SFF Roundup, Part I: Socket 478 and 754 Systems
by Jarred Walton on February 15, 2005 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Wrapping it Up
We hope that you've enjoyed this massive article, and if you actually read everything, thanks. Unlike many other reviews where we're looking at a more focused topic, SFF reviews are almost like reviewing an entire system. Even with all that we've said, there are bound to be overlooked areas or areas that we glazed over. If you have any questions about the particular units and our experience in using them, feel free to ask in the comments section or drop us an email and we'll do our best to answer. For now, we're happy to present our Editor's Choice award. |
For the combination of features, aesthetics, and quiet computing, we're happy to award the Aopen XC Cube EA65-II our Silver Editor's Choice. It gets nearly everything right and can easily function as the center of an entertainment system. You might wonder why we chose not to give it the Gold Editor's Choice, and the answer is simply that the socket 478 platform is getting a little old. Higher performing units that use socket 775 and 939 are available, and we'll be taking a look at those in the near future. As a HTPC, it should easily last for several years, however. If we get the chance, we'll take a look at the updated EA65-IIa from Aopen to see how the newer TV/FM Tuner and InstantON 2.x affect things; we hope that the updated model can support TV-Out functionality with an add-in card in InstantON mode, as that would truly make the unit a HTPC device. |
 |
Our Bronze Editor's Choice goes to the Biostar iDEQ 210P, and it is an easy recommendation. The 210P has many features and a reasonable price, and the addition of a TV tuner card like the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 would bring the total cost to about the same level as the Aopen. Our biggest complaint is the color-cycling power button, which can thankfully be obscured with the sliding door. The internal layout and extras like a second HDD bay and a mini-PCI slot give you a lot of value for your money. Performance on the whole was also better than the Pentium 4 systems, which was expected. |
Of the remaining units, the ASUS and Shuttle are both reasonable alternatives worthy of an "honorable mention", depending on what you like. Coming from the ATX case market, it's refreshing to go through five systems and encounter so few problems! The only unit that we really have misgivings about is the Foxconn e-bot. If the cost was lower or the number of features was higher, it would be less of a problem. As it stands, however, it's simply too much for too little, and there were some performance and stability problems – with a high-end graphics card – that would deter most people from taking that route.
The world of SFF computers is really quite exciting, particularly if you're tired of the noise levels that typically come from desktop PCs. The one item that we're missing is a super small HTPC design with low noise levels. Apple's Mac Mini has shown some of what is possible, and it is much smaller than even the smallest SFF PC. It is also lower performing, of course, and it runs a different OS that some people might not be interested in using. We'd really like to see an ultra-compact PC with VIVO functionality and an even lower noise level packed into a case roughly 1/4 the size of current SFFs. With the attention that the Mac Mini has garnered, we might just see such a system in the next year. We can only hope.
As we said earlier, we're open for suggestions on any other areas that people would like addressed. We do have about twelve additional SFF units for review coming up in the next month or two, and now that we have our basic testing methodology determined, it should hopefully go a little faster than this first roundup.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
32 Comments
View All Comments
gerf - Thursday, March 24, 2005 - link
I noticed! :Dbut i doubt that you will notice back anyway. Heh
JarredWalton - Tuesday, December 6, 2005 - link
Touche! And only 9 months late. LOLJarredWalton - Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - link
UPDATE! I screwed up in comment 28 above and neglected to mention this in the article. The iDEQ 210P actually *CAN* use a two slot graphics card. That makes high-end cards like the 6800 Ultra an option, as well as quieter solutions like the Silencer GPU HSF. I'm not sure how many will actually notice this post, but it's one more point in favor of the 210P.JarredWalton - Friday, February 18, 2005 - link
Update: I inadvertently stated that the ASUS quick-boot mode supports MP3 CDs. It does not. Sorry for any confusion. The Aopen and Foxconn do support this feature, but my brain got a little scambled in the process of reviewing all five units.JarredWalton - Friday, February 18, 2005 - link
27 - at least for the units in this roundup, none of them could take a large two-slot graphics card. The AGP slots are all on the outside, so the HSF would end up outside the case. Clearance even with the X800 Pro used was tight on several of the cases and it required a bit of finagling to install. Any of the cards that use a large cooler like the Silencer would also not fit in the cases. I'll be sure to make note of any SFFs that could actually accept a two-slot GPU, though.benjin - Friday, February 18, 2005 - link
Excellent reviews, I appreciate all the hard work.Since noise is a big issue, it'd be nice to see how well some of the new, larger and passively cooled video cards fit, if at all.
I could see that as being difficult since they'll all be different, but maybe future reviews could offer an idea of how much clearance would be available to work with.
JarredWalton - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - link
The Kloss is amoung the systems in the 775 roundup I'm working on. Do they have a 939 version as well?Noli - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - link
can you include the Trigem Kloss as well pls? Sounds and looks pretty cool.. (esp if they have an A64 version - anyone know?)http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/200502161/index....
JarredWalton - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - link
23 - I've sent a request to Biostar for any additional units, particularly Athlon 64 units. The same goes for several other companies.REMF - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - link
Biostar are are about to release an nForce4 SFF in their 300 series chassis. :D