PC Club Enpower Sabre Extreme: E6600 Made Easy
by Jarred Walton on August 29, 2006 4:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Externals and Appearance
The Apex case is certainly not going to win any awards for being the best case ever, but at the same time it doesn't have any serious flaws. It's pretty generic in appearance and features, but it isn't ugly by any means (at least in our opinion). It has a relatively roomy interior, it's reasonably sturdy, and it doesn't weigh too much. During operation, the system remains quiet though not entirely silent. The two 80mm fans inside the case should provide adequate cooling for the typical configuration, and the front fan helps to keep any hard drive(s) cool.
The front panel is silver while the rest of the exterior is matte black. The Enpower logo is lit by the front 80 mm fan and glows blue when the system is powered up. The top optical drive bay is occupied with a LiteOn DVD+RW LightScribe drive and has a door that matches the rest of the front. A similar door hides an empty 5.25" bay, so if you want to add a second optical drive you don't need to worry about ruining the uniformity of the front panel.
There isn't much to see on the right side of the case other than some decorative ventilation, the power/reset buttons, and the LEDs for hard drive activity and system power.
Moving to the left side, things are similar in appearance, but here the ventilation is somewhat more useful. A duct helps to channel fresh air down to the CPU fan, and there's additional ventilation over the expansion card slots. At the front of the case you can also see the two USB ports along with the headphone and microphone jacks.
At the rear of the system are all of the standard connections. The expansion slot area is empty other than the graphics card, although you could fill at least one slot with a four port USB bracket and use the remaining two onboard USB headers. Unfortunately, such an adapter with the system we were sent, though PC Club does send the motherboard box along with all of the manuals and additional cabling. This can be useful, but there isn't anything that's really required within the box. We've already covered the various ports that are included, so we won't get into further details of that area. Let's take a look at the inside.
The Apex case is certainly not going to win any awards for being the best case ever, but at the same time it doesn't have any serious flaws. It's pretty generic in appearance and features, but it isn't ugly by any means (at least in our opinion). It has a relatively roomy interior, it's reasonably sturdy, and it doesn't weigh too much. During operation, the system remains quiet though not entirely silent. The two 80mm fans inside the case should provide adequate cooling for the typical configuration, and the front fan helps to keep any hard drive(s) cool.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The front panel is silver while the rest of the exterior is matte black. The Enpower logo is lit by the front 80 mm fan and glows blue when the system is powered up. The top optical drive bay is occupied with a LiteOn DVD+RW LightScribe drive and has a door that matches the rest of the front. A similar door hides an empty 5.25" bay, so if you want to add a second optical drive you don't need to worry about ruining the uniformity of the front panel.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
There isn't much to see on the right side of the case other than some decorative ventilation, the power/reset buttons, and the LEDs for hard drive activity and system power.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Moving to the left side, things are similar in appearance, but here the ventilation is somewhat more useful. A duct helps to channel fresh air down to the CPU fan, and there's additional ventilation over the expansion card slots. At the front of the case you can also see the two USB ports along with the headphone and microphone jacks.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
At the rear of the system are all of the standard connections. The expansion slot area is empty other than the graphics card, although you could fill at least one slot with a four port USB bracket and use the remaining two onboard USB headers. Unfortunately, such an adapter with the system we were sent, though PC Club does send the motherboard box along with all of the manuals and additional cabling. This can be useful, but there isn't anything that's really required within the box. We've already covered the various ports that are included, so we won't get into further details of that area. Let's take a look at the inside.
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unclebud - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
having to push the optical drives closed instead of being able to press the eject button to do it? terrible designhopefully it won't require a couple hundred customers rmaing their drives to change it someday
JarredWalton - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
I've never had a problem pushing the tray to close a CD-ROM. The trick is that you push it gently rather than trying to slam it shut. I could see children having a bit of an issue doing this, but I would wager heavily that most children pushed the tray in regardless of whether or not you can access the eject button.Iceboie - Thursday, August 31, 2006 - link
Will we see an article in the future for us who wants a Conroe system but on a low budget scale?JarredWalton - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
Just drop from the E6600 (tested) to an E6300, dropped the graphics card down to a lower-cost version, maybe get a smaller hard drive, and you can quickly get the cost down to under $1000 (not including monitor). The system as a whole is fine, so basically just get whatever CPU and other settings you can afford.giantpandaman2 - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
Nice Review. Only things that'd be nice to add is how long it takes to get a system shipped to you and how difficult is it to RMA something. Can you take it to the store? Do they give you a run around? Is it painless? I figure you guys could use a girlfriend/buddy to bring in the computer so you can remain anonymous. :) Sounds like getting things fixed should be pretty easy since they have stores, but it'd be nice to know for sure.giantpandaman2 - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
oops, I know you can take it to the store.Capt Jook - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
Hi all,James here, manager of the Tigard, Oregon PC Club. Just wanted to say thanks for a great review and maybe answer a few questions.
RMA through the web can be a bit of a pain...at the moment we do not offer a cross-shipping option for defective parts, so it can take a week or two to get back a good part after you send in the faulty one. In store, if we(PC Club) build the system and it is in warranty, we swap a new part right off of the shelf, 1 year warranty or 3. On 3 year warranty systems, we also cover End of Life(EOL), so if a CPU is 2 years old and EOL...we give you the logical replacement or an upgrade. We usually hire enthusiasts at our stores, so many people feel welcome when they want to discuss multipliers or voltages, etc.
We do use all standard, off the shelf components...nothing proprietary. Our "restore" CD is actually just an XP CD. We are sure to give the customer physical copies of all of the software installed on the system, in case of a catastrophic drive failure. We have a http://pcclub.com/forum/index.cfm">Customer support Forum that has help available 24/7. Mostly other PCC customers, but I know of at least 10 store level employees that frequent the forum on a daily basis(myself included).
The Allied 350W PSU has seen at least 10,000 hours of(combined) testing in the configuration listed. All of our system configurations must pass at least 5,000 hours of testing by our Engineering Department before they are released for sale to the stores and the web.
Each store is required to have a tech on duty 7 days a week, 362 days a year(we are closed xmas, Thanksgiving and 4th of July), so service is available if you are local to a store.
Thanks for your time!
JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - link
Thanks for the additional information, James. (I'm up north of you in Olympia Washington, so the closest store to me is in Tacoma.) I actually do know a couple enthusiasts that work at PC Club stores, so I agree that the local support should be good. I wish I had some place like PC Club close by my house, as other than ordering online my only options are an overpriced brick-and-mortar store down the street, or I can try my luck at Best Buy. Needless to say, nearly all of my purchases come from web sites.giantpandaman2 - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - link
Thankfully I'm in Bellevue. I can go anywhere. :Pyyrkoon - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
I own a Vewsonic VA1912wb 19" widscreen monitor, and its a great monitor, however, its also rated @ 8ms, not 5ms listed in your review (I know what Viewsonics webpage says, but according to my box, manual, and newegg, this is incorrect) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82.... Perhaps Viewsonic has since reworked this part, but In my opinion, that would call for a new part # ?As for the Pre-built system, interresting choice of motherboards, they frown on OC'n, yet they offer the best OCable motherboard for the C2D ? You would think, they would have picked something a bit more stable like the ABIT AB9 Pro or something . . .