The article first appeared in Tom’s Hard News Email Newsletter
The Word Is Out: Mini PCs Are Unstoppable
You’re off to a LAN party, let’s say. The gear is quickly packed together: the PC with the keyboard and mouse disappear into a small backpack, and you pack the large-format flatscreen monitor under your arm. Now you are ready to roll – a quick call at the fridge and the second six-pack sails into the bag with game CDs and blanks. At the party there is already a lot of hustle and bustle – guys schlepping their computers and peripherals up the stairs. Suddenly an acquaintance approaches. “You here too?” he says. “But you’ve obviously forgotten your PC.”
“No, I’ve got my powerpack in my backpack.” It takes you a few short seconds to set up your system. “What’s the idea with that slow office machine here?” says the corpulent owner of a black big tower with neon lighting. You’ve been waiting for this sort of question. With the flick of a hand you nonchalantly open up your mini powerpack. In the meantime a bunch of hangers-on have clustered around you, all agape because in power terms the mini PC knocks the spots off all the tower crates in the room. Some of them can’t believe it: packed into the tiniest space, it has a GeForce 4 Ti 4600, a Pentium 4/2533 and 1 GB of DDR333 memory. The two high-speed hard drives in a RAID array and the DVD burner complete the picture. “How much dough did that thing set you back?” asks the owner of the black tower.
There’s room for a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 in the new Mini PC from Shuttle – the dimensions are as ultra-compact as ever.
There’s no reason at all why the new Shuttle Mini PC should have any worse a showing than rival products in terms of performance and ergonomics. In a nutshell, it’s a real performance monster in a small package – even die-hard big tower fans will have to give this baby a second look.
In our previous tests Goodbye to Hulking PCs: Athlon Mini-PCs Set The Trend and Build Your Own Mini-PC For The Office, we already examined various mini PCs.
At last, the case has quality written all over it, and the same goes for what’s inside.
The Gear: Shuttle Barebone Without Components
The Shuttle Barebone System – ours is fitted with an older CD burner (for testing).
Vital connections like USB 2.0, FireWire (IEEE1394), analog audio and digital audio out (optical) come already integrated in the front panel.
For just under $400, the user gets the SS51G Barebone System plus extensive assembly material (screws, cables, connectors), a digital DIF card and handbook. To run the PC system, you need to get a hold of at least an Intel Pentium 4 processor, RAM (DDR333 or DDR266), hard drive, keyboard, mouse and a TFT monitor.
The reverse comes fitted with a slew of connectors: two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire (IEEE1394) connectors, network, analog sound and a digital audio input (optical). This means that audio signals can be recorded loss-free from a digital source (minidisk or satellite radio) or rerouted per the front output.
Adding Components
The SS51G’s aluminum case without components.
A tune-up for the box: AGP and PCI slots in conjunction with the Flex ATX Form Factor. The Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4/ Celeron is still included.
Internal cabling: the connectors for the Shuttle system’s front panel.
The overhead view of the opened Barebone System.
Adding Components, Continued
Power cable for the Shuttle SS51G.
Room for two hard drives and a DVD/CD-RW drive.
The PC with everything fitted.
The Substance: The SiS 651/962L Chipset
Compared to other mini PCs, the SS51G Barebone System is based on the latest SiS 651/962L chipset, which makes available important extras like USB 2.0 and an AGP slot. If you prefer, you can use the onboard graphics and leave the AGP slot free. Nothing in its class offers the same choices. Besides Ultra-DMA/133, FireWire (IEEE1394) and USB 2.0, DDR333/DDR266 memory is also supported.
Principal assembly of the SiS chipset as used on the Shuttle FS51 motherboard. Support for an AGP slot is conspicuous.
The brand-new SiS Southbridge 962L supports Ultra DMA/133, USB 2.0 and an IEEE1394a controller.
The features of the SiS 651 (Northbridge) chip: DDR333 support, AGP 4x and onboard graphics.
Generational Comparison: ATX vs. Flex-ATX
ATX (left) vs. Flex-ATX: only compact motherboards make mini PCs possible. The ATX standard is hopelessly out of date with only the cost factor keeping it alive.
The upper image shows two Shuttle motherboards, both of them fitted out with the same chipset (SiS 651/962). Thanks to high integration of the chips, the small Flex ATX board (in the mini PC) attains functionality comparable to the standard ATX board. A closer look reveals that on the Flex ATX, the AGP and PCI interfaces have simply been brought on board turned at a 90° angle. The board layout for Northbridge and Southbridge, processor sockets and memory slots are virtually unchanged.
Shuttle’s ultra-compact board (FS51 V1.1) takes up less floor space than a shoebox. A highlight is the AGP slot, which is placed hard by the PCI slot.
A glance at the connectors on the Shuttle FS51 board.
The FireWire chip: VIA VT6306.
Concentrated Performance: P4/2533, GeForce 4 Ti and DDR333
Even the best tower cases can’t beat this configuration: Intel Pentium 4/2533 in combination with 1 GB DDR333 memory (CL2) and a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 graphics card. Two hard drives and a CD/RW drive complete the picture.
A look at the MSI GeForce 4 Ti 4600 graphics card.
Twinmos DDR400 SDRAM with CL2.5. But it still only works with the Shuttle SS51G in DR333 mode.
As things stand currently, there’s nothing faster: a PC3200 DDR400 module.
Socket 478 for Intel processors up to 3,000 MHz and above.
For P4: Noiseless Operation With The Heatpipe
The Shuttle’s heatpipe system for the Intel Pentium 4.
The heatpipe system’s CPU element with a countersunk copper plate.
A view of the heatpipe section, which absorbs the heat from its surroundings.
The system’s specially designed fan ensures air circulation.
In practical operation, it became clear that the new Shuttle SS51G system is just as much a pleasure to work with as its predecessor, the SS40G with an AMD processor. In the laboratory, the Mini PC was subjected to a wide range of test scenarios, including a CPU burn-in test, which includes uninterrupted operation of around 30 hours at maximum load. The Mini PC passed all the tests without problems, even though the fully-equipped system (with GeForce 4 Ti 4600, two hard drives and extra network card) generated a fair amount of heat; we recorded a blistering 50-55°C (122-131°F) within the PC. The actual convection is handled by the effective heatpipe, which is coupled with a speed-regulated fan.
Mini Power Supply v. Standard Power Supply
Although the power supply that comes with the Mini PC is highly compact, it does its job well enough – even when you’ve got all components running and peripherals in the AGP and PCI slots as well. The bottom picture compares a conventional ATX power supply to a Micro ATX power supply. All the same: in PCs of the discount class ($1,000 to $1,500), there aren’t any power supplies that match the high quality of the one in the right-hand picture.
Left, 200W micro power supply; on the right, a powerful 350W standard ATX power supply.
Verdict: “Mini” has a maxi future
The performance of the ultra-compact PC system is no small feat: equipped in the THG lab with ingredients such as Intel P4/2533, GeForce 4 Ti 4600 and DDR333 RAM, the Shuttle can easily take on high-performance big towers. Computers in the discount class don’t have a chance. Added to that, it provides for pleasant noise conditions, thanks to actively regulated heatpipe cooling, and this is not something you’re going to find factory-equipped in those antiquated “tin monsters.” For a further look at the consistent pace of development, refer to our previous tests Goodbye to Hulking PCs: Athlon Mini-PCs Set The Trend and Build Your Own Mini-PC For The Office.
In all respects, we have to give kudos to this little powerhouse: for the first time, here’s a mini PC with an AGP slot, something with which even hard-core 3D gamers can’t argue. And rapid DDR333 RAM (CL2) is far from being standard equipment in PC systems now on the market. Of course, we tried to get the best ingredients for our test of the mini PC. But it’s still up to the user to either install a GeForce 4 Ti graphics card, including digital TV card, or to equip the machine with a RAID controller. There’s definitely space for two hard drives of at least 80 GB capacity. On this score, though, the Shuttle system comes in for a bit of criticism, which also means that there’s room for improvement. The fact that modern hard drives at 7,200 rpm get very hot becomes a critical factor – in conjunction with a GeForce 4 Ti graphics card running permanently, this can lead to a curtailed life span. At all events, air flow should be improved so that the hard drive and graphics card are given the benefit of a bit more fresh air. That’s because the heatpipe’s temperature-regulated fan orientates itself solely on the CPU heat emission, and that, in turn, depends on the load. Help could be provided by a defined channel for air in the case, combined with a modified front panel for a better rate of air flow. This only applies when the mini PC is outfitted with the maximum of components, as in the case with our test computer. For most users, one hard drive is ample, and heat problems are unlikely to arise, even during continuous operation.
Ultimately, this is an outstanding product that has room for further development (optimized air flow, new designs). Some critics’ old argument that mini PCs aren’t at the same performance level as the big tower PCs has been deflated with this test system. What’s left is a price tag of just under $400 – a lot of money for a barebones PC without components, but not too much for an individual system to steal the limelight from any hulking tower. As is the case in real life – a beautiful exterior with an innovative concept comes at a price. It’s time to stop selling PC systems on the market based on the “price” argument.
