System Review – PC-Club Silencer
by Jarred Walton on March 28, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Conclusion
As a high-end but near-silent system, we really like the Silencer. Performance in some tasks is going to be hindered by the Pentium M processor, but overall, it manages to hold its own. The power savings are not particularly meaningful - think of running a single 60W light bulb for a year and you'll have a decent picture of the difference in power draw between the Pentium M and a Prescott or Newcastle - but the lower heat output is good. We had some issues with the Athenatech case, and perhaps similar complaints from customers are what prompted PC-Club to offer the Silencer with a CoolerMaster case as an option. Unless the LCD/alarm issues are fixed, we would have to recommend against using the Athenatech case. That's unfortunate, as we think it's an attractive case otherwise.Here's the real question: would we purchase such a system? There are two parts to our answer. First, let's take a look at all the components and see what they would cost if you were to buy them and build the system yourself. (Prices are obtained from our Real Time Pricing Engine as well as our various partners and represent what we would list in a typical Buyer's Guide article.)
| Home Built Silencer Alternative | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor(s): | Pentium M 755J 2.0GHz | $435 |
| CPU HSF: | Copper socket 478/479 compatible | $25 |
| Motherboard: | Aopen i855GMEm-LFS | $233 |
| Memory: | 2x512MB Mushkin CL2.5 | $100 |
| Video Card: | eVGA 6800GT | $370 |
| Video Card HSF: | Arctic Cooling Silencer | $35 |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital Raptor 74GB | $176 |
| Hard Drive 2: | Maxtor 200GB SATA | $108 |
| Optical Drive: | NEC DVD+RW 3520A | $61 |
| Floppy Drive: | NEC; Sony; TEAC; Samsung; etc. | $8 |
| Case: | Athenatech A106 | $63 |
| Power Supply: | A+ GPB 450W | $75 |
| Speakers: | Logitech X-530 5.1 | $56 |
| Keyboard and Mouse: | Logitech Optical Desktop Combo | $156 |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 | $140 |
| Bottom Line: | $2041 | |
| PC-Club Price (as of 3/24/05) - not including tax! | $2150 | |
Looking at that chart, you can see that PC-Club is essentially charging you $100 (give or take) to assemble and test the equipment for you. That's actually a very reasonable price, as many shops will charge a $100 fee (or more!) to assemble a PC for you, often not including the software installation. Unfortunately - according to how you view the situation - PC-Club will also charge you sales tax if you live in a state where they have retail locations. Taxes could add as much as $175, although you'd pay the same fee if you purchased locally (and technically you're supposed to pay sales tax regardless, although most people probably don't bother reporting online purchases). Still, if you don't like fiddling with computer hardware or feel your time is too valuable, we feel PC-Club offers an acceptable price.
There's more to it than just the price, of course. Pentium M desktops have an air of exclusivity that some may be willing to pay extra for. More importantly, the components in the Silencer are all industry standard designs, including the motherboard and power supply, and can you name any major OEMs that offer overclocking in their BIOS? If you're seriously thinking about getting a Dell (dude!) or other OEM system, PC-Club is definitely worth a look. For peace of mind, PC-Club also offers a 3-year extended warranty for an additional $210. Frequent upgraders probably wouldn't bother with such a long warranty, but those who only purchase a new PC when their current system is woefully outdated will appreciate such an option.
We did have some issues with the PC-Club system configurator. First, we'd just as soon ditch that and go with two 250GB drives instead, especially given the loud seek noise of the Raptors. (Update: this is now possible, so we've edited the text slightly.) Additional options for the GPU and speakers would also be good, as the X-530 are really budget speakers. The "Help Text" is also seriously outdated, mentioning such things as the difference between the GeForce 4Ti vs. 4MX, the Duron vs. Athlon XP, and SDRAM vs. RDRAM. It could certainly use an update to their 2005 product line.
The problem is the platform, really. Our Pentium M desktop articles covered this before, and the simple fact of the matter is that as attractive as Dothan is for notebooks, it really doesn't compete that well in the desktop market. The motherboards are currently far more expensive than boards with desktop chipsets, and the processors aren't cheap either. We like the overall package, but the price is simply too much.
Our suggestion to PC-Club is to offer a version of the Silencer with a few changes. Swap out the Aopen 855 motherboard for the new MSI RS480M2-IL with the ATI Xpress 200 chipset. That's a micro-ATX board even, so it will still fit nicely in the Athenatech case. (Overclocking does not appear to be an option on that motherboard, unfortunately - at least not with the current BIOS.) Add an Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm processor - or wait for a faster 90nm Athlon 64 to appear - and a PCIe graphics card, and you should have similar heat and power characteristics with better performance, all while shaving about $250 from the price.
The other area where we see some potential for the Silencer is in the HTPC market. It's a reasonably quiet case, and with the ATI Xpress 200 chipset, we can get TV-Out from the integrated graphics. Take out the Raptor hard drive and put in two larger drives and a TV tuner, and you would have a formidable HTPC setup for a very reasonable cost. We'd certainly be interested in seeing such configurations from PC-Club in the near future! (PC-Club does offer a HTPC system with different components already, but we'd like to see more options.)
Our overall verdict is that while we would be more than happy to recommend PC-Club as a system builder - somewhat similar to Alienware or Falcon NW, although with less pizzazz and a lower price - we would have a hard time recommending the current version of the Silencer. It will certainly appeal to some people, but we would really like the ability to customize the system configuration a bit more. Check out their web site if you're looking for a pre-built system, however, as this is only one of numerous system configurations that they have to offer. If you give them a call, you can probably even get a customized PC built for a moderate fee.
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yacoub - Sunday, May 29, 2005 - link
"If you lack such amenities and live in an area where indoor temperatures can break 90 C,"90 degrees Celcius?! LOL!! :D
JarredWalton - Friday, August 26, 2005 - link
Oops... fixed.finbarqs - Friday, April 1, 2005 - link
I stand neutral on this situation. Perosonally, I'm not into small computers, but i think that the Pentium M is an incredible platform, offering insane performance for such low clock speeds. (Instructions per clock?) but anyway, expensive to say the least... But it WAS a good idea to offer the Pentium M to the mass market....JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - link
PC-Club asked us to review their Silencer. Find me another Pre-built Pentium M system from anyone on the market - I'm not aware of any. If HP, Dell, Micron... whoever asks us to review a system, we'll do our best to accommodate them. Besides, PC-Club is not exactly small - there are over 50 retail outlets scattered across the US, although the majority are in CA.michael2k - Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - link
#17: Statistically speaking, most people are average, so "the 75% of the hard core" would probably be more like the "10% of the readership".So this box is targeted towards the "30% average" who can't build a better box. My numbers are made up of course, but it's true that statistically the average probably can't build a decent PC.
Besides which, if I wanted a PC for 25% of the cost, 60% of the performance, and even quieter, I would buy a Mac mini, and Anand has very thoughtfully reviewed one for us.
deathwalker - Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - link
#16...its a good thing our federal government doesn't ever violate us!!....PC club? Lord where will we go next when we get desperate. I imagine the 75% of the hard core Anantech followers could do as good or better. How is it these jokers get space on this valuable tech. info website? I suppose next time i throw a box together I will write my name on it in crayon and send it in for a review.ElFenix - Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - link
technically, you're supposed to remit sales tax to your local taxing authority on mail order purchases. when i worked at dell they pounded into us that you cannot tell people they save money because they don't have to pay sales tax. doing so is a violation of federal law.Zepper - Monday, March 28, 2005 - link
Yes, PC club should have wired the case's LCD into the +5VSB circuit and/or provided battery backup for it. Any tech that can find his butt with both hands should have been able to figure that one out. But I still like the Athenatech A100 series - hard to beat for the price.. But when I'm building something that will total that much perhaps a Chenbro or Enermax Venus caae would have been a better choice.
.bh.
JarredWalton - Monday, March 28, 2005 - link
Just in case this isn't clear (#12), I *DO* like the system. The problem is that when a system is close to getting everything right, it just makes the areas where it falls short more noticeable. If I were actually buying the system, I'd go with the CoolerMaster case and two Seagate/Samsung HDDs. Also, $100 for assembly is generally less than I charge people. For a full PC setup with OS and software, I typically charge $150 unless it's a close friend/family member.#9 - Yes, you can build something reasonably silent on your own. I sort of take that as a given. Although I think you'll often pay more in the end, people that like to build their own PCs aren't really the target market for this system.
#10 - The point on taxes was that depending on location, it can add a lot. If you buy online from a site that doesn't have a retail presence in your state, you don't get hit with taxes. (I.e. Newegg is in CA and NJ, so if you live elsewhere you don't get taxes added in.) Now granted, you're *supposed* to pay taxes on these items anyway, but I don't know anyone that does. :p
#11 - I absolutely stick with my assessment of the Fuji S5000. Of course, the graininess is really a big problem when you're doing closeups. For pictures of people and such, you won't notice it much. Tweaking the colors and such also tends to make the graininess show up more, but it's necessary at times. It's not a *terrible* camera, but there are better alternatives in the price range.
#13 - The PSU is standard. My comment on the "usually a 200W" is related to the case purchased separately, i.e. at Newegg. The comments on the speakers and sound I agree with. I don't think an Audigy 2 ZS is necessary for most people, and it is an option at PC-Club (for $100 - retail version).
*Whew!* I think that covers everything. Again, I think PC-Club did a good job with this system, but there are still flaws and I feel it's my job as a reviewer to point them out. I hope that my article convinces them to offer an Athlon 64 flavor in the near future, as I think that would be a better alternative for gaming.
blckgrffn - Monday, March 28, 2005 - link
I would be pretty pissed if I got this computer, too. The components seem to be mismatched... having owned a Falcon-Northwest, I can attest to the fact that people who don't buy a dell or an emachine are going to be very picky about the system that they paid a good premium for. Any system from any OEM that wants to be considered elite needs to be well thought out and well implemented. I remember looking inside my Falcon and just saying wow about the cable management, the fans were quiet but pushed a good amount of air, and all of the components were at home with each other - unlike having a Raptor and a crazy loud fan in a SFF PC. That is just dumb and makes you wonder what they were thinking. Also, there was an allusion to a Power Supply upgrade just for Anandtech - a video card like that pretty much crys out for a 250watt+ QUALITY powersupply, not just a generic 200 watt one.I admit the price looks good for this system considering the components, but do not forget that it is supposed to be a gaming box - why wasn't there at least a Audigy 2zs thrown in for good measure? Ridiculous, as well as the speaker choice for a $2,000 system. I think that the FragBox from Falcon-NW is a very good SFF PC alternative, or if you don't care about size grab a good deal on an XPS.
This article was a nice bit of fresh air, it seems that too many reviews (not here, really, but in general) seem to overlook flaws rather than point them out. If I wanted to hear about how great a product was, I would read their marketing BS.
Thanks you Mr. Walton for an honest review.