Eclipse Matrix i75R577 review

Eclipse’s Matrix i75R577 comes in an aggressive-looking case with rounded grilles protecting the empty drive bays and impressive fins running vertically down the front. It contains an Intel Core i5-750 processor with 4GB of RAM and a powerful ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card. We were surprised that Eclipse decided not to overclock the Core i5 as many other manufacturers have done, but although this meant the Matrix i75R577 dropped a few points in our benchmarks, it’s still incredibly powerful.

A HannsG 24in widescreen monitor and Microsoft keyboard and mouse set make up the bundle. The screen is a generous size for the price, and its Full HD 1,920×1,080 resolution is ideal for watching movies or playing games. We found colours bright and natural, but the backlight wasn’t entirely even and images felt slightly washed out. The matt finish on the screen is probably partly to blame for this, but at least you won’t be distracted by reflections.

The keyboard and mouse set are functional but hardly inspiring. The keyboard has spongy keys which have little bite at the top of the stroke and a bouncy action that touch-typists will find frustrating. The mouse has a comfortable shape and a precise, rubberised wheel, but if you like playing games, you’ll probably want to invest in a proper gaming mouse and a keyboard that will take a bit of punishment.

Inside the PC’s case, the first thing we noticed was the stock Intel CPU fan. If you want to try your hand at overclocking (bear in mind you’ll void your warranty), the fan should be your first upgrade. We were amazed however at how quiet it was, considering not only the stock CPU fan but the 60mm fan mounted on the rear 120mm fan bracket. Normally, the smaller the fan, the louder the PC, but this is a notable exception.

Two more 120mm fan mounts in the side panel plus holes for water-cooling equipment establish this case’s pedigree for enthusiasts, and there’s room for another PCI card and a couple more hard disks. Two free RAM slots should suffice for some time to come. Expansion options on the outside of the case include a generous complement of ports including FireWire and eSATA, but there are only eight USB ports, two of which are taken up by the mouse and keyboard.

Even without overclocking the CPU, the Matrix i75R577 managed an impressive 139 overall score in our benchmarks, and managed similar scores in all our tests, so it’s fast whether you’re running a single-threaded application such as image editing, or an application that takes advantage of multiple cores such as video encoding. The processor is also more than powerful enough for gaming, where the bottleneck is more likely to be the graphics chip.

Luckily, ATI’s Radeon HD 5770 is more than capable, storming through Call of Duty 4 at over 70fps and managing a playable 36fps in our demanding Crysis test. It even managed to surpass the magic 30fps in Crysis running at the monitor’s native 1,920×1,080 resolution. It has VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs, giving you great flexibility, and we were pleased to see a DVI cable in the box, which generally gives a crisper image than VGA.

A generous 1TB hard disk should handle most people’s storage needs, and rounds off what is an impressive package. Despite having only six free USB ports and a basic one year warranty, the inclusion of a 24in monitor tips the scales in the Matrix i75R577’s favour, and it wins our Best Buy award.