Eclipse Solar Crossfire i575R487 review

Eclipse's Solar Crossfire i575R487 is a powerful computer, with benchmark scores that rival those of PCs costing £150 more. This is thanks to a combination of an Intel Core i5 750 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 512MB ATI Radeon 4870 graphics card.

Unfortunately, these components didn't leave room in the budget for much other high-quality kit. Our biggest problem with this approach is that the monitor tends to suffer, and Eclipse has provided a cheap-looking and small 19in Hyundai BlueH H95W monitor. Its relatively low resolution of 1,366x768 doesn't give much room on the desktop to keep multiple windows open. Image quality is reasonable, though, and it has a DVI interface.

The Crossfire's case feels flimsy and became warm to the touch after being left on for a couple of hours. There are no case fans at all, yet the PC is noisy even when idle. It's power-hungry when idle, too, consuming 140W.

Inside the case, things look better. There's space on the Asrock P55M Pro motherboard for a second HD 4870 graphics card in CrossFire mode. The PCI-E x1 slot is blocked, but there's a free PCI slot. Memory can be upgraded to 16GB, but you'll need to install a 64-bit operating system to take advantage of more than around 3.5GB. Two free SATA ports and five spare 3?in drive bays mean that there's plenty of room to add storage to bolster the slightly meagre 500GB hard disk. If you want external storage, there are two front USB port and eight rear ports. Two of the rear USB ports also double as eSATA ports.

The mouse and keyboard - a Microsoft Basic set - are adequate, despite somewhat spongy keys. Unfortunately for Eclipse, the poor-quality case and monitor are both at odds with the powerful core components, and leave the Solar Crossfire feeling unbalanced. If you already have a good monitor, mouse and keyboard, however, the PC is worth buying on its own for £550, despite the flimsy case.