components what’s new cHoosInG A... SILVERSTONE Fortress FT01-W Processor ★★★★ Follow the steps to find your ideal specs £144 inc VaT MANUFACTURER: Intel from www.overclock.co.uk PROCESSOR: Pentium Dual Core E2140 SOCKET: LGA775 Silverstone’s latest PC case is an impressive piece recommended minimum in grey of engineering. The FT01’s top, front and bottom are formed from a single U-shaped piece of aluminium. This makes the case feel incredibly 1 A processor with the minimum sturdy, and it look great too. The rear of the case is specifi cations above costs riveted securely to the rest of the body and is also around £45. It’s reasonably fast, but made of aluminium, as are the side panels. is best suited to standard offi ce The FT01’s pleasingly simple front panel has applications. As it uses the established just a power button on it. Above this are fi ve 5¼in are available for around £6 including VAT (part LGA775 interface, you may not need drive bays: simply slide in an optical drive and press code: CP05). The upper four drive bays are to buy a new motherboard to match, a large button inside to lock it in place. No external removable, so you can install large 305mm but check that your particular 3½in bays are provided, and there’s no 3½in graphics cards in this case if you wish. motherboard supports a dual-core adaptor for the 5¼in bays. If you want to fi t a The power supply is positioned at the bottom Pentium processor. memory card reader, you’ll have to buy an adaptor of the case. The FT01 sits just above the desk on – Silverstone’s matching FP51 costs around £10. At plastic feet, while a grille beneath allows airfl ow to 2 If you’re upgrading only the the bottom is a huge grille for the front fan. cool the supply. This intake has a dust fi lter to stop processor, you’ll be limited by The side panels are securely attached but easy your supply getting clogged up. On the rear is a your motherboard’s socket type. AMD to remove. A metal catch pulls a rod that runs the standard 120mm fan. Socket 754 boards provide the least length of the case, releasing the panel at three The top of the case houses a second choice; an Athlon 64 3400+ is the separate points. Both panels are lined with foam to 180mm fan. Between them these two big fastest compatible processor. Socket help reduce noise. Our review model had a 19in fans provide plenty of airfl ow through the case, 939 motherboards provide more Perspex window, but you can buy a version that and as they run quite slowly they make little options, including dual-core X2 doesn’t have this if you prefer. Removing the noise. You can control the speed of both fans processors going up to the fast FX-60. right-hand panel makes it easy to run cables directly from your motherboard, or by using a Socket AM2+ is the latest standard behind the motherboard tray, which helps to Windows utility such as SpeedFan (see www. and supports AMD’s full range. keep your PC neat and tidy. almico.com/speedfan.php). Intel’s LGA775 socket has been Inside the case at the front is a big 180mm fan. This case looks great, with no cheesy logos or around for a few years, but check your A convenient slide-out dust fi lter is easy to keep LED lights. Despite its fairly compact dimensions motherboard’s manual for processor clean. Behind the fi lter are seven 3½in we had no trouble installing support as only the latest chipsets drive bays, which are cooled by the big SUMMARY our components, and there’s support Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 fan’s airfl ow. Amazing build quality plenty of space for upgrades. Quad processors. Each 3½in bay has a removable Its airfl ow and build quality Plenty of airfl ow plastic caddy into which you clip your are also impressive, and only If you’re building a PC from No 3½in adaptor supplied 3 hard disk. The top bay has built-in data the high price stops it scratch, it’s best to pick and power SATA connectors. Simply PC CASE 5x 5¼in bays, 7x internal receiving a Best Buy award. the processor fi rst and then choose 3½in bays, 2x USB and 1x FireWire slide in the caddy and the disk plugs ports, 486x211x495mm, two years However, if you’re looking for a motherboard to match. If you’re in without any need for fi ddling RTB warranty a stylish case for your PC, the building a basic offi ce PC, a budget around with cables. Additional SATA PART CODE SST-FT01B-W FT01 is a prime candidate. dual-core processor is fi ne. If you do a connector kits for the other drive bays DETAILS www.silverstonetek.com Seth Barton lot of intensive tasks, an Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad is a better choice. The Core 2 Duo range is our current favourite. You can buy Intel’s fast E8500 (see ‘Also consider…’, opposite) for just £149 including VAT. If your motherboard doesn’t support Core SaPPHIRE MSI 2 Duo, it’s worth upgrading as the Radeon HD 3450 P43 Neo-F Pentium D range of dual-core processors is no longer available. ★★★★★ ★★★★★ Avoid single-core Pentium 4s and £30 inc VaT £55 inc VaT from www.ginger6.com from www.eclipsecomputers.com Athlon 64s as they are poor value. This is one of cheapest Intel LGA775 boards we’ve 4 Intel’s Extreme processors and The Radeon HD 3450 seen, and it supports processors with a frontside AMD’s Black Edition processors is no good for modern bus of up to 400MHz. There are four memory slots are multiplier-unlocked, so you can games, but it’s an ideal card to supporting up to 16GB of PC2-8500 DDR2, plus all overclock them without affecting have in a media centre PC. It’s cheap, silent the expansion capability you’ll need, including your memory or other components. and has built-in hardware video acceleration, three PCI slots and However, the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 so if your PC has a two PCI-E x1 slots. INTEL MOTHERBOARD LGA775 costs a whopping £916. socket, Intel P43/Intel ICH10 PCI EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD dual-core processor This board was chipset, 4x DDR2 667/800/1066 ATI Radeon HD 3450 chipset, you can play back almost as quick in slots, 1x PCI Express x16 slot, 2x You can buy Intel’s mobile 512MB DDR2 memory, PCI PCI Express x1 slots, 3x PCI slots, 5 high-defi nition Express x16 2.0 interface our tests as far more Core 2 Duo and Core Duo 1x IDE port, 6x SATA/300 ports content. It comes PART CODE 11125-10-20R expensive models. It’s processors, too. However, you’ll PART CODE MS-7519-010 DETAILS www.sapphiretech.com with an adaptor to ideal for those who DETAILS www.msi.com.tw need a motherboard or barebones FuLL REvIEW Oct 2008 turn a DVI port into don’t require fancy FuLL REvIEW Nov 2008 PC that’s compatible with Socket P. 3DMark Vantage Fail an HDMI port, so features such as RAID PCMark Vantage Mobile processors are more expensive, Call of Duty 4 3.5fps 4,988 54.6 fps Crysis 2.1fps Call of Duty 4 it’s easy to plug arrays or multiple -50% Asus +50% +100% so buy one only if necessary. -50% Sapphire +50% +100% 0 100 200 into a TV. HD 4850 graphics cards. P5Q-E 0 100 200 march 2009 • COMPUTER SHOPPER 55