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• XFX nForce 790i Ultra (Revision 01) Northbridge Nvidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI SPP Southbridge Nvidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI MCP Voltage Regulator Six Phases BIOS P06 (06/25/2008) 333.3 MHz (FSB-1333) 333.3 MHz (+0.0%) Clock Generator Nvidia Connectors and Interfaces Onboard 3x PCIe x16 (Transfer Modes: 2x 2.0, 1x 1.0) 2x PCIe x1 2x PCI 2x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector) 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 1x Serial Port header 1x Ultra ATA (2 drives) 7x Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s 1x Front Panel Audio 1x Internal Power Button 1x Internal Reset Button 1x Fan 4 pins (CPU/Chassis) 4x Fan 3 pins (Chassis/Chipset) IO panel 2x PS2 (keyboard + mouse ) 2x Digital Audio Out (S/P-DIF optical + coaxial) 1x External SATA 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 6x USB 2.0 6x Analog Audio Jack (7.1 ch. out, Mic+Line In) 2x RJ-45 Network Mass Storage Controllers nForce 790i MCP 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, JBOD) JMicron JMB362 PCI-E 1x eSATA + 1x SATA 3.0 Gb/s Network 2x Broadcom B5071A2KFBG PCI-E 2x Gigabit LAN Connection Audio Realtek ALC888S 7.1 + 2 channel Multi-Streaming Output FireWire Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A PCI 2x IEEE-1394a (400 Mbit/s) An otherwise typical high-end device list stands out only because the XFX nForce 790i Ultra has seven SATA ports and one eSATA port, rather than the expected 6+2 combination. Rear panel connections include two PS/2 ports, coaxial and optical digital audio outputs, a single eSATA port, an IEEE-1394 FireWire port, six USB 2.0 ports, six analog audio jacks, and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. The XFX nForce 790i Ultra is the second motherboard in today’s comparison to use the tiny JMicron JMB362 2-port SATA controller for eSATA. Below it is the oddly-placed internal connection to the same controller. Defying conventional wisdom, the XFX nForce 790i Ultra uses solid capacitors for its Realtek ALC888S audio controller, and electrolytic capacitors in most other areas. The electrolytic capacitors are Samxon brand, a name that has earned a great deal of respect compared to other non-Japanese brands. The XFX nForce 790i Ultra’s TSB43AB22A IEEE-1394 FireWire controller is hidden beneath a PCI Express x16 slot latch. In front of it, an old-fashioned socket-mounted BIOS ROM is easily replaced in the event of a bad flash.

• Shuttle is hoping that the SX48P2 expands on the performance of the SX38P2 to attract more users to its Prima lineup. The way to do that is to improve on the weaknesses of the SX38P2 and highlight the strengths. Here are the details of the parts Shuttle used to further that goal. The Motherboard Shuttle created a slightly different motherboard for the SX48P2 system compared to the SX38P2’s motherboard. It has four DDR3 memory slots running at up to 1,600 MHz. These slots support up to 8 GB of RAM. The SX48P2 includes the same mini-PCI Express (PCIe) slot that the SX38P2 has, which supports Turbo Memory used to “speed up” Vista (32-bit versions).  There are two PCIe 2.0 X16 slots and they support up to two single-slot graphics cards or a single dual-slot card due to the limited space. Since this is an Intel X48 chipset, it supports only the CrossFire dual-graphics solution. Currently, Shuttle does not offer the option to purchase dual-AMD GPUs. This might be because the system's PSU is only rated for 450 W and most dual-card configurations require more power. With the SX48P2, however, the four-pin power for the CPU is located at a right angle on the board, which allows it to support larger video cards. The SX38P2 and an old engineering sample of the SX48P2 did not have this design element. This allows it to support the included Nvidia GeForce GTX 280-based graphics card. Again, total power draw is something to watch to ensure stability. Shuttle underscores this point on the support page of its Web site for the SX48P2, where it says: “Because the power consumption of ATI 4850 VGA card is higher, SX48P2 Deluxe doesn’t support two pieces of the ATI 4850 VGA card with CrossFire function. However, it can support single-slot ATI 4850 and ATI 4870.” It is interesting to note that XFX’s Web site indicates that the XFX GeForce GTX 280 requires a “non-SLI: 630 W minimum power supply.”  This would lead me to believe that you can add a pair of AMD Radeon HD 4850 card in CrossFire to the SX48P2, which seems to be confirmed by many users saying they have done so. The ICH9R offers support for six SATA 3 Gb/s connections, though only three internal and two external drives are available due to space. SATA options include IDE, RAID, and AHCI modes. IDE mode provides the best compatibility; RAID supports striping and mirroring for improved performance and security; and AHCI offers the latest SATA drive features. One thing to remember is that, when selecting AHCI, you will not be able to support a SATA optical drive with some operating systems. These options are available at the sub menu of the OnChip SATA device. This SX48P2 also provides an external power connector for your SATA drives connected via the eSATA headers.  The power cable allows for drives to be connected externally without an eSATA storage enclosure of any kind. This is a major benefit over the SX38P2, as it allows you to connect drives for testing, backup, and storage without opening the case or buying a more-expensive enclosure. The cost of this feature is that you lose the IEEE 1394 connections. A single UltraATA header is supplied via a JMicron JMB368 chip to support up to two legacy PATA devices. The audio is supplied by a Realtek ALC888 chip that provides 7.1 channel high-definition audio through S/PDIF. There are two 10/100/1000 Marvell 88E8056 Ethernet connections. The Ethernet connectivity is an improvement over what the SX38P2 offered, which only had one 10/100/1000 Ethernet connection. This motherboard only uses solid-state capacitors for improved stability. The CPU This system came complete with an Intel QX9770 already installed. This CPU is built on the 45 nm node, runs at 3.2 GHz, has a 1,600 MHz front side bus (FSB), and includes 12 MB of L2 cache. It includes 64-bit and virtualization technology support. The multimedia support includes MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, and EM64T. This CPU is an Intel Core 2 Extreme model and, therefore, is clock multiplier unlocked. This means that you can boost performance by finding the best combination of FSB and clock multiplier for your system for overclocking. The GPU The bundled graphics card was XFX's GeForce GTX 280 with 1 GB of RAM.  This GPU runs at 602 MHz and the memory runs at 950 MHz for an effective speed of 1,900 MHz. It has 240 stream processors and a 512-bit memory interface. It is also DirectX 10-capable and HDCP-ready. While it is no longer the fastest card around, it still includes a very powerful GPU. The Memory Shuttle installed 2 GB of Corsair WIN3X20481600C7DHXIN DDR3 memory in the system, and we added an additional 2 GB of memory to test all four slots. This memory is rated at 1,600 MHz at clock ratings and Intel XMP SPD Certified Profile 7-7-7-20. These modules support XMP technology to allow the use of BIOS-based profiles to squeeze better performance out of the memory.  The PSU Shuttle Power Supply Specs Table 1: PSUITEM+3.3+5+12V1+12V2Maximum output (amps) 3.5 A3.5 A17 A17 AMaximum Output (watts)11.55 W17.5 W204 W204 W Shuttle includes a 450 W PSU that is customized to fit in this form factor. All of the cables are already installed. This makes for a very clean space inside the case and power connectors are more accessible. The PSU is 80 Plus certified and offers the following outputs: The HDD A pair of Raptor 150 GB hard disk drives (HDDs) are included. It was a little surprising that Shuttle did not use the newer VelociRaptor drive. The Raptor 150 has a 1.5 Gb/s maximum buffer-to-host transfer rate, rotates at 10,000 RPM and has 16 MB cache. It has a specified data transfer rate of 84 MB/s (max), 2.99 ms average latency, and 4.6 ms read seek time. During our tests, a single drive using HDTach had a transfer rate of 75.5 MB/s. When configured as a RAID 0 stripped pair, the drives were able to achieve 119.1 MB/s read and 118.7 MB/s write.  The average random access times were 8.5 ms for HDTach. We conducted our tests by rebooting the PC between each run and then did at least 20 tests using the full version of HDTach that gauges read and write speeds. There was virtually no difference between the P35’s ICH8R and the X38 or X48’s ICH9R during our tests.

• ...and assembly: Of course I had to find somebody competent enough to fly it, so after an exhaustive search, I finally found the perfect pilot. :) The case was finished in time for MillionManLan in June, but a shipping mishap caused extensive damage to the shell, preventing me from delivering it to my Dad in one piece. I returned home with the broken shell and started work on the repairs. A few more months later, I had pieced it back together with glue, fiberglass, and bondo, put a new coat of paint on it and it is now better than ever! The Specs Asus A8N SLI Premium motherboard 1Gb Centon DDR PC3200 Hi-performance Memory AMD FX-55 Zalman CNPS7700 cpu cooler XFX GeForce 7800GT Video card 2x 80Gb Western Digital HDDs (RAID 0) Thermaltake Pure Power 500W psu Pioneer Slimline slot-loading DVD/CD drive Logitech LX700 cordless keyboard Logitech MX1000 cordless Laser mouse LG 20" flatscreen monitor Coolermaster Jet-7 cpu cooler (as case fan) See more of Brian "Boddaker" Carter's unbelievable modding projects at his website (http://www.bods-mods.com/).