AOpen's XC Cube MZ855-II - a tiny, quiet system with plenty of everyday processing power

(I-Newswire) August 19, 2005 - The MZ855-II is designed to be powered by an Intel Mobile processor and 855GME chipset.

"Could be display proudly…"

In its review, PC Pro reported, "It could be displayed proudly on top, without hogging too much space. In terms of the compactness of MZ855-II," The magazine noted, "The standard SFF isn't so surprisingly small. Thanks to the Pentium M, that shrinking feeling is here again, with AOpen's MZ855-II at the forefront."

Compact size

It features very compact size - the smallest among the XC Cube family, measuring 200 mm wide, 106 mm high and 320 mm long. It is designed to meet the market trend and demand for "light, thin, short and slim" products. It weighs only 1.85 kg (4.08 lb).

Memory card reader

The magazine also said, "Despite the size of the chassis, AOpen managed to squeeze a memory card reader under the flap at the bottom, which supports SD/MMC, SmartMedia, CompactFlash and Memory Stick." The card reader allows a user to access all kinds of memory cards used in DV, camcorder, digital camera, PDA, etc.

Extraordinarily quiet

Another advantage of the system is the MZ855-II is "a chassis that makes aesthetics a priority, it is extraordinarily quiet. The CPU is actively cooled, but the 70mm fan is almost silent. So the MZ855-II would be ideal for any location where low noise is a priority," PC Pro reported.

AOpen's proprietary SilentTek technology comes together with its outstanding thermal performance. The company's firmware can detect the loading of the CPU in advance and adjust the rotation speed of its cooling fan before the temperature achieves its peak when it is too late to adjust the fan speed.

Operating speed … scoring healthily

For testing, PC Pro installed a 1.6GHz Pentium M with 512MB of PC2700 DDR and a 120GB Western Digital Caviar hard drive. "The performance in our application benchmarks was no different from AOpen's own i855GMEm-LFS, scoring a healthy 1.59. The Pentium M again showed that in mainstream apps it could keep up with Pentium 4s clocked 1GHz faster," PC Pro reported.

"We found we could run a 533MHz FSB Pentium M at full speed in the motherboard, although it had to be set manually in the BIOS to the correct frequency and multiplier configuration," the magazine noted. The magazine stated that if a user is willing to go beyond official processor support, then the user is not limited to 400MHz CPUs.

AC'97 Codec 5.1-channel high stereo digital audio output

According to an executive of AOpen, because the motherboard of MZ is built with Intel 855GME chipset and Intel ICH4-M chip (Input/Output Controller Hub 4), the MZ provides integrated graphics solution with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 Technology. The MZ also provides AC'97 Codec 5.1-channel high stereo digital audio output, which allows a user to turn his or her MZ into a high fidelity digital audio player.

Other impressive features of the MZ product line include easy connection to peripheral devices. The front panel of the MZ provides two USB 2.0, two 1394a (one 4-pin and one 6-pin), one S/P DIF video output, one microphone, one earphone. On the rear panel, there are two USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, serial and parallel ports, and coaxial S/PDIF port.

The MZ has a wide range of applications. A user can connect his/her digital camcorder, digital camera, iPod, Bloothtooth Dongle, wireless base station/Ethernet card/repeater, memory stick, SD card, RAID, PDA, or digital audio equipment to fully enjoy its strong functionality.

Anodized aluminum alloy case

The housing is made of anodized aluminum alloy which reduces the weight to only one third of products with similar size housing. The housing also provides better shielding against electromagnetic interference. The anodized housing not only provides more appealing look and feel, but is also resistant to oxidization, erosion, and rusting. The aluminum housing offers a thermal dissipation efficiency of 51W/mK, which is three times more efficient than the housing made of iron and ten times more efficient than housing made of stainless steel. Moreover, the material of the housing does not create industrial wastes because it can be recycled.

The functionality of the MZ product line can be upgraded with an "expander" which allows users to achieve outstanding expandability. The "expander" is designed to enhance the scalability and modularity of the XC Cube family products. It offers the expansion space for two 5-1/4" disc drives and two USB ports. One of its 5-1/4 disc drive space can accommodate two 3-1/2" disc drives. The expander also greatly enhances the system expansion flexibility. For example, one XC Cube can add an expander to incorporate CD/DVD copy function.

The expander can also be used to accommodate Serial ATA hard disc drives, audio amplifier, speakers, online power supply, or cooling equipment.

Release Date : Aug. 19, 2005

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