ASUS Pundit-R base computer system Review

I recently purchased two of these systems and decided that the rest of you should be told about these small and wonderful creations from ASUS! Before we start anything these are perfect systems for the average user if you are gaming fanatic who purchases $300+ video cards and demands the best performance in your desktop then you need not read any further as these will not appeal to you. If you hate those ugly generic oversized computer cases and need a small nimble computer that will fulfil most if not all of your needs then these little buggers from ASUS are worth looking at!

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Box the Pundit-R arrived in.	Front view	Front with panel open

These are very powerful computer systems in a very small desktop saving footprint the overall dimensions are 91mm (3.5") for width, height is 275mm (11" with base) and the depth is 357mm (14")

The features list is long and quite impressive for a system this size and Price! before I get to the cost I should point out that this is not a complete computer system when purchased it requires a CPU, Ram, Hard-drive and Optical drive. what you get are a base system which contains the Case, Motherboard and a 200 watt Power supply. The Base system costs $207.00 (All prices mentioned are in Canadian funds and were purchased in December 2004) and was purchased from PC Cyber Computers (they have 5 locations in the Ottawa area and I have purchased many items without any issues).

I configured the systems with the following items:

System One (total cost was $1127)

Asus Pundit-R Barebone for $207
Intel Celeron D 330 2.66 GHz ( 533 MHz ) Retail Box for $119
Crucial 512 184pin PC-3200 DDR 5ns SDRAM timing are CL=3 for $127
Western Digital 120GB Hard Drive JB SATA for $113
LG GSA-4160B DVD Writer (Dual Layer) for $97
Logitech Cordless MX Duo (Keyboard and Mouse) for $87
LG L1710S - 17" LCD Flatron (1280x1024) for $377

System Two (total cost was $663)

Asus Pundit-R Barebone for $207
Intel Celeron D 330 2.66 GHz ( 533 MHz ) Retail Box for $119
Crucial 512 184pin PC-3200 DDR 5ns SDRAM timing are CL=3 for $127
Western Digital 120GB Hard Drive JB SATA for $113
LG GSA-4160B DVD Writer (Dual Layer) for $97

I mentioned that these systems are feature packed and here is the list....

Robust performance
-supports Pentium 4 3.2GHz+ CPU on 800MHz FSB
-Based on the ATI RS300 chipset
-Supports DDR PC 3200/2700/2100 memory
-PCI Riser Card supports 2 standard size add-on cards
-Supports regular IDE devices as well as SATA

It's feature packed
The Pundit's full-featured integration includes a 4-in-1 card reader (SM, MS, MMC, SD), TV-out function, 5.1-channel and S/PDIF for quality audio, IEEE 1394 ports, PCMCIA slot, USB2.0 and more…

Maximum security
Ever lost your data? Ever had someone use your PC when you are away? An optional X-Wall security function provides the best protection for your data and privacy by encrypting the entire hard drive bit by bit with NIST certified DES/TDES real-time encryption engine. Only the one who has the correct secure key can access the hard drive, even if the hard drive has been removed from your PC!

Specifications for the Barebones system are as follows:

Dimensions	91(w) x 357(d) x 275(h) mm
Drive Bays	1x5.25" External Bay 1x3.5" Internal Bay
Front I/O	1 x PCMCIA 1 x 4-in-1 Card Reader (SM, MS, MMC, SD) 1 x Security Key 1 x S/PDIF-Out 2 x IEEE 1394 (6pin, 4pin) 2 x USB 2.0 1 x MIC-In 1 x HeadPhone
Rear I/O	PS/2 KB/Mouse, MIC-In/Line-In/Line-Out 1 x S-Video 1 x TV-out 2 x USB 2.0 1 x RJ45(LAN) 1 x DVI-D 1 x VGA 1 x Parallel 1 x Serial
Power supply	200W, PFC
Motherboard	ASUS P4R8L
CPU Support	Intel Socket 478 Pentium 4 Northwood/Prescott, 3.2GHz+
Chipset	ATI RS300 / IXP200
FSB	800 / 533 / 400MHz
DIMM	2 x DDR 400 / 333 / 266 up to 2GByte
DIMM Sockets	2 up to 2GB
Graphics	ATI Radeon 9100 integrated graphics w/ DVO support
Audio	ADI AD1888 , 6 channel
LAN	10 / 100 Mbps Integrated (ATI IXP200 integrated MAC + RealTek 8201BL PHY)
Expansion Slot	2 PCI

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