Chillblast Fusion Elixir review

While some PCs concentrate on specific aspects to the detriment of others, Chillblast has put together a very well-rounded machine – at least for the relatively modest price of £599.

We’re used to seeing Intel’s mid-range Core i5-2500K dominate the mid-range, but here it gets a boost from some hefty overclocking: a boost from 3.3GHz to 4.5GHz is enough to return a benchmark score of 1.1, enough to see to all but the toughest of applications and equal to the excellent Palicomp Phoenix i5 Destiny.

The graphics card, an Asus-branded Radeon HD 6850, is equally impressive thanks to a core that’s been overclocked from 775MHz to 790MHz. Its average of 36fps in our 1,920 x 1,080 Very High quality Crysis test means the Fusion Elixir means it’s got the grunt to play games at 1080p – and easily trumps the Palicomp, which included a weaker HD 5670.

The EZCool A200D chassis is a Chillblast favourite for budget machines, and it’s easy to see why. The meshed, chrome-effect design looks dearer than it is, and build quality is good. The luxury of a neat, painted interior and a motherboard tray is a rarity this month, and it helps create a PC that’s both tidy and aesthetically pleasing.

Upgrade room is generous, although not perfect. While there are two spare DIMMs, one of them is impeded by the CPU’s Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 heatsink, and you won’t be able to easily add a second graphics card: the vacant PCI Express x16 slot runs at just x4 speed, and the EZCool power supply has no spare 6-pin power connectors, despite a healthy 650W rating.