What else do you get?
Complementing the powerful PC is a Viewsonic VX2025 20-inch wide-aspect LCD monitor that's presented in a 16:10 ratio. You cannot adjust the screen height but can pivot the screen in order to attain the best viewing angle.
It has both DVI and VGA inputs and produces a crisp, clear image from the GeForce 7900 GTX's DVI output. We saw no instances of blurring or ghosting in games or DVD playback, yet we find it a less-than ideal partner for the system. The reason lies with its 1680x1050 native (and maximum) resolution, which isn't enough to stress the combined power of SLI'd GeForce 7900 GTX cards in most games. Yes, you can turn on the eye candy to the absolute maximum and enjoy fluid framerates, but we reckon an ideal partner, for a well-balanced system, would be a 24-inch 1920x1200-capable TFT, even if that means raising the overall price by £250. Our testing has shown that SLI'd 7900 GTX cards become GPU-limited, in most games, until the resolution is increased to 2560x1600, so there's plenty of current headroom here.
Completing the package are a set of Creative Inspire T7900 7.1-channel-supporting speakers that match well with the X-Fi Fatal1ty soundcard. Perhaps we're being overly harsh here, but we find these speakers packaged in with £1,000 systems, and we'd expect more from, repeating ad nauseam, a £3,000 bundle. Further, Evesham bundles in a cordless Microsoft keyboard and cordless tilt mouse that can be considered average inclusions for the money.
Software, warranty, and overall thoughts
Evesham includes all the various dongles, connectors, and leads that you'll require to get the system up and running. Software-wise, Microsoft XP MCE2005 is bundled in as the OS of choice. Microsoft Works 8.0, Roxio Easy CD Creator 7 and Bullguard Internet Security completes your lot. The main instruction manual is well-written and even a novice should be able to having the PC up and running in minutes.Evesham offers a three-year warranty on this SKU, with the first two years consisting of onsite support and the remaining year being back-to-base. Again, with respect to the overall price and high-end nature of the system, we feel that a three-year onsite warranty should be standard. It's clear that Evesham has designed this system with a price-point firmly in mind, but we'd much rather see a more comprehensive warranty. Evesham will probably argue that it offers various upgrades, be they software or hardware, at the point of purchase, we suppose.
Overall thoughts
There's little doubt that the Evesham FX-62 has some of the finest components available today, but does it offer value for money? Using our tried-and-trusted build-it-yourself approach, we reckon that an identical system, sans warranty, can be constructed for around £2,750. In that respect, the Evesham package does offer reasonable VFM, if £3,000 can be considered value.If we had carte blanche we'd change the chassis, use a better/quieter CPU cooler, choose better speakers, and RAID a couple of 300GB drives (which would be cheaper, incidentally). Further, given a little extra budget, we'd opt for a 24-inch WUXGA panel. Something like the Dell 2407FPW, perhaps.
The Evesham system isn't bad, it's just not as well-balanced as a £3,000 budget should allow it to be.
