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Noise

The Condor is probably the loudest of the SFF systems we have tested although subjectively it is still very quiet. The main advantage of the Condor is the constant fan speed. On several other systems, the fans are throttled by the BIOS based on the temperature of the system meaning the system is very quiet at idle but can scale up in noise. That said, under load, the Condor comes in second place on a subjective level right behind the Soltek Qbic 3401a. As the Condor is aimed at gamers, absolute silence probably was not a design goal. In any case the noise generated by the Condor is anything but obnoxious or overly loud.

Conclusions

The Condor is a pleasant surprise from FIC, a company not usually associated with flashy products. Major props to FIC for designing a product that is not strictly status quo. It is not an exaggeration to say that every major manufacturer has been jumping onto the SFF bandwagon following the success of Shuttle but few of them have really brought anything that is truly innovative to the market. Almost all SFF systems follow the same basic design as the Shuttle line. Of course there have been continual improvements but nothing that truly jumped out and taken the design to the next level. We have seen several excellent implementation of the Cube design but it is safe to say that the Condor is the first one that truly innovates and does something different.

The Condor has all the right elements that define a great product. It performs great (more on that later), it looks great and it smacks of quality. We have gone into great depth about why the Condor looks good; attention to detail and foresight are things that really stick to my mind. Integrating functionality into the visual scheme is a difficult task yet FIC has seamlessly weaves functionality with design. The button for the stealthed drive bay is not simply a button but it looks like part of the design of the front bezel; the grill on the top is not just stylish element but it is the exhaust for warm air that is being sucked in from the bottom; the effort free way in which the case opens up. The list just goes on and on about why anyone looking for a Small Form Factor type computer should be interested in the Condor.

Despite all its highs, the Condor is not perfect. The lack of firewire is a bit disappointing as well as the lackluster front panel that only includes a headphone jack, USB ports and the optical out port (which really belongs on the back). The lack of legacy ports is a good thing from my point of view as legacy connections need to go sometime; serial and printer ports have had their day and do not really need to be on every single machine. This may bother some of those who are still using a parallel port printer. I know I was up till last October.

FIC and Intel definitely have a winner with the Condor. There are a couple details that I would like to see sorted out but the quality of this product far outweighs the gripes that I have. The Condor is a slick and sexy beast that is an engineering marvel in an age where most companies stick with the norm instead of taking a risk to make something that is appealing to both the average person as well as the enthusiast. Definitely should be near the top of the list for any computer enthusiast.

Come back tomororw when we do a head to head comparison between the four SFF systems we have looked at - the AOpen EZ65, the Soltek Qbic 3401a, the Gigabyte G-Max CA2 and of course FIC's Condor.