Evesham Axis Enforcer review

Evesham's Axis Enforcer uses a plainer case than the company's traditional 'Splat' design.

With an understated black and silver colour scheme, it looks dependable if rather unexciting. It's functional enough, though, with the front panel hiding USB2, FireWire and audio ports. The rear of the case holds the usual range of ports.

The case isn't really of much importance, especially when you consider that Evesham has an nForce 4 motherboard sitting inside. The latest release from nVidia, nForce 4 marks a step forward in performance for AMD-based PCs.

It also introduces a hardware firewall, which is much more efficient than traditional software devices. This means you're protected the second you connect to the internet, regardless of whether you've installed a software firewall or not.

The list of goodies continues with an Athlon 64 3800+ processor and 1GB of PC3200 RAM. It's powerful, as our benchmark results demonstrate. This is a PC that won't shy away from any task.

Games will run smoothly too, thanks to an nVidia 6600 GT graphics card. This model is currently on our Components Hotlist and offers a good balance between cost and performance.

The ViewSonic VX715 17" LCD screen is a fine choice. The slightly retro look of the square stand complements Evesham's case. It also has a good picture, which is helped by its digital input.

If it's entertainment that you're after, then the Axis Enforcer provides it in buckets. The seven-channel sound can be pumped into the Creative Inspire T7700 speakers, which provide enough sound to shake the sturdiest of houses.

The 250GB SATA hard disk provides a generous amount of space, and if you need to archive some old data, the Sony DVD rewriter, which can write DVD+R at 16-speed, will be handy. There's also a regular DVD-ROM drive, which will be useful if you want to make disc-to-disc copies of DVDs or CDs.

The software bundle isn't bad, either, with Microsoft Works Suite 8, Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD and Pinnacle Studio 9 providing most of your productivity and entertainment needs.

It might not look like the most exciting PC around, but the Axis Enforcer covers the most important bases. However, Carrera's Octan Ultimate 3.4cs (see Hotlist, page 14) offers slightly better performance for £15 less.