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Trust only the Best! Trust Arbico!

Once again, Arbico has topped our charts with a system whose sheer speed belies its £499 price tag. The firm has eked out every last bit of performance from this PC’s Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 chip, with the CD 8467 XL scoring 120 points in WorldBench 6. The machine turns in some pretty tasty gaming results, too.

Arbico storms ahead of the competition with an ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card – and at no extra cost. With overall system specification being so similar, there’s no reason to put up with an HD 4650 or nVidia GeForce 9500GT. The PC comes with a 19in monitor which is standard at this price point. The CD 8467 XL’s audio is provided by the monitor’s built-in speakers. A 250GB hard drive comes preinstalled with OpenOffice and Nero, the latter complementing the machine’s 22-speed DVD burner. Although 250GB may seem a relatively limited amount of storage space, it will be adequate for most users.

This is a superb system overall.

Yet again, Arbico has delivered the best performance score in our WorldBench 6 real-world speed test. The Elite i750 Pro’s 131-point tally nudges it ahead of the other PCs in this chart. The 1GB Radeon HD 4870 graphics card is an excellent performer. All but one of the PCs here use a version of this graphics chip.

Arbico has once again opted for the Cooler Master Elite 330 case. This is a smart but basic housing that incorporates a pair of audio sockets and twin USB ports. The Gigabyte motherboard supports CrossFireX, allowing you to add a second graphics card later.

The 22in GNR monitor is standard fare, although it does support both VGA and DVI inputs, giving it a distinct advantage over the analogue-only model supplied by others. The set of five Trust speakers and a subwoofer aren’t exactly top of the range, but they add surround sound to movies and games that support it.

Overall, this system performs very well, with its large hard drive and surround-sound speakers all counting in its favour.

A single point shy of the 140- point mark in our WorldBench 6 test suite, the Elite i7 RSX is one of the fastest-scoring PCs to grace our Test Centre. Based on Intel’s i7 920 processor, this is a quad-core system that performs well across the board, whether or not you’re running apps designed to take advantage of its multiprocessing capabilities. With 3GB of RAM installed, the Arbico offers only half the amount of memory supplied with the other i7-based PCs here. It also ships with the 32bit version of Vista Home Premium.

Arbico’s decision to employ three 500GB hard drives in a Raid 0 configuration sets this PC apart from the pack. This setup provides 1.5 terabytes (TB) of hard-disk space, and theoretically offers three times the performance of a single hard drive. However, be aware that spreading your data in this way means that if one drive fails, you’ll lose all your data.

Arbico seems to have hit on a winning formula in this price category. The CD 8850 XL remains our Best Buy after two months at the top. Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8600 chip is used to full effect, bringing the Arbico an impressive130 points in our WorldBench 6 real-world speed test. The ASRock 4Core 1600-D800 motherboard also performs well., An ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card delivers excellent gaming performance. Arbico has again selected the Cooler Master Elite 330 case. This well-built chassis offers plenty of expansion space and tidy looks. The 22in monitor is fi tted with digital and analogue inputs, thus ensuring a better quality image than analogue-only displays. Whether you want to play games or listen to music, the Creative Audigy SE 7.1 sound card, combined with a set of Logitech speakers and subwoofer, offers a vastly improved listening experience over some of its rivals.

The Arbico delivers excellent performance and value for money.

Arbico has once again delivered a top performer powered by Intel's 2.66GHz Core i7 920 processor. This CPU is set to dominate PC performance charts in this price category for some time to come, combining the flexibility of quad-core multiprocessing with excellent raw speed.

The Arbico Elite i748 XL pulled clear of the competition by a considerable margin in our WorldBench 6 real-world speed test, scoring an excellent 133 points. And this strong general performance is backed up by very good gaming credentials: an HD 4870 graphics card helped this PC achieve the fastest framerates in our most challenging tests.

Arbico has housed the Elite i748 XL in a Cooler Master Elite 330 system case, which is smart and roomy.

There's plenty of potential for upgrades. The Gigabyte motherboard supports CrossFireX technology, which means you can add a second graphics card later. Useful options are also available for enthusiasts who want to overclock the machine, but note that the Arbico Elite i748 XL comes with only four memory slots - three of which are filled with the supplied 3GB of memory. Upgrading to 6GB (the next step for Core i7 processors) would therefore require you to replace all three memory sticks at additional expense.

Arbico's inclusion of a 460W power supply seems a little weak given the power of the Elite i748 XL's processor and graphics card. You may find you need to upgrade the PSU in the future, particularly if you opt to overclock the system or upgrade the graphics card. We certainly wouldn't recommend adding a second graphics card without first upgrading the PSU.

The Arbico's Elite i7 Pro offers excellent value for money.

Despite having 3GB of DDR3 RAM installed, the Arbico Elite i7 Pro is very nearly as fast as the Best Buy machine. The Arbico scored 132 points in WorldBench 6 - just three points fewer than the Best Buy, which costs £400 more.

Aside from the reduced cost of the memory, this system also uses powerful, nvidia GeForce GTX 260 graphics card. Arbico has opted for an overclocked model, with performance boosted closer to that of the costlier GTX 280. At very demanding quality settings? the 280 starts to outperform the 260, but the savings are considerable.

The LG W2252TQ is a smart-looking monitor that offers decent performance and a good set of features. But the best 24in displays - or 16:9 22in monitors - would have enabled full HD playback from the Blu-ray drive, and taken full advantage of the powerful graphics system.

Very nearly as fast as our Best Buy Power PC machine, Arbico's Elite i7 Pro offers excellent value for money.

A close contender for our Best Buy award is Arbico's CD8850 XL.

Intel's Core 2 Duo E8600 processor is combined with an ASRock 4Core 1600-D800 motherboard to devastating effect.

In common with the Elite 8850 Pro, Arbico's CD8850 XL uses an HD 4850 graphics card to deliver very good gaming performance.

The Cooler Master Elite 330 system case has plenty of expansion room and tidy looks. A 22in Acer display, fitted with both digital and analogue inputs, finishes off the Arbico CD8850 XL's smart exterior.

The Arbico CD8850 XL comes with a pair of Logitech speakers and a subwoofer. Alongside the system's Creative Audigy SE 7.1 sound card, this allows for a vastly improved listening experience compared with rival systems in our chart.

Arbico's OC 8400 XL uses a sturdy and fairly quiet Cooler Master case with plenty of room for extra components. It has 10 USB ports - more than any of the other £650 PCs - and its three empty PCI-E x1 slots are ideal if you want to add a sound card, wireless adaptor or TV tuner.

The Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L motherboard supports up to 16GB of RAM but you'll have to opt for Windows Vista 64-bit if you want to take advantage of additional memory. Four free SATA ports provide plenty of scope for adding storage and with six free 3.25” drive bays you'll be able to position additional hard disks easily for optimal airflow and cooling.

The Core 2 Duo E8400 processor is fast and Arbico has overclocked it from 3GHz to 3.6GHz.  The graphics card in this system is an ATI Radeon HD 4670. The card has HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs so you'll be able to connect it to almost any monitor or HDTV.

Arbico's Elite 8400 OCX blitzed through our 3D graphics tests thanks to its powerful Radeon HD 4870 graphics card. It scored a remarkable 74fps in Call of Duty 4 and managed a smooth 35fps in Crysis. It's easily the most powerful PC here for gaming.

There are plenty of ports, slots and bays for adding extra peripherals and upgrades. The Elite has 11 USB ports in total - more than any other PC here - so you're unlikely to need a USB hub. There are two PCI and two PCI Express x1 slots for installing peripherals such as TV tuners and WiFi adaptors. If the 500GB hard disk isn't large enough, you can slot more hard disks into the five empty 3.25” bays, but there are only four free SATA ports. If you need to add a Blu-ray drive or a second DVD writer for faster disc copying, there are three spare 5.25” drive bays.

The monitor has a resolution of 1,680x1,050 and is bright with reasonably wide viewing angles. It's one of the better-quality monitors in this chart.
If you want the fastest possible 3D performance out of the box, Arbico's Elite 8400 OCX is the one to buy.

Quad-core systems are gaining ground, but a fast dual-core machine is still a safe bet. With higher clock speeds, dual-core systems such as the Arbico Elite 8260 XL can still outpace their quad-core rivals on single-threaded applications and the majority of games.

The current king of the dual-core CPUs, Intel's 3.33GHz Core 2 Duo E8600, powers Arbico's Elite 8260 XL to an impressive 126 points in WorldBench 6. The money saved on the processor also allows for such extras as Logitech 2.1-channel speakers (two speakers and a subwoofer) and a Blu-ray drive, so you can watch HD movies on your desktop.

Arbico supplies a high-quality 22in LG monitor with the Elite 8260 XL, which is a considerable step up from some of the cheaper models in the chart such as Digimate and Hanton.

Graphics are powered by an nVidia GeForce GTX 260 - an excellent graphics card that's capable of playing current games at good-quality settings. In our gaming tests, the Arbico Elite 8260 XL was consistently top of the pile.

Arbico has achieved a high-level of build quality and accessibility with the Cooler Master Elite 330 system case. No sound card is fitted, leaving ample room for upgrades.

The general-purpose performance and gaming speeds of the Arbico Elite 8260 XL are excellent, and Arbico bundles better quality peripherals and multimedia capability than other entries at this price point.

Arbico's machines are well known in PC Advisor’s Test Centre for their superb performance. Once again the firm delivers, with its CD8465 EX notching up a top score of 120 points in WorldBench 6.

The 1GB HD 4650 graphics card delivers excellent performance at a good price, making the Arbico CD8465 EX our top performer in both general-purpose and gaming tests.

The Arbico CD8465 EX's ever-popular 19in Hannspree XM New York monitor provides relatively good image quality, robust build quality and dual analogue and digital connections.

The Asrock is a compact motherboard, fitted with only two memory slots. Two PCI slots are available for upgrades, such as a sound card. Note, however, that external speakers are not provided with the Arbico CD8465 EX.

The Arbico CD8465 EX topped our results tables for both general-purpose use and gaming.

The Arbico Elite 8850 Pro is a speedy, inexpensive desktop PC that excels itself with a top score of 131 points in WorldBench 6.

Arbico has always done well in our performance tests and this month it has excelled itself yet again with its Elite 8850 Pro achieving a joint-top score of 131 points in WorldBench 6, thanks to the Core 2 Duo E8600 from Intel.

The Arbico Elite 8850 Pro delivers excellent gaming scores. Again, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 shows itself to be an impressive graphics card at this price; it offers a satisfying gaming experience on many less demanding titles and a passable one on trickier games if you’re willing to drop the quality settings a little.

The Arbico Elite 8850 Pro represents just about the best performance you could expect for the money.

Despite its chart-leading WorldBench speed score of 133 points, the Arbico Elite 8630 Pro is an inexpensive desktop PC.

Arbico’s Elite 8630 Pro is in essence the same as the £999 Arbico Elite 8626GTX, with the flat-panel and sound card replaced by larger and superior substitutes respectively.

The 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 processor enables the Arbico Elite 8630 Pro to perform extremely well at everyday tasks that don’t make use of multithreaded code.

Despite its chart-leading WorldBench score of 133 points, the Arbico Elite 8630 Pro is the cheapest PC here. Its secret weapon is the GeForce GTX 260 graphics card. This is actually clocked higher than a GTX 280 and delivers performance almost indistinguishable from the costlier card.

Arbico’s Elite 8630 Pro provides plenty of expansion room. The motherboard offers two spare memory slots, but you can’t add a second graphics card, while the Arbico Elite 8630 Pro's 460W supply is less powerful than most supplied at this price.

A Blu-ray drive, high-quality 24in display and surround speakers complete the Arbico Elite 8630 Pro's spec, making this a good all-round system for work, gaming or multimedia.

The Arbico Elite 8630 Pro is a value-for-money PC with well chosen components.

The sleek Arbico Elite 8626GTX edges out the Recommended PC to claim the Best Buy badge.

The Arbico Elite 8626GTX comes with a larger hard drive: its 1TB of storage compares favourably to the Recommended PC’s 750GB. The company also bundles a better display – LG’s excellent monitor – and a Blu-ray/HD DVD drive.

Admittedly, Arbico has compromised a little on the Elite 8626GTX's graphics, packing a GeForce GTX 260 card instead of a GTX 280. But the computer’s BFG Maxcore is no ordinary GTX 260. This card delivers performance that’s almost indistinguishable from the more expensive card – and at a considerable saving.

The Arbico Elite 8626GTX uses Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8600 processor to devastating effect. It achieved a staggering 133 points in our WorldBench 6 real-world speed test, one of the best scores we’ve seen across any of our price brackets.

The Arbico Elite 8626GTX's Gigabyte motherboard also offers room for expansion with two free memory slots. Creative’s Audigy SE 7.1 sound card provide the Arbico Elite 8626GTX with multichannel surround sound through a 5.1-channel set of Cyber Acoustics – five speakers and a subwoofer – making this a good all-round computer for work, gaming or multimedia.

Arbico’s Elite 4685HD performs well across the board. It turned in a respectable score of 125 points in our gruelling WorldBench 6 real-world speed test, while our gaming tests saw high – but not outstanding – framerates.

The Arbico Elite 4685HD combines Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8500 chip with a brand-new ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card. The third-placed desktop PC uses exactly the same configuration, but the Arbico machine performs better in desktop applications.

Arbico has again opted for a Coolermaster Elite 330, a smart and well-made case that’s not too garish or overly concerned with gaming. This case provides plenty of room for internal expansion, and the Arbico Elite 4685HD has space for more hard disks and optical drives than you’ll ever need.

A good, clear airflow is assisted by the Arbico Elite 4685HD's pair of large, quiet fans. A 500W EzCool PSU is also supplied, which gives a little extra oomph to accommodate future upgrades.

The ASRock motherboard is an odd pairing with the Arbico Elite 4685HD's case, however. It looks tiny, and its limited number of slots – you’ll find only a single pair of memory slots, which are already in use – mean you’ll struggle to get much benefit from the capacious case.

A 19in Hannspree XM New York monitor is also provided with the Arbico Elite 4685HD. This decent display is becoming almost as common as Intel’s E8500 processor in this price range.

The Arbico Elite 4685HD’s one-year warranty is relatively brief, and its 250GB hard drive is the smallest in this category. But this remains an excellent all-round computer.

Rather than build a system to get the highest benchmark results, Arbico built the Value E2200 with balance in mind and includes a 19in widescreen LCD. The lower of the two 3½in drive bays has a flip-down door, behind which sit audio sockets and two USB ports. Everything is neatly laid out inside, with a quiet Intel processor cooler.

Thanks to the sizeable case, variety of free drive bays and 450W PSU, this PC has plenty of upgrade potential,

If you have an interest in gaming, you'll want to upgrade the integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics.

The included display is a Hannspree XM-S New York 19in widescreen model with a native resolution of 1,440x900. This costs around £110 to buy separately, so Arbico has done well to include it at this price.

In providing a complete system, Arbico has cut corners with performance. If you're not fussed about gaming and are after a computer for surfing the web, emailing and typing documents, this is a good-value PC.

Arbico’s Elite 8680 GTX uses Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8600 to great effect, scoring 127 points in our WorldBench 6 speed tests. Meanwhile, nVidia’s GeForce GTX 280 helps this machine to produce the best graphics performance here.

The Arbico Elite 8680 GTX's LG is a good-quality monitor, with dual inputs and a stand that tilts and swivels. It offers a spec well above budget level, with a high brightness display, automatic aspect ratio scaling and a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast.

A Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio sound card has been installed, which is complemented by a set of Cyber Acoustics 5.1 speakers. Given the high quality of the Arbico Elite 8680 GTX's display and audio system, it’s a shame that Arbico includes no Blu-ray drive with this system.

A terabyte of storage is provided with the Arbico Elite 8680 GTX, in the form of two 500GB drives. This allows for better performance, as well as reducing the potential for disaster by allowing you to spread your eggs across two baskets.

The Arbico Elite 8680 GTX is housed in a rather unusual matt casing. The Xclio Coolbox is fitted with large, illuminated cooling fans, which can be adjusted via external knobs to achieve the best compromise between cooling and noise.

Another excellent performer, the Arbico Elite 8685 RDX edges ahead of the Chillblast in our real-world speed benchmark with 128 points. Both PCs feature a 3.33GHz E8600 processor, yet the Arbico’s faster memory timings give it a slight edge in performance.

The Arbico Elite 8685 RDX’s EZ Cool H60 case is finished in an attractive glossy piano-black. It’s more stylish than the Chillblast’s Elite 330, but it doesn’t come with tool-free drive bays.

Arbico’s spec sheet suggests that the Elite 8685 RDX normally uses four 1GB RAM modules. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn’t support an additional graphics card in Crossfire mode, but two spare expansion slots are available. An additional PCI slot is taken up by a Creative Audigy SE 7.1 sound card.

The Arbico Elite 8685 RDX's 22in LG W2252S is a good-looking monitor.

With the popular ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card installed, the Arbico Elite 8685 RDX delivers solid games performance.

Arbico's OC 4870 XL might not have the striking looks of Acer's Predator Trooper, but its plain black case belies the power that this PC has to offer. And, as always, it's what's inside that really counts.

The OC 4870 XL has one very obvious strength: two huge 180mm fans are fitted. One of these is situated on the front, the other on the side, with the end result being that a decent amount of air can be drawn across the components inside without making too much noise. A simple rotary fan controller is fitted, so you can find a balance between cooling and quietness, although you'll have to reach around to the back panel to use it.

Two USB ports, along with headphone and microphone sockets, are positioned rather awkwardly on the very bottom of the case's front panel. A DVD writer is fitted above, as is a multiformat memory card reader that includes a single, but more usefully positioned, USB port. Spin the case around, though, and you'll find a more useful collection of sockets: another eight USB ports, digital and analogue audio sockets and Gigabit Ethernet. The abundance of audio sockets points to an unexpected bonus – as well as the Realtek audio chip included on the motherboard, Arbico has added a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio soundcard.

Inside the case, however, is where things get interesting. The first thing you notice is that, rather than using a standard Intel cooler, Arbico has fitted an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. This has a huge heatsink and a quieter fan, and has allowed the company to overclock the Core 2 Duo E8500 processor fitted underneath it to 3.8GHz. The memory installed is 800MHz DDR2, with 4GB fitted as two 2GB modules made by Corsair.
A 500GB Samsung hard disk is included in the front of the case. This seems a rather pedestrian choice when compared to some of the other components included but, with six free Sata ports on the motherboard, it would be easy to add more storage in future if needed. A sizeable chunk of the OC 4870 XL's cost has, unsurprisingly, been spent on the graphics card. The Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R motherboard has a single PCI Express x16 slot, which is filled by a 512MB ATI HD4870 card.

The system produced impressive results in our benchmark tests. Its score of 5.7 in the Windows Experience Index is higher than that of the £1,700 Acer Predator, and it produced 5,484 points in the demanding PCmark Vantage test. The single ATI graphics card held up well in 3D tests, too, notching up a score of 15,604 in 3Dmark06. More impressive still, it produced an average of 45fps (frames per second) in our World in Conflict test – the Acer Predator, equipped with two Nvidia cards in SLI, averaged just 38fps.

No monitor, keyboard or mouse is included with the OC 4870 XL, making it most suitable for those wishing to replace an older computer. It faces stiff competition from the Chillblast Fusion Sentinel, which includes a quad-core processor and costs £100 less, but then it did produce slightly better scores in our 3D benchmarks. All in all, the OC 4870 XL may not be particularly pretty, but this is a powerful computer ideal for gaming, at a reasonable price.

The Arbico Elite 8595, the sort of top-performing machine we’ve come to expect from Arbico, uses a 3.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 to reach a blistering WorldBench 6 processing-speed score of 122 points. That’s faster than most PCs at twice the price.

It also looks much better than we’d expect from a low-cost system. When costs are being cut, it’s common to find PCs housed in cramped, dull boxes that flex and creak to the touch. The Arbico Elite 8595’s EZ Cool H60 case, however, is sturdily built, spacious and finished in a high-gloss piano black, making the system look rather expensive.

The supplied 19in Hannspree New York monitor has a bold ‘love it or hate it’ design and comes with a build quality that belies its low price. With 4GB of RAM installed as standard and a top-of-the-range 22-speed DVD burner, the Arbico Elite 8595 offers superb value for money for general work and internet use.

Arbico’s Elite 8595 is an excellent budget system boasting good looks and quite exceptional performance.

This time around, choosing our Best Buy PC has proved tougher than usual.

However, we’ve plumped for Arbico’s CD 4850. The seemingly unbeatable Core 2 Duo E8500 from Intel powers this system to an impressive WorldBench 6 score of 126 points – the same level of general office performance you’d get from the best of our power PCs and significantly faster than some contenders with the same processor.

The Arbico CD 4850's graphics are provided by ATI’s new Radeon HD 4850, which delivers a significant boost in performance over the graphic cards we saw last time, such as nVidia’s GeForce 8800 GT, without an increase in overall system price.

The Arbico CD 4850 has eight USB ports and, with a massive 750GB hard drive, you’ll have plenty of room for a large media collection.

With an almost identical specification – even the Logitech S220 speakers are the same model – the runner-up delivers identical performance to the Arbico CD 4850. However, what clinched it for us is Arbico’s inclusion of a Creative Audigy sound card. There can be only one winner and this is the result of our photo finish.

The LG W2242S monitor supplied with the Arbico CD 4850 offers a good contrast ratio. The Arbico’s CD 4850 is a well-balanced PC with excellent performance.

Crossfire, the dual-graphics card technology from AMD’s graphics arm, ATI, hasn’t had the best of times in recent years. Despite its complete monopoly on Intel’s chipsets (SLI only works on Nvidia’s chipsets) and AMD working furiously on the drivers to allow four graphics cards to work together, SLI has had the biggest market share by far.

The reason is that until the Radeon HD 4800 series of graphics cards, AMD’s performance has lagged behind Nvidia’s. AMD has made big strides though and today a Radeon HD 4850 beats an Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX in most scenarios and a Radeon HD 4870 competes comfortably with the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260, the slightly less powerful of the two wonder cards in Nvidia’s new GTX 200 series.

Arbico has put two Radeon HD 4870s in this PC, each with 512MB of GDDR5 Ram ticking over at a terrifically fast pace of 3.6GHz.

You need a fast CPU to keep such powerful graphics cards fed, so Arbico has fitted a Core 2 Quad Q9450 processor with 12MB L2 cache. By default, it runs at 2.66GHz, but Arbico has pushed the front side bus from 1,333MHz to 1,800MHz (with a 0.1V bump to 1.26V) so that the processor runs at 3.6GHz. Despite this big increase, the CPU temperature remained at 37°C after two days’ usage.

Other components include 4GB OCZ Ram clocked at 900MHz (synchronised with the FSB), a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer sound card and a Gigabyte X48 motherboard that provides astounding connectivity, including eight USB ports, two Firewire, two Gigabit Ethernet ports and two spare x1 PCI Express slots, so you could add both a TV tuner and Wifi card.

Vista Home Premium comes installed on a Super Talent 64GB solid state drive (SSD), while a second 500GB hard drive is provided for extra storage.

Gaming on this PC is, for the most part, awesome. Arbico has bundled a 24in Samsung 245B monitor, with an all-important 1,920x1,200 pixel resolution. Games look fantastic. A 3Dmark06 score of 20,297 is superb, as is the PCmark05 score of 13,696 (11,523 in the CPU section) and at 1,920x1,200, World in Conflict played through at 57fps (frames per second) with high settings.

Crysis, on the other hand, didn’t suffer from such stutters and looked fantastic, producing 28.55fps on high settings.

A £2,000 PC might sound like a lot, but considering the high calibre case and components, its top-notch 24in monitor and the fact you would struggle to buy the separate components and save any money, it’s excellent value for money.

Arbico is no stranger to the top of our charts. And the firm has delivered yet another stand-out system this month: the Elite 4850, based on Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8500 processor.

This value-for-money chip powers PCs across all price categories and provides bags of performance. The Arbico Elite 4850’s processing power, extras and all-round quality set it apart from its more budget-conscious rivals.

The manufacturer has spurned the highly popular CoolerMaster Elite 330 case in favour of a GZ-X6 model from Gigabyte for the Arbico Elite 4850. It’s a basic-looking design, but it comes with a glossy black finish, optical drive bay covers and tool-free internal drive bays.

The Arbico Elite 4850's 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card provides plenty of power to keep even the latest games titles running smoothly.

A huge 750GB hard drive is provided as standard with the Arbico Elite 4850, so you’ll have plenty of room to install a decent games library, as well as a large multimedia collection. Rather than bundle the cheapest 22in monitor available with the Elite 4850, Arbico has opted for Samsung’s SyncMaster 223BW, which provides excellent image quality and stylish looks.

With five Cyber Acoustic speakers and a subwoofer, the Arbico Elite 4850 is well-equipped for gaming, music and film playback, and it comes with a Blu-ray reader that also supports the now legacy HD DVD format. DVD burn speeds are a little slower than those of rival PCs, but ‘only’ 16-speed DVD-R doesn’t represent a huge sacrifice in order to enjoy high-definition (HD) movies.

The Arbico Elite 4850 is an excellent all-round system that justifies the extra money.

Arbico’s PCs are generally top performers, and the 8440 is no exception. Based on a Core 2 Duo E8400 processor, the Arbico Elite 8440 scores 118 WorldBench 6 points.

The new Elite 8440 model comes with an extra 2GB of RAM and one of the latest 22-speed DVD burners from Samsung. It’s great to see 4GB of RAM included at this price.

The Arbico Elite 8440 drops the popular CoolerMaster Elite 330 case in favour of the rather sleeker EZ-Cool H60 model, with concealed optical drive bays. Although the Arbico Elite 8440's WorldBench performance is good, gaming performance on this system is average.

The Arbico Elite 8440 is an impressive all-rounder that offers decent gaming performance.

Intel’s superb Core 2 Duo E8500 processor continues to deliver tremendous performance at an appealing price, dominating our desktop PC charts across three categories.
Arbico has put the chip to stunning use in the Elite 8070EX. This system outperforms the competition in the budget price range, then beats all of the power systems for good measure.

The Arbico Elite 8070EX’s utter dominance when handling general office and productivity applications doesn’t extend to games, but it’s no gaming slouch. With 4GB of DDR2-800 memory and an ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB graphics card, it’s able to deliver a very playable experience.

This monitor has proved highly popular in our charts. The design is basic, but it delivers relatively good performance for the price and provides the Arbico Elite 8070EX with both analogue VGA and digital high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) inputs.

Once again, Arbico has opted for the reliable Coolermaster Elite 330 casing. This is smart and practical, with just enough style to prevent it looking boring and plenty of space inside for expansion. In any case, the Arbico Elite 8070EX's supplied 465GB hard drive is ample to be getting on with.

Arbico is used to sitting at the top of the pile when it comes to performance, and this sub-£500 system is no exception. With a WorldBench 6 processing-speed score of 119, the Arbico Elite 8400 is a clear winner in this category, even beating a couple of the latest £751-£1,000 models.

The key to the Arbico Elite 8400's success is a 3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor, which offers exceptional performance for the price and is widely used throughout our charts.

The Arbico Elite 8400’s 1,024MB model of the NVIDIA 8600GT offers a distinct advantage over the 512MB version in other PCs in this chart.

The Arbico Elite 8400 boasts 2GB of RAM – a standard offering at this price point – while sound is limited to the motherboard’s onboard audio, played through the monitor’s rather tinny integrated speakers.

The Arbico Elite 8400 comes with Hannspree’s popular and distinctive-looking XM New York flat-panel. It’s a well-made product that’s high on style and low on flimsy plastic components. Image quality isn’t the greatest, but it’s much better than you generally get at this price. Arbico has plumped for the popular CoolerMaster Elite 330 case with the Elite 8400, which has room for plenty of additional drives. The supplied 250GB SATA hard disk is plenty to be getting along with.

The Arbico Elite 8400 turns in noticeably stronger gaming performance, and it’s quicker at general computing tasks, managing five more WorldBench points than the second placed PC.

Arbico has a history of producing top-performing PCs, Arbico has wisely chosen Intel’s superb Core 2 Duo E8500 processor for its CD9800 PRO, which has been dominating our charts since it appeared on the market.

The Arbico CD9800 PRO is a revamped version of the CD8500 PRO, a Best Buy winner two months ago. The CoolerMaster Elite 330 case makes another welcome appearance, with its ample drive bay capacity and solid construction. Once again, the Gigabyte motherboard delivers excellent performance, and there are a generous number of USB 2.0 ports.

Perhaps the most significant upgrade to the Arbico CD9800 PRO is the inclusion of nVidia’s GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card. The 9800 GTX offers only small performance benefits over the 8800 GTS, but Arbico has managed to include the newer card without bumping up the price.

The 500GB hard drive is a notable improvement on the Arbico CD8500 PRO’s 320GB model. A 22in Cibox C2201 monitor completes the package. This is an adequate flat-panel.

A WorldBench 6 real-world speed score of 124 is excellent and the Arbico 9800Pro offers a longer warranty than most other PCs in the chart.

Not many PCs score a 10,014 in PCmark05 and stay quiet at the same time, but Arbico’s Elite 8480EX does it with aplomb.
A Core 2 Duo E8400 processor overclocked to 3.6GHz, from 3GHz, lends a hand to the great performance, scoring 9,149 in its PCmark05 section - a score more commonly seen from Intel’s mid-range Quad Core parts. In most cases this 3.6GHz dual-core will leave 3GHz models in its wake.
The CPU is kept quiet by an impressive Scythe Katana 2 heatsink, which also kept the temperature down to 28°C. The 8480EX’s 500GB hard drive is also quietened with a 5.25in anti-vibration caddy.
The front-side bus is increased from 1,333MHz to 1,600MHz to make the magic 3.6GHz number, courtesy of an excellent Gigabyte P35 motherboard. The system’s Bios is second to none, although like all Intel motherboards, it doesn’t support SLI (only ATI Crossfire), so you cannot add a second Nvidia graphics card if you wanted to.
Gamers playing on 20in and 22in monitors will find the 8480EX’s overclocked Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS graphics card enough to turn graphics settings up to high, reflected by a score of 14,702 in 3Dmark06.
Arbico has included an affordable Coolermaster Elite 330 case. It’s a little bland, while its Coolermaster 460W power supply is only rated at 70%+ efficiency, which is just behind modern 80%+-rated power supplies (but the 106W idle power draw isn’t too bad).
For £100 less than the 8480EX, you could buy Chillblast’s Fusion Sentinel desktop with a 3GHz quad core and has a whisperless performance. But it lacks a separate soundcard. The 8480EX is well built, powerful and has many premium components and extra ports.

When it comes to everyday performance, Arbico’s CD8520 XL trounces the competition at this price point, with a WorldBench real-world speed score of 123 – nothing else comes close. It’s also ahead of the field in our gaming tests. Its 512MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GT card even outperforms the newer (but cheaper) 9600 GT favoured by some of its competitors.

The Arbico CD8520 XL uses a 3.16GHz Intel Core 2Duo E8500 processor. Fitted with 4GB of fast PC6400 memory, the Arbico CD8520 XL is your quickest option.

Our Arbico CD8520 XL review model was shipped with a 20in Acer X201 monitor. With a native display resolution of 1,400x1,050 it’s the only monitor in this chart to have a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the ubiquitous 16:10. This gives you 13 percent more pixels than the equivalent widescreen model. If you’d prefer a 16:10 display, however, Arbico will provide one at no extra cost.

The Creative Audigy SE 7.1 sound card is a welcome addition to the Arbico CD8520 XL.

The Arbico CD8520 XL is a very tidy system overall, with excellent performance and solid build quality. This is another top offering from Arbico.

Arbico’s HD8570 x 2 is a top performer across the board, using a 3.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 and 4GB allocation of RAM to achieve an excellent WorldBench speed score of 123.

Gaming performance is also impressive, courtesy of the Arbico HD8570 X2’s ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card. This component is in essence two graphics processors on a single board – a solution that results in a huge amount of processing power.

Audio performance is boosted by the Arbico HD8570 X2’s Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio sound card. There’s plenty of room in the case for additional optical or hard drives.

A total of 750GB of storage is provided by the Arbico HD8570 X2’s pair of hard drives, one with a capacity of 250GB and the other 500GB.

The Arbico HD8570 X2's 22in Samsung SM-2232BW is a former PC Advisor Gold award winner. It’s a good-looking monitor that’s perfect for the Arbico HD8570 x 2’s powerful graphics.

Overall, the Arbico HD8570 x 2 is a superb performer at a good price. It’s loaded with features and neatly constructed.

Arbico delivers yet another superb performer in the budget-priced PC category. With a WorldBench processing-speed score of 116, the CD8400 XL … even outscores two of the machines in our latest Power PCs chart.

The Arbico CD8400 XL's impressive performance is mainly down to the 3GHz Intel Core Duo E8400 used in this system.

Like previous low-cost systems from Arbico, the CD8400 XL is shipped with the 19in Hannspree XM New York display. This widescreen model has built-in speakers and intriguing looks that set it apart from the low-grade plastic-finished designs we’re used to seeing at this price point. It’s great to see a display with full height, tilt and swivel adjustments at this price level. It also provides pretty good image quality.

The Arbico CD8400 XL’s Coolermaster Elite 330 chassis is solidly built yet stylish. Some budget cases can feel flimsy and fragile, but this PC looks nothing like a bargain-basement system. In fact, Arbico uses the same case for its power PCs.

There’s a total of six free 3.5in bays and three free 5.25in bays, so you’re unlikely to run out of expansion room in the Arbico CD8400 XL. It’s also good to see the use of two sticks of branded Corsair XMS2 DDR2 memory ….

The Arbico CD8400 XL's GeForce 8600GT graphics card provides a good level of gaming performance.

…. this is a solidly built system that offers well-chosen components and excellent performance for the money. The two-year warranty is also pretty good.

Another prize-winner from Arbico, the CD8500 PRO edges ahead of the 2nd place PC thanks to its commendable WorldBench performance score of 126, low price and outstanding games results. Both systems use a 3.16GHz Core 2 Duo E8500, 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a GeForce 8800GTS to achieve WorldBench results that are about as fast as anything we’ve seen in any PC category.

The Arbico CD8500 PRO is fitted with a 320GB hard drive…

The Arbico CD8500 PRO is solidly constructed, in an expensive-looking silver-and-black Coolermaster Elite 330 case fitted with convenient thumb-screws for easy opening. Inside there’s a pair of 2GB Corsair XM2 DDR2 memory sticks and plenty of room for expansion, with three free PCI slots and two PCI-E 1x slots available.

Six 3.5in bays and three 5.25in bays remain free, while … USB ports are available externally on the Arbico CD8500 PRO, two of which are situated at the front for easy access, along with mic and headphone connections.

The Cyber Acoustic 2.1 speakers provide good-quality stereo, but they don’t take full advantage of the surround-sound capabilities of the Arbico CD8500 PRO’s audio hardware.

Considering that the Arbico CD8500 PRO costs a full £100 less than the other PCs in this chart, while producing the fastest benchmark scores across the board, it’s an astonishingly good deal.

… the Arbico CD8500 PRO is well-built, extremely fast and excellent value for money…

Arbico is an expanding British PC company created five years ago that now sells around 250 desktops every month.

Its latest design, the Silent 6880GT, uses a select range of components to attain near-silent operation.

An Antec Sonata III case is the starting ingredient. It’s a small ATX tower standing 42.5cm high with an attractive black steel construction.

While some cases use internal foam panels to absorb noise, the Sonata keeps noise down by using an efficient 500W power supply, a slow but variable 120mm system fan and a washable air filter to remove dust.

Removable hard disk caddies with rubber fittings to reduce vibrations are a standard feature of the Sonata III, but Arbico goes a step further by fitting its 500GB Sata hard disk in a dedicated Zalman hard drive cooler.

It occupies one of the 5.25in bays, below the DVD writer, and uses an array of heat-sinks to keep the hard drive cool. These not only prolong the drive’s lifespan, but also dampen the hard disk clicks heard during use.

A Core 2 Duo E6850 processor and 4GB of Corsair 800MHz DDR2 Ram sit at the heart of the Silent 6880GT. The CPU is overclocked to 3.4GHz, with a 0.075v increase available if the processor should need it. The Ram is overclocked to 850MHz to synchronise with the overclocked front-side bus (FSB).

Performance was very good, reflected by a score of 8,817 in PCmark05. Another benefit of using a dual-core chip instead of a quad-core is that it draws less power and generates less heat, especially when overclocked. A Scythe Katana 2 heatsink and fan kept the temperature down to 49°C under load, with just a whisper of noise.

The CPU drops to 2.55GHz when not under load, where we measured an outstanding 26°C on the die.
Gigabyte’s P35 motherboard, used here, has plenty of overclocking potential and provides good connectivity too, with the exception of a Firewire port. Two USB ports, one eSata and a headphone jack sit on the front of the case, while eight USB ports and surround sound connectors are fitted into the rear panel.

The motherboard doesn’t have a second PCI Express slot and you’re left with a single Sparkle Geforce 8800GT with 512MB 1.8GHz GDDR3 Ram, which has excellent performance and, in a first for 8800GTs, is silent due to passive cooling.

Excellent scores of 13,529 in 3Dmark06 and 19,810 in 3Dmark05 reflect the 8800GT’s pedigree. Modern games at high resolutions are within its grasp, proved by the Silent 6880GT managing a just-playable 37fps in World in Conflict at 1,920x1,200 with high details.

Power consumption was relatively low, sticking to 91W when idling and peaking at 175W. Throughout a day of vigorous testing the PC sounded as if it was idling.

Vista Home Premium is a free alternative, although Arbico says XP’s performance is better. If you want to see all 4GB Ram, a 64-bit version of Windows can be selected for no additional cost.

The high price reflects that quiet technology costs money. You can build an identical system for less, but Arbico configures it well, with delivery and a two-year return to base warranty included in the price.

Our first look at the Arbico 8500GTS

Money matters, even in the £1,001-plus PCs chart. And so it is that Arbico, pricing its Elite 8500GTS £111 below the second-cheapest machine in this Top 5, grabs itself yet another Best Buy – making it the first manufacturer in PCA history to top all four charts at once. But it’s not just a bargain price tag that propels the Arbico Elite 8500GTS to the head of the class. ....the Arbico Elite 8500GTS is an assured performer, thanks partly to a smart choice of chip – the brand-new E8500 Penryn processor is about as good as it gets without handing over extortionate amounts of cash. Combine this with 4GB of Corsair DDR2-800 RAM and you get a powerhouse PC that scores a staggering 127 points in our WorldBench 6 real-world speed tests.

The Arbico Elite 8500GTS is a top-notch machine. The 500GB hard drive is ample, but we doubt you’ll need more than 500GB, while the Arbico Elite 8500GTS's Samsung SM226BW is an excellent flat-panel with strong colour and clarity. The Creative SB X-Fi XtremeAudio is a great sound card, and the DVD writer is one of the best in existence, offering scorching double-layer speeds. The Arbico Elite 8500GTS also possesses the most powerful single graphics chip here.

As an all-round machine, the Arbico Elite 8500GTS impresses....

It’s a double first for Arbico this month as it manages to top both this and the £1,001+ chart. The main ingredient of its unparalleled success is the Arbico CD8500 XL's brand-new Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor. This Penryn chip supplants the E6850, offering considerably more performance for a similar price. Indeed, a 2GB E8500 system will now notch up roughly the same WorldBench 6 tally as an E6850 PC with twice the RAM. Not that Arbico has stuck to 2GB, mind; the Arbico CD8500 XL packs in 4GB of high-calibre Corsair DDR2-800 RAM.

The Hanspree XM New York measures just 19 inches – ... But size isn’t everything. Indeed, the Arbico CD8500 XL's XM New York packs a decent image that easily beats that of the larger GNR and Yuraku screens. It’s a high-quality component and you’d be lucky to save more than a few pounds by specifying the Hanspree rather than the GNR.

... the Arbico CD8500 XL is extremely impressive.

The Arbico CD8500 XL's sound system is arguably the best in the chart; it’s certainly the most consistent. The Audigy SE 7.1 is more than a match for the other PCs’ onboard setups. The Arbico CD8500 XL is well stocked with connectors.... Add a Samsung DVD writer that’s close to the top of its game, and the Arbico CD8500 XL is an outstanding system for the money....

This is a system that's close to the top of its game....

Arbico continues to excel in the sub-£500 PC category, ... the CD6750 SX notched up a stellar WorldBench 6 score of 99.

Predictably, we have high praise for the Arbico CD6750 SX's 2GB of Kingston memory and Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor. We’re also quietly impressed by the Arbico CD6750 SX's 19in Hannspree XM New York flat-panel. The Arbico CD6750 SX's graphics card, meanwhile, is no ordinary rendition of the 8600 GT; its 1GB of RAM enables it to beat the other 8600 GTs in gaming tests.

For most sub-£500 buyers, however, the Arbico CD6750 SX will be the PC of choice.

Verdict

The Arbico CD6750 SX is an excellent machine overall, with the top general Windows speed, the most impressive display – not to mention a decent two-year warranty, a fast DVD writer and plenty of software. Component for component, the Arbico CD6750 SX is the best PC for the price.

Actually priced at £899 the Arbico Elite 8850GX is a fantastic value for money desktop PC.

The Arbico Elite 8850GX's WorldBench real-world speed score of 116 is extremely good given the modest price tag.

The Arbico Elite 8850GX's 8800 GTS 512 is a very good graphics card, in spite of its silly naming (its chip is rather more sophisticated than the ones powering the 320MB and 640MB versions of the 8800 GTS). ... the 22 inch is a very decent flat-panel indeed.

The Arbico Elite 8850GX offers excellent gaming speed. The Samsung DVD writer is a searing model, with fantastic 16-speed double-layer support.

Overall then, the Arbico Elite 8850GX represents astonishing value for money for a desktop PC. Grab it while it's hot.

We take value for money seriously, and an attractive price tag has allowed many a system to edge past a closely matched rival in our charts. Arbico’s PCs are a case in point, wearing their budget tags as badges of honour. But when there’s just £50 separating five PCs in our Test Centre, money becomes less significant.

Nonetheless, thanks to some nice components, the Arbico Elite 8800GT SLI is still capable of grabbing second place. The E6850 processor is as fast as any we’ve seen in this category, and the Arbico Elite 8800GT SLI’s WorldBench score of 118 is quite an achievement. The 4GB of RAM is ample, as is the 500GB hard drive – it’s not as large as the 750GB unit supplied with the fourth-placed PC, but it should be more than enough for most users.

the Arbico Elite 8800GT SLI comes with two 8800 GT graphics chips joined in scaleable link interface (SLI). While it depends to some extent on which games you’re playing and at what resolution, this PC is still well equipped for gaming.

The Arbico Elite 8800GT SLI improves on the Best Buy PC’s sound system, while the DVD writer is a top-notch model that offers 12-speed DVD-R DL and +R DL. Add to that a robust case – which comes with plenty of ports and connectors – and an enticing price, and this PC is a worthy runner-up to the big-screened Best Buy PC.

Once upon a time, you could count yourself fortunate to get much of a PC at all for £500. The Arbico CD6750 XL shows how far machines in this price range have come in a short space of time.

Rejecting the sub-standard E6550 and Athlon 64 X2 6000+ chips in favour of a rather stunning Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, the Arbico CD6750 XL simply flew through our WorldBench 6 test suite. The Arbico CD6750 XL notched up a hefty 99-point tally. And the Arbico CD6750 XL has made remarkably few compromises elsewhere to cram in this fantastic processor.

…160GB remains a decent amount of storage space. If you've got a big library of movies and audio files, you might find space a bit tight, but the majority of users will find 160GB satisfactory.

And there can be no quibbling about the Arbico CD6750 XL's 2GB of DDR RAM. Nor, for that matter, the GeForce 8600 GT graphics card. Avid gamers aren't likely to be ecstatic with any of the cards found at this price level, but the 8600 GT offers very solid and playable framerates, provided you're prepared to tone down the detail levels.

The Arbico CD6750 XL's 19in Hannspree XM flat-panel offers perfectly adequate image quality, and its interesting looks will disguise the fact that you've been shopping for your PC on a tight budget. The onboard sound isn't stunning, but the DVD writer is an excellent model - if not quite as brilliant as the Zoostorm 4-2353's.