Specialty or niche' products have always caught our attention here at HotHardware, for the simple reason that, when it comes to PCs anyway, attention to detail or a specific characteristic usually equates to something interesting. And after all, we're not into publishing stories and evaluations of uninteresting things here. You are reading the pages of "Hot" Hardware.
PCAudioLabs is a different sort of boutique system builder out of Chatsworth, CA. While so many custom computer systems you see here are targeted toward gamers and mainstream users, the folks at PCAudioLabs, you guessed it, cater to musicians, both professional and amateur, as well as production studios and educational institutions. There aren't many system builders that can say they've worked with the likes of Peter Frampton, the Grand Ole Opry and Eric Clapton. PCAL builds what folks in the music biz call a "DAW" or Digital Audio Workstation. A DAW can come in the form of a notebook, standard ATX tower or a rack-mount chassis. Today we're looking at the PCAL Rok Box MC 7xs, a mini-tower ATX platform built for sweet, melodic content creation
Full disclosure; PCAL sponsored this machine for our Giving Thanks Sweepstakes here at HotHardware. As such, for a variety of reasons, including objectivity and fairness, we won't be running down the usual review gauntlet with this machine. Rather, we'll give you a hands-on look at the product, what it's made of and a quick-take look at performance.
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|  "Anniversary" Software Bundle is installed for free and includes the following items for you to start making music: 1. Sonar X1 Essential (pre-installed) 2. Komplete 7 Elements (pre-installed) 3. VielKlang Instant Harmony 1.5 (pre-installed) 4. Xils 3se (pre-installed) 5. Amplitube Free (pre-installed) 6. Sampletank Free (pre-installed) 7. Nimbit.com subscription (on desktop) 8. Obedia Video Package (on desktop) |
At the component level, we get a hint by the way this system is configured, that content creation is of primary importance for the Rok Box. In fact, "content creation" is a bit too sterile. Audio production is specifically what the Rok Box does best, with a secondary strength in video production. Note that the primary 7200RPM 500GB hard drive is setup with a 20GB Intel SSD cache. Storage subsystem access times and bandwidth are always important for the large sequential transfers associated with digital video and audio production. In addition, Firewire connectivity is abundant here, on both the motherboard and with a discrete PCI card, so attaching various forms of AV and DV equipment is well accommodated, not to mention other high speed interfaces like eSATA and USB 3.0 are available.
DAW computers are built with certain specific characteristics in mind. In short, you need copious amounts of connectivity and solid horsepower but, in general, they should take a low profile and blend in with the scenery, so they're barely seen and definitely not heard. It's easy to see why PCAL went with the Lian Li PC-A05 for their chassis selection of the Rok Box. It fits the requirement to a tee.
The case itself is very light with a net weight of just under 9lbs, without components installed. It is however, a well-built, relatively strong all aluminum chassis that has a lot of very convenient features going on, including its small top IO panel for front USB and audio access. PCAL also dropped in a 3.5-inch drive bay IO module that delivers four more USB 2.0 ports (USB 3.0 ports are on the rear IO panel), 4P and 6P Firewire ports and another eSATA port.
You'll have to forgive my misstep in the video preview on the previous page, however. This case is unique in that it actually pulls cool are in from the back via a rear 120mm intake fan that quietly (1500RPM) pulls air in over the CPU cooler that then pushes warm air to the front of the chassis. As you can see above, the PSU actually mounts in the front of the chassis and has its power cable routed out the back via an extension. This is a somewhat unconventional design but it works relatively well. The front bezel of the chassis is vented to allow warm air to escape and right in front of the drive rack there is another 120mm fan that you can't see, pushing warm air out through the front. The rear of the chassis is vented above the card slot area as well.
The motherboard that PCAL chose is another solid selection. It's a midrange Gigabyte Z68-based motherboard that came equipped with all four of its DIMM slots filled with a total of 16GB of DDR3-1333 memory. This specific Gigabyte board has a TI 1394 Firewire chip on board that a lot of folks working with AV will appreciate as being sort of the defacto standard for compatibility with various audio and video devices.
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