PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

Group test: Gaming PCs
and place them under the control of a single software application
offering preset effects modes and user customisation.
The motherboard’s M.2 slot is filled with a 250GB WD Blue SSD,
and this is unfortunately a rather disappointing feature in what is
an otherwise impressive gaming PC. Using an M.2 SSD is a great
idea as it requires no cables and only a tiny amount of space, but
a drive based on out-dated SATA technology rather than a much
faster NVMe model is, we feel, rather less than a PC at this price
point would deserve.
A Samsung 960 Evo NVMe drive would cost around £50 more,
but deliver far greater performance. While the cost saving may
be worth it to some, it seems a strange one to make as Mesh has
installed Windows 10 Pro rather than the Home edition, wiping out
any cost saving made on the SSD and delivering no real benefit to
most gamers. The PC is also supplied with a separate 1TB hard drive,
where many other systems at this price might give you 2TB.
Of course, the GTX 1070 graphics card selected for this system
is an Asus STRIX ROG model, with matching RGB lighting support,
although it’s not the factory overclocked version.
Performance
As with all Ryzen 7-based PCs the Mesh Ryzen 7 Gaming PC-A
comes into its own when performing many tasks simultaneously
or exploiting the kind of parallel processing algorithms found in
workstation-class software such as Cinebench R15. Unfortunately,
this doesn’t translate into the best gaming performance results,
although the system is certainly quite competent, you could
certainly achieve better frame rates at this price, especially if you’re
willing to sacrifice some of the, admittedly impressive, cosmetic
enhancements offered by this PC.
There’s also the reduced storage performance you get from the
SATA SSD which is reflected in the system’s rather low PCMark 8
Storage score and also has a detrimental effect on the other PCMark
scores too. While this has no bearing on those all-important gaming
frame rates, it will increase loading times on larger titles.
The included GTX 1070 graphics card is a good choice, offering
solid performance results at high resolutions and quality settings.
But, because it isn’t factory overclocked, it’s not achieving the very
best results we’ve seen from other GTX 1070s. It does, however, come
with software tools to overclock it yourself, which should enable you
to eke out some extra frames per second when you need them.
Overall, then, performance is good, but it could be better. If you
like this PC we’d suggest you consider customising the build slightly
to speed it up a bit, especially if you don’t need Windows 10 Pro.
Warranty
Mesh offers a lifetime warranty on labour, but parts are only covered
for the first two years. For the first year only, a full collect and return
service is provided. Much better warranties are available elsewhere.
Verdict
The Mesh Ryzen 7 Gaming PC-A is beautifully built, but ultimately
flawed in its configuration. Let down by a slow SSD and a nonoverclocked
graphics card, yet coming with an unnecessarily
expensive operating system, we feel this PC could do much better
with a couple of minor tweaks to the specification.
OVERCLOCKERS UK TITAN FALCON
£1,260 inc VAT • overclockers.co.uk
The Titan Falcon from Overclo ckers UK is a tremendously powerful,
yet reasonably-priced gaming PC packed with AMD’s newest tech.
It saves money by taking AMD’s new entry-level Ryzen 7 1700
processor and overclocking it to 3.8GHz to deliver performance
similar to more expensive Ryzen 7 chips.
Build
Features
Performance
Value
Overall
Design
The Titan Falcon is housed in a Cooler Master MasterBox 5 system
case with a matte black finish inside and out, flexible internal
mounting options and convenient cable management. Built-in 120mm
cooling fans are fitted front and rear, and a removable dust filter
protects the power supply at the bottom.
It’s not the fanciest of cases, but the transparent side panel gives
you a good view of the internal components, which glow in red and
blue, thanks to LEDs built into the motherboard and graphics card,
as well as a dedicated LED strip light.
Other than that, there’s not much to be seen inside as the
2TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive and 650W Cougar VTX 650W
80 Plus Bronze power supply are hidden from view in their
own compartments at the bottom of the case, with the cable
management concealing any unsightly wires.
The hard drive is supplemented by a super-fast 256GB Samsung
SM961 NVMe PCI-Express SSD, which holds the operating system
The Titan Falcon’s transparent side panel
gives you a good view of the internal
components, which glow in red and blue
TEST CENTRE July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 65