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Performance & Conclusions

As we saw in our SFF roundup, there was a not a lot of variance between the different 865G boards and we expect the XC Cube to perform nearly identically to the EZ65. What is of concern however is the XC Cube's performance in a PVR role.

Test Setup

Intel Pentium 4 3.0
256MB PC3200 Memory
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 80GB ATA133 HD
Windows XP SP1

We also did similar testing on Leadtek's Winfast TV2000 XP Expert TV Tuner on hardware with the following specs

Barton 2500 (333 Mhz)
Gigabyte GA-7N400-L (NForce 2)
Maxtor Sata 120GB
Liteon LDW411S
1 GB Ram (PC3200 running at 1:1 with the FSB)
ATI Radeon 8500 LE (64 Meg)
Windows XP SP1

This is not meant to be a direct comparison. The hardware configuration is far from being the same and recording quality modes are not directly comparable but this may serve as point of reference between different hardware and software platforms.

* refers to pausing a live television stream. stream is buffered until play is hit.
** refers to playing back a stream that is has been paused and recorded on hard disk while streaming new content onto the HD

Screen cap of a dude who just trashed his car. Apparently chicks dig guys who trash their cars

There is a pretty large difference between the different quality modes and processor usage with Intervideo's Home Theater software. Each successive step down in quality results in almost a 50% drop in video size and a hefty drop in processor power required in encoding to MPEG2. In comparison, there seems to be much less of a difference with Leadtek's TV Tuner solution. Users planning to record at high quality should consider buying a very large hard disk especially if a lot of television is to be recorded. There is a noticeable drop in quality when comparing the good / better / best streams; quite a bit of detail is lost dropping down through each encoding level as edges and objects become less defined. The checkboard look of MPEG encoding errors was not noticed in any of the three encoding levels however.

Little touches like the Record Light score big points

The HomeTheater software did freeze up a couple times but on the whole it performed well. In terms of features, Leadtek definitely has the edge with a greater number of recording modes and options. However, the interface for the Home Theater software was decidedly better. Important functions were not buried deep inside multiple levels of menu systems.

Noise

The XC Cube is very quiet, quiet enough that during non intensive tasks that it cannot be picked up by our DB meter above ambient room noise. The XC Cube managed to stay fairly quiet also during PVR duties. During an extended gaming session with DOOM 3 and the 9600XT though, the XC Cube got fairly loud. As such, the XC Cube is not the ideal gaming machine for noise sensitive environments but for the living room or the bedroom it will work very well due to AOpen's ever evolving SilentTek.

Conclusions

AOpen's XC Cube AV Edition is a cool product that capitalizes on more than just the shape and novelty of the SFF. AOpen has recognized that cube systems could eventually replace some CE components like a separate stereo and DVD player and it makes inroads into this arena with the Instant On capabilities. There are few things that work against the XC Cube however; the first thing is the lack of TV Out as a standard option. Most people I talk to are still harbor some aversion to watching television on a computer and would prefer to watch it on a television. Having TV Out standard, especially for the tuner output and the VCD/DVD mode would make greater inroads into attracting the more casual consumer towards the XC Cube. A second problem is that Instant On does not work with an add-in video card which is a shame. This may make this functionality moot for people who require more juice than the onboard graphics. It is sort of understandable since there can only be one active AGP device onboard a system at once. It would have been a good idea to have some sort of toggle to switch between the onboard graphics and the AGP slot so that the Instant On functionality is not lost. AOpen may want to collaborate with Nvidia and see if they can integrate Nstant functionality onto a desktop system even if it only works with Nvidia cards.

The installation routine of the XC Cube is top notch and it is evident that AOpen has done some work in that department. Instead of the usual driver disk that end users need to poke around with, AOpen has a cohesive menu system that installs all the drivers automatically after a few mouse clicks. Little touches like this makes the XC Cube a lot more accessible to the average consumer who is not as computer savvy and that is a big plus. The installation routine for the Instant On software was straightforward and the instruction manual was quite detailed. The Intervideo Home Theater software works pretty well for the most part. We had a couple minor grievances but on the whole the interface is done pretty well. AOpen's included remote integrates very well with the Home Theater software and many of the buttons have a keyboard shortcut like effect with regards to navigation. One of the caveats that the remote is context sensitive; the navigation features do not seem to work when you have multiple applications running and the Home Theater App is not the active one.

As much as convergence between PCs and Consumer Electronics is hyped there are still relatively few products that bridge the gap. One instance would be mp3 players and in particular, the iPod. Another may be digital cameras. The SFF PC may be the next to make the move into ubiquity if ease of use continues to be a main priority - engineers on the PC front need to match the UI design level and simpify things more so than their CE counterparts especially for PVR type functions. The challenge is simplicity yet maintaining robustness that PC users demand. The XC Cube manages to balance both tasks quite well. AOpen is on the right track with the XC Cube and for the average person checking email and working with mainly desktop apps, AOpen has put together a fine machine that is capable of PVR duties. For the user needing more performance, there are a couple issues that need to be worked out but AOpen seems to be within sight of melding PCs and CE devices together with the XC Cube.