ARN

Shuttle system powerful but noisy

Shuttle's new bare-bones system, the XPC SN25P, lets do-it-yourselfers build a small PC with all the power and technology typically found in a full-size tower. Unfortunately, the end result is too noisy.

The $US420 XPC SN25P includes Shuttle's FN25 motherboard, the company's first to feature the excellent NVidia NForce4 media and communications processor (MCP) chip set - which supports PCI Express graphics cards - and AMD's 939-pin Athlon 64 processor. The system also comes with Via's solid Envy24PT on-board eight-channel audio chip, four Serial ATA connectors, a gigabit ethernet port, and a 350-watt power supply.

The SN25P is larger than the Shuttle XPC SN41G2, providing more room to work inside. I had little trouble installing the processor, memory, and graphics card in my preproduction unit. The tool-less drive-mounting brackets made installing the hard drive and optical drive equally easy.

I did have a problem with the system's integrated bay doors: I couldn't adjust the case's optical-drive eject button to reach the slightly inset eject button on the TDK Indi DVD drive I wanted to install. This forced me to switch to a different optical drive that had a protruding eject button - hardly an optimal solution.

The system contains six fans of its own: two as part of Shuttle's proprietary Integrated Cooling Engine (ICE), two in the rear to cool the chassis' hard drive zone, a power-supply fan, and a chip-set fan.

Though I was able to lower the system fan speed via a setup menu, the SN25P still sounded like a Harrier jet poised to land on my desk. The two rear fans were particularly annoying, emitting a high whine.

If you're looking to build a powerful, portable desktop computer for LAN parties, the XPC SN25P is a fine choice. But if you just want a small, unobtrusive system, this little one is not for you.

Local information

Small, well-designed system offers the latest technology but is just too noisy.

It is distributed by Altech Computers and Multimedia Technology.

Price: $619

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Altech, Altech Computers, AMD, Multimedia Technology, Nvidia, Speed, TDK, VIA

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
ACA Pacific , ASI Solutions , Avnet Technology Solutions , Compucon Computers , Impact Systems Technology , Leader Computers , Multimedia Technology
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/avg/2011-02-25_368_avg-wants-you
AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd

AVG Wants You!

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.