AOpen XC Cube EZ65

AOpen XC Cube EZ65 Tally
Noise	B+
Cable Management/Ergonomics	A
Stability	A+
Build Quality	A+
Features	A

Click here to download the AOpen XC Cube EZ 65 MP3s.

While this may be AOpen’s first foray into the realm of small form factor, you definitely can’t tell that from the XC Cube EZ65 – it’s design is impeccable.

AOpen XC Cube EZ65

Pearl white chassis

It all starts with the outside of the chassis. The unit we received was outfitted in pearl white, but AOpen also offers volcano grey, jazz black, danube blue, and cherry red as available color options. All of the colors look straight out of an automotive manufacturer’s brochure and would fit in well with the décor of many fine home furnishings. The chassis is composed of aluminum so the system is lightweight and easy to transport. The front of the chassis has an acrylic look to it and the metallic buttons and silver accents give this small form factor system a very stylish look. The fit and finish on our review system was definitely the best we’ve seen, resembling a prototype design more than a unit which is mass produced. In addition, the power button is flanked by a blue LED, giving the system an added bit of flair when in use.

Excellent cable management

Opposite side of the system

The XC Cube EZ65 design team definitely took lessons in ergonomics as well. All of the cables within the system are neatly wrapped up and tied down, just like you’d see from a high-end gaming rig from ABS or Falcon Northwest. The layout of the EZ65’s UX4SG-1394 motherboard is for the most part designed to minimize cable clutter. IDE connectors for the primary and secondary IDE channels are placed close to the corresponding components. AOpen wasn’t quite able to pull off the trifecta however, as the floppy connector is placed on the opposite side of the motherboard; unfortunately you’ll have to run the floppy cable over the CPU and its cooler if you decide to populate the external 3.5” drive with a floppy. Both Serial ATA ports are located just below the 3.5” drive bays.

You can even pick which way you'd like to secure the drive tray

XC Cube drive tray

As a result of these design decisions, getting work done inside the XC Cube EZ65 is a snap. We were actually astonished to see how little cable clutter there was when we opened the EZ65 system; there were hardly any cables in the way. The 5.25” and 3.5” drives are housed in a removable tray, the internal 3.5” drive is actually within a removable housing of its own which is held in place with a thumbscrew. Simply remove the thumbscrew and slide the 3.5” cage out to swap out your hard drive.

Both external drives are hidden behind doors, the small form factor innovation for 2003 first introduced by MSI’s MEGA 651. The eject button on the front panel of the XC Cube is tied to a knob which physically presses the eject button on your optical drive. When your drive tray opens, the door on the XC Cube tilts down, revealing your drive tray. This system works flawlessly with most optical drives out there (we did add a slight extension to ensure that it always made contact with the drive’s eject button), but we happen to have a few AFREEY DVD-ROM drives with drive trays that aren’t compatible with this system.

The EZ65 front panel

Here is the back of the system

Front panel doors for the 3.5” bay and I/O connections pivot down with a light amount of pressure. On the front panel the XC Cube has a S/PDIF Out, jacks for headphone and microphone input, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and a 6-pin IEEE-1394 port and an unpowered 4-pin mini IEEE-1394 port. The only features that are really missing from the front of the XC Cube EZ65 are an HD activity LED and a reset button.

SilentTek

While all of today’s small form factor PCs feature dynamic cooling systems that will automatically adjust the speeds of fan(s) within the chassis based on load, AOpen goes one step beyond this with SilentTek. SilentTek is AOpen’s hardware monitoring utility that they ship with all of their motherboards. SilentTek can be used to monitor critical aspects of your system such as your current temperatures of your CPU and chassis, as well as voltages and the operation of system fans. Not only can you use SilentTek to read the current values, you can also use it to monitor these aspects over time. If you’d like, you can also adjust the temperature ranges that determine when the fans kick in, or if you’d like, take manual control. AOpen’s SilentTek interface is pretty slick too: