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Canada Computers Content Creator X2 Workstation System Review
Canada Computers Content Creator X2 Workstation System Review - PCSTATS
Built around a e 2.4GHz dual core Athlon64 X2 4800+ CPU, and pre-installed with Microsoft WindowsXP Professional, the system should have plenty of potential pixel kicking power.
 85% Rating:   
Filed under: Computer / SFF PCs Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Canada Computers Aug 31 2005   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Computer / SFF PCs > Canada Computers Content Creator X2

Content Creation Power House: Up Close and Personal

The system is housed in a jet-black Antec Titan 550 Server case. If you like to get your hands dirty with PCs, you'll certainly appreciate this case which measures in at 26.5 x 42.5 x 62.5cm in size.

The Titan 550 Server case is slightly taller than an average mid tower, and very deep so there is plenty of space for the components inside.

The front of the case is plain, with just a folding door covering the four 5.25" drive bays. Still, it's better to be plain than tacky like those NZXT style cases! The door guards the power/reset switch as well, and is lockable. The power and HDD LED shine a bright blue.

The door itself swings in open in two locations which makes the motion a lot more fluid and easy to use. Unlike cheap knock offs, closing and opening the door on Antec cases is very easy. Below all of this are the two USB and one IEEE 1394a ports, along with a couple headphone/mic jacks.

The case is made from steel and aside from the size of the unit, the Antec Titan 550 will fit in nicely in an office or home environment without any compromises.

Getting into the case is easy thanks to the thumb screws integrated into the left side panel. The first thing one notices is that the inside of the Titan 550 is indeed very spacious.

While there are no intake case fans, a quiet 120mm Antec exhaust fan keeps air moving through the system. The case uses a honeycomb grill vent which allows air to pass through with less turbulence than slits or holes.

The PCI expansion slots all require tools to access, so don't put that phillips head screw driver away just yet.

The rear motherboard I/O bracket is removable which is a good idea since motherboards no longer adhere to a single standard. The motherboard tray itself is not removable, so those of you who like to tweak will have to do all the work inside the Antec Titan 550 case.

Moving to the front of the case, there are a total of three open 5.25" drive bays, one open 3.5" bay and six hidden 3.5" HDD bays. This should be enough space for a bevy of hard drives and optical media readers. The front bezel of the case can be removed via three mounting tabs on the left hand side, after the tabs have been depressed, the bezel swings open with ease.

There are two open positions for 80mm case fans to be installed where they would blow over the HDD drive bays, something one might want to use if there are a lot of HDDs. To make things easier, Antec allows the front case fan grill to be removed (via thumbscrews again).

Working with the Antec Titan 550 Server case is very easy since Antec rounds all the sharp edges and you will not cut yourself when working in the case! Canada Computers also did an excellent job with cable management in the Content Creator X2 system - everything is either zip tied down or large cables are folded to minimize impact on airflow.

My only qualms with the Content Creator X2 package is that Canada Computers did not include any extra drive rails (both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4"). Without the additional drive rails, adding more HDDs or optical drives would be impossible. I'm sure this is just an oversight on its part.

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Contents of Article: Canada Computers Content Creator X2
 Pg 1.  Canada Computers Content Creator X2 Workstation System Review
 Pg 2.  — Content Creation Power House: Up Close and Personal
 Pg 3.  Hardware Selection in the Content Creator X2
 Pg 4.  HDD Configuration and SLI Graphics
 Pg 5.  The Heart of the CCx2 - Athlon64 X2 4800+
 Pg 6.  Benchmarks: SYSMark 2004, Winstone 2004
 Pg 7.  Benchmarks: Super Pi, Hexus piFast, Cinebench 2003
 Pg 8.  Benchmarks: ScienceMark 2.0, POVRay, SPECviewperf 8.0
 Pg 9.  64 Bit Benchmarks: Maya Render Test, AMD DiVX Encoder Benchmark, Minigzip
 Pg 10.  Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra 2005, PCMark04, PCMark05
 Pg 11.  Benchmarks: 3DMark2001, 3DMark05, UT2003
 Pg 12.  Final Verdict on the Content Creator X2

 
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