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. |
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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.
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CrystalBay - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
Hi, How about the dual Opteron Iwill, that keeps flashing on the right.skunklet - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
there is an ideq with an embedded c3 proc that i would love to see a review of.gerf - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
I'd been looking at that Biostar SFF, as its specs are better than the equivalent Shuttle version, and is much cheaper. And now you drop a great review for it! I think that both I and my brother are going to use it for our new systems. Thank you for the kickarse review!JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
#6 - fixed, along with a few other things I noticed. If anyone sees anything else, feel free to drop me a line.#7/#8 - both of those are on the list of S939 systems we have coming for review. (We haven't received the PCIe one yet, but it should arrive sometime soon.) Unfortunately, most of the "high end" SFFs that we currently have are S775 for whatever reason. I think we have eight 775 units and only three 939 right now. I'd really like to see additional S754 units as well, since Sempron is moving in that direction.
I think one of the reasons that we're seeing more Intel SFFs is due to the chipset support. 865G is really almost the same price as 865PE, so the integrated graphics are "free". They're not good for gaming, but for most other tasks they work well. The only AMD platform chipsets with IGP are currently the outdated VIA K8M800 and the SiS stuff, although there are some newer offerings.
In case any of you aren't aware of this, we really can't afford to simply go out and purchase every item that we want to review. Since the reviews are basically "free" advertising (although if a unit has serious problems, it may not be good), the manufacturers have to send us the parts. In case any manufacturers are reading this, get in touch with us and we'll be happy to review any of your SFFs that you send our way! There are quite a few manufacturers that aren't currently represented.
Phantronius - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
Im hoping the SN25P turns out to be reliable unlike the SN95G.That and the way the PCI-E cards are facing the opposite direction makes me wonder about heat with both slots taken up. Hrmm....
REMF - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
AT - don't even consider doing your high-end round up until you have the new nForce4 P-series Shuttle due to be released at the end of the month.i would also like to see the nForce3 G5-Series Shuttle compared against it, and other high-end SFF chassis'. :D
AtaStrumf - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
WAU, that is one massive review! Good work guys.Just one typo to point out on page 8:
The iDEQ doesn't include any notable extras **included**, but it does have all of the high quality standard features that we like.
There was one more "it" that shoud have been "if", but I forgot where it was. Sorry :-)
I thought this article would include a MAC mini, but I guess that will be a separate article altogether.
If I may, I would suggest you only focus on SFF systems which stand out in a positive way and stay clear of the ones that don't. Just seems like a lot of pointless work.
MIDIman - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
Been waiting for anand's SFF reviews. Looking forward to the A64-939 / Intel 775 review that I'm sure will be next.arswihart - Note that the SB61G2V3 is Shuttle's latest socket 478, Intel-based system. All of their newer products are socket 775 which will be in a later review. However, I think there are plenty on the AMD side that could've been covered instead that are socket 754...the SN85G4V3 ain't too shabby.
quidpro - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
Absolutely no way that 7 bright blue leds in the Aopen (which only get brighter) should be considered acceptable or "minor" for an entertainment system, in my opinion. My shuttle has only two lights and I've had to cover them up with electrical tape with a small pinhole in order to cut down on the extremely distracting glare coming from it while watching a movie...the orange HD led flashes (as it should) which is even more distracting...arswihart - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link
what the hell were they thinking when they chose to review this obsolete Shuttle system?