Thoughts
Right up until the point the SB81P popped its PSU, I was very very impressed. I'm a fan of the old XPCs, but the P-series chassis pushes all the right buttons for me. Bigger is definitely better here, for this reviewer. I doubt you'd notice the extra external room it'll take up on your desk or shelf, but you'll definitely appreciate the new internal space if you're a keen power user.Matrix Storage and the ability to pack 3 HDDs in there definitely appeals. That you can do so alongside an optical drive is even better. That the optical drive can be any colour you like due to stealthing the bay is the icing on top of a very tasty cake.
The SB81P brings the new P4 platform's main downsides with it though. I've said it plenty of times before, and I'll say it again here, but the LGA775 CPU availability and range isn't the best and PCI Express graphics cards are few and far between. That the GMA900 offers horrible 2D quality over 1024x768 on an analogue connection, and there's no DVI dongle bundled with the SB81P, means that a discrete graphics card is pretty much essential.
Overall, the new P-series chassis does the job. The internal reorganisation is good and the noise the unit made during testing was very unobtrusive and no more noisy than the SB61G2 v3.0 I reviewed recently. That I didn't have ability to do more noise work is a shame, but I'm sure other reviews of the SB81P will vindicate that observation.
My wish? That Socket 939 and 754 get the chance to use the new chassis very soon. LGA775 isn't compelling enough right now, even though you can take your existing DDR with you, and nForce3 250 would allow it to shine.
It's unappealing with the GMA900 on-board video, so wait for PCI Express graphics cards to appear, pick your CPU and GPU poison, then definitely consider the SB81P as the host platform for those choices. Because if you can stomach LGA775 and PEG16X, it's good. Very very good.
A fine debut for the new chassis.
Score
Pros
New chassis makes all the right power-user moves with support for 3 hard disks alongside an optical drivePacked full of the new P4 platform goodness, such as HD Audio and Matrix Storage
Very stylish
Quiet
Stealthed drive covers, finally
Tidy internal cabling
Tool free drive installation
Cons
Uninspiring GMA900 3D performance and very poor 2D qualityLGA775/PCI Express platform migration issues
Initially expensive
