Mesh Elite 3450-W8CS review

The Mesh Elite 3450-W8CS may be a reasonably-priced PC, but this doesn’t come at the expense of specification; it’s a Windows 8 PC with an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of fast RAM. The components aren’t all top-of-the range, but they work together to produce a high-quality PC for a very reasonable price.

The Cooler Master case is cheap and generic, with slightly tacky-looking silver plastic highlights on its black mesh front. Inside, it’s all plain grey metal, but the edges – if a little rough in places – are all properly finished. The case doesn’t do much to block system noise, as there are large vents in the side panel and at the bottom of the case. There also aren’t any fine mesh grilles to keep dust from getting in. There’s only one fan currently installed, although there’s space for plenty more.

There are seven 3 1/2in drive bays, one of which is occupied by a 1TB hard disk. One of the free bays is externally facing, so you could use it to fit an SSD. There are also four 5 1/4in bays, again with one currently in use for a DVD-RW drive. There’s a generic 450W power supply at the bottom of the case, which we wouldn’t trust to power anything above a replacement mid-range graphics card.

The motherboard, a MSI B75MA-E33, is a compact affair with only one PCI, one PCI-E x1 and one PCI-E x16 slot. Both the PCI and PCI-E x1 slot are accessible, although a card in the PCI Express x1 slot may restrict airflow to the graphics card, depending on its size. The graphics card installed in the x16 slot is a compact Nvidia GeForce GT 640 with 1GB of memory and VGA, DVI and HDMI ports on the back. It’s not particularly powerful, producing average frame rates of 11.3fps in Crysis 2 at 1,920×1,080 and Ultra quality. Dropping the resolution to High quality produces a more playable average frame rate of 26.8fps; it’s still not great, but the card is capable of getting a reasonable performance out of any modern 3D game.

The processor is an Intel Core i5-3450. It’s not overclockable, but at its stock speed of 3.1GHz it did a great job in our application benchmarks with an overall score of 105. This makes it very slightly quicker than the Intel Core i5-2500K – our favourite processor from last year – so there’s still plenty of power for everyday applications.

The system has 8GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, in two 4GB modules. 8GB RAM should be plenty for most users’ needs. There are only two memory slots on the motherboard, though, so if you require more, you’ll have to replace the existing modules. SATA ports are also in short supply, with just one SATA3 port and three SATA2 ports. Two of the SATA2 ports are available for extra storage.

If external storage is more your thing, then you’ll appreciate the pair of USB3 ports at the back of the motherboard, along with four USB ports and two PS/2 ports for older keyboards and mice. There are another two USB ports on the case’s front panel, alongside 3.5mm mic and headphone ports. The PC doesn’t have digital audio outputs to connect to a surround sound amplifier, but three 3.5mm stereo ports provide support for 5.1 analogue surround sound.

The PC comes with an Acer G22HQL monitor. It’s a 21.5in display with great viewing angles and even backlighting, although it has a mild grainy texture and a slightly pink tone out of the box. Despite this, its clear image makes it comfortable to use for long periods. The Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse set are similarly no-frills but functional, although the keyboard in particular feels rattly and plasticky. Despite its limited upgrade potential, this is a good system for the price, with a processor and graphics card that are both capable of tackling the latest software. It’s a good buy if you fancy a Windows 8 PC on a budget.