Soltek's QBic EQ3901-300P SFF PC

Name: Soltek's QBic EQ3901-300P SFF PC - Page 10
Brand: Soltek's

by Marco Chiappetta — Thursday, January 13, 2005, 01:00 PM EDT

Benchmark Summary: Soltek's QBic EQ3901-300P proves that you don't need a full-sized system to have top-notch performance. The EQ3901-300P performed at the same level, or slightly better, than an ATX motherboard based on the same chipset throughout our entire suite of benchmarks. Socket 939 systems powered by NVIDIA's nForce 3 / 4 chipset will be slightly faster, but VIA's K8T800 Pro is no slouch, and seems to be a good fit in this SFF system.

The Soltek QBic EQ3901-300P did a lot of things well, but it wasn't particularly impressive in any one category. Performance was on par with what we expected from a VIA K8T800 Pro powered system, which was good. And the system BIOS seemed well suited for overclocking, until we saw how warm our CPU was running relative to other small form factor systems. The cooling scheme employed in the EQ3901-300P was perfectly adequate at stock speeds, but overclocking our CPU caused temperatures that were a little too high for our liking. Perhaps more ventilation holes in the enclosure and a better CPU cooler would remedy this situation and make the EQ3901 more overclocker friendly. Until that happens though, consider overclocking with the EQ3901 possible but not recommended. The cooling solution also seemed relatively loud at idle when compared to some Shuttle XPC systems we've recently reviewed. With the fans running at full speed, however, the EQ3901-300P was definitely a bit quieter than recent offerings from Shuttle. Three things that the EQ3901-300P has going for it are the price, its dual 5.25" drive bays, and the system's aesthetic appeal. The Soltek QBic EQ3901-300P is the only Socket 939 SFF PC we found for under $300, which makes it about 10% less expensive than the Shuttle SN95G5. The dual 5.25" drive bays makes it one of the few SFF systems with room for two optical drives, and the mirrored front bezel looks great in our opinion. Overall there were only a few shortcomings that we found with the EQ3901-300P but it seemed to lack the refinement of some of the newest SSFs on the market.

We're giving the Soltek QBic EQ3901-300P a 7.5 on the Heat Meter.

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Tags: SFF, LTE, PC, SFF PC, Q3, K

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com