E-Machines E4076 review

A modestly-specified PC base-unit for sensible money.

When an old PC starts to become erratic and unreliable, it's rarely worth spending too much time tracking down the cause of the problems. Sometimes putting that old clunker out to pasture really is for the best. But while you're left with a dusty outline of where it once stood, you're also stuck with a keyboard, mouse, monitor and potentially a whole host of other peripherals, which need a new PC to attach themselves to. You could chuck the whole lot in a skip and be done with it, or alternatively, you could recycle your old bits and bobs by just buying a PC base unit.

As a brand whose PCs are largely sold through high-street retailers such as Comet and Staples, E-Machines has long since realised that many buyers just want a no-frills base unit to replace an old, decrepit one. It's obviously such a popular idea with punters that all but two of E-Machines' range of 12 models come without a monitor attached.

Plain Jane

The E4076 is housed in a plain-looking mid-tower case and is small enough to perch on the corner of a desk or lurk inconspicuously underneath. Compact size aside, there isn't much to get excited about inside the PC - this really is a budget base unit.

Processor duties are handled by an Intel Pentium 4 524, with 512MB of DDR2 memory. It's a single-core processor, which runs at 3GHz and offers more than enough poke for the everyday tasks. However, while it is perfectly able, the 512MB of memory held the E4076 back in our benchmarks and it only scored a paltry 62%. This is exacerbated by the onboard graphics that swallows 64MB of memory up for its own use. So while it's still quick enough for word processing and surfing the internet, it's starts to feel clunky when you have more than a couple of programs running at once.

Party pooper

The onboard ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics may not be very powerful, but the PC did at least run our Call of Duty 2 benchmark - just very slowly. With an overall score of 5%, it looked more like a WWII slideshow rather than an action game. However, you shouldn't expect a £299 base unit to have enough graphics power to take on the latest games and should you fancy a spot of 3D action, you can drop a more capable card into the PCI-Express 16x slot.

If you've got a whole heap of PCI cards, such as TV tuners, that you want to transplant into the E4076, then you'll be disappointed. In addition to the empty PCI-Express 16x slot, there's only a single standard PCI slot free - the other one is occupied by a 56k modem. If you've got broadband, then at least you can do away with this and use the slot for something more useful. Adding more hard drives isn't such a trial though, as there are four spare SATA ports and three drive bays to put them in. The only real niggle is that thanks to the case's cramped interior, accessing two of those drive bays requires the removal of the memory and processor fan first. The front-mounted memory card reader is a boon for digital photographers, though.

The E4076 is a solid, no-frills base unit. If you don't expect to use your PC for anything more than surfing the internet, writing the odd letter and perusing photos from your camera, then you won't exceed its abilities. But if you do want to try your hand at photo and video editing as well as playing the odd game, then spending just a hundred or so pounds more will get you a far more versatile PC.