Shuttle’s SX58H7 Ultra-Portable Core i7 Platform

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Packing Heat?

Trumpeting support for the latest Core i7 processors and graphics cards (even in SLI and overclocked configurations), Shuttle’s announcement of its latest Prima-series XPC raised eyebrows among our skeptical review staff. After all, packing all of those features into a pint-sized case would require a level of planning and skill rarely seen in the industry.

But nobody said such a feat would be impossible, either. Today we’re out to test Shuttle’s claims. How much hardware does the XPC SX58H7 really support? How well does it really overclock? Can it actually compete with full-sized performance systems?

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Shuttle XPC SX58H7 General Specifications
Case StyleShuttle Form Factor (2-slot cube)
Drive Bays1 x 5.25" External, 1 x 3.5" internal, 1 x 3.5" flexible
PowerShuttle Form Factor (500 W) ATX 2.1, EPS12V
Cooling Fan1 x 92 mm Exhaust (Max 3,800 RPM, 72.85 CFM)
CPU SupportCore i7, Core i7 Extreme (LGA-1366)
Memory SupportFour DIMMs DDR3-1066 (16.0 GB Max)
Expansion Slots2 x PCIe 2.0 x16
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • one-shot
    It is interesting to see the total power consumption of the Shuttle system never went above 212W. This is with a Core i7 and a GTX 260. This system comes with a 500W PSU, which is more than enough. It is interesting to see that large PSUs are definitely not a necessity as the trend continues towards circuit breaking sizes. I have a 650W with 3x19A 12V rails and that is plenty for me. 212/500=42.4% of the PSUs total output. This is fine, but you could get by with an even smaller PSU.
    Reply
  • crisisavatar
    awesome system ( i am unaware of the price ).
    Reply
  • Crashman
    one-shotIt is interesting to see the total power consumption of the Shuttle system never went above 212W. This is with a Core i7 and a GTX 260. This system comes with a 500W PSU, which is more than enough. It is interesting to see that large PSUs are definitely not a necessity as the trend continues towards circuit breaking sizes. I have a 650W with 3x19A 12V rails and that is plenty for me. 212/500=42.4% of the PSUs total output. This is fine, but you could get by with an even smaller PSU.
    It actually went to 425W peak with both Prime95 (8-threads) and Crysis GPU bench (2560 Very-High 8x) running at the same time, but that's not a very realistic test.
    Reply
  • ravenware
    Nice article. Figured the case would run a lot hotter, not bad.
    Reply
  • xsamitt
    This is less an article more like an extended IMHO.Stay tuned Monday when it's back to SSD or and overclocking contest.
    Reply
  • xsamitt
    This is less an article more like an extended AD IMHO.Stay tuned Monday when it's back to SSD or and overclocking contest.

    Reply
  • Crashman
    xsamittThis is less an article more like an extended AD IMHO.Stay tuned Monday when it's back to SSD or and overclocking contest.
    It shows how the system compares to a standard motherboard and cooler in performance and overclocking. If you want more than standard cooling, you can read any of the X58 motherboard shootouts where a big liquid cooler is used.
    Reply
  • pivalak
    I'm curious, how noisy is it when idle and at full load? Does the fan always run at full speed (i.e. 41.3 dB) when the GPU is used?

    Something I found with my current Shuttle box (i.e. SN21G5) is that, having added a modest dedicated graphics card (i.e. NVIDIA 9500 GT), the heat generated by the GPU was enough to keep the main fan spinning at low speeds even when idle. So as soon as the system is put under some load, even if the GPU is idle and only one CPU core is used 100%, the fan will spin at almost full speed generating quite some noise.

    Since these small computers are often placed on the desktop, next to the user, the noise level is even more apparent than with other systems which generate similar decibel figures, but rest on the floor, etc. So... should I move away from SFF for my next PC if I want a silent Core i7 system with a GTX 260 GPU?
    Reply
  • FrozenGpu
    So what comes w/ this, I figure the Case, PSU, Motherbaord, CPU?, RAM?
    I can't really seem to figure this part out, at ava direct they have this XPC SX58H7 for about $688 I think, but again nothign conclusive as to what it comes w/....
    Reply
  • thejerk
    FrozenGpuSo what comes w/ this, I figure the Case, PSU, Motherbaord, CPU?, RAM?I can't really seem to figure this part out, at ava direct they have this XPC SX58H7 for about $688 I think, but again nothign conclusive as to what it comes w/....
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101082

    Case, mobo, PSU. Yes, it's expensive.
    Reply