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Eclipse Discovery Z77i345R777 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £673.89
inc VAT

If you’re not interested in overclocking, this is a bargain PC

Specifications

3.1GHz Intel Core i5-3450, 8GB RAM, 21.5in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

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Inside, there’s a decent amount of room for expansion. Five of the six internal 3.5in drive bays are available for adding extra hard disks. Even though the processor is multiplier-locked, Eclipse has installed an enthusiast motherboard with four spare SATA ports, as well as three PCI slots, two PCI-E x1 and two PCI-E x16 slots. The dual-slot graphics card occupies one of the PCI-E x16 slots and obscures the second x1 slot, so you’ll have to remove it to add additional expansion cards.

Even with a stock clocked processor, we were surprised that Eclipse has only fitted one 120mm intake fan. It’s fitted to the side panel, rather than the front, and there’s no exhaust fitted to the rear. This leaves the stock Intel CPU cooler, as well as the PSU and graphics cards fans, to dissipate all the heat from within the case. Although we didn’t notice any serious overheating, there are five empty 120mm fan mounts in the front, rear, roof and side panel that we would give serious thought to filling.

Eclipse Discovery Z77i345R777

You get a no-brand keyboard and mouse set, but Eclipse has bundled a high-quality BenQ 22in LCD monitor. It’s a little smaller than the competition, but the GL2240 has a Full HD panel and a matt display finish that helps diffuse light reflections. Connectivity is limited to DVI and VGA inputs, and the internal speakers are basic, but it’s useful to have an option other than headphones if you don’t already own a speaker system.

At £596, the Discovery Z77i345R777 is around £50-£100 less expensive than similarly-powerful PCs. You lose the ability to overclock, but the Ivy Bridge processor is still fast enough for almost every task and the graphics card is powerful too. If you need a low-cost PC, this is an excellent choice.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Processor Intel Core i5-3450
Processor external bus 100MHz
Processor multiplier x31
Processor clock speed 3.1GHz
Processor socket LGA1155
Memory 8
Memory type DDR3
Maximum memory 32GB
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V LX
Motherboard chipset Intel Z77

Ports

USB2 ports (front/rear) 4/6
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) 2 (1)
PCI-E x16 slots (free) 2 (1)
Free Serial ATA ports 4
Free memory slots 2
Free 3.5in drive bays 5

Hard Disk

Hard disk model(s) Seagate Barracuda (ST31000524AS)
Interface SATA3
Total storage capacity 1,000GB

Graphics

Graphics card(s) AMD Radeon HD 7770
Graphics/video ports DVI, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort

Sound

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

Removable Drives

Supported memory cards none
Optical drive type(s) DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Display

Viewable size 21.5 in
Screen model BenQ GL2240M
Native resolution 1,920×1,080
Screen inputs DVI, VGA

Software

Software included none
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option restore disc

Buying Information

Warranty one year RTB
Price £674
Details www.eclipse-computers.com

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