Mesh Elite Pro A6600 - Urgent Queries.

[WoLFe]

Hello everyone, I hope this is in the right forum - I haven't posted in a long time. I will try and make this as clear as possible...

After seven or eight years, the current pc I have is developing various hardware problems. A new pc is needed, and I have basically settled on this one - it has to be from Mesh, I am not paying and it has to be prebuilt. I've only had good experiences with the company so far so I am confident it will be a good buy, but I have one major query and a few others to go with it; all of which I am sure helpful Hexus users can answer!

Here is an overview of the system (without customisations) that I hope to purchase on Tuesday.



MESH Computers - Award Winning PCs Since 1987 - Elite Pro A6600

Importantly, here are the customisations made to improve the spec and bump the price up from £699 inc VAT to £897.

Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition with Service Pack 1
New MESH Midi-TowerATX Case + 550W PSU
PCI-Express Mainboard - SLi nForce 750i SLi - Intel Core2Duo/Quad Core - ATX [upg £ 39.00]
8GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (4 x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Super Format 20x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
512MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out [upg £ 95.00]
22" Widescreen LCD TFT Digital Display with internal speakers (DVI, 5ms)
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card - 6 Channel Cinema sound
Creative Inspire A500 - 5.1 Surround Speakers [upg £ 35.00]
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
Multi-format Memory Card Reader (ATX)
1 Year Hardware Warranty - Back to Base (UK Mainland only)

As you can see the graphics card department has recieved a crucial £95 upgrade, and the motherboard has been bumped up for £39. Speakers have also been included for £35. I have researched the CPU and graphics card alot and I'm happy that those two give good bang for the buck at the moment.

Now I am very happy with these spec, especially for the price - Don't suggest to spend more. It's a nice base system lacking in gimmicks and looks like it will deliver a reasonably future proof rig and some good quality gaming fun.

But... and here are my concerns. I have heard that Windows vista does not even support 8gig of ram; well, only the 64bit version does. I haven't had any answers to this, will that be included, surely? Are mesh misleading customers by saying it has 8gig of ram (which it does, physically) but of which only 3.5 of it is used?

My other main query is it worth upgrading that mother board for £40, from a seemingly unbranded one to that better one (I've heard good things about Sli nforce, etc).

Sorry if this topic is too long for basic questions I just want the best answers from you guys possible.

Thanks!

[Agent]

But...[/B] and here are my concerns. I have heard that Windows vista does not even support 8gig of ram; well, only the 64bit version does. I haven't had any answers to this, will that be included, surely? Are mesh misleading customers by saying it has 8gig of ram (which it does, physically) but of which only 3.5 of it is used?

My other main query is it worth upgrading that mother board for £40, from a seemingly unbranded one to that better one (I've heard good things about Sli nforce, etc).

Sorry if this topic is too long for basic questions I just want the best answers from you guys possible.

Thanks!

Correct - only the 64bit version of Windows will support above 4GB of RAM. Using a 32bit OS with 8gig physically installed is nothing but a waste.

Its unlikely that the board is 'unbranded', but rather an OEM version of one of the bigger company's. I would ring and ask them what this is before deciding on an upgrade.

You should also expect to hear a lot of negative posts here about Mesh, as many people have had issues with them. Keep that in mind (and consider Scan too! - their CS utterly dwarfs Meshs)

[WoLFe]

Thanks for the speedy reply! That is all sound advice; so they could be misleading buyers by shipping it with ram that isn't even being used? That's not good. I'll look at Scan as well, thanks alot.

[Thorsson]

My brother bought two Meshes. Neither worked properly, and one they just couldn't fix and had to do a refund. He does tend to go for extreme kit though. They're probably OK with more mainstream stuff.

I wouldn't recommens a NVidia 750, and the 9600GT is going to struggle a little with that screen IMO. Better to get an 8800GTS & a P35 and stick with 4Gb RAM. I would go Vista64 over 32 though, can't see any point to the latter.

[WoLFe]

Okay thanks for the advice. Since it has 8gigs of ram it'd ship with 64bit right? What is so bad about a 750i?

[Lucio]

Okay thanks for the advice. Since it has 8gigs of ram it'd ship with 64bit right? What is so bad about a 750i?

A 750i chipset is a stripped down budget chipset, and as such may be missing features that most members on Hexus wouldn't want to be without. That said, from the point of view of someone who just wants a computer, and will use whatever is in front of them to run applications, it rarely makes a difference. The biggest concern IMO is having a 550w PSU in combination with an SLI motherboard, the PSU won't comfortably handle a second graphics card, so you might as well go for a standard Intel solution (likely a P35 based motherboard).

8GB of RAM is a bit wasteful, as is having 800MHz RAM in combination with the 750i motherboard since you won't be overclocking. If you can, get 4GB of 667MHz RAM instead.


Oh and one last thing, does it *really* have to be Mesh?? Even a high street retailer would be better in the long run, as Mesh lack any form of useful customer service ability IMO.

[Thorsson]

Since it has 8gigs of ram it'd ship with 64bit right? What is so bad about a 750i?

You'd have to check. It wouldn't be the first time a box shifter did something daft in a build if it came with Vista32. But 8Gb is overkill unless you specifically use programs that make use of it (like a pro Photoshop user).

750 is a cut down 780, so as Lucio says it tends to miss a bit of functionality, but more to the point it is relatively expensive because it is SLI. As this comes with a 9600GT that means you could get a second 9600GT later and run SLI. BUT getting an 8800GTS 512Mb would give you as much power NOW and the combo of P35/8800GTS/4Gb RAM is probably cheaper than the 9600GT/750i/8Gb RAM.

[Blitzen]

Dont buy from MESH and not just because the PC you have linked for us isnt worth anywhere near £900.

PC's they build are very average with OEM parts that get little or no bios updates.
The CS is awful.
The Repair Service is worse.

It also looks from numerous posts around the place and elsewhere they are in financial difficulties.

[staffsMike]

Tbh if you really want a pre built and don't plan on overclocking you can get a very nice dell

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Comes with a similar spec but a more sensible 3GB of RAM,24" monitor, a different but equally good gfx card and a tv tuner

[shadowmaster]

PC's they build are very average with OEM parts that get little or no bios updates.

Not all of them. See my system spec (except the 8800gt, instead I had an X1950XTX) all of that was provided by mesh, and they are good quality components. It depends on what system you buy from them, the high end models contain some good quality components.

The CS is awful.

Agree, but they have Davey on their Mesh support forums who can has helped me many times and the guy deserves a pay rise.

The Repair Service is worse.

Was, but they have changed companies who so far seem much better.Originally they were with repairline (clowns).

The biggest concern IMO is having a 550w PSU in combination with an SLI motherboard, the PSU won't comfortably handle a second graphics card

The 550watt psu mesh provide, should be able to run two 9600gt in sli, it can handle two 8800gt in sli.

Okay thanks for the advice. Since it has 8gigs of ram it'd ship with 64bit right? What is so bad about a 750i?

I think you have to ring up and specify. Don't know why they are shipping 8gigs of ram with a 32bit windows. As agent said its a waste. Maybe they have too much stock.

I've bought two high end mesh systems in the past 3 years and have not had any major problems (I suppose I am just lucky ). But then again I have bought from cyberpower, dell and pc-option and found none of them to be better then mesh.

Also have you tried scan? Their cs is the best I have come across.

[WoLFe]

Thank you very very much shadowmaster, I will be buying this Mesh no doubt now. I have been researching all this alot over the past few days and the reply you gave is a good one.

I looked at the higher end models (in the region of £1300+ etc) that also ship with 8gigs of ram as default, yet have no information on the vista being either 64bit or 32bit. I can only assume it would be 64 bit?

Surely they would include 64bit for all systems that include 8gigs of ram in the base deal without customisations, as it's hardly much more expensive than 32bit now (checked amazon prices, heh).

I will probably still ring them regardless, but it is likely to be 64bit vista?

[Agent]

Very likely.

I don't think Mesh are that incompetent, even with all their issues they have had.

There would be *zero* advantage for them to install a 32bit OS over a 64-bit. The price difference is non existent at the OEM level

[WoLFe]

Here is what an 'agent' said to me on "live chat" - I am not convinced seeing as there were 5 minute pauses between each line...

[shadowmaster]

Lol, post a question up on their mesh forums just to confirm.

MESH Computers Owners Club - Powered by vBulletin

[Eddd]

Sounds like they have some extra RAM in their warehouse that they're trying to get rid off. I'm pretty sure they will only give you a 32 bit version because the original spec said the system has 4GB, and the extra 4GB is just a "special add-on". So they won't want to change the os around this - they've probably only planned for the 32 bit version.

EDIT: there could be a way to upgrade from a 32 bit system to 64? anybody know?

[WoLFe]

Sounds like they have some extra RAM in their warehouse that they're trying to get rid off. I'm pretty sure they will only give you a 32 bit version because the original spec said the system has 4GB, and the extra 4GB is just a "special add-on". So they won't want to change the os around this - they've probably only planned for the 32 bit version.

EDIT: there could be a way to upgrade from a 32 bit system to 64? anybody know?

Yeah, is upgrading to a 64bit ultimate vista from a 32bit home premium okay/straight forward?