Beating their competition to the punch, AOpen has launched the first Pentium-M based SFF to hit the market, the EZ855-II XC Cube. Borrowed from mainstream laptop systems, the Pentium Mobile is ideally suited for the small form factor environment, having impressive performance without the power and heat requirements of the Pentium 4 desktop class processor.

While those looking for raw power may not find the Pentium M something to get overly excited about, consider the typical issues associated with SFF systems: heat, noise, and power. The Pentium M goes a long way in solving all three of these problems, providing cool and quiet operation at a relatively low wattage. Expect to see Pentium M based home theater SFF?s hit the market soon, the combination of cool and quiet makes these systems ideally suited for the task. Begins to make you wonder why it took so long for SFF manufacturers to bring Pentium-M based systems to the market.

AOpen?s EZ855-II XC Cube features the EZ style case design; our review unit was white but the system is also available in black. The EZ855-II sports the Intel 855GME chipset with the ICH4M Southbridge. Similar to many laptop configurations, it supports a 400MHz front-side bus and single channel DDR up to 333MHz. The system features the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator integrated video solution as well as an AGP 4X slot. Six channel AC?97 integrated audio and Gigabit Ethernet are also featured. One item conspicuously missing on this system is a Serial-ATA port; instead the EZ855-II features dual legacy parallel ATA-100 ports.

AOpen has even thrown in a surprising set of Bios overclocking options, that one wouldn?t typically expect on a “cool and quiet” SFF system. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let?s take a closer look at the overall system specifications:

Processor	Intel Pentium M Socket 479 CPU at 400 MHz FSB
Chipset	Intel Centrino 855GME + ICH4M
Memory	2 x DDR 266/333 MHz up to 2GB
Audio	AC’97 v2.2 5.1 Channel Audio Controller
LAN	Gigabit LAN Network Controller 10/100/1000Gbps
PSU	270W 110/230V AC
Dimensions:	320mm(L) x 200mm(W) x 185mm(H)
Parallel ATA	Two UDMA-100 Dual Channel PATA Ports
Serial ATA	None
On-Board Video	Intel 855 Graphics Media Accelerator
PCI	1 x 33MHz
AGP	1 x AGP 4X

Front Panel Connections

2 x USB 2.0 1 x Firewire 1394a (6-Pin) 1 x Firewire 1394a (4-Pin)1 x Mic In 1 x Headphone Out 1 x Optical SPDIF Out 1 x Power Button/LED

Rear Panel Connections

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

AOpen has complemented the EZ855-II with a typical ?no-frills? lineup of accessories including standard IDE and optical ribbon cables, power cables, and extensive documentation. Screws and a micro-fiber cloth for “polishing” your system are also provided.

We?ll begin by taking a closer look at the XC Cube?s external case design?

Internal Design

Internal Design

The internals of the EZ855 are rather spacious and open, but certainly contain their fair share of internal "cable clutter". From the left side of the system, you?ll get a good shot of the CPU cooling mechanism, drive cages, and internal power supply. Notice the myriad of cables on the left side of the system which appear to feed through the white conduit tube.

These internal cables connect headers on the rear of the system?s motherboard to the front I/O connections on the face of the EZ855. Seems like it would have been a bit simpler to locate those headers near the front of the motherboard, but alas, engineering isn?t always a simple task, eh?

Fortunately AOpen has done a nice job of containing the cable clutter with internal conduits and well positioned cable ties to hold back the wires.

Taking a closer look at the power supply, you?ll see it?s AOpen branded.

The unit has a single fan on the rear faceplate which pulls hot air from within the case, through the PSU, and out the back of the system. The PSU itself is quite compact, and 275 Watts of power. Plenty for this Pentium-M based SFF system.

You?ll find the dual DDR slots near the front of the motherboard, directly under the internal 3.5" drive bay.

Notice the drive bay has a piece of clear plastic surrounding it to protect against electrical shorts against an installed PCI or AGP card. Legacy ATA ports are located closer to the front of the motherboard, adjacent to the DDR memory slots.

While we may call these parallel ATA ports "legacy", keep in mind that the EZ855 doesn?t support Serial-ATA, so legacy is all you?ll get here in terms of hard-drive options. Hope you?ve still got a PATA drive lying around.

From the other side of the EZ855, you?ll find more neatly run internal cables, in this case motherboard and peripheral power cables, as well as a better shot of the rear of the CPU and Northbridge heatsinks.

With the drive cage removed, you can see it supports a single 5.25" optical drive, a 3.5" externally accessible drive bay, and a rotated internal 3.5" bay for your hard-drive.

Finally, you?ll notice that AOpen has pushed the AGP slot to the outer edge of the EZ855, similar to the slot ordering scheme on most Shuttle XPC?s. This may cause an issue with oversized AGP card fitting within the system. Note, this is an AGP 4X, not an 8X slot.

Moving on, let?s get a closer look at how AOpen is keeping the EZ855 cool and exactly what this Pentium M CPU looks like up close and personal?

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• External Design (1 of 8)
• External Design Cont?d (2 of 8)
• Internal Design (3 of 8)
• CPU Thermodynamics (4 of 8)
• Bios (5 of 8)
• Testbench Setup (6 of 8)
• Benchmarks (7 of 8)
• Conclusion (8 of 8)