Mesh Matrix Fireblade SLI review

We have mixed feelings about the Creative T7900 7.1 speakers, with a booming sub that doesn’t keep to the sub-100kHz frequencies it should. It tends to overpower the weak satellites, leading to constant fiddling with the bass setting to compensate. As such, it’s not a great choice for listening to music, but it certainly helps to add atmosphere in games and movies.

Otherwise, this system is hard to fault. The Athlon 64 3800+ is a powerful chip that will stand its ground, backed up by the 1GB of PC3200 RAM and twin 6600 GTs. Mesh has also considered the future: the spare drive bays and RAM sockets, not to mention the 550W PSU, won’t leave you wanting any time soon. It’s all backed up by a three-year on-site warranty. But the icing on the cake is the SLI-capable Asus nForce4 motherboard; in a year’s time, when you’re bored of having to turn game settings down from ‘stupidly high’ to ‘standard’, you can drop in a couple of GeForce 6800s, which will have dramatically decreased in price. To get all this performance now, with the path made clear for upgrades, £1,499 inc VAT is a steal.