Product Reviews

As if to demonstrate just how affordable powerful processors are becoming, Zoostorm has opted against Intel's popular Core 2 Duo processors for this inexpensive home machine, in favour of a Core 2 Quad Q6600.

While it may not be the fastest quad-core component available, the four cores still run at 2.4GHz and, accompanied by the now ubiquitous 2GB of DDR2 memory, propel the Zoostorm to a respectable benchmark score of 1.29 - almost a third quicker than our reference machine. But we were keen to see if the Q6600's inclusion meant compromises elsewhere.

The micro-ATX case is a spacious model that's also cool and quiet, thanks in part to the use of an Akasa fan rather than the standard Intel heatsink; the resulting whirr will be barely audible in the usual living room environment. Cables are neatly lashed together and kept out of the way, allowing for easy access to the pair of spare RAM slots. The only quibble here is the 4-pin power connector that stretches around the heatsink, restricting access to the processor.

The motherboard at the centre of the Zoostorm is an ECS G33T-M, which has a couple of free SATA ports for storage or optical drive expansion. The board features a free PCI Express 1x and two PCI slots, plus a PCI Express 16x slot that would, ideally, house a graphics card should you want to add gaming power in the future.

Unfortunately, though, the 285W PSU will need upgrading should you wish to fit anything half decent; there's no spare 6-pin power connector, so unless you opt for a low-end card with no extra power requirements you'll have to make do with the GMA X3100 integrated graphics. They certainly won't play the latest games but you may just about get going in old games at low resolutions.

The 250GB hard disk is as much as we'd expect at this price, but those concerned with storage may wish to upgrade using the single extra bay that's included. However, installing another disk is somewhat unwieldy - part of the mounting for the removable side panel is directly in the way, making installation convoluted. There are more

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problems should you wish to remove the existing hard drive: one of the screws holding it in place is right beside the main power socket on the motherboard and difficult to reach.

The exterior of the case is an understated affair, divided into two areas - a brushed metallic lower half that houses the power button, and a black plastic section containing the DVD-RW drive and front ports. They're hidden behind a small door which feels worryingly flimsy and cheap, and build quality is not hugely impressive in other areas either.

The main power button, for instance, is actually cut out of the metal that forms the lower half of the case, making it unforgiving and requiring some effort just to boot the PC. The eject button for the optical drive is similarly stiff, responding intermittently with no regard for how hard we'd pressed it.

Three USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, FireWire and an all-formats card reader adorn the front of the case. At the rear, four USB ports, a pair of PS/2 sockets and a VGA connection sit alongside enough ports for 7.1 audio. Zoostorm has also included a wired Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse, which are perfectly usable choices.

The integrated graphics mean there's no DVI port at the rear, but that's not an issue as the bundled Cibox C1905 19" TFT is VGA-only anyway. It's a fairly attractive, black model - except for the small floral flourish that surrounds the status light - and although we're a little concerned about the unevenness of the backlight, it's nothing that will distract greatly from everyday work. We weren't surprised to find that the stand only tilts, but the rather basic feature-set is in keeping with the budget of the PC.

So the Zoostorm certainly doesn't tick all the boxes: the monitor is nothing special and there's no discernable gaming ability - present or future. But the use of a quad-core processor is something that's only just beginning to filter down to this sort of budget price point, and it offers a tremendous level of performance and responsiveness absent from many other cheap PCs.

The Cyberpower Gamer Infinity 550 is an interesting comparison: it's only dual-core but it offers the added entertainment of a 22in TFT, ATi Radeon HD 3870 graphics and a 5.1 set of speakers for an extra £170. It's a more attractive and versatile PC than the Zoostorm, and it highlights the base price we'd expect to pay for a true all-round system.

But if gaming or movies aren't a priority, the Zoostorm Core 2 Quad Q6600 Advanced Premium PC is a startlingly cheap - if a little rough around the edges - route to multicore computing.