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Review: Shuttle XPC SN85G4 SFF PC

by Tarinder Sandhu on 22 October 2003, 00:00

Tags: Shuttle

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qat7

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Introduction

SHUTTLE XPC SN85G4 ATHLON SFF PC

Shuttle knows how to do at least two things well. It knows how to make stable, middle-of-the-road motherboards that neither excite or deflate the user. They work, and that's about all one can say about them. Shuttle leaves it up to others to provide the razzmatazz. To Shuttle a motherboard is just a constituent component of every PC, and not a cause to to provide an illuminations show.

Shuttle's motherboards may be more suited to the personality of a chartered accountant but its small form factor cubes are anything but boring. A number of other manufacturers have finally cottoned on to the fact that PCs needn't be boring, beige or big. An integrated chipset can provide the backbone to a feature-rich cube that'll grace any stylish household. System integrators are also keen to cash into the 'small is beautiful' approach, often bundling in a SFF PC with a sexy, stylish TFT. Save space and add style seems to be their mantra, and many users are beginning to agree.

On a side but related note, the Athlon 64 range of CPUs were unveiled recently. Superb performance in 32bit applications, the promise of 64bit computing and cool running were just three of the attributes attached to the new Athlon 64 3200+. That's enough justification for Shuttle to launch a new SFF cube. Shuttle, however, seem to have a sexy cube for almost every modern chipset that's in production. That's a slight overstatement on our part but you do get the picture. 

We expect superlative performances housed in chic, eye-catching design. Let's now find out just what the SN85G4 has in store for us.