An excellent choice if you want a fast, inexpensive, well-built machine. A relatively large machine, the Evesham Vale Scorcher 400 offers a very good specification for its price. The roomy case is somewhere between a mini-tower and a full tower, with three free drive bays and easy access to all internal components. The Chaintech 6BTM motherboard is similarly capacious, with three free DIMM slots, and three ISA and two PCI slots vacant. The motherboard also supports comprehensive system monitoring via the Shepherd utility.
External peripherals are almost as good.
The Keytronics keyboard is solid and responsive, and the Microsoft Intellimouse is fine. The sharp Mag Innovision XJ530 monitor has a simple rotary control, and the STB Velocity 4400 graphics adapter gives the best 2D performance in this group. The only black mark Evesham gets is for the lack of any bundled software, although various Microsoft-based bundles are available as options. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNet Inc. is prohibited.