Arbico HD6488 review
Low-cost PC with an excellent monitor, but it’s underpowered compared to similarly priced PCs
Specifications
3.9GHz AMD A6-6400K, 7.91 RAM, 24in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 8.1
The Arbico HD6488 is a family-oriented desktop designed to do a bit of everything, from web browsing and desktop tasks, to photo editing or a spot of gaming. While it won’t match a more expensive or specialised computer when it comes to any of those tasks, it’s reasonably well equipped to do all them.
The HD6488 uses a neat little CIT case that we’ve seen used for a lot of low-cost PCs. Its mesh front panel and matt black chassis look neutral enough to fit into most rooms, and it’s small enough to sit either on or under a desk without towering over you. Its interior is well finished and reasonably spacious. There’s scope to add a graphics card of around 350mm in length, although fitting larger cards requires a bit of wiggling to get them into position behind the upright strut that runs up the right-hand side of the case adjacent to the front panel.
The strut supports your drive bays and has a vertical mounting point for a 2.5in drive at the bottom. Above that are four 3.5in bays, one occupied by a 1TB hard disk, and two 5.25in bays. One 5.25in bay is vacant and the other holds a DVD-RW drive. There’s space for a case fan just behind the front panel, but this will cut into your available room for a graphics card. However, with only a single 80mm rear fan to cool the case, we’d advise adding a front fan to go with any upgrades that might run hot. There are also two fan mounts on the right side panel.
These mounting points are perforated, which means that the panel does little to keep system noise down. The case and CPU fans don’t make much sound, but the generic-looking Ace power supply’s built-in fan makes a surprising racket. This means the PC emits a constant rushing sound even when idle. Although the power supply is rated at 650W, you may want to replace it with a recognisable and well-reviewed brand if you plan on adding any particularly power-hungry components.
The system is equipped with 8GB of 1,600MHz RAM in two 4GB modules. There are two unused memory slots, and the motherboard can handle up to 32GB. 8GB is plenty of memory to run Windows 8.1 smoothly and even carry out hobbyist photo- and video-editing tasks. The MSI A88XM-E45 motherboard has a couple of PCI-E x16 slots and supports AMD’s CrossFireX standard, which allows you to link two compatible graphics cards or even combine the processor’s on-chip AMD Radeon HD 8470D graphics with a compatible PCI-E card. Only the top slot runs at x16; the bottom one runs at x4. There’s also a PCI-E x1 slot and PCI slot for older expansion cards. It’s worth noting that installing a graphics card in the top x16 slot will block the x1 slot.
There are six SATA3 ports, two of which are in use for the hard disk and DVD-RW drive. There’s an unused USB3 header at mid-board, along with the usual selection of USB2 headers. The case’s front panel only has two USB2 ports on it, alongside the usual mic and headphone ports. The rear of the motherboard is better equipped, with four USB3 ports, two USB2 ports and a couple of PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports in addition to six 3.5mm analogue audio outputs and a Gigabit Ethernet port.
The motherboard has an FM2+ socket that’s designed to work with the latest AMD Kaveri processors. However, it’s fully backwards-compatible with FM2 processors such as the installed dual-core AMD A6-6400K, a last-generation Richland processor. While many older AMD processors perform similarly to their Kaveri successors in all but 3D graphics tests, the AMD A6-6400K is a bit underpowered. The 3.9GHz A6-6400K scored just 31 overall in our benchmarks, and did particularly badly in our multi-tasking test, gaining a score of just 19. That’s a lot less power and flexibility than we’d like from a home desktop.
The processor’s onboard graphics did a fair job in our Dirt Showdown benchmarks at High quality and a resolution of 1,280×720, averaging 31.7fps. However, the PC failed the benchmark at 1,920×1,080 with Ultra graphics quality. Happily, there’s a good selection of display outputs: HDMI, DVI and VGA.
The included 24in AOC E2495Sh monitor is a stand-out element of this PC. It’s rare to find a £500 desktop system with a 24in display at all, let alone one with two HDMI ports in addition to a legacy VGA port. We were pleased to find that the display had an excellent contrast ratio of 1065:1, although its black level was an unremarkable 0.23cd/m2. Colour reproduction was good, though, and our calibrator measured 90.8 per cent coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. This is great for a monitor included with a budget system. The display has a matt screen, but colours don’t look too muted.
The bundled mouse and keyboard are a comfortable wireless Logitech set. The mouse is oddly tiny, but the keyboard allowed accurate touch typing.
Despite an excellent monitor, the HD6488 is priced a little over the odds when you compare it to similar systems that use AMD’s newer Kaveri processors. The same money will buy you the Palicomp AMD Kaveri Evolution, which is much more powerful and also comes with a 24in display.
Basic Specifications | |
---|---|
Rating | ** |
Processor | AMD A6-6400K |
Processor external bus | 100MHz (HyperTransport) |
Processor multiplier | x39 |
Processor clock speed | 3.9GHz |
Processor socket | FM2 |
Memory | 7.91 |
Memory type | PC3-12800 |
Maximum memory | 32GB |
Motherboard | MSI A88XM-E45 |
Motherboard chipset | AMD A88X |
Ports | |
USB2 ports (front/rear) | 2/6 |
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 (2) |
PCI-E x16 slots (free) | 1 (1) |
Free Serial ATA ports | 4 |
Free memory slots | 2 |
Free 3.5in drive bays | 3 |
Hard Disk | |
Hard disk model(s) | Seagate Barracuda (ST1000DM003-1CH162) |
Interface | SATA3 |
Graphics | |
Graphics card(s) | integrated AMD Radeon HD 8470D |
Graphics/video ports | HDMI, DVI, VGA |
Sound | |
Sound | Realtek ALC887 |
Sound outputs | 7.1 line out, headphone, microphone |
Speakers | none |
Removable Drives | |
Supported memory cards | none |
Optical drive type(s) | DVD+/-RW +/-DL |
Display | |
Viewable size | 24 in |
Screen model | AOC E2495Sh |
Native resolution | 1,920×1,080 |
Screen inputs | 2x HDMI, VGA |
Other Hardware | |
Keyboard | Logitech Wireless Keyboard K270 |
Mouse | Logitech Wireless Mouse M185 |
Software | |
Operating system | Windows 8.1 |
Operating system restore option | Windows disc |
Buying Information | |
Warranty | one year RTB |
Price | £500 |
Details | www.arbico.co.uk |