Group test: what's the best PC for £750?

October 2011's best PCs for between £501 & £750

By | PC Advisor | 13 October 11

We review and rank the best five desktop PCs you can buy in October 2011, costing between £501 and £750. UPDATED 11 August  2011

5. Eclipse Anarchy i525n560

Eclipse Anarchy i525n560
  • Reviewed on: 11 August 11
  • RRP: £749 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 7 out of 10

Eclipse’s Anarchy is particularly well-suited to gaming, but its minimalist EZCool N800D case won’t alert others to your secret addiction. The trade-off is considerable sacrifices in the display, sound quality and general Windows performance. The PC’s 159-point WorldBench 6 score is by no means slow, but beaten by most of its rivals. A 23.6in full-HD HKC monitor and a pair of Logitech S150 external speakers are supplied.

4. Palicomp Phoenix i5 Lightning Extreme

Palicomp Phoenix i5 Lightning Extreme
  • Reviewed on: 13 October 11
  • RRP: £749 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 7 out of 10

Multimedia fans will love Palicomp’s Phoenix i5 Lightning Extreme. It has a 23.6in AOC LED-backlit display, Logitech S220 speakers – complete with a subwoofer – and, uniquely in this chart, a Blu-ray/DVD combo drive. Application performance is also good, and an ATI Radeon HD 6870 graphics card performs well. There’s also a high-spec Z68 chipset motherboard, found inside a well-built system case. Our only gripe concerns the paltry warranty.

3. Arbico eXcel i5-2888 Mx

Arbico eXcel i5-2888 Mx
  • Reviewed on: 13 October 11
  • RRP: £750 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 7 out of 10

Arbico’s eXcel has a similar spec to the Palicomp, with the same processor, monitor, graphics card and sound system. This PC won the better score in WorldBench 6, with a chart-leading 173 points, but the Palicomp has twice the storage capacity and a Blu-ray/DVD combo drive. The Arbico’s motherboard is limited by its older P67 chipset, but it’s housed inside an excellent CIT Storm system case that’s ideal for upgrades.

2. Dino PC Elmisaur 2600

Dino PC Elmisaur 2600
  • Reviewed on: 11 August 11
  • RRP: £725 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

Featuring the only Core i7 processor in the chart, the Dino PC stormed our WorldBench 6 speed test with 167 points. Some cost-cutting measures have been essential: the supplied monitor is small at 21.5in, while a GTX 550 Ti graphics card delivers slower framerates than the competition. Other specs are strong, with 8GB of RAM and a Z68-chipset motherboard - upgrade to a Core i7-2600K processor to take full advantage.

1. Chillblast Fusion Striker

Chillblast Fusion Striker
  • Reviewed on: 13 October 11
  • RRP: £749 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 9 out of 10

Chillblast has used the latest motherboard technologies, premium components and peripherals to create a desirable PC with good upgrade potential. Intel’s Core i5-2500K CPU offers excellent performance and an unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking. The motherboard provides USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps ports. The Chillblast’s superb 24in display and nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti Sonic graphics card set it apart from the competition.

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Comments

Chillblast said: With a heavy heart we have had to increase the prices of the vast majority of our PCs Systems with a 1TB drive have been increased by 50ex VAT in line with the increases in the channel We are doing our best to buy in as many hard disks as we possibly can to preclude any further increases We apologise for any disappointment this causes but please understand it is due to forces beyond our control

Matt Egan said: Actually in this instance I suspect not Id have to confirm it with Chillblast but I understand that they like all desktop PC makers are being smashed by the current shortage of hard drives I suspect that the hard drive in this PC will now cost about three times what it previously cost meaning that Chillblast is probably making a loss selling at 810 We did speak to them about this earlier in the week but obviously things are changing on a daily basis Ill try to get them to comment on this We always insist that PCs are sold at the list price but I think it is fair to say these are unique circumstances

DG said: Just a note - the Chillblast Fusion Striker is currently on sale for um 810 inc VAT So not 749 It still looks a good deal but its a little cheeky

Matt Egan said: Hi Digga We review PCs all the time and update the chart as we go

digga said: How is it there are 2 comments 6 and 9 months ago when the products were allegedly reviewed on 11811 and the report sent out today - 11811

Les Smith said: Found it all good as I can compaire desktop PCs for best value for moneyspeed etc I may be an old git but with a technical background whick may be an old one I can still pick out what matters So I found the nice short no waffle reviews very rewarding

Gary Gemmell said: The cheapest best pc is one you build yourself that way you get exactly the spec you wantOr have it custom built

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