Not everyone has space for huge full tower cases. Add a 21" monitor, and the next thing you know, there won't be any space on your desk for a keyboard and mouse. Attending LAN parties can also be a chore if you have to lug around a 50lb PC as well. The first batches of small form factor (SFF) PCs semi-addressed the above concerns, but most lacked an AGP slot to power the latest video cards, so for LAN gaming, they were not that appealing.

Things changed in the last 12 months though, as a few companies started producing more gaming oriented SFFs. Shuttle is probably the most popular, given its sharp looks, and good performance. The first AGP equipped Shuttle, the SS51 which we reviewed here, was a Pentium 4 only solution. They have an AMD solution now, using the nForce2, but a problem with Shuttle's SFFs is that they're priced fairly high. I honestly think the price is justified though, but not everyone wants to drop 300$ to 400$ on a box, and for the corporate market, buying a few dozen of these is likely to give the CFO a mild heart attack when the bill rolls in.

is no stranger to SFFs, as they've been producing them for quite some time. The , which is the subject of todays review, does mark a number of firsts for MSI though. For the first time, they now have an AMD powered SFF. As a whole, AMD solutions tend to be cheaper since the CPUs are not expensive, and IT departments looking to overhaul a network of PCs can appreciate the lower costs. Secondly, it is MSI's first SFF with an AGP slot, albeit a half height slot, but at least it's a start. We'll get more into the pros and cons of their AGP slot later on in the review.

Specifications

MS-6390 V2.0A Mainboard w/VIA® KM266 + 8235L Chipset
200/266MHz FSB: Supports AMD® AthlonXP, Athlon, and Duron, up to XP2600+
WHQL Certified and AMD Certified

Memory: 2 x DIMM (DDR266/200), max. 2GB
Video: Integrated in VIA® KM266
Audio: ALC 650 5.1 channel audio codec
Network: VIA® VT8235 integrated MAC + VIA 6103 PHY
Device Bays: 1 x 5.25” & 1 x 3.5” exposed & 1 x 3.5” hidden
Slots: 3 x PCI Slot, 1 x AGP (Support AGP2.0 2x/4x)
Front Panel: 2 x USB 2.0 Port
Rear Panel: 4x USB 2.0 Port + 1 x Speaker-out Jack + 1 x Mic-in Jack (5.1 ch.) + 1 x Line-in Jack + 1 x VGA Port + 1 x LAN Jack + 1 x COM Port + 1 x Parallel Port + 2 x PS/2 Port + 1 x Power Connection
Form Factor: Micro-ATX
Hardware Monitoring: CPU Temp., System Temp., Voltage
Power Supply: 180W PSU (110V w/o PFC and 220V w/i PFC)
Dimension: 92(H) x 310(W) x 426(D)mm (Liter: 14)

Metis 266 Front Features:
• Supports 1 x 5¼” bay for Optical Device
• Supports 1 x 3½” bay for FDD or ZIP DRIVE
• 2 x USB 2.0 Headers w/ Cover
• Executive Black Finish Chassis
• Professional Silver Device Bezel
• CPU Thermal Exhaust Vent
• Exciting BLUE LED Power Light

Metis 266 Rear Features:
• Power Connector
• KB / Mouse – PS/2
• USB 2.0 x 4
• Parallel Port + COM1
• VGA Port
• 10/100 Ethernet Port
• Onboard 5.1ch Audio
• AGP Slot x 1
• PCI Slot x 3 (low profile)
• Chassis Lock
• Capable of using AGP graphics accelerator card
• Supports up to 3 x PCI devices
• Worldwide Power Supply with PFC function

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The MSI Metis 266 ships in a nice black box, though don't expect anything like carry handles. The box was both larger and heavier than I expected, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since the Metis is an all steel construction, and not aluminum. This of course saves you quite a bit of money, and in the end, provides a sturdier case to put your monitor on if space is tight on your desk.

There are quite a few accessories, though MSI had the foresight to preinstall almost everything, including the IDE and floppy cables. There is a well written manual, driver CD, an AVC heatsink.

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A power cable is provided, and you also get a set of mounting stands if you wish to mount the Metis vertically. Although it's a SFF, lying it flat will use up more desk space than a mid tower, so the mounting stands can be quite useful in clearing the area.

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When you look at the Metis 266, you're presented with a very sharp looking black box. As mentioned earlier, the case is constructed out of steel, which makes it fairly heavy for its size.

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The front bezel is made of plastic, including a couple of swing out doors. The main silver door hides the optical drive, as well as a floppy or zip drive if you have one. To open the silver door, simply push on the top of it, and it drops open. The USB ports are also hidden, giving the case a clean look overall. Given the proximity of the door to the 5.25" external bay, fitting items such as the Live! Drive (found on the high end Sound Blasters) is out of the question.

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Being such a low profile case, there will be some concerns about system cooling. There is a side blowhole, configured for exhaust by the 80mm fan inside, to allow for some heat to escape. On top of the case is another vent, dirctly above the CPU fan, allowing for the biggest source of heat to draw in cooler, outside air.

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There are no thumbscrews used for the Metis, though removal of one Phillips screw allows for full access of the case. This marked the first time I've ever had to refer to the user's manual to open a case, but unlike most desktops, where you pull the cover backwards, you need to push it forward for the Metis. The entire casing is removed when you push forward, including the front bezel. Once the casing reaches about halfway, you can just lift it up, and off it goes.

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The front USB ports are USB 2.0, allowing you to hook up fast USB devices to the front of the case where it's most convenient. Older USB 1.1 devices are of course supported. Everything is pre-wired with the Metis, including the IDE and floppy cables. The IDE cables are single device cables, and shorter than standard two device cables. You have room to fit one 3.5" device, an optical drive, as well as a hard drive. You can probably omit the floppy, and in its place, put another hard drive there, though the design of the case would make it very difficult to get an IDE cable to connect to both hard drives.

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The concept behind the Metis 266 is more of the traditional low profile (Slim PC), rather than small boxes Shuttle makes. The benefit of making a Slim PC is that when set up vertically, it uses very little desk space. The problem with Slim PCs is that full sized addon cards will not fit. The MSI GF4 MX440-T8X we've looked at earlier is one of the few cards that will fit if it's equipped with a half height bracket.

Cooling the Metis 266

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MSI packs an AVC heatsink, . It's rated for Athlon XPs up to 2600+, which is the maximum supported by the Metis anyhow. The heatsink is aluminum based, with a copper core embedded into the base.

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What we like to see for clip based heatsinks is the use of all three mounting prongs on either side of the socket. The AVC 112C83 uses such a clip, and has a screwdriver brachet to assist in the installation.

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The fan spins at 4500RPM, but is actually fairly quiet, compared to most fans I'm used to working with. Airflow is kinda paltry at 19 CFM, so I'll be curious to see what kind of cooling performance to expect from it.

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Looking at the heatsink from above, we can see that the copper core does not pass through the base of the heatsink. I'm not sure how this will affect performance, but more copper would always be more helpful when overclocking. The initial blast of heat from an overclocked CPU is better absorbed by copper, but at least the core is centered correctly, making good contact with the CPU core.

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The case and power supply fans are the only other sources of active cooling for the Metis, other than the HSF for the CPU. Both of these fans are positioned near the CPU, keeping that area cool. There isn't any cooling available for the hard drive, nor are there any intake fans for the case itself. There are plenty of ventilation holes throughout, but since the design of the Metis doesn't allow for dual CPUs, and 6 drive SCSI arrays, the cooling should be adequate.

CPU Cooling Performance

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The Metis 266 has the four mounting holes in the motherboard, and does allow for the larger heatsinks, such as the Swiftech MCX462+, to fit. You cannot use a large 80mm fan such as a Tornado or Delta though, assuming you plan to put the top cover back on the Metis. Even a standard 80mm fan is a tight squeeze. I do plan on testing the temperatures with the case closed, simply because it's going to look ghetto with it open. We'll be using the included AVC heatsink, and testing it against the Swifty (using a 70mm TMD fan).

Nanotherm Ice II is the thermal compound used for both the MCW5000, and the MCX462+. To load up the system, we run Prime95 run for 20 minutes, with Folding @ Home running in the background. Ambient room temperature is maintained at ~23°C/74°F.

And for our American readers...

At under 50°C/120°F, the stock cooling seems to do a good job. Of course, it can always be better, which is shown by the Swifty results, but it is a noisier solution. The Metis is small enough to rest on your desk, and the last thing you'll need is a high speed fan spinning away next to your head.

In terms of noise, the Metis 266 is not loud at all. It's not silent, but considering there is only one case fan, a PSU fan, and a heatsink fan, it's a lot quieter than the typical desktop. Compared to the Shuttle XPC SS51, noise levels are about the same.

The Motherboard

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Powering the MSI Metis 266 is the MS-6390LE-L, which is a VIA KM266 Chipset based motherboard. you can grab the full , but some of the highlights include a m-ATX form Factor, Integrated Savage 4 2D/3D, Integrated Audio, and onboard LAN.

One of the nice feature of the motherboard is the three PCI slots and one AGP slot. Potentially, your upgrade options are decent, but truth is, the Metis will require half height cards to make full use of these slots. At this time, I know the MSI MX440-T8x will fit in the Metis, and there are plans for a . Other than that, perhaps some SCSI cards, but 3rd party sound cards and hard drive controllers are out of the question.

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The MS-6390LE-L supports Athlons up to 2600+. The limitations of the 200/266MHz FSB will prevent you from running the newer TBreds at 333FSB. 266FSB Tbreds won't have any problems though. There are also four mounting holes for large heatsinks, and as demonstrated earlier, the Swiftech MCX462+ has no problems fitting. The only thing to be aware of when using a large heatsink is you won't be able to use large 80mm fans if you intend to close the Metis up, as the fan will interfere with the top cover.

The ATX power connection isn't in one of our favorite places. When manufacturers place it near the socket, as pictured above, it can create a problem with ATX power cords draping across the CPU HSF. This problem is present with the Metis as well, given its small size, but I was able to fit it between the HSF and the power supply. This will restrict some airflow to the PSU fan, but unfortunently, the power cord is not long enough to go around the other way.

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The KM266 Chipset supports up to 2GB of PC2100 memory. Faster PC2700 ram will work in the Metis, but there are no options in the BIOS to run at that speed. Like most motherboards these days, the AGP clip is very close to the memory tabs, making it necessary to remove the AGP video card if you intend on changing the ram.

There are two IDE slots and one floppy connection right next to the memory slots. Up to four IDE devices are supported by the KM266, but with the Metis, you'll be lucky to fit more than 3 of these devices.

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A couple of heatsinks keep the Savage 4, as well as the Northbridge cool. The Savage 4 supports AGP4x, and the model used for the Metis will use 32MB of your memory. It's not an advanced GPU by any means, and if you're a gamer, you'll want to avoid using it if you can.

Like most Southbridges, the is not documented properly in MSI's MS-6390LE-L description. The chipset supports USB 2.0, ATA133, as well as the 8X V-Link. The 8X V-Link is designed to free up the PCI interface when communicating between the Northbridge and Southbridge. Here's a bit from VIA...

VIA 8X V-Link technology provides a dedicated 133MHz quad-pumped bus between the North and South Bridge, freeing up the PCI bus to deal strictly with peripheral devices and providing aggregate transfer of 533MB/s, four times the bandwidth of the original PCI interconnect.

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Despite the Southbridge supporting sound and networking, the physical outputs are left to a couple of other chips. The Realtek ALC650 handles the sound duties, and it's capable of outputting 5.1-Channel Audio. The VT6103 10/100 controller is the Physical Layer device and is the interface for your networking chores.

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The In-Win P180 is a 180W PSU. It's not a lot of power, but since the Metis is not likely to be loaded to the max, it should provide enough power. The maximum output on the +3.3v and the +5v rails is 115W. If you ever plan on replacing the KM266 with a m-ATX P4 board, the PSU has the Pentium 4 compliant connections.

The BIOS

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The Phoenix AwardBIOS is used for the Metis 266, and although this BIOS has proven to be very tweaker friendly in the past, this version is not as strong as the others. You have access to all the usual suspects, such as the Advanced BIOS and Chipset features, allowing you to set boot order, number of USB ports, etc.

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In the AGP settings, you can set aperature size, as well as AGP speed. A maximum of 4x AGP is available. There is no AGP lock though, so any overclocking will push the AGP bus as well. For the memory, you can make some minor adjustments, such as CAS latency, as well as make some changes to various other timings. there is no option to adjust ram speed however, and either it will run at the specified SPD setting, or it will adjust as you change the FSB speed. There is no options such as HCLK+33, or anything like that, making the use of any ram faster than PC2100 fairly useless, unless you're overclocking, which we'll look into shortly.

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The PC Health screen will let you check in on features such as temperatures, and PSU fluctuations. The real weakness in the BIOS presents itself in the Voltage/Frequency screen. Although we unlocked our Athlon XP 2400+, there are no options in adjusting the multiplier. The unlocked XP we used defaulted to a 7x multiplier, and even if we could hit the maximum FSB of 199, the low multiplier will only allow a 1393MHz speed, which is over 600MHz under the CPU's rated speed. The above screen shot is a result of leaving the CPU locked, and was the only way to see a 2GHz+ overclock.

Also missing is the ability to actually adjust any voltages. As any overclocker can tell you, the ability to make these adjustments is crucial to getting any decent overclocking success.

Overclocking

I had some reservations about oveclocking with the stock fan, so it was removed in favor of the Swiftech MCX462+. I slapped a Delta 68CFM fan on it, and attempted overclocking without the case cover on (remember, a big fan won't allow the use of the cover). Since our unlocked CPU was stuck at a 7 multiplier, I expected some decent overclocking potential since the CPU will not be under any strain for the most part. Although the the memory support peaks at PC2100, I dropped in a stick of PC2700 Crucial to give me some OC headroom.

I was completely stunned at our end result. A 7x138 showing will not break any speed records, and is surely a dissapointing result. At 139FSB, the system won't even POST, so out of frustration, I removed the conductive grease from the L3, #5 bridge, resetting the CPU back at a 15x multiplier.

Since we were back at 15x, I figured I may as well see what the Metis can do. Knowing full well that the XP 2400+ can handle 15x165 without breaking a sweat, I keyed in 160FSB to see what happened. Pretty much as expected, a big, fat nothing. I went back to 133FSB, and started making my way up 1MHz at a time, until we reached 139FSB.

It was a little strange that we managed a higher OC with a 15x multiplier, so my guess it wasn't the CPU or the motherboard, but rather, it was the PSU. At 180W, there isn't a whole lot of juice available, so I removed all the connections and tried a Thermaltake Purepower 430W instead. Our end result was a 7x150FSB overclock. Although that result wasn't impressive either, it does expose the stock power supply as the weak link. With a 15x multiplier, we managed the same 150FSB OC.

Our conclusion is that the Metis, in it's stock form, is not well suited for overclocking. The PSU is lacking in power, and the idea of running a PSU outside of the case doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Test Setup

Metis 266: Athlon XP 2400+ provided by (15x133: 2.0GHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, 60GB Maxtor Diamondmax, Windows XP SP1, Via VIA Hyperion 4in1 Driver v4.45

MSI KT4 Ultra (KT400): Athlon XP 2400+ (15x133: 2.0GHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, MSI MX440-T8x, 60GB Maxtor Diamondmax, Windows XP SP1, Via VIA Hyperion 4in1 Driver v4.45

Gigabyte GA-7VTXH (KT266A): Athlon XP 2400+ (15x133: 2.0GHz), 2 x 256MB Crucial PC2700 Ram, MSI MX440-T8x, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, Via VIA Hyperion 4in1 Driver v4.45, Detonator 41.09

I have specifically chosen to use the KT266A since it's the closest chipset that is comparable to the KM266. I am providing the MSI KT4 Ultra numbers to demonstrate the performance differences with a modern chipset. For gaming benchmarks, the Metis 266 will be using the MSI MX440-T8x, as well as the onboard Savage 4 for comparison purposes.

Test software will be:

SiSoft Sandra 2003
PC Mark 2002
PiFast
3D Mark 2001SE (1024x768)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (1024x768)
Quake 3: Arena (1024x768)
Jedi Knight 2 (1024x768)

Normally for motherboard and CPU reviews, we stick with 640 resolution to factor out the videocard. We have bumped things up to 10x8 this time since we plan on testing game performance with the Savage 4. If you're interested in the actual 640 speeds of the Athlon XP, I suggest reading our 2400+ review.

SiSoftware Sandra 2003

Although a synthetic benchmark, it's a popular one, freely available if you wish to make comparison benchmarks. We will be testing the CPU, MMX, and memory speeds.

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark

Scores are close across the board, with no real difference between the platforms. This is more of a CPU test though, which probably explains the small differences. In anycase, the Metis has a strong showing here, keeping up with the newer KT400 chipset.

CPU Multimedia Benchmark

Scores are close once again, though there's a bigger gap with the Integer benchmarks. Possibly, the faster memory support is helping the KT400 here, as the KT266A is in line with the Metis.

Memory Benchmark

Since the KT400 supports faster ram, it's no surprise that it dominates the synthetic memory tests. As we've mentioned earlier, there is no PC2700 support in the Metis, so the ram is stuck running at PC2100, despite using PC2700. Given our rather unspectacular overclocking success, I don't expect these numbers to change much.

PC Mark 2002

The added bandwidth of the KT400 gives it victories in both the CPU and Memory tests in PC Mark. The Metis does have a strong showing against the KT266A, but the PC2100 support doesn't help the memory benchmarks very much.

PiFast

New to our testbed, but a good indicator of CPU/Motherboard performance is version 4.2, by Xavier Gourdon. We used a computation of 10000000 digits of Pi, Chudnovsky method, 1024 K FFT, and no disk memory.

PiFast is fairly memory intensive, so the Metis ends up in last place, though the KT266A is 0.04 seconds behind. The KT400 is over 10 seconds faster than both platforms for this test.

Normally, we run our gaming benchmarks for CPU and motherboard reviews at 640x480 to isolate the CPU/mobo, but since we wanted to test the onboard graphics, everything was run at 1024x768. In all honesty, I'm pretty sure the Savage 4 will bottleneck the CPU anyhow, even at 640x480. All tests were run at high quality defaults (which for Quake 3 engine games means 800x600, but that was changed to 1024).

3D Mark 2001SE, 1024x768 - Default

3D Mark is one of those benchmark apps that will eat up as much processing power as it can. Benchmarks were run at default settings for all the test beds.

As soon as you can take your eyes off the 573 3D Mark showing by the S3, you'll see that in conjunction with the MX440, the Metis does alright when compared to the other setups. The KT400 still leads the pack though.

Unreal Tournament 2003

I've been playing around with the retail version of UT2K3 for quite sometime now, and have been pretty impressed with the graphics. It's a real system killer, and can bring many pre-2002 killer rigs to its knees. We used the scripts written by , which are excellent tools in testing various resolutions and detail levels. We selected the dm-antelus and the dm-inferno maps.

Antelus, High Quality, 1024x768

Inferno, High Quality, 1024x768

Sitting on a chair of nails cannot even describe the pain watching all the demo scripts run on a Savage 4 GPU. At under 4fps, it took half an hour for the scripts to complete. Thankfully, the Metis and MX440 fared a lot better. It does trail the KT400 though, but with the Metis, and its KM266 chipset, it is playable.

Quake 3 Arena, 1024x768 - HQ

It's getting old, I know, but Quake 3 is still a decent benchmark for almost anything. We ram the demo four benchmark.

The Metis does quite well for this older game, though you'd better put a GF4 MX440 in there as the S3 just can't cut it.

Jedi Knight 2, 1024x768 - HQ

Jedi Knight is still a Quake 3 engine game, so the same trends we saw with Quake 3 are here as well. The S3 struggles (again), so don't count on it if you intend to play 3D video games.

Audio Testing

We downloaded and installed to test its CPU utilization. Here's a screen grab (click to enlarge)...

CPU utilization was extremely low though all the tests, scoring under 1% in all of the tests. In terms of sound quality, using our Logitech Z-560s, sound wasn't bad. I did notice some crackling in MP3 playback, while copying large files from one PC to the next, which was also an issue with the SB Audigy. Ggameplay was clear thoug, and other than the file transfer problems, MP3 playback was fine as well.

LAN Testing

We used to test the networking speed, and Windows Task Manager for CPU usage. We copied a variety of install files, varying in size of 300kb to as much as 70MB per file from the Metis, to our Shuttle XPC.

Download (left), Upload (right)

Download speeds averaged about 8.7MB/sec, and upload speeds about 9.2MB/sec, showing that the onboard NIC is well suited for file sharing. CPU usage was faily high though, averaging about 18%.

Hard Drive Tests

Firing up HD Tach resulted in 54.2% CPU Utilization, and 13.2ms access times. I was fairly shocked with the results, and ran the test several times, but the low percentage was 51.7%, and the high was 56%. In real world use, programs such as Photoshop was a little slow when doing some file saves as well. Gaming wise, I am normaly one of the first to connect to a new map in online games, but now I'm in the middle of the pack. Despite 8X V-Link, the hard drive performance was disappointing, as the KT400 faired much better with a 5% CPU Utilization with the same disk.

Final Words

After working with the Metis for a few weeks now, and based on the performance numbers today, I'm going to be straight up and say that this SFF is not for everyone.

Corporate desk jocks will certainly find the Metis an attractive piece of hardware. The dull beige IBM sitting in the cubicle can now be replaced by a classy, black finished chassis. It runs relatively quiet, and can support older Socket-A Athlons, as well as the newer TBreds (up to 2600+). If space is a luxury you do not have, the Metis can be mounted vertically, saving a lot of deskspace. It is fairly inexpensive, , making it cheaper than assembling a whole PC (mobo, case, PSU, video, NIC), and will make your CFO very happy.

Hardcore gamers and enthusiasts should avoid this SFF, at least until MSI either packages a more modern motherboard based on the KM400, which I was told is in the works. I suppose you can still pick up a Metis now, and upgrade the board later, but that decision is up to you. The overclocking ability of the Metis was not good at all, likely because of the power supply. Gaming performance was terrible with the onboard Savage chipset, but if you pick up a MSI GF4 MX440-T8x (or any other half height card from any manufacturer, but I know the MSI one works), gaming performance is decent. Then again, decent doesn't exactly float my boat, and I doubt it will for the majority of our readers either. Hard drive performance was a let down, and we were using the speedy WD Special Edition 120GB drive. Things didn't improve with our Maxtor 60GB, so this is something that will need to be addressed.

That being said, the Metis does have a lot of strengths in it that is worth your attention. If you already have a spare Athlon kicking around, and don't want to spend too much money (or space) for a secondary rig, the Metis would make a good choice, as all you'll need is a hard drive, memory, CPU and CD-ROM. If your gaming needs are modest, but don't want to lug a 50lb tower to LAN parties, the Metis will also be servicable. If mom and dad are bugging you for a PC upgrade, this should be more than enough to handle word processing and email chores.

I've talked with MSI extensively about the target audience, and basically was told it is geared towards corporate users, education institutions, students on a budget, and casual users (mom and dad). There is a TV-Tuner planned, and the black finish will match it up nicely with home theatre setups. It isn't well suited for enthusiasts, but it will make a handy secondary workstation if you need one.

I had some high expectations before receiving the Metis. With Athlon Thoroughbred support and AGP, all for under 150$, I had proclaimed this as a suitable LAN PC in our forums a month ago. Now that we've tested it, I'll have to put my own foot in my mouth and take back what I said. The Metis has grown on me, and I do find it a piece of hardware worth recommending, but not for people who are interested in top-end game performance. It makes an excellent workstation, which is something I needed around here, and if its something you need, this is worth considering.

Pros: Well equiped in terms of onboard features, cheap, looks sharp, and good application performance.

Cons: Middling hard drive and gaming performance, disappointing OC results, limited video card options, and PC2100 only.

Bottom Line: A decent SFF for non-gaming use, and there are three PCI slots, and one AGP, allowing for room to grow, but your options will be limited since they have to be half height cards. A motherboard upgrade to something more modern would be a welcome addition.