FIC Condor Review

Priced at around $260 retail, the FIC Condor is being targeted towards gamers because of its radical design concept and support for high-end components.

Summary

The FIC Condor is a step in the right direction for FIC, but there are many improvements that need be implemented in future system development. This includes fixing the buggy door latch on the front of the system, building a more robust spring mechanism for the DVD/CD drive door, including a more powerful power supply, and relocating the digital audio out port to the rear.

 

Is the FIC Condor the perfect system for a gamer that wants to be semi-portable or doesn’t have enough room? If it wasn’t for that measly power supply the answer might be "yes" but since the Condor can’t support the latest video cards power requirements, we have to say "no." But with support for the latest Intel processors and with a slick design and form factor, the system just might be attractive enough for the casual gamer.

 

FIC has always been on the forefront of design and the Condor does not disappoint. But for them to market this system towards the gaming community just doesn’t make much sense. Almost anyone looking for a small yet powerful Pentium 4 based system, that doesn’t plan on hardcore gaming, should consider the Condor. But FIC needs to put a bit more work into the product for it to be popular among the power users.

 

Home Theater enthusiasts may want to look towards offerings from MSI or Shuttle while hardcore gamers not adept to building their own systems might want to consider the Monarch Hornet or Falcon Northwest Frag box systems instead.

Introduction

 

In the consumer electronics and computer marketplace, FIC may not be a brand that many readers are familiar with. And even though they produce a wide-range of products, the company can easily be overlooked because many of their products are produced for other companies. You do not see a lot of products branded under their FIC company name, but as an OEM/ODM manufacturer, their products are being re-badged and sold under big names such as Intel and Gateway.

 

But FIC has been making small form-factor (SFF) barebones systems for quite some time now an has made some waves with their ICE Cube brand. We were first made aware of FIC’s latest SFF design, the Condor, at CES 2004, and looked forward to getting our hands on this innovative design.

 

A barebones system is a good way for a do-it-yourselfer to build a new computer without having to put everything together. Barebones means that you must supply most of the hardware including the processor, memory, hard drive, DVD/CD drive and a video card if the motherboard doesn’t include on-board video. Most SFF systems come this way now, allowing PC builders to tailor the system to their specific usage. Priced at around $260 retail, the FIC Condor is being targeted towards gamers because of its radical design concept and support for high-end components.

Components and Configuration

 

The Condor packs a motherboard, power supply and room for two 3.5-inch hard drives and one 5.25-inch optical drive. Based on Intel’s i865G Springdale chipset, the Condor supports Pentium 4 and Celeron processors from the Northwood and Prescott families. It does not support the older Willamette core. The chipset also supports up to 2GB of PC3200 DDR SDRAM, a 4/8X AGP video card, two ATA 100 devices, and two SATA devices. For expansion the system comes with two available PCI slots and a full sized AGP slot, which is typical of most SFF systems. There is no IEEE1394/FireWire support on this system but it does have a total of six USB 2.0 ports. The motherboard also features an integrated Intel graphics processor. For complete specifications please click on the specifications tab located above this review.

 

Design and Features

 

Many great design concepts either skew towards the radical to the minimalist. On the radical side, companies like Alienware, Falcon Northwest and VoodoPC have come up with very innovative and new designs. And on the minimalist side products from companies like Sony and Apple are more function than form, with style coming from subtle lines and soft colors. The FIC Condor tends to lean towards the radical end of the spectrum.

 

Unlike other SFF systems, the FIC Condor is more rectangular than square in design with a height taller than its competitors. And also unlike some others, it does not have a handle on the top for easy carrying. We were told that the FIC Condor was developed jointly between Intel and FIC and was primarily intended for the Japanese market. But as gamers here in the U.S. have already known, a portable system usually makes a better gaming system, so FIC decided to bring the Condor Stateside.

 

From an aesthetic perspective the FIC Condor seems to take design cues from Robocop. A dull, flat silver color is highlighted by black on the bottom and a few shiny mirror-like plastic panels on the front and the top. The front face is very clean looking with the DVD/CD drive and the floppy drives hidden behind vertical plastic doors that open once their button is activated. This is highly unusual for an SFF system as well