Shuttle, a PC manufacturer that specializes in making small form factor (SFF) PCs and SFF barebone machines, has announced a new mini PC. The SH81R4 takes a page out of the history books, as it appears to be styled similarly to Shuttle PCs from many years ago. Its main selling point, though, is that it is an entry-level barebone unit with an LGA1150 socket and a moderately friendly price tag.
The XPC Barebone SH81R4 comes with a motherboard that features the Intel H81 chipset, along with support for up to 16 GB of DDR3 memory. All LGA1150 CPUs are supported, as the maximum TDP is rated at 95 W, although K-series CPUs won't be overclockable. Internally, you'll also find two SATA3 (6 Gb/s) connectors, one SATA2 (3 Gb/s) connector, a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and a PCI-Express x1 slot, along with two Mini-PCI-Express slots, one of which is only a half-size slot.
For storage options you can house one 5.25" optical drive along with two 3.5" drives, or you can swap out each 3.5" drive in exchange for two 2.5" drives. The entire system is powered by a 300 W 80-Plus Gold rated power supply.
Rear I/O is fairly unremarkable, consisting of six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, DVI, and stereo analog audio jacks. Two USB 2.0 ports and a pair of HD audio jacks handle front I/O.
The front of the case features an acrylic panel, which can easily be swapped out for modding or replacement.
To complete the build, you'll need a CPU, memory, and storage. Additionally, you could add a graphics card, an optical drive, a wireless radio, and more, but those remain optional. A CPU cooler is included with the unit.
Shuttle priced the XPC Barebone SH81R4 at €179 (ex VAT) in Europe, so if it comes to the US we can expect it to cost about $225.
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