GearBits

Shuttle's XPC Small-Form-Factor PCs

Well, I took the plunge. After the (admittedly cheap) motherboard in my (admittedly cheap) downstairs PC failed last month, I've been wanting a receptacle for all the working bits inside it (hard drive, optical drive, etc.). I'd also been wanting an excuse to upgrade its CPU and memory to something much faster. So, after looking around a bit, I took the plunge and purchased the Shuttle XPC SK43G small-form-factor system (pictured).

I won't bore you with the specs (those can be found at the link above), but it's an AMD-based system in a box roughly the size of a toaster (and not one of those industrial toasters, just your normal 2-slice model). With Athlon systems, heat management is always an issue. Shuttle's "ICE Heat-Pipe" solution is both interesting and effective -- the hard drive is the loudest part of the system.

Assembly was pretty easy. I was most impressed with the quality of the physical components and the thoughtfulness of the layout and design. Cables and cable routing were high quality and placed very carefully. Total time required to install everything (not including the OS) was about an hour. Of course, doing it a again now would take me much less time (as learning curve theory attests).

All in all, I'm really happy. The system looks good, is really small and reasonably quiet, and runs quite well. Even the on-board graphics are pretty good (when was the last time you even considered using on-board video?). If you're needing a new system (motherboard and case) for either Intel or AMD, go check out Shuttle's XPC line.