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For its Nero 9950HD, Mesh has upgraded its Best Buy-winning Nero 9850HD to make an even better PC. The main difference is the slightly faster quad-core 2.6GHz AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition processor. This, combined with 4GB of RAM, stormed through our benchmarking tests, doing particularly well in the processor-intensive video-encoding and multitasking tests. If you want to squeeze more performance, the Black Edition can be overclocked easily, as its multiplier is unlocked (see the overclocking feature on page 104 for more information). For the more adventurous, the Asus M2N68-VM motherboard supports the newer Phenom II processors and takes up to 8GB of RAM, so there’s plenty of room for upgrading. A fast processor is no good in a poorly balanced system, but Mesh hasn’t cut any corners with this PC. The 500GB hard disk provides plenty of storage space, and we were impressed with the 22in widescreen Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS monitor. Its high resolution of 1,920×1,080 makes it brilliant for standard Windows use and entertainment alike. Image quality is stunning, and the monitor has even backlighting and colour reproduction. It has a choice of VGA or DVI (HDCP-compliant) inputs. The onboard GeForce 7050PV graphics are capable of playing 1080p HD video, so if you add a Blu-ray drive later you can watch movies on the E2208HDS. Alternatively, the onboard graphics card’s HDMI output means you could plug the Nero 9950HD directly into an HD TV. The only slight disappointment is that the graphics card isn’t fast enough to play games. However, fitting a decent graphics card such as Sapphire’s £79 Radeon HD 4770 into the free PCI Express x16 slot is an easy and cost-effective upgrade for anyone interested in games.
Considering the amazing base specification, stunning Windows performance, high-resolution monitor and upgrade potential for the future, we can’t find fault with Mesh’s Nero 9950HD. It’s by far the best-value PC here and wins our Best Buy award.
