SFF Roundup, Part I: Socket 478 and 754 Systems

ASUS T2-P Deluxe

Overview

If there's one company in the computer component industry that virtually everyone knows, then it's probably ASUS. They have been around for a long time and have always been one of the leaders in terms of performance and features with their products. Their products also tend to cost more than competing offerings, but the "you get what you pay for" cliché usually applies, and ASUS is well regarded for their customer support and reliability.

Oddly enough, the SFF that we have from ASUS really flies in the face of most of the above generalizations. The product itself is not bad, but in terms of price, this is actually the cheapest of all the SFF units that we currently have - even considering the added cost of the deluxe model! As we've mentioned in the past, there are several variants of the T2 Terminator line. We have the deluxe commercial version, and there is also a deluxe consumer version as well as the standard deluxe and the base model.

The deluxe version adds the radio tuner and 7-in-1 flash card reader, so if you don't need either of those options, you can cut costs quite a bit. The commercial retail version has a 3-in-1 PCI card that includes gigabit Ethernet (GbE), two firewire ports, and WiFi 802.11B. The consumer retail version also has a 3-in-1 PCI card, but instead of GbE, it adds a TV tuner to the mix. Finding the consumer retail version is a little difficult, however. There is also a T2-R case available in similar configurations, with the primary difference being the use of the ATI 9100G chipset for the motherboard rather than Intel's 965G. The integrated graphics performance would improve with that model, but based on past experience with that ATI chipset, the overall performance would decrease somewhat.

Aesthetics

Click on images to enlarge.

The T2-P is a decent looking case, although it is rather large for a "small" form factor design. With two 5.25" bays, an included floppy and flash card reader, the radio functions, and the front ports, it's not too difficult to see why it's larger than competitors. If you don't mind something a little larger, though, it's a well built case. The black pearlescent paint on the body of the case has a polished finish that some will like, although the front silver panels are made of plastic and don't look quite as nice in our opinion. From a distance - i.e. if you're sitting on the couch and the unit is in your entertainment console - the front panels look better, but up close, the effect isn't as good. While not the best looking SFF case that we've seen, the ASUS does look better than most cheap desktop cases.

Features

ASUS Terminator T2-P Deluxe Commercial
Dimension	(w)190 mm x (h)310 mm x (d)300 mm
CPU Support	Intel Socket 478 Northwood/Prescott up to P4 3.2GHz
Memory Support	PC1600/PC2100/PC2700/PC3200 up to 2GB; 2 DIMM slots
Motherboard	P4P8T (proprietary) Intel 865G/ICH5 Chipsets FSB 800/533/400MHz
Graphics	Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2 32MB shared memory architecture
Expansion Slots	1 x PCI; 1 x AGP 8x
Power Supply	200W Delta Electronics Power Supply 3 x 4-pin Molex; 1 x 4-pin FDD 4-pin ATX 12V; 20-pin ATX
Internal Connections	2 x SATA; 2 x IDE; 1 x FDD
Audio	AC97 SW audio, 6 channel codec
LAN	1 x 10/100 Mbps 1 x Wireless 802.11b WiFi 1 x Gigabit LAN (optional)
Memory Card Reader	Compact Flash Type I/II, Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital, MultiMedia Card, Smart Media Card
Drive Bay	2 x 3.5 External (Floppy and Flash Reader 1 x 3.5 Internal (HDD) 2 x 5.25 External (CD/DVD)
Front I/O	2 x USB 2.0 2 x IEEE1394 (4pin, 6pin) S/PDIF-out, MIC, Head-phone 7-in-1 memory card reader Audio DJ play buttons Power button Power on & HDD LED indicators
Rear I/O	4 x USB 2.0 PS/2 KB, PS/2 Mouse VGA port (D-SUB) Game / MIDI port Serial port - Parallel port RJ-45 LAN Port (10/100Mbps) Micropone, Line-in/out, Speaker out
	3-in-1 PCI Card 802.11b wireless antenna 3Com 3C940 Gigabit LAN
Overclocking	None - all settings are automatic
Extras	Audio DJ (FM and CD)
Full Image Set	ASUS T2-P Pictures (1.6MB)
Manufacturer Link	ASUS T2-P Deluxe

In terms of features, the T2-P Deluxe commercial/consumer variants are loaded. Only the Aopen unit tops it in this roundup, and even then, the ASUS still has some extras that none of the others can match. For example, this is the only case that includes a floppy drive preinstalled, as well as a flash card reader. It's a minor point, really, but if you're going to have two external 3.5" bays, we appreciate the fact that the components are already installed. The manual also mentions an included optical drive, but that is only in the deluxe consumer version, unfortunately. You also get integrated graphics, a radio tuner/CD player that can be powered up in about five seconds, and included parallel and serial ports. If you don't need all of those items, other SFFs are probably a better fit, but for an out-of-box experience, the T2-P has nearly everything you need.

The only drawback is that once you add your own graphics card to the mix, you've basically filled the case and other than the second 5.25" drive bay, you can't add anything more without taking something out. We would have preferred to see the GbE included on the motherboard rather than in an add-in card, and if you're going to go with wireless networking, 802.11G would be preferred over 802.11B. The firewire support could have also been added to the motherboard rather than to a separate PCI card. This means that you're stuck with the onboard audio unless you remove the PCI card, and in that case, you would probably be better off going with the standard model in the first place. Thankfully, the onboard audio works well and static was not a problem - at least, it wasn't a problem using the rear audio ports; the front headphone port still produced a bit of interference.

One feature that is surprisingly missing - given ASUS' reputation - is overclocking controls. Given that ASUS motherboards often set the overclocking standard by which other boards are judged, the complete lack of such controls was unexpected. The P4C800-E and, more recently, the P5GD2 are such examples, but if overclocking is something that you're looking for, look elsewhere. This is only a minor consideration, however, as most SFF users are not really concerned with tweaking for maximum performance.

The major "extra" that the deluxe model includes is the radio tuner/CD player. The flash card reader and 3-in-1 card are also useful, but other than adding features, there isn't much to say. If you don't have any sort of stereo system and you like to listen to music a lot, you can power up the T2-P Deluxe into radio/CD mode in about five seconds. Windows software is also included for the radio, but the CD playback functionality is already supported by Windows so it isn't anything special. The "quick boot" CD mode also supports playback of audio CDs (and possibly DVDs - I didn't verify this).

Radio playback worked, but reception in our area was rather poor. This is true of reception in general and not of the ASUS T2-P in particular, although the included antenna was certainly not the greatest. (The Aopen antenna was far superior, if a little more conspicuous.) Setting radio stations could be easier, as your only available options are a channel scan by pressing the Play/Pause button, and the Stop button will halt the scan. If the signal is weak, the Play/Stop buttons can be used to set a specific station, but direct manual tuning is not possible. Up to nine preset stations can be stored, at which point the Forward and Back buttons will move through the presets. As a radio stand-in, it works, but just barely. Certainly, we wouldn't recommend buying the system solely on this feature.

Another positive point for the ASUS unit is that the audio output was relatively clean in Windows. The front port still had a small amount of static or noise even after muting the AUX and Line-in ports, but we could only hear it with headphones; when plugged into speakers, it was not noticeable. The rear port was also clean, even when using headphones.