by: RobI’ve decided I’ll write a review on my latest toy, the Shuttle SN85G4 AMD A64 System.
Introduction
Shuttle have become big in the SFF market, mainly because of their quality built systems, and their taste of desing which is excellent, Shuttle have really gone all out on this SFF, they’ve decked it all in black which is very nice to see, but those of you with begie drives like me need to spray them because it looks odd and out of place.
The size and weight of the SN85G4 makes it a very attractive SFF for LAN parties and HTPC systems. Will the size of the system reduce the power of an A64 rig? Read on to find out!
Specifications
Dimensions: (L)295*(W)200*(H)180, 2.85Kg(N.W.), 4.65Kg
Front Panel: 2 USB, 1 1394a, 1 MIC, 1 Line in, Built-in USB 2.0 6 in 1 Card Reader.
Back Panel: PS/2 KB & Mouse, 1 Serial, 1 LAN, 1 USB, 2 1394a, 1 Parallel Port.
Extension Bay: (1) 5.25″ & (2) 3.5″
CPU Socket: AMD K8 � Socket 754 - supports Athlon 64 CPUs.
Chipsets: nVidia nForce 150 North Bridge.
Memory Socket: (2) DDR 266/333/400 DIMM.
On Board VGA: No onboard video.
On Board Audio: Realtek ALC 650 6 Channel
Expansion Slot: (1) PCI & (1) 8x AGP
IDE interface: ATA-133 / Serial ATA RAID.
Deeper look
What you get in the box:
- Installation Guide
- Motherboard Guide
- Drivers CD
- Bags of Screws
- Thermal Paste
- (2) IDE Cables
- Serial ATA Cable
- (2) Chrome Feet
- AC Power Cable
Detail View
Now, unfortantly I didn’t take any photos of this beauty when it arrive, but it’s what’s in the box that counts right? The Shuttle was packed very well though, with a plastic covering the mirror finish front panel, that looks really nice!
Shuttle has gone with a black theme for this model of Shuttle, it really does look stunning in the flesh - And for those of you who like a black theme, you’ll love this! The side panel is made of black brushed aluminum with circular holes along the bottom on both sides to help cool the system better, you also have a 6 in 1 card reader, but if you have no use for this you could always remove it and add another hard drive for extra storage!
The aluminum power and reset buttons add to the looks. I really liked the front panel you have quick access to audio, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394a ports. With the front ports you won’t have to worry about messing around the back of the case to connect USB or Firewire devices which can be a real pain to do!
At the back panel you can See shuttle took great thought in the amount of space they had to work with, you have the Com, LAN, USB2.0, PS/2 and 1394 ports. You also have SPDIF in/out connections, and six channel analog inputs. Shuttle also offers an optional wireless 802.11b WLAN, and remote control if you choose to make the SN85G4 a HTPC. The PSU also has a intake fan to help it cool better as things start to get hot in that small space provided!
As you can see, it’s quite cramped in there, you’d think the whole Shuttle would just overheat given the small space area, but the I.C.E cooling system makes sure this doesn’t happen � More on that later.
You have to remove the APG card to get to a CMOS reset jumper if you push the system too far that it doesn’t boot anymore. Also, you can only have one Hard Drive, one Optical Drive installed, unless you remove the card reader, but the you have slots on the front panel doing nothing…. And in any case, if you own a camera or cell phone with a memory card, the card reader can be very useful, so I wouldn’t remove it in that case � Up to the user though of course.
The Shuttle comes with two SATA ports they are placed by the ICE cooling system nicely out the way, and easy enough to get to as well.
One of the most interesting features of Shuttle’s XPC line is its I.C.E CPU cooler. The base of the heat sink is connected to four heat pipes that carry the heat from the CPU up to the radiator. The housing holds a single Sunon fan which can be a little loud and annonying. The I.C.E cooling system does a decent job of keeping the CPU cool with the fan speed set to smart fan. At 69�c the CPU temps were a little high, but I found that there was no system instabilities.
The base of the ICE cooler
The SN85G4 is powered by a Enhance 240W PSU. Now a lot of you are probably thinking a 240-watt PSU will not be able to handle much. Well in this case, you’re wrong. This little PSU handled everything I have A64 chip 9800 pro, and dvd-rw, 1gb of ram ect. I had no stability problems at all during testing. One problem I do see though, is the PSU exaust fan is blowing all the warm air into the small area inside the case, I think if Shuttle reversed this we’d see a lot lower temps and that goes for the PSU as well, as it tends to get quite warm!.
BIOS
The popular Phoenix AwardBIOS is used for the SN85G4. Shuttle has done a few modifications to the BIOS for us overclockers out there.
There are a few different options under advance chipset features. The most noticeable of those changes are the LDT (Lightning Data Transport) downstream width, and LDT speed. The LDT options controls the speed and data width of the Hyper Transport buss lowering the LDT speed can have adverse effects on system performance. There is the option for 4X LDT speed, but even at stock speeds setting it to 4x will result in the system not posting. The only down fall to this is it sets the Hyper Transports speed to 600mhz (DDR1200MHZ).
Under pc health status, you have the ability to monitor voltages and select fan speeds. Thru the bios you have a few options for fan speed Smart Fan, Ultra-Low, Low, Mid, and Full. The smart fan option worked very well and the system was quiet, but on full speed, the fan can get a little annoying.
The SN85G4 BIOS allows control over memory speed, and CAS latency’s. Inexperienced user might find the max Memclock setting confusing when it comes to overclocking. It only allows you to select a max of 200mhz which might make you think that the memory cant be overclocked past 200MHZ, but the 200MHZ setting acts the same as a 1/1 ratio or synced
I really liked the voltage options Shuttle include in the SN85G4’s BIOS. For the cpu you have the options of .80 to 1.70 volts. This allows a .20V max increase in Vcore voltage form the stock 1.50V of the Athlon 64, which is adequate for some overclocking. The only thing I didn’t like was the low voltage settings some inexperienced users might unknowingly set this to low. You also have plenty of Vdimm voltage ranging from 2.70V to 2.90V in .10V increments. Chipset voltage ranges from 1.70V to 1.90V in .10 increments. The bios also included voltage options for the LDT buss from 1.30V to 1.50V in .10 increments. AGP voltage is also controllable too. For such a small system, I was amazed at the voltage options offered.
The CPU overclock option controls the speed of the CPU acting as a FSB, and allowing you to change the speed in 1 MHZ increments. You have the ability to go as high as 280MHZ way more than enough to satisfy your overclocking adventures.
Installation
Again, I didn’t take any photos while installing sorry.
Since there is such a small space to work with, you’d think installing your components was going to be hard…apparently not so!
You first have to remove the HDD rack, now this has two screws, one each side of it, then you just push the black shuttleX ide cable to the left a bit to the rack can slide out.
Next is the I.C.E system, this is hold down by a big clip, just push the side down, and hold it while remove the clip, do the same on the other side, the clip should remove easy now. The remove the four thumb screws from the back, holding the fan, the shield around the fan just slides out, and you can then lift the I.C.E system out.
Install the CPU and re fit the I.C.E system. Sorted! The rest is very easy to do.
After the installing the CPU the next step in the manual is Memory. Since I decided to use OCZ Enhanced Latency series of memory, this did not require removing the PSU since the OCZ series has small Heat spreaders. Above standard size memory does require the removal of the PSU.
Installing the graphics card was easy, however if you have a card with a double slot cooler, then it will not fit in the shuttle with the case on, I had to put my stock cooler back on…
There is a mod you can do if you want to keep the double slot cooler on though. You just need to cut a hole in that lovely black case…I know I wouldn’t!
Testing
I have not done any tests on this system as of yet, because I am waiting for some more paste. But I will update this soon with some results.
I will also Overclock this Shuttle, and post my findings!
Conclusion
I think Shuttle have done a great job here, they’ve made an excellent SFF system that can be used as a main rig for everyday use, not just a media pc otherwise that’d be a BIG overkill along with a 64 bit chip! .
The SN85G4 makes a great LAN rig - parted up with a 9800pro the SN85G4 can handle any current and future games very well. The lightweight and performance of the SN85G4 makes this a great choice for regulars to LAN’s and those after a HTPC.
Overclocking will be tested tomorrow and I will post some results and temps that I get from the system. The SN85G4 makes a great SFF with high proformance and great looks, I highly recommend this unit to anyone considering an SFF with a socket 754 chip! If you want to make the SN85G4 quiter, you can remove the ugly built in case grill I did and it dropped temps by 4c! also changing the fan for a quiter one is a very good idea!