Compaq Deskpro EN: Small System Packs Quite A Punch

Compaq Computer Corp.'s latest Deskpro EN SFF P733 is a wolf in hummingbird's clothing.

The small form factor (SFF) system measures only 12.5 inches wide by 14.5 inches deep by 3.5 inches high; about four of these hummingbird-size systems will fit in the space occupied by a single conventional-size desktop. Resellers will surely prefer installing these lightweight, compact Compaqs over just about anything else. Test Center engineers also liked the small size of these systems and are considering substituting them for standard-size systems in order to fit more test bed systems in the Test Center's limited lab space.

But this is not only one of the smallest desktop computers ever tested, it is also one of the fastest. This wolf of a system packs a 733MHz Pentium III processor, Intel Corp.'s new 820 chipset and 128 Mbytes of 133MHz Rambus memory. The unit earned one of the highest benchmark scores ever seen by the Test Center. The system came loaded with Windows NT Workstation 4.0. As usual for desktop systems, the Deskpro EN SFF P733 was tested at a resolution of 1,024 x 768 in true color with a 75Hz refresh rate.

The Pentium III processor used in the Deskpro is one of the latest Coppermine chips produced using 0.18-micron manufacturing. The processor also features an integrated 256-Kbyte cache. To conserve space, the processor is mounted horizontally in a slot that is attached to the edge of the motherboard near the front of the chassis. The Rambus memory slots also are located in front.

A slimline (notebook-style) 24X CD-ROM drive is standard, while a slimline 6X DVD-ROM drive is optional.

Servicing this tiny system is much easier than one would imagine,the hood simply pulls off when pressing on two latches. A standard-style floppy drive is situated next to the CD-ROM drive, with both drives mounted on a hinged rack that pivots up and out of the way to provide access to the CPU and memory slots. An LS-120 floppy drive is optional. Plenty of storage space is provided by a 13.5-Gbyte UATA hard drive.

The Compaq system features an integrated Matrox G400 AGP graphics accelerator with 16 Mbytes of memory. That conserves space and cost by eliminating the need for an AGP slot and AGP graphics card.

The graphics solution is powerful enough for any business application one might throw at it today and also should be adequate for the life of the system. The only expansion slots provided are one PCI and one shared PCI/ISA slot located on a tiny riser board that is mounted to the motherboard. But considering that the Deskpro has integrated sound and a 10/100 network interface, little, if any, upgrading or expansion should be required. Like most other Compaq systems, this one has a built-in speaker, so external speakers are not required. This system is as simple as they come for resellers to install.

It used to be that when Test Center engineers came across a mini system with integrated graphics, it was a sure bet the system would be relatively slow. Not so with this unit. Its score of 626 on BAPCo SYSmark for Windows NT 4.0 was astounding, and also was one of the top scores ever observed in the Test Center. It compares favorably to the score of 601 for a 700MHz Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Athlon-based system and was nearly as good as the score of 645 earned by a 733MHz Intel Coppermine reference system.

In fact, no 600MHz Pentium III ever beat a score of 500, and the last Compaq mini system tested (a 700MHz Coppermine without the 820 chipset) scored only 526,a full 100 points lower than this gem. Not too long ago, engineers were wondering when an Intel-based system would break 500 on BAPCo SYSmark. Now the race is on to break 1,000.

For the review of Coppermine Pentium IIIs: www.crn.com/thisweek