PC World Advent DT 3411 review

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.

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.

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.