In January of 2003, Soltek introduced their first SFF systems into the US market. They were unique, being the first small form factor boxes to feature dual 5.25” bays, but were a little large and bulky compared to the more refined Shuttle XPC. With over a year?s head start, Shuttle seemed to have established themselves as the market leader.

Enter Soltek?s latest generation of SFF systems. The playing field is starting to shift, and competition is leading to innovation. Today we?ll be taking an in-depth look at what is arguably the quietest SFF ever tested in our lab, the Soltek 3401M. Achieving this record, you?d expect to have to compromise in terms of performance. Not the case with the 3401M. This system also overclocked to the highest FSB of any Springdale or Canterwood based SFF system we?ve ever tested. Of course, all this glory has to come at some cost, right? We?ll find out more later during benchmarking?

In the meantime, let?s begin with an overview of the system. The Soltek 3401M features the Intel Springdale i865G chipset, with integrated Intel Extreme 2 Graphics. Soltek has managed to fit dual channel Serial-ATA, dual channel DDR, as well as the somewhat standard compliment of on-board 5.1 audio and 10/100 Ethernet into the 3401M. What isn?t standard is the whopping 250W power supply and the dual 5.25” drive bays, plus a slick mirrored front faceplate with integrated drive covers? all within the confines of a case that just feels like it should be bigger, but somehow manages to fit everything into a form factor only slightly larger than the typical Shuttle XPC.

How?d they do that exactly? We?ll take a closer look shortly. First, let?s visit the overall system specifications:

Processor	Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron 478-pin 533/800MHz FSB
Chipset	Intel i865G + ICH5
Memory	2 x 184 pin DDR SDRAM up to 2GB at PC3200
Audio	Realtek ALC650 AC?97 5.1 Channel Audio Controller
LAN	Realtek 8100B 10/100 Fast Ethernet
PSU	Enhance 250W 110/230V AC
Dimensions:	215mm(L) x 330mm(W) x 210mm(H)
Parallel ATA	Two UDMA-100 Dual Channel PATA Ports
Serial ATA	Two UDMA-150 SATA Ports
On-Board Video	Intel Extreme Graphics 2
PCI	1 x 33MHz
AGP	1 x AGP 4X/8X
Other Internal Headers	1 x Floppy Disk 3 x Fan 1 x CD-In 1 x Parallel Port 1 x IrDA

Soltek’s own specifications page can be found here

Front Panel Connections

2 x USB 2.0 1 x Firewire 1394a (6-Pin) 1 x Mic In 1 x Headphone Out 1 x SPDIF In/Out 1 x Power Button/LED 1 x Reset Button 1 x IDE Activity LED

Rear Panel Connections

4 x USB 2.0 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x Audio Front Out 1 x Audio Rear Out 1 x Audio Center/Bass Out 1 x RJ45 LAN 2 x Serial (9-Pin) 2 x Firewire 1394a (6-Pin) 1 x VGA (15-Pin) 1 x PCI Slot 1 x AGP Slot

Soltek has included the standard line up of accessories, including dual Serial-ATA cables and a snazzy carrying case. You?ll also find a full compliment of software utilities included with the system, which we?ll touch more on later in the review.

Confused by all the various flavors of the EQ-3401M out there? The Soltek EQ-3401A, EQ-3401W, and EQ-3401M? Here?s a quick lesson on how Soltek denotes model numbers:

E/I : Q : 3/2 : 8/7/4 : XX : W/M/A (ex. EQ-3401M)

E/I ? Excellent Qbic (Advanced Features) or Ideal Qbic (Basic Features)
Q ? Qbic Series
3/2 ? 2 x 5.25” Bay + 1 3.5” Bay versus 1 x 5.25” Bay + 1 3.5” Bay
8/7/4 ? K8, K7, or P4 CPU Sockets
XX ? Generation Code (01 for now)
W/M/A ? White, Mirror, or Aluminum Front Panel Design

With all that under our belts, let?s start from the outside and work our way into this quiet beast?

Benchmark Comparisons

Benchmark Comparisons

With so many small form factor systems hitting the market these days, it?s sometimes hard to tell just which one makes the most sense for your particular application. We expected the Soltek 3401M, based on the somewhat common Intel i865 chipset, to perform similar to SFF systems from other manufacturers also based on the Springdale chipset.

Let?s take a look at how the system stacks up.

A barely noticeable difference. Remember that the Shuttle SB75G2 also has PAT Technology, which doesn?t seem to be helping much in these benchmarks. Perhaps memory performance will help us differentiate these machines a bit more.

Here we see that the ABIT DigiDice, Shuttle SB65G2, and Soltek 3401M, all based on the Intel Springdale chipset, perform nearly the same. As expected, the i875 based SB75G2 outperforms the i865 chipset in memory performance. Sandra results show a similar story.

The 3401M seems to keep up with the pack.

Armed with our new fangled professional noise meter, we aimed to provide you with some noise measurements for this review, and compare the Soltek 3401M?s noise levels to a couple other common SFF?s. See the "Testbench Setup" page of this review for an understanding of how these measurements were taken. Here?s the data.

As we mentioned earlier, the Soltek 3401M is the quietest small form factor system we?ve ever tested in the lab. At 49 dbA, the noise output of this system is, in this reviewer?s opinion, a night and day difference when compared to the Shuttle SB65 or SB75 XPC?s. Keep in mind that since ?dbA? is measured on a logarithmix scale, a 1dbA increase isn?t a linear comparison. This means that even though the Soltek 3401M is ~5% quieter than the Shuttle SS51 in percentages, it is actually significantly quieter (~2-3X) on a logarithmic scale. I hate to use words like "quiet" since noise is very subjective to the human ear, but as a reviewer of many SFF systems, you can trust me that this system runs significantly quieter than any other small form factor box we?ve had here at SFFTech, and the numbers prove it. Our Western Digital Raptor, spinning at 10,000 RPMs, was the loudest part of this system.

Of course, quiet operation comes at a cost.. in this case, temperature.

As you can see, the 3401M operates significantly hotter than these other systems. You can?t get that kind of noise level for nothing. These temperatures, while hotter than average and certainly not ideal, are still within the safe operating limits of the Pentium 4 processor as specified by Intel.

So what?s the bottom line conclusion?

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• External Design (1 of 8)
• Internal Design (2 of 8)
• PSU And Cooling (3 of 8)
• Bios (4 of 8)
• Testbench Setup (5 of 8)
• Benchmarks and Overclocking (6 of 8)
• Benchmark Comparisons (7 of 8)
• Conclusion (8 of 8)