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Mesh’s Matrix II 940 CS is one of three PCs in this month’s Labs fitted with a new AMD Phenom II X4 processor. This top-of-the-range 3GHz 940 Black Edition processor and 4GB of RAM made the 940 CS one of the fastest PCs here in all our application benchmarks. The Black Edition suffix means the multiplier is unlocked, allowing you to overclock the processor simply by increasing the multiplier in the BIOS. This doesn’t affect the speed of any other component – which happens when you overclock the external bus speed – so the PC should remain stable even at faster speeds. The 940 CS wasn’t the fastest PC here for gaming, but its Radeon HD 4850 graphics card is still more than powerful enough for playing the latest action-packed 3D games. Despite its powerful performance, the 940 CS is one of the quietest PCs here thanks to its foam-lined noise-dampening case. Like most of the other £800 PCs in this round-up, the 940 CS comes with a 22in monitor. The Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS has a resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels, which is higher than the 1,680×1,050 resolution of the other 22in monitors here. It’s great for watching 1080p high-definition video and for working in multiple windows simultaneously. Colours weren’t particularly vibrant, but it’s a bright screen with even backlighting. The 750GB hard disk is the largest here, but if you need even more storage there’s room inside the 940 CS’s sleek black case for five more disks (but only four spare SATA ports). You can also fit three more optical drives. There are three PCI and two PCI Express x1 slots, but one of the x1 slots is blocked by the graphics card.
Mesh’s Matrix II 940 CS is a well-rounded PC with something for everyone. It’s fast in Windows and games, has a huge hard disk, comes with a high-resolution monitor and is quiet. Unless you want even faster 3D performance, there’s no need to look any further for a great-value £800 PC.
