One of the first contenders is Soltek, with its i845GE based Qbic mini-barebones system for the Pentium 4.
2003 will forever be known as the year of the mini-barebones system. Riding high on Shuttle's success last year with its XPC line are numerous manufacturers who will be releasing similar systems over the next few months. One of the first contenders is Soltek, with its i845GE based Qbic mini-barebones system for the Pentium 4.
In a market created and owned by Shuttle, barebones-making newbies are faced with a need to differentiate themselves and Soltek has done this by adding two 5.25in drive bays to the Qbic 3000M, making the unit much taller than others on the market and providing more configuration flexibility than single bay models. Internally the design screams reverse engineering, however there are one or two annoying design flaws that hamper the unit from reaching its full potential.
These revolve around the function essential for appealing to gamers and other enthusiasts: the inclusion of an AGP slot. While the case is large enough to accommodate a full length GeForce4 Ti 4600 card, and the necessary side ventilation holes are included to stop the card from being starved of air, Soltek has chosen to put the headers for the vast array of front ports on the edge of the motherboard between the AGP slot and side panel. This leads to a series of thick cables sitting jammed between the video card's heatsink and side panel.
Such issues exist in other barebones, but there are usually only one or two cables, which can be easily routed around the card's heatsink in a functional, if inelegant way. It is impossible to do this with the QBic 3000M, resulting in obstruction of the heatsink by cabling.
Rather than a custom HSF for the CPU the QBic 3000M fits a standard Intel HSF (just don't try using the uncovered fan model that Intel has developed for future P4 CPUs), however this abuts the rear of the hard drive and necessitates very careful cable tying.
Soltek's QBic 3000M is a decent performing and sexy looking beast. Unfortunately it is let down by some basic flaws that scream inexperience and hamper users from getting the most out of the unit. It is a good start, but there is still a way to go before Soltek hits the same heights as other manufacturers' models.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012