Cyberpower X-Qpack vs. Monarch Hornet, winner is Qpack
Written: Jul 20 '05 (Updated Jul 20 '05)
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This is my first time trying out Cyberpower system, and I must admit that doubts and anxieties were running in my head. I read many reviews before the purchase was made, and it was apparent that more customers had bad experience with this company. But I saw something I couldn’t resist at Cyberpower website; it was the X-Qpack mini PC. It looked really nice and the price was low, too. So, with the fingers crossed, I took an order and hoped that my buying experience will be much more pleasant than most reviewers. So far I’m glad to say it hasn’t been terrible.
A week ago, I received my X-Qpack mini PC, and I was impressed by its look and feel--even more so than Monarch Hornet Pro, which I used for 9 months and now sent back to Monarch to be fixed because its power supply fan stopped spinning. What I like about Qpack is that it feels lighter, runs cooler, looks much better and a lot less quiet than Hornet. Qpack also comes with plenty of power--430 watts. Personally, what sets Qpack apart from Hornet, as far as appearance, is that it has a see thru top window. Side windows are very common now in custom gaming PCs, but top window is something different you just have to see.
Overheating is really a big problem with mini PCs. When Hornet reaches a certain temperature degree, it beeps and shuts down without warning. The fact that Hornet power supply and right clear side panel fans don’t work made it worse (more on this later). So overheating was one of my worries when I bought Qpack. But I’m finding out that Qpack is probably a lot cooler than Hornet due to its very large blue LED fan in the back; Hornet fans are way smaller and susceptible collecting dirt. So Qpack’s looks and ability to cool really stood out for me so far.
When I ordered this Qpack, I chose round cables and professional wiring. I learned that you don’t want to block airflow inside the computer with big wires as I have found out from using Hornet. Blocking airflow will only lead to overheating. Also, with regular cables, everything looks like a mess inside. And it’ll be much harder for you to upgrade. So if you do plan to get Qpack or any mini PC, I recommend you replacing regular cables with round cables and spend a little extra for professional wiring, if available.
As far as build and ship time go for two PCs, Cyberpower took a couple days more than their max 10 days, but I think it was worth the wait considering the price was really reasonable. In fact, I did price comparison on similar components/specification with other major custom PC makers, and Cyberpower Qpack was priced one of the lowest. Hornet prices are also as low as Qpack, but it took longer to build and ship than Qpack did. One disappointing thing is that Cyberpower didn’t include 2 3-LED color extra case fans that I ordered specifically. I called Cyberpower to question, and the customer rep recognized what happened and said he’ll send it. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long on the line. It must have been the right time to call.
The other thing I should mention is the standby mode. When Hornet goes to standby mode, for some odd reason, fans and everything inside the PC continue to work as if it were still in operation mode. This is going to cost electricity and not a good idea to leave it on standby mode for hours. On the other hand, Qpack shuts fans, light, and everything down like a normal PC should when it goes to standby mode.
Problem(s) with Monarch Hornet:
This is probably an unforgivable error. My Hornet came with 2 clear side (left and right) windows with a (right window) fan. When I got the Hornet, clear right window fan wasn’t working, and I discovered that the setup inside was so bad that fan was hitting the mounting black plastic thing. I’m not sure what you call that, but the black plastic wasn’t supposed to interfere the right clear window fan physically. So ordering a clear right side window was a complete waste of money since the fan can’t spin. Hornet having an overheating problem as it is due to it small size fans, overheating problem just got worse now that the right side fan couldn’t spin. Whoever was responsible for final quality control wasn’t doing his job apparently. The fan wasn’t working, but they sent the computer anyway. If I remember correctly, Monarch had several more steps of building process than Cyberpower. Yet they couldn’t catch one critical error. Recently, power supply fan completely stopped working for probably a defect reason, so it had to be sent back. But on a brighter side, Monarch tech support doesn’t take long to get through, and they’re very helpful.
Problems with Cyberpower Qpack:
The first problem was the temperature read outs; one of them didn’t work. It was showing LL, but not a number. So I called the tech support and the rep told me to work on the wire. I did, and the temperature read out works fine now. The second problem is the USB problem. Qpack was reading USB devices at 1.1 speed. The tech support dude advised me to change the USB setting in BIOS. Fortunately, I know just enough how to change BIOS to get USB working at 2.0 speed. For the temp read out, I figured it could’ve been caused by shaking from shipping or Qpack case defect. I could let this go, but not USB mishap. USB 2.0 should’ve been enabled in the BIOS setting.
So overall, Cyberpower made a software setup mistake, but Monarch made a bigger mistake in which they messed up the hardware, resulting in a fan not able to spin. And either company doesn’t seem to be able to build and ship their mini PC within 5 to 10 days. It seems that Monarch has a better reputation than Cyberpower. But in my experience, I like Cyberpower Qpack better than Monarch Hornet, and I’m recommending Qpack over Hornet because of Qpack looks and cooling ability. Just keep in mind that you should choose round cables and professional installation for overheating and esthetic reason.
Update # 1:
I should mention that Qpack didn’t come with some kind of a specification check list page that you can make sure you’re getting the exact specification you ordered and nothing was left out. If you don’t know a lot about computer, you could be getting something you didn’t order and you wouldn’t even be able to find out about it. So that’s a small minus for Cyberpower. That’s not the case with Hornet; Monarch sent the spec check list page along with Hornet.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? X-QPACK
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