Product Reviews

Small-form-factor PCs are tempting with their promise of desktop power in a case the size of a shoebox. But there are plenty of pitfalls for system integrators: making sure the system delivers that power without overheating and attempting to get around the problem of squeezing in enough potential for future upgrades and expansion.

The striking-looking Psile case is made by Dutch company Nexus and has clearly been designed with hobbyists in mind. It opens up easily and is compatible with mini-ITX motherboards. The front, bottom and back of the machine are constructed from two pieces of 4mm-thick aluminium, while the sides and top are made from equally thick, glossy plastic, with an added foam layer inside for noise absorption.

The front is almost totally featureless, bar the slot-loading DVD drive and discrete Nexus logo. We received plenty of comments on the system's looks, but everyday use revealed the plain front to be a significant drawback; with no USB, speaker or FireWire ports, we found ourselves stretching around the back every time we needed to plug in a peripheral. Even worse, the Psile has a woeful total of only two USB ports, plus a single FireWire port - you'll need to invest in a hub straight away.

The motherboard sits on a heat-conducting aluminium platform, with airflow supplied by a 80mm fan. The cool-running Core 2 Duo CPU is serviced by a copper heatsink sitting immediately in front of the fan, and the rest of the components rely on conduction to ferry heat away. In practice, this means the chassis can get rather warm, so it will need reasonable airflow around it. We experienced no problems with system stability during our testing, however. There's an interesting touch underneath the motherboard - a 2GB USB flash drive to make use of Windows Vista's ReadyBoost technology.

The review system is built around a Commell LV-677DC mini-ITX motherboard. It's based on Intel's 945GM chipset and offers a good degree of expandability. Not all of the upgradability can be used - there's a spare SATA port, for instance, but without the physical

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space to install another disk you won't be able to use it. There are two mini-PCI slots, though. One is empty and the other is occupied by a Realtek RTL8185L WLAN card, compatible with 802.11a/b/g networks. In spite of the mini-ITX form factor, there's also a full-length PCI Express slot, occupied by a Vista View Saber 2020 TV tuner. The tuner has a pair of analogue receivers onboard, which unfortunately means Freeview channels are out of the question, and the lack of a remote control also affects how enthusiastic we are about the Psile's media-centre credentials. But, since the PCI Express slot is 16x, you could swap it out for a DVB-T model or a discrete graphics card, as long as the external 120W power supply can handle it.

The specifications are more than respectable. The 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5500 and 2GB of RAM will keep Vista running smoothly. In concert, the core components drove our application benchmarks to an overall result of 0.72. At this price, you'll also get a spacious 500GB Samsung hard disk, which should see you through for quite some time. The only real performance compromise is graphics - with the PCI Express slot taken by the TV tuner, the LV-677DC motherboard has to rely on its integrated Intel GMA 950 chip. It all but precludes 3D gaming, but there's sufficient power for Vista's Aero effects.

The Psile is one of the most attractively styled small-form-factor PCs we've seen. Some of its good looks come from its otherwise impractical aversion to front-mounted ports, but there's no denying that the corner-free chassis looks superb. It also offers a practical amount of power and accessibility for upgrading and repairs, although it already offers more than enough power and storage out of the box.

If you want to use this chassis to build your own system, www.mini-itx.com/store offers the case alone in either white or black, as well as supplying many of the components for the rest of the build. You can also buy the system fully formed by visiting www.silentpcshop.nl, a Dutch vendor that supplies the Psile Media Center PC to the UK for just €1,148 (€1,349 inc VAT). This translates to about £778 (£915 inc VAT), a price that compares extremely well to other small mini-ITX systems we've reviewed. The Shuttle XPC mini X 200M costs £720 (£846 inc VAT), but the Psile offers superior components. Evesham's Mini PC is admittedly smaller, but offers even fewer ports and expansion options. The Psile might be bigger, but it's a well-engineered design that also offers great value.