The Hardware: Memory, Drives, Graphics Options

Memory options from Shuttle range from 1 GB to 4 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 for 32-bit operating systems, and an 8 GB option of 667 MHz PC-5300 for 64-bit operating systems that can make use of that memory.

Our test system had four Kingston KHX8500D2/1G 1 GB memory modules rated at 1066 MHz, with latency timings of 5-5-5-15 at 2.2 V. The system is set to 800 MHz by default, and provides memory throughput averaging 6.74 GB/s for Int Buff’d iSSE2 (6.75 GB/s for Float Buff’d iSSE2) with two or four memory modules. The latency on these was consistently shown to be 82 ns. Since the system had a 32-bit version of Windows XP on it, there was only 3.32 GB of usable memory available. This is due to 32-bit addressing limits, and while Vista’s SP1 will fix this reporting error, it does not resolve the limit.

• 1GB PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC
• 2GB (2X1GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC
• 4GB (4X1GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC
• 8GB (4X2GB) PC2-5300 667MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC (64bit OS REQUIRED)

Hard disk options are standard 7200 RPM drives from 250 GB to 750 GB, with the addition of a 10,000 RPM raptor option with 150 GB of capacity. There are three hard drive bays in the XPC, but the Raptor is only an option for the first two.

Our test unit included the Western Digital Raptor X 150 GB SATA hard drive. The drive has a 150 MB/s maximum buffer to host transfer rate, 10,000 RPM spindle speed, 16 MB cache, and a window to see the working platters of the disk. It has a nominal transfer rate of 84 MB/s, but real benchmarking provides different results. For H2Bench, the average data rate is 73.3 MB/s while HDTach comes in at 75.4 MB/s. The average access times were 7.98 ms for HDTach and 8.14 ms for H2Bench. This testing took place with reboots between each run and then at least twenty tests using each configuration allowed by the testing programs, including small and large batch files.

• 250GB SATA300 7200RPM 8MB Buffer
• 500GB SATA300 7200RPM 8MB Buffer
• 500GB SATA300 7200RPM 32MB Buffer
• 750GB SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Buffer
• 150GB SATA150 10000RPM 16MB Buffer

Optical drive options include the standard CD and DVD writers, in addition to a BLU-RAY writer for those who might want to use the XPC as an HTPC.

• 52X CDRW 16X DVD-ROM COMBO
• 20X20 DVD+-RW DUAL LAYER EIDE BLACK
• 2X BLUE-RAY TRIPLE WRITER SATA BLACK

The weakest graphic card offered is the Geforce 8600 GTS, which is miles above the base options on many other SFF PCs, and speaks to the XPC’s performance focus. The only dual-card solution is the Radeon 3850, which is the most powerful solution that will fit into the XPC.

Our test system sported a XFX GeForce 8800GTX with 768 MB of DDR3 RAM running at 600 MHz on the core and an effective 1900 MHz on the memory. While it’s not the highest factory overclock for an 8800 GTX, it’s still a very powerful card that will deliver strong gaming performance.

• RADEON HD3850 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E
• GEFORCE 8600 GTS 512MB DDR3 PCI-E
• GEFORCE 8800 GT 512MB DDR3 PCI-E
• DUAL RADEON HD3850 256MB PCI-E (CROSSFIRE)
• GEFORCE 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E