A Closer Look - Inside

There is no real reason to take our unit apart, since it is already a full system and doing so would void the warranty. However, opening it up to install an SSD or more memory is tempting because the Edge VS8 uses standard components. Sapphire has confirmed that the Edge units will be available as barebone devices, which gives us another reason to open this one up, and once the screws are removed, the cover can be slid off the rest quite easily, revealing the guts of the VS8.


Things are fairly crowded inside, but you will still have access to all the usual stuff: CPU cooler, memory, and hard drive. I have gone a step further and removed the entire motherboard from its housing to show you the underside. Here, you won't find anything except the wireless card. I see no reason to dig this deep unless the Wi-Fi device is defective and needs to be exchanged.


Sapphire uses a compact heatspreader-equipped heatsink with a radial fan. It blows hot air out through the top of the enclosure and keeps both CPU and chipset cool.


Right next to the heatsink are the two memory slots. Our sample unit came equipped with two 2GB 1333 MHz CL9 SO-DIMM sticks from Trancend. The supplier will probably change over time as Sapphire will buy the memory with the required price to performance ratio off any trusted manufacturer. The hard drive within the Edge VS8 sample is manufactured by WD and has a capacity of 500GB. It rotates at 5400 RPM, comes equipped with 8 MB cache, and is SATA II based. While this will do just fine, I would have loved to see a 7200 RPM drive with SATA III instead. Hidden below the hard drive are various stickers with serial numbers. One of these stickers is for the AMIBIOS.


Taking a quick look at the Trinity-based A8 platform, one can easily spot the CPU because of the unique package, while the chipset itself looks quite ordinary. The Fintek chip is actually a Smart LPC IO with CIR and the Power Saving Function. You will also find two Realtek ICs on the motherboard. One offers gigabit networking connectivity and the other is used to implement the Edge VS8's audio capabilities.


Sapphire has included an Azureware B/G/N mini-PCIe card with built in Bluetooth. The antennas - one for Wi-Fi and the other for Bluetooth - extend to the top of the chassis for optimal range and performance.