Review: Evesham Axis STR Plus

It’s not the strongest performer in this group, but the Axis STR Plus is a good choice if you’re looking for a competent, basic machine that provides plenty of scope for future upgrades.

A 2.2GHz Athlon64 provides a good level of raw processor performance. It would have been good if Evesham could have included a full 1GB of Ram, rather than just 512MB, but that’s easily rectified given the affordable cost of Ram these days.

The hard disk provides 160GB of storage – not the largest amount in this group, but still enough for most home users to store all their digital music, photos and video clips. Along with the six USB2 ports, there’s also a Firewire port for a DV camcorder, and 5.1 surround-sound output.

A little more disappointing is the use of an Nvidia Geforce 6100 integrated graphics processor. This produces poor 3D graphics performance – a barely playable 12 frames per second in our Far Cry test. The little set of stereo speakers built into the 17in TFT monitor isn’t much to write home about either, rated at a mere 1W per channel.

So there has clearly been a bit of cost-cutting going on to keep down the price. However, a look inside the machine shows that there’s plenty of scope if you want to upgrade the machine in the future.

There are several PCI slots available, including an x16 PCI Express slot for a graphics card, and two free drive bays for adding extra storage. The neat layout of the motherboard and cables also makes it easy to get at the various slots and bays.

It’s a shame that the Axis is let down by its poor 3D performance, as this is its only real weakness. However, its Firewire port and decent hard disk make it a good option for home-video buffs who want to do some video-editing work on a tight budget.

This article is part of a group test of bargain PCs.
Other articles are:
Ambros Shuttle SS31T
Mesh D820 Value +
PC Nextday Zoostorm 1-3301 Versatile PC
PC Specialist Trident s500
Watford Aries Performa 3500+RV
Is the desktop PC dead?
Graphs and table of features can be read via our Pdf downloads.

Review: Ambros Shuttle SS31T

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