Following the trend of the new Dell Dimension casing, the C521 comes in a compact white and silver chassis that stands upright to save space.

Designed to go unnoticed, the C521 also has a fan-less heat-sink around its AMD Athlon 64 3800+ processor, which reduces overall noise pollution well. The processor runs at a clock speed of 2.41GHz and has 1GB of DDR Ram to push things along.

Another two slots are available for adding more system memory but, as it stands, the Dell achieved 180 in Sysmark 2004 SE and 3,273 in PCmark05. This shows that while the single-core processor speed sounds fast, having a slower running dual-core chip will garner better results.

A 160GB hard disk is fitted alongside a multi-format DVD writer and memory card reader, however there’s no room to add a second hard disk later on.

The ATI Radeon X1300Pro has 256MB of its own memory, but like the Evesham Solar XK , it won’t impress hardcore gamers. It will play the latest games at low resolution and detail levels, though.

A score of 2,541 in 3Dmark05 and 61 frames per second in Far Cry gives an impression of the limitations of this small card. Also, it only has a single VGA socket, which means no digital display connection. The bundled 17in TFT Dell monitor also lacks a DVI port.

On the front is a memory card reader, USB ports and headphone/microphone inputs. At the back you’ll find a further four USB sockets, Lan socket and 5.1 audio outputs. Also included is a basic set of stereo speakers, mouse and keyboard.

At the time of writing, the Vista-capable C521 was priced at £499, which represents good value for a basic desktop computer. However, as Dell prices change daily, expect a little fluctuation.

Also consider:
Evesham Solar XK
If you’re not bothered about speed, the Evesham is a consistent performer

Apple iMac 17in
A good entry-level machine, but the lack of DVD burner is a puzzling omission

Advent DHE X22
You're always going to pay more for a small form factor PC, but the Advent DHE X22 functions well as a Media Center

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