integrated graphics is its HDMI output.
If you decide to upgrade, you’ll also want to invest in some Molex to PCI-E converters. The 500W power supply can provide enough juice for a modestly powerful graphics card, but lacks the relevant plugs. One of the motherboard’s PCI slots is blocked by the graphics card. There’s a second PCI slot and a PCI-E x4 slot, but that’s it as far as your upgrade potential goes. There are only two memory slots, which can handle a maximum 16GB of RAM, but the existing 8GB of RAM means you won’t have much need to upgrade. There are two occupied SATA III ports and four vacant SATA II ports, which are fast enough unless you need to fit some SSDs.
Basic Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Rating | **** |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2300 |
| Processor external bus | 100MHz (Sandy Bridge DMI) |
| Processor multiplier | x28 |
| Processor clock speed | 2.8GHz |
| Processor socket | LGA1155 |
| Memory | 8 |
| Memory type | PC3-10666 |
| Maximum memory | 32GB |
| Motherboard | Asus P8H67-M LX |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel H67 Express |
Ports | |
| USB2 ports (front/rear) | 2/6 |
| Firewire ports (front/rear) | 0/0 |
| eSATA ports (front/rear) | 0/0 |
| Wired network ports | 1x 10/100/1000 |
| Wireless networking support | none |
Internal Expansion | |
| Case | midi tower |
| PCI-E x1 slots (free) | 0 (0) |
| PCI-E x16 slots (free) | 1 (0) |
| Free Serial ATA ports | 4 |
| Free memory slots | 0 |
| Free 3.5in drive bays | 5 |
Hard Disk | |
| Hard disk model(s) | Samsung HD103SJ |
| Interface | SATA2 |
| Total storage capacity | 1,000GB |
Graphics | |
| Graphics card(s) | Nvidia GeForce GT 430 |
| Graphics/video ports | VGA, DVI, HDMI |
Sound | |
| Sound | Realtek ALC887 |
| Sound outputs | 5.1 line out, stereo line out, mic in |
| Speakers | Creative A40 2.0 |
Removable Drives | |
| Supported memory cards | none |
| Optical drive type(s) | DVD+/-RW +/-DL, BD-R/RE |
Display | |
| Viewable size | 21.5 in |
| Screen model | BenQ G2222HDL |
| Native resolution | 1,920×1,080 |
| Screen inputs | DVI, VGA |
Other Hardware | |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Wired Keyboard 400 |
| Mouse | Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse |
Software | |
| Software included | none |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Operating system restore option | Windows disc |
Buying Information | |
| Warranty | one year collect and return |
| Price | £699 |
| Details | www.ginger6.com |
