MESH Matrix² CrossFire™ 1900XT specs. and notes
The MESH Matrix² CrossFire 1900XT is a base unit that's designed for the gamer above all else. You'll undoubtedly see similarities between it and the X1800 FIRE system we reviewed a short while back.| System name | MESH Matrix² CrossFire™ 1900XT |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 |
| Motherboard | ASUS A8R32-MVP (ATI RD580, PCI-Express) |
| Memory | 2GBytes (2x 1GByte) PC3200 RAM @ 3-3-3-8 @ DDR400 |
| Hard Drives | Maxtor 400GB DiamondMax 11 SATA2 (16MB cache) |
| Screen | None as standard, optional extra |
| Graphics card | ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB ATI Radeon X1900 CrossFire in multi-GPU mode |
| Optical drive #1 | Sony DW-G120A multiformat DVD ReWriter |
| Optical drive #2 | Sony DDU1615 DVD-ROM drive |
| Sound | Onboard 7.1-channel High-Definition Audio |
| Modem | None |
| Networking | Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCIe Gigabit LAN Marvell Yukon 88E8001 PCI Gigabit LAN |
Ports connectivity | 6x USB2.0, 2x FireWire400, 2x GbE, PS/2, Parallel, hot-plug SATA2, coaxial and optical S/PDIF |
| Operating system | Windows XP Home SP2 |
| Case | Chieftec black and silver midi tower with 550W PSU |
| Warranty | MESH advantage - 2 years onsite and 1 year back to base |
| Price | £1658.72 + VAT (1949 inc. VAT) (as at 21st April 2006) |
| Shipping | £39 + VAT (£45.83 inc. VAT) |
| Other notables | CrossFire. Logitech cordless desktop combination |
Housing all this power is a MESH-branded Chieftec midi tower case. We'd gladly swap the floppy drive, situated at the very top, for a multi-function card reader that so many other system integrators now ship with their systems. Colour-coordinating rather well, MESH ships this top-end base unit with a couple of optical drives from Sony. The multi-format, dual-layer burner can write to single-layer +Rs at 16x, -Rs at 12x and R9s (dual layer) at 4x, media permitting. It's coupled with Sony's quiet 16x DVD-ROM drive for speedy, on-the-fly recording. A spare 5.25" bay seems a waste on a high-end system. Perhaps that multi-card reader we keep referring to can be added here?
A couple of USB2.0 ports and indicator LEDs sandwich the power button. Other than that, it's a minimalist case design. The Chieftec case is designed to carry a hard-drive caddy behind the silver grilles.
The large side panel, locked in position from the back, is easy enough to remove. It features an induction fan located right over the CPU's cooler, thereby pushing cooler air over the CPU. A slow-spinning 120mm exhaust fan helps keep the potent AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 ticking along without overheating.
MESH uses the ASUS A8R32-MVP RD580 motherboard whose two well-spaced x16 PCIe slots that allow for a reasonable amount of airflow between the dual-height cards. MESH ships this system with a regular ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB clocked in at 620MHz core and 1450MHz memory. Extra performance is derived by the use of a CrossFire master card, clocked at the same speeds, that adds in multi-GPU technology.
The extra spacing given to the cards means that expansion, should you require it, might be a little difficult. MESH connects up the board's FireWire header to a bracket that's situated below, so there's no obvious room for a PCI-based soundcard unless the bracket is reinstalled above the first card. The motherboard, however, does feature high-definition audio that's routed through a Realtek codec and out to ports on the back. Incidentally, an induction fan on the very front would help in reducing the combined noise generated by the two X1900 cards when running at full tilt.
This SKU ships with a single Maxtor 400GB SATA hard drive that's connected to one of the motherboard's four internal SATA2 ports, so adding in another couple of drives, in the same caddy, will be no problem. Whilst there's plenty of extra molex connectors here, MESH doesn't add in additional SATA power connectors; you'll have to source your own.
A closer shot shows just how much room a couple of X1900 cards can take up. What's also evident is the neat cabling and general care and attention paid by MESH on building this SKU. A dual-core Athlon 64 FX-60 allied and a couple of X1900 cards in CrossFire configuration will make it a super-fast gaming machine. MESH adds in a 2GByte dual-channel DDR400 memory pack that runs with 3-3-3-8 timings. Given the performance nature of this machine, tighter, performance-enhancing timings would have been nice.
Powering this range of wattage-eating components is a 550W PSU from HEC. We had no power-related problems in a weekend of testing, so whilst its power rating is on the conservative side for a high-end CrossFire setup, quality and not quantity counts here.
A look at the I/O section highlights a hot-plug SATA2 port that's useful for connecting compliant devices at full speed. A couple of Gigabit RJ45 ports, one PCI and one PCIe based, emanate from the ASUS motherboard's impressive LAN capabilities. Audio connections are standard enough, with a choice of S/PDIF inputs. A loopback cable hooks up the two graphics cards to one another, and you can just about make out the FireWire ports at the very bottom.
The specifications table leaves us in no doubt that this will be one very fast system, both in 2D and 3D. Build quality is excellent, too, but we'd like to see a few minor alternations, discussed above, to make it even better. This base unit ships without a monitor or speakers, so you will have to add you own. It is, however, packaged with a reasonable Logitech cordless keyboard and mouse.
