Eclipse Fusion i32R679 review

Like many PCs this month, Eclipse’s Fusion i32R679 comes with a 500GB hard disk – half the storage space you’d expect these days, even in a budget PC. The company hasn’t cut any other corners though, and the roomy case has plenty of room for expansion. Inside it, you’ll find an Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a branded 650W power supply. Plus, you also get the excellent 22in BenQ G2220HD monitor.

This Full HD display may be two years old, but it still holds its own against the competition. Its CCFL backlight may not be as bright and even as LED-equipped monitors, but it makes up for this with bold colours and good contrast. It has a choice of VGA and DVI inputs, and Eclipse has included a DVI cable in the box, so you’ll get a crisp, pixel-perfect digital image.

There’s no dedicated graphics card – the video output is connected to the integrated Intel HD Graphics chip on the Core i3-2120. It’s powerful enough to play HD video content, but it’s not suitable for 3D gaming – in our forgiving DiRT 3 benchmark, it scored barely 13fps.

The Core i3-2120 is a low-end chip, but it still managed a respectable 64 overall in our multimedia benchmarks. Although this isn’t a great score, it’s still more than enough performance for most Windows tasks, and it’s only when working with large photos or videos that you might notice a drop in performance.

Eclipse has fitted the 4GB of RAM in one DIMM module, leaving a single spare slot for upgrades. However, unless you’re working with large photos or video files, you won’t notice any improvement in performance by adding more memory. There’s a free PCI-E x16 slot for a dedicated graphics card, and the branded 650W power supply should provide enough power for even the fastest cards. However the power cables are so well tidied away inside the case that you’ll have to cut them free to access a power plug for any graphics upgrade.

Fitting a graphics card will inevitably block one of the two free PCI-E x1 slots, but there’s also a free PCI slot. There are only two spare SATA headers so if you want to add more disks or drives, you may need to invest in a PCI SATA port expansion card: a 2-port model will cost about £25. There are plenty of free drive bays, including four that have external access.

Externally, expansion is somewhat limited. You get two USB ports on the front of the case and six on the rear, two of which are the faster USB3 standard. You also get three 3.5mm audio sockets for 5.1 surround sound, but there’s no optical output, and there aren’t any alternative ports such as eSATA or FireWire to support older external drives. There’s also no HDMI option for audio and video over the same cable, so this isn’t a great choice for a media PC to connect to a home cinema system.

It’s a reasonable PC for the money, but there’s nothing to get excited about here. The Palicomp Hyper Flame comes with a 1TB hard disk, Blu-ray drive plus superior gaming performance – making it the better buy.