A Closer Look - Inside

Gaining access to the interior of the Edge-HD is no simple task. Considering the fact that Sapphire utilizes a standard 2.5 inch drive and 2 GB memory, some may be inclined to open the unit up to install an SSD or single 4 GB DIMM for a more potent system, I would have expected things to be a bit easier. After removing one side panel, you have to turn things around and pry off the other panel as well.


This reveals the inner workings of the Edge-HD. The area is almost completely covered by the cooling, memory and hard drive. Sapphire has placed a thin, notebook style cooler right above the CPU/chipset corner, embedded in an aluminum block with copper heatspreader built-in. The DDR2 SO-DIMM has been placed right next to it, while the 2.5 inch SATA drive covers the rest of the PCB. If you look closely to the right edge of the PCB, there is an empty spot called "J100", which looks like it could be used for an optical input/output. A tiny PCB attached to the front of the casing, below the front USB 2.0 plugs acts as an antenna for the a/g/n Wifi module.


The mainboard does not offer the same distinct shape as the enclosure of the Edge-HD and there is a round hole in it. This may suggest that the mainboard is also found in other devices, as it is not produced by Sapphire. A large "Pegatron" label makes this blatantly obvious. This particular board carries the "IPPV-DCG-DCN" model name. A quick Google search reveals that similar boards are used in HP/Compaq All-in-One systems. For all who may not know: Pegatron is the OEM division of Asus. While the front part of the PCB only has a few ICs along with the main components, most electrical parts can be found on the underside. Taking things apart is actually quite easy from this point on. Simply remove the screws holding the hard drive and cooling assembly in place and the board may be taken out and is completely naked.


In our test system we found a Samsung 5400 RPM drive carrying the HM251HI model name. It features an 8 MB cache, is 9.8 mm high and usually comes with a 3 year warranty when bought separately. The memory module used is from a company by the name "Goldkey" and is of the DDR2 800 MHz CL5 variety. I personally have never heard of the brand myself and a quick Google search did not yield any usable results.


As mentioned before, the CPU and ION2 chipset are in close proximity to each other and the cooling unit consists of both Aluminum and Copper. Interestingly enough, the chipset area of the cooler seems to be using a thin copper plate to bridge the distance between the actual cooler and the IC and is held together by two layers of thermal material. As weird and possibly inefficient this may be, it works. At no point did the Edge-HD become unstable or heat up so much that the fan went full throttle.


A quick look at the CPU reveals another oddity. There is no information edged into the surface of the die. This may just be due to the fact, that this is a media sample and the ION2 chipset is clearly labeled as such. Four dedicated memory chips from Hynix, two on each side of the PCB have been placed next to the IC.


Before we dive into benchmarking the system and its power consumption, let us take a quick look at all the smaller ICs within the system. There is the Realtek ALC661 chip responsible for the audio features. Then there is the Intel CG82NM10 PCH for all the USB, SATA and PCI and PCIe functionality. The ITE IT8770E chip, which I have seen before on other boards, handles SuperIO like serial ports, keyboard, hardware monitoring etc.


Then there is the Realtek RLT3111E for the Gigabit connectivity and last but not least the Silego PLL.