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Syntax EZ-Clocker Small Form Factor System The EZ-Clocker uses the same type of integrated cooling system as the Shuttle Zen reviewed recently. Rising from the copper heatsink base are four heat pipes which end in a series of cooling fins within the exhaust fan of the case itself.
This design accomplishes two things. The first is that by using one fan to circulate case air and remove heat form the processor, you cut down on the noise level. It also provides more room in the case to work with. Now let's take a quick tour around the motherboard. The board is based on Intel's 865 chipset with the Intel Extreme Graphics onboard GPU. Cooling the Northbridge is a large passive aluminum heatsink just below the socket.
Just below that are the AGP and PCI slots. On first inspection I was skeptical that a large video card would fit in such cramped confines, but apparently a great deal of thought went into the design which does accommodate these add ins well.
Looking to the rear of the AGP slot are the memory banks and the CMOS battery. As you can see, not only is the battery turned on it's side, but it is also aligned with the bottom of the memory clips. Doing this allows even those extra large VGA cards, like the Chaintech FX5700 Ultra, to fit with ease. Two more things to point out on this board are the front panel connectors and the CD eject. The front panel connectors are joined together to form a single block which makes installation a breeze in these tight confines.
If you'll remember, the optical drive bay is
stealthed to allow for uniformity on the front of the case. However, the eject
button on the case does not include a plastic arm lined up with the eject
button on the drive. Instead it is connected to the motherboard which then is
responsible for ejecting the drive... way cool!
Pg 1 - Introduction |
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