SB86i Specification
| Shuttle's SB86i | |
| CPU | All Pentium 4 and Celeron processors, up to: Pentium 4 570J (3.8GHz, 1MiB L2) Pentium 4 660 (3.6GHz, 2MiB L2, EM64T) No support for Extreme Edition processors of any type No support for Pentium D or Extreme Edition 840 dual-core processors |
| Northbridge | Intel i915G (Grantsdale-G) |
| Memory Support | 2 slots. 2 x DDR (DDR400 max), 2GB max |
| Display | None |
| PEG | 16 lanes from the i915G |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH6R |
| Audio | Realtek ALC880 8-channel HD Audio CODEC from ICH6R feed |
| Audio Connectivity | Optical S/PDIF input and output, coax digital output line in, mic output, headphone output, basic speaker outputs |
| PCI Conventional | 1 x 32-bit |
| IDE | 1 port ATA100 from ICH6 |
| IDE RAID | None |
| SATA | 4 ports from ICH6R |
| SATA RAID | All 4 ports from ICH6R |
| Networking | Marvell 88E8053 GigE PCIe 1X, 10/100/1000 Mibit/sec |
| USB | ICH6R, 4 USB2.0 (2 front, 2 rear), headers for 3 more |
| FireWire | 2 x FireWire400 (1 rear, 1 front), 6-pin powered, from VIA VT6306 |
| PC Card | None |
| Other I/O | 8-in-1 card reader, D-Sub VGA Serial, PS2, clear CMOS button |
| Disk space | 2 internal 3.5" bays 1 5.25" optical external bays |
| Batteries/Power | Internal 275W PSU |
| Weight and dimensions | 8.22 kilos unladen 240mm wide 375mm deep 195mm high |
Quite the powerhouse, in terms of built-in features and extra specification, eh? The SB86i basically twins the LGA775 socket-based Intel PCI Express platform with a chassis that'll take a pair of hard drives and a full-size optical drive, has a bunch of audio connectivity, supports more powered FireWire400 than most and supplies an ever popular lots-in-one multi-format media reader.
A Realtek ALC880 does the audio processing for the ICH6R's HD Audio link, giving you Toslink S/PDIF input and output, coax digital output and all the speaker connections any 8.1 or lesser system will require. The mainboard gives you a quartet of SATA ports, which is slightly off kilter with the two SATA HDD bays you get, but at least that gives you scope for an internal SATA optical drive in the future, and sneaky external SATA expansion on the last available port.
A PCI Express-based Gigabit Ethernet adaptor gets you connected to a wired network at high speed, should you have the available infrastructure. There's a wireless module option for the SB86i which isn't supplied as standard, should you wish to be free of as many wires as possible.
You're catered for well in terms of display connectivity, with built-in Intel GMA900 graphics on the northbridge/MCH and a PEG16X slot for discrete PCI Express graphics cards, should you wish to bypass the Intel and add something a bit more appealing.
As far as CPUs are concerned, there's support for all Celerons and all 5-series and 6-series P4s. So you can run a 3.6GHz, 2MiB L2 660 with EM64T 64-bit ISA in the SB86i without a problem, for 64-bit computing. DDR is the memory type you pair with the SB86i, Shuttle chosing that variant over DDR2 for cost reasons more than anything else.
So some high-end features, like the SB81P but without the three disk drive capacity that the P-series chassis has. Which is strange, given that the i-Series is bigger. And not only that, there are other interior limitations that don't exist with the P-series, too. More on those in due course, though, as I look at the insides, after a good look at the exterior.
Presentation, Bundle and Manual
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The box for the SB86i shows it in an office, next to a Shuttle LCD on a nice desk, with a PDA to boot. Aimed at corporates and offices then? Hmm.
Bundle wise, you get what I've come to lovingly know as the XPC Basics. That bundle comprises the manuals, a RAID driver floppy for installing Windows XP, a driver CD once you've done that install, and some screws to hold the drives in. That's your lot, with all the cabling prefitted.
The manuals are simple to read, well written, easy to navigate and full of all the information you'll need to get an SB86i constructed and up and running. Good stuff.
