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Page 1 of 1 pages for this article Shuttle SN85G4V2 XPC Review – Quiet And Cool by Article Admin
Published: 05/17/2004
Late last year, in symphony with AMD?s release of the Athlon 64, Shuttle produced the industry?s first AMD 64-bit capable SFF, the SN85G4. Now, less than a year later, they have started shipping the 2nd generation of this system, the SN85G4V2 (version 2). It?s still the same great system, with a few extra bells and whistles, engineering modifications, and other enhancements, all designed to make the system run a bit cooler, quieter, and overall more efficient.
For those of you current SN85G4 XPC enthusiasts out there, let?s take a moment to visit the new features you?ll find in the 2nd generation of this box. First off, Shuttle has replaced the old power supply with a brand new SilentX 240 Watt PSU. It not only runs far quieter than the previous, but also quite a bit cooler. We?ll dig into the details later. Per Shuttle Marketing, the use of the SilentX power supply also allowed them to revert to the stock removable Shuttle XPC drive bay chassis. As you may recall, the original SN85G4 shipped with a non-removable drive bay enclosure. This new drive bay chassis is identical to that found on other modern XPC?s. Finally, and perhaps the biggest change in the system, is the inclusion of a brand new ICE Cooling System. We?ll take a look at the details later, but suffice to say, it?s quieter, cooler, and more efficient. Great new features to Shuttle?s flagship AMD 64 box. But for those who may be a little less familiar with the SN85G4, or are considering a first time purchase, let?s take a look at exactly what makes this box tick. Shuttle?s SN85G4V2 XPC sports the brand new Athlon64 CPU, powered by nVidia?s nForce3 chipset. The Athlon64 represents AMD?s plunge into the world of 64-bit desktop computing, as they hope to leapfrog Intel whose only 64-bit solution is in an expensive server-based Itanium processor. While other SFF?s are now available with Athlon64 support, Shuttle?s SN85G4V2 XPC was the first small form factor system released with support for this processor.
Complete with Serial-ATA RAID, DDR400 memory, integrated fast Ethernet, 6-channel audio, and a 6-in-1 media card reader, the SN85G4V2 XPC stacks up well against comparable Intel-based SFF systems. Toss in the shear power of the Athlon64 coupled with nVidia?s latest nForce 3 chipset, and you?ve got one power house of a small form factor PC. So with over a dozen Intel-based Shuttle XPC?s, and a half dozen AMD-based systems, is it time to take the 64-bit plunge with the SN85G4V2? Can a small form factor system really deliver the power and cooling necessary to keep a 64-bit CPU running at speed? We?ll visit that and more shortly, but before we get carried away, let?s take a look at the overall system specifications:
You?ll find the accessory pack with the SN85G4V2 to be initially surprisingly lacking. Where?s the typical Shuttle XPC long and round IDE cable? Instead of in the accessory box, you?ll find this optical drive IDE cable pre-installed within the confines of the case. Shuttle has also included a handy polishing pad for the SN85G4V2?s mirrored front faceplate. This comes in handy as all of your friends will inevitably muck up your faceplate as they feel compelled to touch the mirrored surface.
We?ll start from the outside and work our way in? Let?s begin with the case externals? Internal DesignInternal Design Just as the outside of the SN85G4V2 case features several new design elements, the case internals have a few significant changes as well. But before we examine what?s new, suffice to say that as usual, dissecting this XPC requires only the removal of three thumb screws. It always starts off easy.
Differing from the original SN85G4, you?ll find the drive bay enclosure to mimic that of the chassis found in most other modern Shuttle XPC?s. The removable enclosure houses a single 5.25" optical drive, as well as two 3.5" drive bays. The top 3.5" drive bay is home to the integrated Shuttle branded media card reader. The entire removable chassis is shown below.
Shuttle?s integrated 6-in-1 media card reader, found on some G4 series cases is shown here.
The card reader supports Compact Flash, Compact Flash-II, Smart Media, Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, and Memory Stick media modules. It uses an internal USB header to connect to the system. The USB header is mounted next to the drive chassis, as shown here.
Be careful to follow the instructions in the Shuttle XPC Installation Guide when installing Windows XP in a G4 series XPC with the media card reader. We?ll spell out the details later on when we build our testbench system. Notice the second empty USB connector which is reserved for Shuttle?s internal wireless 802.11b Ethernet module should you choose to optionally install this unit within the SN85G4V2. A long awaited feature first introduced with the SN85G4, and now available in the ST61G4 as well as most other XPC?s, is the inclusion of "integrated cable management". This set of buzz words translates into pre-installed cabling neatly tucked away and bundled in an effort to reduce the typical XPC case clutter. So how well does it work?
Much better than previous generation XPC?s! Notice the integrated bracket holding the front-panel IO cables.
That bracket is mounted directly on the heatsink sitting atop the nForce 150 chipset. Hope that heatsink doesn?t get too hot. Here?s a shot of the pre-wired USB connector for the 6-in-1 media card reader.
You?ll also find power cables neatly tucked away as well as the 5.25" drive bay IDE cable pre-installed and mounted for easy access.
From a different angle, notice that the plastic bracket holding these wires in place is adjustable and even removable with little effort. A very nice touch.
All in all, a marked improvement from the last generation of XPC?s. One thing you won?t find, however, is a pre-installed Serial-ATA cable. Speaking of Serial-ATA, you?ll find the on-board dual-channel headers in a rather disconcerting location, immediately adjacent to the ICE Heatsink, as shown here.
While this does provide an easy connection from the hard-drive to the motherboard header, it certainly isn?t as elegant as other XPC?s which feature Serial-ATA connectors near the edge of the motherboard for ease of installation. The nForce3 150 chipset is actually a single chip solution, so you won?t find a separate Northbridge and Southbridge as in most standard chipset architectures. The main nForce3 chip is actually passively cooled with a fairly large heatsink. This is a nice change from the latest Intel 865/875 chipsets some of which have actively cooled chipsets, contributing to additional fan noise. Ironic that nVidia?s latest chipset does not, and apparently will not ever, include integrated video. Rumor has it this is due to AMD?s shift in design whereby the memory controller is now integrated into the CPU. The rumor is that on-board video performance suffers drastically under these conditions, hence, nVidia opted to forgo an on-board video option. You?ll need to throw in your favorite AGP card for this box. Another couple of interesting nick-knacks you?ll find on the FN85 mainboard include an IrDA header, curiously unused in the current line of XPC cases, as well as the elusive WKMC, or wireless keyboard and mouse connector. Both motherboard headers have been around since the days of the Shuttle SS51 XPC, and although Shuttle?s engineering team keeps these "legacy" headers on all new motherboards, they have yet to be marketed or used by Shuttle with their current generation of XPCs. Users have though reported success in wiring PS/2 wireless mice/keyboard transceivers to the WKMC connector, and we?ve also seen reports of internal IrDA use for HTPC applications. Let?s move on to the new SilentX PSU and ICE Cooling System?
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