PC World Advent DT 3411 review

£480
Price when reviewed

The Advent DT 3411 is among the more drab-looking PCs units we’ve reviewed in recent times, and behind these unassuming looks lies an equally dull and uninspired PC.

It’s relatively easy to access. The left-hand panel is held on by thumbscrews, and slides off without too much hassle. The interior looks a little messy, cables-wise, but the ECS H61H2-MV motherboard’s free RAM, SATA/300 and PCI Express x1 slots are unobscured, and there’s a generous 2TB of hard disk space.

PC World Advent DT 3411

However, aside from storage space, no concessions towards convenience have been made. At 170 x 424 x 374mm (WDH), the Advent’s case is small and its interior hasn’t been economically utilised. The Advent’s hard disk is housed in a drive cage that faces the motherboard, making replacing the HDD or installing extra drives fiddly, especially since the bays aren’t tool-free.

The cage occupies plenty of vertical space as well, considering it houses only three drive bays, and there’s 210mm of unused space beneath the bottom bay. It’s a strange arrangement that cramps the interior; this PC isn’t for the inveterate tinkerer.

PC World Advent DT 3411

Core componentry comprises an Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz Intel Core i3-3240 CPU, supported by 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The Advent performed fairly well, with an Overall score of 0.81 in our Real World Benchmarks. However, our Crysis benchmarks saw the PC stumble: its AMD Radeon HD 6670 produced a score of 30fps in the Medium quality test and a plodding 18fps on High quality settings.

At £480, the Advent DT 3411 may be modestly priced, but with such a cheap case and middling performance, we’d have a hard time recommending it – despite the big hard disk. For only £20 more, PC Specialist’s Infinity X offers a current-generation APU, more gaming power and a better case to work with. We’d choose it over the Advent any day.

Warranty

Warranty 1 yr return to base

Basic specifications

RAM capacity 8.00GB

Processor

CPU family Intel Core i3
CPU nominal frequency 3.40GHz

Motherboard

Motherboard ECS H61H2-MV
PCI-E x1 slots free 1
PCI-E x1 slots total 1

Memory

Memory type DDR3

Graphics card

Graphics card MSI AMD Radeon HD 6670
Graphics card RAM 2MB
DVI-I outputs 1
HDMI outputs 1
VGA (D-SUB) outputs 1

Hard disk

Hard disk Toshiba DT01ACA200
Capacity 2.00TB
Spindle speed 7,200RPM

Drives

Optical disc technology DVD writer

Monitor

HDMI inputs 1

Case

Dimensions 170 x 424 x 374mm (WDH)

Power supply

Power supply CWT GPA
Power supply rating 450W

Rear ports

USB ports (downstream) 4
3.5mm audio jacks 1

Front ports

Front panel USB ports 2

Operating system and software

OS family Windows 8

Performance tests

3D performance (crysis) low settings 42fps
Overall Real World Benchmark score 0.81
Responsiveness score 1.01
Media score 0.80
Multitasking score 0.62

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