The Hardware: Platform, and CPU Options
The system comes preconfigured from the factory as a barebones unit. Both are based on the same case, motherboard and PSU, and both include the Oasis and Ice cooling systems.
Shuttle’s custom-size motherboard uses the Intel X38 and ICH9R chipsets. The company elected to go with four slots of DDR2 memory running at 677/800 MHz ( with overclocking to 1066MHz) that support up to 8 GB of RAM. The board also includes a mini PCI Express slot that supports Turbo Memory used to “speed up” Vista. There are two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots, which support up to two single slot graphics cards, or a single dual slot card, due to the limited space.
Since this is an Intel X38 chipset, it supports an ATI CrossFire dual graphics solution. The highest performance graphics solution you could fit in the XPC would be two Radeon HD3850s, as there is only space for two single-slot cards. Even with this limitation, however, it is still extremely impressive for a small form factor box.
The ICH9R provides supports for the six SATA II connections, but only three internal and two external drives are available due to space. SATA functionality includes as options the ability to select modes of IDE, RAID and AHCI. IDE mode provides the best compatibility, RAID supports striping or data security, and AHCI provides for the latest features of SATA drives. These options can be selected in the submenu of the OnChip SATA Device.
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 with an S/PDIF out. There is one 10/100/1000 Ethernet connection supplied by a Marvell 88E8056, and two IEEE-1394 ports via a TI TSB43AB22A chip. This motherboard also uses only solid state capacitors, something new for Shuttle, which should increase the stability and lifespan of the system. Overall, this seems to be a very solid X38 chipset board.
The motherboard is cooled with something Shuttle calls “OASIS” cooling technology, which appears to be a marketing term for a beefy interconnected heat-pipe cooling solution attached to the north bridge, south bridge, and MOSFET modules.
That is where the barebones unit stops, and where the full system continues with our configuration options.
The CPU can be any Socket 775 Core 2 Duo, Quad, or Extreme, including the new 45 nm E8000 series. This is one of the benefits of basing the platform on the newer X38 chipset, and will supply buyers of the XPC with a measure of confidence that they have upgrade options available in the future. The CPUs that Shuttle currently offers are the following:
- INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6550 2.33GHZ 1333MHZ 4MB
- INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6750 2.66GHZ 1333MHZ 4MB
- INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 2.4GHZ 1066MHZ 2X4MB
- INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QX6700 2.66GHZ 1066MHZ 2X4MB
- INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QX9650 3.00GHZ 1333GHZ 12MB LGA775 45NM
Our test unit sported an Intel QX9650 built on the 45 nm platform. It runs at 3 GHz, has a 1333 MHz FSB and includes 12 MB of cache. This CPU is an Intel Core 2 Extreme model and, therefore, is clock multiplier unlocked; this means that we can boost performance by finding the best combination of FSB and clock multipliers for the system if we choose to overclock.