Product Reviews

Chillblast has carved out a deserved reputation for delivering PCs that push the boundaries of both performance, but recently it has also coupled speed with good prices and sound design. It's Fusion Juggernaut and Fusion Interceptor machines are both examples of fast yet well thought-out PC packages.

Aside from another silly name, first impressions suggest that the new Fusion Dominator isn't going to divert from this successful formula. The specifications, for one, are bursting with potential power. Inside the angular case you'll find the second quickest card in Nvidia's range - a GeForce GTX 26 - and this is accompanied by 4GB of RAM, a terabyte of hard disk space and an Asus P5Q Deluxe motherboard complete with Intel's recently-released P45 chipset.

Overshadowing all of these expensive parts, however, is the processor. An Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 is a hugely powerful CPU and, as usual, Chillblast has boosted the standard clock speed of 2.66GHz by overclocking it. The Dominator's Q9450 runs at 3.4GHz and, when coupled with a 1,333MHz FSB and 12MB of level two cache, it offers a ferocious amount of power.

Our 2D benchmarks were, accordingly, blown away. An overall score of 2.01 is one of the quickest we've ever seen, and is only beaten by a handful of systems. The record-breaking Chillblast Fusion Juggernaut topped out a slightly-quicker 2.1, for instance. There's more than enough power here for the most demanding of applications, even if you're running several at once.

The graphics card doesn't let the side down, either, delivering exceptional performance in our demanding Crysis benchmarks. The low and medium tests were blown away with scores of 135fps and 68fps respectively, and the intensive high-quality test, run at a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200, was perfectly playable at 34fps.

It's not the best result we've ever seen - the Cyberpower Gamer Ultra M2 Quad ran a frame quicker in high settings, and the Fusion Juggernaut managed 53fps thanks to its GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics. Nevertheless, the Dominator is still more than quick enough to

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handle any title on the market today.

The rest of the specification is similarly impressive. A massive 1TB hard disk offers enough storage for the largest of game and media collections, and the discrete sound card - a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme - offers better audio quality than the typical integrated chip.

All of this is housed in the superb Antec 900 chassis. Cooling is handled by an enormous 200mm fan rotating in the top of the case, and there are four more 120mm fans dotted around the front, back and sides of the chassis to maintain airflow throughout.

An Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 is normally a good bet for keeping a processor chilled, but it struggled a little here. The overclocked processor idled at 49 degrees Celsius, with this figure rising to a toasty 69 degrees when the Chillblast was running through our multiple applications benchmark.

There's plenty of scope for expansion, though, even with the considerable CPU cooler and double-height graphics card inside. You have two free DIMM slots to augment the 4GB of RAM. Several free 5.25 and 3.5in drive bays cater for additional optical drives, hard disks or card readers, and there's a pair of PCI Express16x and standard PCI slots free on the Asus motherboard - so another GTX 260, and a potentially powerful SLI setup, could be on the cards.

While the Dominator may be a superb machine, the peripherals need to be up to scratch if the package, as a whole, is going to pass muster. Luckily, Chillblast has included one of our favourite monitors: the Dell 2408WFP with this package. It has long been a PC Pro favourite thanks to its superb colour reproduction, clarity and detail.

There's also a wealth of ports and sockets on the rear, including HDMI, two DVI-I ports and a DisplayPort output. There are even four USB sockets and a flash memory card reader on the monitor - handy, as there's not one on the main tower.

It's also worth noting that, while the system as reviewed includes no speakers, Chillblast offers several different sets - from basic Logitech S220 2.1 speakers, which cost an extra £5, to the Logitech Z-5500 (pictured), which will add a whopping £183 to your final bill - that can be added during the ordering process.

The big question is, however, does the Fusion dominate as its name suggests? It's a close-run thing, but we'd have to say yes. If you're after a rounded PC the Dominator could fit the bill. It boasts 2D performance that's up there with the best we've ever seen, and couples this with plenty of gaming potential and an excellent chassis.

It's cheaper than the Juggernaut, and has more storage, a better screen and more expansion potential than the Interceptor. And for that it wins a deserved recommended award.