Installing the parts into the Pundit-R

Anyone who has built a computer system will be impressed at how easy the task is, the newcomers to DIY (Do It Yourself) might be apprehensive but ASUS makes the process easy and they provide a detailed instruction manual that will get you up and running with a minimum of effort (most Computer stores will assemble the system for you and charge a small fee). The bundle that comes with the system includes the following items, Power cable, Instruction/installation manual, support CD, SATA Power adapter, SATA Data Cable and the X-Wall security Keys for Securing the data on your Hard-drive (if you wish to use it).

Click photo to enlarge

So what's inside this thing!

Click photo to enlarge View from the side with the cover removed	ATI IXP 200 Chipset
Click photo to enlarge PCMCIA slot in a desktop? Yep now you can use any laptop cards you want!	This the drive cage it takes one Hard-drive which is hidden in the system and also one Optical bay which will push out of the clever front cover on the case.
Click photo to enlarge This is your New CPU heat-sink its made of copper and contains many fine heat-shedding fins to keep the CPU cool	This the PCI Riser card which enables the system to take two full size add in cards that you may wish to install (although I don't know what you'd need to add this system covers pretty much all corners)
Click photo to enlarge Here is a photo of the rear hook-ups available on the system.	Click photo to enlarge Photo of the system without the Front Bezel in place you can see where the Optical drive would be located once installed
Click photo to enlarge Front View of the Pundit-R	Ratings that are found on the included Power supply

Installation involves 10 steps!

1. Remove the Case cover and front Bezel.
2. Remove the Drive-cage
3. Once done remove the shroud that is installed on the Heat-sink and release the clamps, remove the heat-sink to reveal the Socket 478 (478 pins) for the CPU
4. Install the CPU - the socket has a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) Socket so installation is a breeze
5. Replace the heat-sink and replace the clips (no Thermal compound is required as the Heat-sink has some).
6. Install your Ram and then replace the shroud on the Heat-sink
7. Install your Hard-drive and Optical drive into the Drive cage and replace the Drive cage
8. Connect the supplied cables for Power and Data.
9. Install any PCI Cards you need to install.
10. Replace the Case cover and front Bezel .

I did notice a few minor issues:

• Individuals with huge hands (like myself) will find the quarters a little tight.
• Make sure that the Power supply fan is not obstructed by the drive cables, you need to push them tight against the drives to ensure proper Airflow
• I had to install my SATA Drives upside down to get the included cables to reach the connectors, this is not an issue for the drive but I had no screw holes that matched the drive to ensure the drive wouldn't move, The drive cage was fairly tight and in the end I suspect the drive wouldn't move under normal use anyway so no Big!
• Remember to remove the "Lip" from the Tray of your Optical drives or the Bezel trap door might get caught on the "Lip". All Optical drives have a removable "Lip" on the tray that moves in and out of the drive. its purposeis to prevent dust from entering and it enabled the manufacturer to change the "Lip" when needed without touching the main components that make up the drive. Usually you just ned to pry upwards on the "Lip" starting from the bottom and it should pop right off.

The system uses a feature called Q-fan (Quiet Fan) that runs all the fans at the slowest speed that maintains the correct Internal temperature, The supplied Probe utility also allows you to monitor Temperature and all fan speeds. You will notice upon Booting that the Fans run for a few seconds at FULL speed and then settle in to much quieter speed that is pretty well silent. I have not noticed any large change in fan speed during use but that may be in part to the lower speed of the choice of CPU I am using (2.66 GHz) I suspect a 3.2GHz may trigger a faster fan speed!

Performance
Others have run many benchmarks on the 3D Video capabilities so I'll summarize it! This is the best Integrated Video that you can find for the Intel CPU period, but don't expect performance on par with any Video card that sells for $100.00 or more they'll eat this one for breakfast! That said you can easily enjoy many Game titles with great graphics and most, if not all games will be playable (if you don't mind sticking to the lower resolutions).

Office/Application Suite performance was rather good and on par with any other budget system available on the market. I subjectively compared it in everyday use to my main system (3.2 Ghz HT 800MHz FSB with Raid 0 2x120 gig) and found that the Pundit-R only showed a difference when really pushing the processor with real data crunching (I was encoding Video).

Conclusion
For the market this system is targeted for I'm amazed at what this little guy brings to the table! It has every feature I can ever think of using and even has room for basic expansion. USB 2.0 is so fast any extra storage needs can be fulfilled by using an External device. The 3D Video is Decent (Hard-core gamers will run from it though) and allows the casual gamers to enjoy it when needed.

The Pundit-R's small footprint, good looks, low noise and overall low price really make this a great value and great system for anyone looking for one in this category, it doesn't offer all the possibilities of the competitors mini-system but it comes in at half the price, good value for money!

If you really want a rating I'd say 9/10

Review by biline

Here is shot of my setup which includes the twin ASUS Pundit-R systems
click the photo to enlarge



Nice and small compared with my main system!

 

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