Intel’s “center of the digital universe” talk about its own processors is essentially true. We have any kind of information – music, movies, and books – in the digital form nowadays. To live in this digital universe, we need a computer with a speedy processor.
With the time, however, the computers grew strong enough to make this universe rolling even without the topmost processor, the biggest memory amount, and the fastest graphics card. Many users today don’t want an ultra-fast system, roaring as hell and costing a nice sum of money, because they can get a small, relatively inexpensive and quite noiseless device for performing simple office tasks, for watching movies and for playing games, instead. These machines have even acquired a generic name, “Small Form-Factor PC” or “barebone”.
We have already posted several reviews of such barebone systems (you can find them in our Mobile section). Let us now introduce to you another one – the stylish EZ Watcher 3060 from PC CHIPS.
Specifications
Case dimensions | 262x162x310 mm, (Height x Width x Depth) |
Case material | Aluminum |
Power supply unit | External, Chi 200. (200W) |
Expansion bays | 1x 5.25” 1x 3.5” |
Front panel ports | Line out (headphones jack) |
Rear panel connectors | 2 PS/2 connectors (keyboard/mouse) |
Integrated Card-Reader | Supports reading from CF I / CF II / M.D./ SMC / SD/MMC / MS |
Additional accessories | Cooler, user’s guide, power supply unit and power cable |
Mainboard (dimensions) | S4-2 (244mm x 205mm) |
CPU | Socket478, only 400/533MHz system bus |
Chipset | SiS 651 North Bridge + SiS 962 South Bridge |
Memory | Supports up to 2GB PC2100/2700 DDR SDRAM (266MHz and 333MHz respectively) |
Integrated graphics | SiS 315 graphics core |
Integrated sound | AC-97 version 2.2-compatible 8bit stereo full-duplex codec, supports up to 6 output channels (for 5.1 audio) |
Integrated LAN | Uses SiS 962 features, 10/100Mbit solution, RJ 45 port |
IDE devices | Up to 4 IDE devices ATA 66/100/133, 2 channels |
USB ports | 6 USB 2.0 ports |
IEEE 1394 | 2 IEEE 1394a compliant ports |
The case of the EZW-3060 has many traces of what is usually called creative design, and what we don’t often see in system cases of ordinary PCs. The silver-colored case and the black-lacquered front panel with an informational LCD-display are a treat by themselves, but there is also that wheel, which controls the processor clock-rate “on the fly”! The compact size of the computer allows it to fit well into the definition of a barebone: the height of the system case doesn’t even reach 30cm.
The cooling solution is very thoroughly designed. The system is equipped with a noiseless 70mm fan that blows the hot air off the CPU and the graphics card. The power-supply unit is taken out of the case altogether. I should admit that PC CHIPS engineering team did a really good job: the EZW-3060 system has no temperature-related problems whatsoever.




