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Installation

Installation was pretty much the same as the EZ65 and so here comes a copy / paste with a few changes.

Users are advised to take a look at the instruction manual for the EA65. Installation was not particularly confusing or hard but there are some nuances that are not a problem with a regular tower. There were however, a couple points that were a bit on the trickier side.

The memory and processor went in without a hitch. The clips for the processor are a lot better than the stock Intel heatsinks with regards to installation and removal. Unlike the Shuttle heatpipe design that has a fan near the back, the EA65 uses a different cooling method for the processor. The fan on the heatsink is mounted vertically instead of horizontally. A copper base makes contact with the processor and the vertical fins are attached to the top (the fins are not copper as far as I could tell). The air gets pushed out the side of the case through a vent that is in line with the heatsink / fan.

We managed to shoehorn in a single slot Gainward 5950 in the EZ65 and there is nothing preventing this on the EA65. Again, the stock dual slot 5950 would not fit as the AGP slot lies on the outside and the PCI slot on the inside meaning that even if we wanted to block up the PCI slot for a dual slot card it would not be possible. Expansion cards are held in with a latch. The latch is released by freeing up a screw that allows the latch to rotate. Getting the card in was moderately difficult. The length of the 5950 made for a very tight fit and it was only after playing around with several angles could we get the card to line up. The main problem was the top monitor screw beside the DVI port was catching the top of the expansion slot. I foresee the same difficulty with the 5900 and 5700 series because they are similar in length. Users are advised to be a bit careful (and patient) trying to get longer cards in because they will fit but do not try to really force anything. Removing the card resulted in a similar problem. The result was that the front of the card needed to be tilted up a lot in order to remove it as lifting from the back first would not allow the card to come out. Those of you leery about this may attempt to remove the screw beside the DVI connector first and replace it after it's in the Cube.

This time we also threw in a 9600XT for some DOOM 3 action and the manuvering needed to get it in was not much less work than the 5950. AOpen may want to consider redesigning the area around the AGP slot to give a bit more room as installation / removal of the video card is very awkward in comparison to some of the other SFFs we have worked with recently.