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Mesh’s Matrix II 925 MX is a real powerhouse thanks to a 2.8GHz AMD Phenom II X4 925 processor and 4GB of RAM. This combination meant this PC did very well in our application benchmarks. Its overall score of 101 was the best we’ve seen for a PC at this price. The one downside is that the processor fan is quite loud. This can easily be replaced with a quieter fan if you find the noise distracting, though. The Matrix II 925 MX was less impressive in our game tests. Its integrated Radeon 4200 graphics managed only single-digit scores in our gaming benchmarks. A more powerful PCI Express x16 graphics card can be added to boost performance, but the 300W power supply may not provide enough energy for power-hungry graphics cards as well as other upgrades and may need to be replaced. Although the Matrix II isn’t brimming with as many internal expansion options as other PCs we’ve seen, there’s space for another optical drive. There are also two 3?in bays, both of which can be used for internal devices such as hard disks or external devices such as a memory card reader or floppy drive. Unlike other PCs we’ve seen, it has enough SATA ports to connect all the devices it has bays for. There are two free RAM slots and a massive 16GB of RAM can be fitted. There are two PCI slots and a PCI Express x1 slot for accommodating peripherals such as TV tuners or wireless adaptors. There are also coaxial and optical S/PDIF ports for connecting a surround-sound amplifier.
Mesh’s Matrix II 925 MX is a great PC if you need fast application performance on a budget. However, you’ll need to budget more for a dedicated graphics card to replace its weak integrated chip if you want to play games and it’s irritatingly loud, so it’s not perfect.
