"Ever considered returning to prebuilt computers? Perhaps one of Mesh's latest offerings may persuade you." - by Mul.
Mesh Matrix II 955BE Hush Gaming PC
Mesh Matrix II 955BE Hush Gaming PC
OC3D Review: Mesh Matrix II 955BE Hush Gaming PC
- Thread starter JN
- Start date
VonBlade
New member
My answer is definitely 2. However a few things spring to mind about this particular PC (and understand I accept this low price-point means compromises) :
• Gigabyte GA770T-UD3P Socket AM3 Motherboard - Once again a bottom end Gigabyte board used in a Prebuilt.
• HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb Graphics Card - Very reasonable bang for buck
• Samsung 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HDD - Only 750GB when 1TB is about a fiver more?
• NZXT Hush Alumium ATX Mid Tower Chassis - Case by Bobs budget cases
• HEC 550W ATX2.0 Power Supply Unit - Stupidly cheap barely adequate PSU as per usual
• 10 x USB Ports (8x Rear / 2x Side) • 8 Channel Realtek ALC888 - Both these features are part of the motherboard so...
Now don't get me wrong. It's a lot of PC at that price-point. But the moment I see a bottom end mobo and PSU combination you know that the manu isn't trying for good value for those of us who build our own because of the terrible pre-built specs available, as the review implies, rather they are trying to woo the "big numbers in PC World" brigade.
So what it's got a Phenom II and reasonable RAM. The HD is smaller than necessary considering the miniscule price differential, the PSU is woeful and leaves no room for upgrades, the case is out of a Fisher Price packet and whilst it is a Logitech kb/mouse combo it's the bottom end one again.
Ok I'll stop. Kudos to MESH for trying and, to the right audience, succeeding at a great price. I just think the review tried too hard to sell it to the home-builders amongst us when none of us would probably choose any of those parts ourselves, and we all know the value of a great mobo/PSU as the foundation for a system.
/curmudgeon mode off.
VB
• Gigabyte GA770T-UD3P Socket AM3 Motherboard - Once again a bottom end Gigabyte board used in a Prebuilt.
• HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb Graphics Card - Very reasonable bang for buck
• Samsung 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HDD - Only 750GB when 1TB is about a fiver more?
• NZXT Hush Alumium ATX Mid Tower Chassis - Case by Bobs budget cases
• HEC 550W ATX2.0 Power Supply Unit - Stupidly cheap barely adequate PSU as per usual
• 10 x USB Ports (8x Rear / 2x Side) • 8 Channel Realtek ALC888 - Both these features are part of the motherboard so...
Now don't get me wrong. It's a lot of PC at that price-point. But the moment I see a bottom end mobo and PSU combination you know that the manu isn't trying for good value for those of us who build our own because of the terrible pre-built specs available, as the review implies, rather they are trying to woo the "big numbers in PC World" brigade.
So what it's got a Phenom II and reasonable RAM. The HD is smaller than necessary considering the miniscule price differential, the PSU is woeful and leaves no room for upgrades, the case is out of a Fisher Price packet and whilst it is a Logitech kb/mouse combo it's the bottom end one again.
Ok I'll stop. Kudos to MESH for trying and, to the right audience, succeeding at a great price. I just think the review tried too hard to sell it to the home-builders amongst us when none of us would probably choose any of those parts ourselves, and we all know the value of a great mobo/PSU as the foundation for a system.
/curmudgeon mode off.
VB
PeterStoba
New member
name='Jim' said:
No, bye.
It is a nice review though, and odd that is costs less than building it yourself, never seen that before.
Rastalovich
New member
It's good.
Pricing wize, giving it a comparison with those other prebuilt pcs out there, I'd stick this somewhere at the top.
There are a few things that stick out for me in terms of the finished product:
Having said all that, they're not complaints. I think the unit, as it is, stands up well as a product.
It could be more assuring to have software build cds and/or a partition for it.
Package on the whole can't be mocked tho imo.
Pricing wize, giving it a comparison with those other prebuilt pcs out there, I'd stick this somewhere at the top.
There are a few things that stick out for me in terms of the finished product:
- Gfxcard with a HDMI socket & HD audio. Probably achievable with adaptors, but is the audio connected ? Connectivity for a prebuilt pc is what it's all about for me.
- Cooler option. There are better choices out there for me in terms of both cooling and noise. (taking note of the installation method also) Arguably a different rear exhausting gfxcard.
- Warranty labels. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember some court throwing out a manufacturers claim of void waranties on pcs as they're inherently designed to be taken apart. Perhaps there's some specific intention.
Having said all that, they're not complaints. I think the unit, as it is, stands up well as a product.
It could be more assuring to have software build cds and/or a partition for it.
Package on the whole can't be mocked tho imo.
name='VonBlade' said:
Nice analysis and you've raised some very fair points. The choice of Power Supply Unit and Case was the biggest downers for the product. I agree that it would not have killed to have dropped an 80PLUS certified unit inside their gaming setup and a unit with a 120/140mm exhaust would have relieved the temperature and noise issues that we highlighted. NZXT themselves aren't a bad case manufacturer and in terms of build quality I'd put it similar, possibly better than the Antec Three Hundred for example. It's airflow performance however was mediocre at best and did not bode well with the heat sources inside, which is inexcusable really.
Now, as for your argument with regards to the motherboard I'd beg to differ. It's certainly no ASRock motherboard nor is it even bottom of the range in Gigabyte's lineup. At a price tag of £70, it sits in the middle range of AMD Phenom II motherboards. The quality of it's power regs are more than sufficient even for an overclocker, it has a fully fledged BIOS which we were able to get a respectable overclock out of and it sports the updated SB710 southbridge. For this particular setup, a £125 MSI 790FX GD70 or Asus M4A79T would not have performed any better. Further, it must be understood that in the world of AMD the reliance over Base HTT reference clocks are minimal due to most of the upper range of CPU's consisting of multiplier unlocked Black Edition processors and had the temperatures inside the machine been lower, we could have seen upwards of 3.80GHz with the 955BE
As DIY builders we do want to be able to pick the exact parts that we wish to use and this is one of the main issues that pushes people away from prebuilt machines.
Ultimately, as an overall bundle priced at £799, it boasts superb value for money and honestly if it came bundled with a better power supply and case, and I were in the market of buying a whole new solution, I would be prepared to stop and consider this machine.
Nice review mate.
Quick thing though. Ya know how the DVI didn't seem to work. I know it sounds obvious but figured I'd ask anyway. Did you change the iiyama's channel to DVI?
We did a big roll out of 22" and 24" Iiyama's at work and when they were first plugged in, we didn't get any signal from them either. The button that needed to be pressed to switch it over wasn't marked with that function either.
Quick thing though. Ya know how the DVI didn't seem to work. I know it sounds obvious but figured I'd ask anyway. Did you change the iiyama's channel to DVI?
We did a big roll out of 22" and 24" Iiyama's at work and when they were first plugged in, we didn't get any signal from them either. The button that needed to be pressed to switch it over wasn't marked with that function either.
As already mentioned, no grumbling about the points on price for those of us who are just getting into PCs and are a little apprehensive about taking on a build...
As someone who has had first hand experience of MESH (bought a pre-built FX55 based rig some years back) I have to say while the rig was OK the issues I had with their aftersales service was frankly shocking. Of course they may well have improved their support services, but for me it was a definite case of once bitten, twice shy.....
As someone who has had first hand experience of MESH (bought a pre-built FX55 based rig some years back) I have to say while the rig was OK the issues I had with their aftersales service was frankly shocking. Of course they may well have improved their support services, but for me it was a definite case of once bitten, twice shy.....
Hi I just signed up to say that the specs for the system review are different from the specs of the system Mesh are actually selling.. Iv found this alot with mesh. Isnt that like false advertisment?
Specs in review
• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz CPU
• Gigabyte GA770T-UD3P Socket AM3 Motherboard
• 4GB Samsung PC3-12800 DDR3-1333 CAS9 Memory
• HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb Graphics Card
• Samsung 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HDD
• LG GGC-H2O Blu Ray Reader, 22x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
• NZXT Hush Alumium ATX Mid Tower Chassis
• HEC 550W ATX2.0 Power Supply Unit
• Akasa AK-876 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
• Iiyama Prolite E2208HDS 1080p, 10000:1, 2ms Widescreen Monitor
• Logitech Cordless Keyboard/Mouse Set
• 10 x USB Ports (8x Rear / 2x Side)
• 8 Channel Realtek ALC888
Specs on mesh
* AMD Phenom™ II X4 955 Black Quad Core Processor AM3 (3.20GHz, 8MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
* NZXT HUSH Silent Brushed Aluminium ATX Midi Tower - Black + 550W PSU
* ASUS M4A77TD Pro Mainboard- AMD 770 CrossFireX- AM3 Phenom™ II, DDR3 - ATX
* 4GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - (2x2GB)
* 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
* Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
* 512MB ATi HD4870 Graphics accelerator DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2
* 22" Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS-1 (1920x1080) Full HD Monitor (DVI,VGA,WS,Spkrs - 5ms)
* 7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
* Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
* 1 Year Hardware Warranty - Return to Base Parts and Labour (UK Mainland only)
Mainly the mobo is different, and no blue ray player (which costs alot?). Also I seriously doubt they incude the Akasa AK-876 Heatpipe CPU Cooler, and the Samsung brand RAM. I could be wrong, maybe im missing somthing..
Specs in review
• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz CPU
• Gigabyte GA770T-UD3P Socket AM3 Motherboard
• 4GB Samsung PC3-12800 DDR3-1333 CAS9 Memory
• HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb Graphics Card
• Samsung 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HDD
• LG GGC-H2O Blu Ray Reader, 22x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
• NZXT Hush Alumium ATX Mid Tower Chassis
• HEC 550W ATX2.0 Power Supply Unit
• Akasa AK-876 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
• Iiyama Prolite E2208HDS 1080p, 10000:1, 2ms Widescreen Monitor
• Logitech Cordless Keyboard/Mouse Set
• 10 x USB Ports (8x Rear / 2x Side)
• 8 Channel Realtek ALC888
Specs on mesh
* AMD Phenom™ II X4 955 Black Quad Core Processor AM3 (3.20GHz, 8MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
* NZXT HUSH Silent Brushed Aluminium ATX Midi Tower - Black + 550W PSU
* ASUS M4A77TD Pro Mainboard- AMD 770 CrossFireX- AM3 Phenom™ II, DDR3 - ATX
* 4GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - (2x2GB)
* 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
* Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
* 512MB ATi HD4870 Graphics accelerator DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2
* 22" Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS-1 (1920x1080) Full HD Monitor (DVI,VGA,WS,Spkrs - 5ms)
* 7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
* Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
* 1 Year Hardware Warranty - Return to Base Parts and Labour (UK Mainland only)
Mainly the mobo is different, and no blue ray player (which costs alot?). Also I seriously doubt they incude the Akasa AK-876 Heatpipe CPU Cooler, and the Samsung brand RAM. I could be wrong, maybe im missing somthing..
PeterStoba
New member
I'm gonna guess it's on their site somewhere that they can change anything at any time, or replace a component with something equal or greater.
Review items do sometimes differ, as they are often the first of the batch, they might find something else works better or that something is not needed. It's up to them.
Samsung brand RAM, probably differs on whatever they get cheap, hence the brand isn't listed on the site, the review item probably had Samsung branded RAM though, hence it's listed. As long as it's the same speed and CAS rating it'll be fine.
Review items do sometimes differ, as they are often the first of the batch, they might find something else works better or that something is not needed. It's up to them.
Samsung brand RAM, probably differs on whatever they get cheap, hence the brand isn't listed on the site, the review item probably had Samsung branded RAM though, hence it's listed. As long as it's the same speed and CAS rating it'll be fine.
Hi Simon. First of all, welcome to OC3D. 
Interesting observation with regards to the discrepency with the parts. While I'm not so sure what provoked the change of motherboards (they are essentially the same in terms of specification so I gather they just got a better deal with an Asus bulk buy) and the lack of Blu-Ray player has made the system less of appealing. Whether the system still includes the Akasa Heatpipe cooler still, I'm not so sure but other websites that have reviewed this computer seem to have received samples with the same cooler. Granted it is quite possible that our sample was passed on to these websites!
It is a shame about the lack of Blu Ray though, as this is a considerable specification change.
For other's information, here's the product's URL
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&KEY=591274&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT
Interesting observation with regards to the discrepency with the parts. While I'm not so sure what provoked the change of motherboards (they are essentially the same in terms of specification so I gather they just got a better deal with an Asus bulk buy) and the lack of Blu-Ray player has made the system less of appealing. Whether the system still includes the Akasa Heatpipe cooler still, I'm not so sure but other websites that have reviewed this computer seem to have received samples with the same cooler. Granted it is quite possible that our sample was passed on to these websites!
It is a shame about the lack of Blu Ray though, as this is a considerable specification change.
For other's information, here's the product's URL
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&KEY=591274&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT
