Zen? Spirituality? Tranquility? Relaxation? Buddhism?  No, this isn?t Shuttle?s first line of SFF?s for Buddhist monks, but rather their new ultra-slim, quiet, and multi-functional XPC, dubbed the Shuttle Zen. The Zen is also known as the ST62K, a brand new Shuttle XPC featuring the ATI RS300 chipset powered by an Intel Pentium-4 processor. 

The system features a brand new case design, denoted by the ?K? in ST62K.  The K series case boasts an overall 20% smaller version of the traditional XPC design, sporting smaller dimensions in width, height, and depth. 

 

How?d they do it?  By removing the power supply and AGP slot.  That?s right folks, the Shuttle Zen is the first modern SFF we?ve seen with a completely external, fanless, power supply unit.  And for those familiar with Shuttle XPCs and other SFFs on the market these days, that should mean one thing.  Quiet, cool operation.  Check out our benchmarks later on in the review for a comparison of the Zen against other SFF?s in environmental as well as performance tests. 

The Zen has a few more secrets as well including a new internal drive-bay chassis, integrated power and data cabling, and an overall cleaner look with much less cable clutter than prior XPC systems.  The Zen also weighs in at a fraction of its older sibling XPCs, primarily due to the lack of internal PSU, as well as a smaller overall frame and chassis.

You?ll find the Zen compares well to the Shuttle ST61G4 XPC, featuring the same basic motherboard components, minus a few knick-knacks here and there.  We?ll spell out the details a bit later, but for starters, you won?t find Serial-ATA on-board with the Zen.  You will however find dual channel DDR400, integrated 100Mbps fast Ethernet, 6 channel audio, and of course, the on-board ATI Radeon 9100IGP video solution.  The Zen stacks up surprisingly well against the competition, especially considering its size compared to its ?heavy-weight? brethren.   

Was the Shuttle Zen designed for you in mind?  Will the ST62K provide you the spiritual enlightenment you?ve been yearning for?  Hopefully we can help answer at least one of those questions.  But before we begin down the path of enlightenment with the Zen, let?s pause to take a look at the overall system specifications:

Processor	Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron 478-pin 533/800MHz FSB
Chipset	ATI RS300 + IXP150
Memory	2 x 184 pin DDR SDRAM up to 2GB at PC3200
Audio	Realtek ALC650 AC?97 5.1 Channel Audio Controller
LAN	Realtek RTL8100C 10/100 Fast Ethernet
PSU	External Shuttle PC32B 180W PSU 100-240V AC
Dimensions:	280mm(L) x 190mm(W) x 170mm(H)
Parallel ATA	Two UDMA-100 Dual Channel PATA Ports
Serial ATA	None
On-Board Video	ATI Radeon 9100IGP
PCI	1 x 33MHz
AGP	None
Other Internal Headers	1 x Floppy Disk 3 x Fan 2 x CD-In 1 x Parallel Port 1 x IrDA 1 x WKMC

Front Panel Connections

2 x USB 2.0 1 x Mic In 1 x Line In 1 x Line Out 1 x Power Button 1 x Reset Button 1 x Power LED 1 x IDE Activity LED

Rear Panel Connections

1 x DC Power In 1 x Clear CMOS Button 2 x USB 2.0 2 x Firewire 1394a (6-pin) 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x Audio Front Out 1 x Audio Rear Out 1 x Audio Center/Bass Out 1 x RJ45 LAN 1 x Serial (9-Pin) 1 x VGA (15-Pin) 1 x SVideo Out 1 x SPDIF In 1 x SPDIF Out 1 x PCI Slot

With a new case design comes new packaging.  Notice the Chinese character on the top right of the box, this means? ?Zen?.  What a surprise.

You?ll find Shuttle?s standard set of accessories with the Zen including a rather short IDE cable.  More on that later.

The Zen?s accessories are shipped in a larger box than prior XPC?s.  Here?s the contents of that accessories box.  Notice anything different?

 

Looks like the ?Friendly Front Feet? have gone through a name change? We always felt ?Friendly? was an interesting choice of words for feet.  Shuttle has now dubbed the front ?stands? to the Zen as ?Flexible Front Feet?.  Also an interesting choice of words considering the front feet are made of aluminum and are anything but flexible.  Moving on?

We?ll start from the outside and work our way in… Let?s begin by assessing the Zen from the exterior?

next >

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• External Design (1 of 9)
• Internal Design (2 of 9)
• The Chipset (3 of 9)
• External PSU and Cooling (4 of 9)
• Bios (5 of 9)
• Testbench Setup (6 of 9)
• Benchmarks & Overclocking (7 of 9)
• Benchmark Comparisons (8 of 9)
• Conclusion (9 of 9)