ECS barebone system we are testing today is the least radical amongits siblings that we have recently tested.This is an ordinary 'tower', though a small one. It can take no other positionsbut for the vertical one and supports mATX mainboards which can be standardlyattached to the PC panel. At the same time, this system is much more interestingthan a usual mini-tower, first of all, thanks to the unique functionalityof the EZ-Watcher. So, meet the first model of the series promoted by ECSunder the slogan "Bring the desktop PC back to desktop!". OutwardThere are few office-type PC cases which can boast of an elegant appearanceand miniature dimensions, and quite often such computers are placed underdesks making it difficult to connect peripherals and easy to collect dust,thus nearing the death of their fans. In contrast, the EZ-Buddie measuresjust 162x310x262 mm and has a nonstandard exterior. The EZ-Watcher panel,the main element of the exterior design, will be discussed a bit later;it won't show its worth until we turn on the PC. The covers on the frontpanel maintains the general style until the devices and connectors hiddenunder them are needed. Such solution for a CD/DVD drive looks the best:you have no access to its buttons and LEDs, but the problem of color matching(of the CD drive and PC case) is solved, which is very important for animage model.Beside the drive (remember that you will need a CD/DVD-ROM drive ableto work in the vertical position) the front panel incorporates a universalcard reader supporting CFI/CFII/MD, SMC, SD/MMC and MS, 2 audio connectors(headphones-out and mic-in) and one USB (2.0) port. On the glittering polishedstripe in the middle of the PC case you can notice a tray button, a powerbutton and a reset button (left to right). There are no LEDs, later wewill explain why. I'm glad that FDD drives are now often replaced withcard readers!The aluminum cover has nothing interesting at all, even air vents (theyare located below, that is why do not take off the legs), and on the backyou can notice an ordinary suite of connectors. FireWire is lacking, aswell as video (TV-Out, DVI) and audio (S/PDIF) connectors, but there are2 PS/2, 1 LPT, 1 COM, 1 VGA, 1 LAN, 4 USB (2.0) and 3 Audio. The shortageof integrated multimedia features can be offset by two extension cards. InwardsIf we take off the cover we will see a vertical bay for CD/DVD drives,an impressive cooler on the back and a mainboard attached to the side panelwith a mesh of cables. There is only one 5" bay and one 3" bay. It's nota pleasant thing for many enthusiasts, but the combination of 1 HDD+ 1 CDD is natural for most office-type computers, and the ECS's modelis positioned exactly as a standard work tool. However, enthusiasts willobviously like the way a hard drive is installed: you must put it intoa rack which vertically drives in between the CD drive mount and the mainboardon the back, with the juts underneath getting into special grooves (youcan see them on the picture above), and then tighten all the componentswith a bolt. This operation is not that difficult, and it's quite easyto connect cables to the HDD installed, but the CD drive should be removed.Besides, it's still unclear how the vertical placement affects hard drive'shealth. It's clear that a processor, its cooler and memory modules should beinstalled on the board out of the PC case (you can take it out togetherwith the panel it is attached to) or with the drives removed. By the way,the EZ-Buddie comes with a well illustrated user guide which turns theinstallation procedure into a breeze even for novices. The mainboard (ECSS4-2T) is built on the SiS651chipset (SiS651 + SiS962L (without FireWire)), and therefore has averagecapabilities. It supports Celeron/Pentium 4 processors up to 533 MHz FSB,up to DDR333 (two DIMM slots), USB 2.0 and Fast Ethernet (up to 100 Mbit/s,with the Realtek 8201BL PHY controller) interfaces, 6-channel audio (C-Media9739A codec). The integrated SiS315 video chip will not satisfy gamers,but still, it ensures a high-quality 2D picture at 1024x768x32@100Hz. Youcan extend functionality of the system through the AGP, PCI and CNR connectors(the last two ports are combined in one, that is why you can't use themsimultaneously); they are designed for full-size expansion cards whichare very simple to install without a necessity to demount anything. The power supply system consists of two parts. An external 200W powersupply unit from Chi Sam Electronic works from the power network and producesup to 16 A in case of +12V applied. It is connected with a special cableto the board installed with a voltage changer; the respective connectoris shown above on the photo of the EZ-Buddie's backside. There is no needin one more fan, which makes possible to avoid unnecessary noise. EZ-WatcherNow comes the most interesting feature of this barebone system: a LED panelnamed EZ-Watcher and a CPU Tuner.When you turn on the system, the Tuner in front turns blue, and thepanel above shows how the system functions.Below is the CPU clock monitored in the real-time mode. (Why the clockspeed 2.8 GHz (2807 MHz by WCPUID) was displayed as 2.79 GHz is unclear,the only idea is that the smart computer converts megahertz into gigahertzby dividing it by 1024. :)) Above on the right you can see the POST pictogramsfor the CPU, memory, hard drive and optical drive. If one of the componentsfails initialization, its picture blinks together with the red pictogramabove (until it's ok you won't see it). This part of the system has onemore function: after the successful bootup process the pictures of theIDE devices rotate when the system addresses them - such an elegant andconvenient way of replacing the LEDs.Above on the left you can see the CPU and system temperature monitoringwith four gradations: normal temperature (green bars only), high (yellowbars added), too high temperature (orange bars added) and overheat (thered warning flashes). Unfortunately, the documentation doesn't mentionwhat temperatures correspond to these levels, and it seems that it's impossibleto set them manually. It could have been a very useful feature, but nowit's just a toy for beginners.The other part of the panel indicates overclocking. You can do it byturning the Tuner clockwise to increase the FSB by 3% each step. And turningit counterclockwise reduces the FSB in the same steps which are indicatedwith bars around the CPU picture. Taking into account that the startingpoint corresponds to 4 bars, and there are 10 in all, the FSB clock changesfrom -12% to +18%. It's also possible to get it higher than +18%, but the"speedometer" doesn't indicate it correctly, though the CPU clock belowchanges respectively. However, the last 10th bar flashes red, and in thisrespect I can't say how comfortable one can feel next to such computer.As you can understand, you doesn't need to restart the PC every time you overclock the CPU. If one of the components goes beyond its operability the system hangs or restarts; and the CPU Tuner's position is considered to be neutral and further changes are counted off from it. By the way, the BIOS Setup offers a scarce set of settings - you can change some memory timings, choose its frequency, assign IRQ, select a FSB clock (100/133 MHz, no overclocking at all!!), and fix the PCI clock (AGP/2) at 31 or 33 MHz. PerformanceTestbed:Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (21x133 MHz), Socket 478
Mainboard: ECS S4-2T on the SiS651(integrated into the ECS EZ-Buddie)
Memory: 2x256 MB PC3200(DDR400) DDR SDRAM DIMM TwinMOS, CL 2 (used as DDR333)
External video card: Palit Daytona GeForce4 Ti 4600
Hard drive: Maxtor 6Y080L0, 7200 rpm
Software:OS and drivers:
Windows XP Professional SP1
DirectX 9.0a
SiS AGP Driver 1.15
SiS IDE Driver 2.03
SiS Video Driver 2.15
NVIDIA Detonator XP 40.72 (VSync=Off)
Test applications:
VirtualDub 1.5.1 + DivX codec 5.05 Pro
WinAce 2.2
Gray Matter Studios & Nerve Software Return to Castle Wolfenstein v1.1
Croteam/GodGames Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v1.07
Let's focus on two aspects of performance of the barebone system: the speeddrop from the integrated graphics in typical memory controller tests, andabsolute and relative indices of the system in 3D games.
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