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The small form factor (SFF) PC revolution shows no sign of slowing down, with more and more manufacturers trying to gain footholds in the market. One of the latest to appear is the XP4 Evo from Iwill.
It's a barebones system, so you don't have to worry about what motherboard or power supply to use, as these are already installed.
At the heart of the XP4 Evo is one of Iwill's own motherboards based around Intel's i845GV chipset. This has integrated graphics, which you're stuck with, as there's no AGP slot. Further expansion can only be carried out through the full-size PCI slot.
The choice of chipset means the XP4 Evo is never going to form the basis of a performance monster or a hardcore gamer's system, but rather it will make a steady reliable platform. The choice of processor is limited to 400/533MHz front-side bus (FSB) speed Pentium 4s and 400MHz FSB Celerons.
You may have to take care with your choice of processor, however, due to the small power supply. There's also not much room between an installed optical drive and the processor heatsink. A better idea would be to use a third-party low-profile heatsink rather than the standard Intel one.
Memory is limited to a single Dimm slot, which can house a single module of PC1600 or PC2100 DDR memory up to 1GB in size.
To house drives there are two fixed bays: a 3.5in internal and a 5.25in one with external access. This bay is masked by a dropdown door, which prevents a regular optical drive from spoiling the look of the case. It's disappointing that there's no external 3.5in drive bay, as there's no way to fit a floppy drive or, more commonly, a memory card reader. This limits solid-state removable media to USB memory keys.
Fitting a hard disk and optical drive is not without problems, though. The data cables are tricky to install, as connectors on the motherboard sit at 90 deg to the drives directly under them. It's definitely a case of fixing cables in place before trying to install any drives.
The only integration apart from the graphics is the Lan controlled by a Realtek 8100 chipset, which supports 10 or 100Mbits/sec speeds, and the audio again controlled by a Realtek chip, in this case an ALC655.
Iwill has fitted a 220w power supply in the XP4 Evo which uses a ball bearing fan, while a second smaller case fan sits under it. The good news is that both of these are whisper quiet.
The northbridge is also passively cooled so with a quiet CPU fan you can make this a silent system; just the thing for a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) or DVD player.
The chassis is constructed from a thin grade of aluminium, which doesn't make it feel as solidly built as most of its competitors. The overall look is pleasant enough; the case cover is finished in an attractive brushed aluminium look. It's held in place by three thumb screws, while the front bezel has a blue plastic panel covering most of it, save for a silver coloured section which holds the power and reset buttons and a push-open door behind which are two USB2 and two audio ports.
The small components box holds a well-written manual, data cable and mounting screws. Iwill's XP4 Evo lacks a lot of the features found in other SFFs from the likes of Shuttle, Biostar and Aopen but, on the other hand, it is cheap and ideal for anyone who wants build a basic, compact PC with older components they may already have.
Contact: PC Nextday
www.pcnextday.co.uk
Specifications:
- Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron
- Intel i845GV motherboard
- Single memory slot
- Integrated 4x AGP
- Audio support AC97
- Single PCI slot
- 4 USB2, 2 PS/2, parallel, serial, VGA, Lan, 5 audio (three in rear panel, two in front panel)
See also:
Shuttle's latest feature-filled mini PC should give you something to reflect upon. 10 Mar 2004All Desktops
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