MESH Matrix II 920 (Phenom II) PC System
External Appearance
Our only gripe about the choice of case is the total lack of any front-facing USB ports, which makes plugging in devices such as digital camera’s and USB flash drives quite a chore. Unfortunately this is further compounded by a limited number of USB ports at the rear that leaves you with only three ports after plugging in the wireless dongle for the keyboard and mouse.
With the entire system set-up on a desk the silver and black detailing of the speakers and case make the entire system look like it was designed to work together. This is certainly more than can be said for systems from most integrators who often throw a PC together using whatever components work out best on paper.
Internal Layout
Of course there’s more to a PC than what it looks like on the outside, and while we already know that a large number of the components on the inside are from well respected brands such as HIS and ASUS, there are still plenty of areas where quality compromising cost cutting can be made. With this in mind, let’s have a nose around inside the belly of the beast.
On opening the case the first thing we noticed was the sound dampening material lining both of the side panels and carpeting the floor. This is actually a feature of the NZXTÂ HUSH chassis rather than anything MESH have added themselves, but it’s still extremely good to see that such a well featured case has been chosen.
The overall system build is clean and professional with a fair amount of attention being paid to cable routing and bundling, which combined with the two 120mm fans placed at the front and rear, should provide decent airflow through the case.
Bonus points definitely needs to be given to MESH for choosing to use the HISÂ 4850 IceQ inside the Matrix II. Not only does the card provide an excellent balance of price and performance, but the non-reference cooler is extremely quiet and does a great job of keeping the card cool.
Equally, the ASUS M3A78 Pro motherboard is also worthy of a mention. MESH could have easily cut corners here, saving a few quid by going for a lesser motherboard. Instead they chose a board that provides full 1080p High-Definition output via HDMI, Hybrid Crossfire support and ASUS’ Express Gate technology.
Unfortunately the DDR2 memory kit used inside the Matrix II seems to be unbranded. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing however as the chips used on the modules are manufactured by Samsung, so there is certainly some level of quality there. Just don’t expect them to go much higher than their stock speed of DDR2-800 if you’re planning on overclocking.
Now let’s put these components through their paces in our tests over the next page…