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Introduction

The Small Form Factor market has been growing ever since Shuttle released their original boxes - and since then Shuttle's maintained control over a market where the competitors are many and the prices far lower than before although there is still a premium over similar desktop equivalents. Soltek's QBic series was originally marketed as a low-cost alternative to the diminutive Shuttles - now they are marketed as a low-cost alternative to other SFFs. Okay fine so not much has changed.

In fact, the current generation of QBics, at least aesthetically, are identical to the previous ones. However, do note that Soltek has expanded their lineup and created a series of SFF systems that look the same but are different colored (with or without a mirror finish on the front panel). You can see this selection on the Soltek website.

Long removed from the underpowered-with-old-chipset-and-no-AGP slot days, the current generation of SFFs can easily compete against most desktops head to head, rarely losing much in the process. What we have today is the Soltek EQ3801a QBic, which is basically a standard Soltek QBic with a nForce 3 250 Gb driving the motherboard. The nForce 3 250 Gb is one of the highest-performing and full-featured chipsets for the Athlon 64 platform. One feature that is missing (but not necessarily missed) is the onboard graphics option that we've come to know and love on the nForce line of motherboards. At the moment, there are no integrated chipsets available for the Athlon 64, at least not until the ATi chipset comes out for the Athlon 64.