Evesham Inspection II
Evesham also prices its Axis 64 3200+ at the mid-to-high-end price of £1299 excluding VAT and delivery. Standard delivery is £34 + VAT. Other options are available, such as pre-10am, pre-12pm, and Saturday delivery, with suitable surcharges. It's standard form to ship out in three separate boxes, so the PC, TFT, and speakers arrived together. Evesham makes it clear that all packaging is to be keep for possible warranty purposes.Packaging-wise, Evesham did well. The midi tower was securely placed in the box and a larger insert, containing the keyboard, mouse, various instruction and pamphlets, was pushed on over the top. End result was a box with few rattles and a low transit damage probability.
Whereas MESH goes for an understated black look, Evesham decides that its Axis line is need of a futuristic appearance. The plastic front comes away by releasing two internal handles. The user / technician can then remove the optical and floppy drives due to them being housed on sliders, much like MESH's case. You'll either admire or loath the overall look.
It makes quick installation and removal that much easier. The front, subjectively speaking, look too plasticky. The colour coordination isn't helped by the use of a beige DVD-ReWriter. All all-black version would have kept the black / silver finish intact. It's obviously not a large problem, but just doesn't fit into the whole PC look.
Right at the bottom of the case is a hidden section that pulls up to reveal 2x USB 2.0 ports and audio ports for headphones and microphones, respectively. The plastic cover pulls up into the case and not outward, which is a nice touch. Much like the MESH exterior, we're left lamenting a multicard reader that seems like such an obvious addition these days.
Security is good. The side panel can be locked in place, preventing illegal access. The lock needs to be disengaged and another smaller handle pulled down to allow the side to be removed. The case has a recessed back section that allows one to pick it up easily. The MESH case isn't as easy to transport. With the internal chassis and sides hewn from thick-ish steel it's no lightweight, and gaining purchase from the back is more important than one would initially think.
The sound ports we see will remained unused. That's the job of the Audigy 2. Pretty much everything is catered for on the I/O section. FireWire, in both standard 6-pin and mini-4-pin, 4x USB 2.0, and an RJ45 socket for the on-board Gigabit LAN.
The 120mm fan position is left bare. Only an 80mm fan, located at the front, provides extra cooling. The Audigy 2 and Hayes PCI modem take up two of the five PCI slots, and with the level of onboard feature integration and the use of a Radeon 9800SE AIW card, we don't suppose there's much need to populate the other three. The single 160GB Maxtor SATA drive is run off the VIA VT8237 Southbridge's SATA port. There's still discrete SATA from the Promise controller, as used by MESH. The MSI motherboard provides an excellent avenue for expansion. One could add in a couple of PATA drives to the primary IDE channel, and another couple to the Promise's controller. That requires space. Evesham does an excellent job of routing cables so that the board is left clear and becomes easy to work with.
A sideways shot shows a wealth of expansion room. There's space for at least 5 further drives. We mentioned that a good case is the foundation for a power system. The Evesham's is excellent in this regard. The front is the only contentious issue. Does it make you smile with glee or wince in horror ?.
