XPC SB51G

Quadratic, handy, good: Even the Shuttle cube knows how to convince Cutter. So much of a PC in a petite case - this has stunned many. By now also available in black.
+ stylish design
+ Firewire standard
+ interesting even for sound specialists thanks to the digital   recording port

Quadratisch, praktisch, gut: Auch der Shuttle-Kubus weiß Cutter zu überzeugen. So viel PC in einem so zierlichen Gehäuse - das hat schon viele verblüfft. Ab sofort auch in schwarz zu haben.
+ schickes Design
+ Firewire serienmäßig
+ dank des digitalen Aufnahmeanschlusses auch für Sound-Spezialisten interessant

As boards and case are saled as a unit, very special details are realizable. So the CPU of the Shuttle SB51G is cooled with a Heatpipe. Special heat strings lead from the CPU to the so-called case ventilator. This way the heat is led to the outside. (...) The Shuttle Barebone grants, thanks to integrated i845GE mainboard, even the P4 a decent home: There are neither cabels nor high elements attached around the PCI or AGP slot. This makes the installation a lot easier.

Memory bandwidth with Pentium 4 2,4 GHz:
convincing result with CHIP-Bench32: 680 MB/s 

(...) da Board und Gehäuse als Einheit verkauft werden, sind auch sehr spezielle Details realisierbar. So wird die CPU des Shuttle SB51G über eine so genannte Heatpipe gekühlt. Spezielle Wärmeleitstränge führen von der CPU zu einem Gehäuselüfter. So wird die Wärme direkt ins Freie geleitet. (...) Der Shuttle-Barebone SB51G bietet dank integriertem i845GE-Mainboard sogar dem HyperThreading-P4s ein aufgeräumtes Zuhause: Direkt um den jeweiligen PCI- und AGP-Steckplatz sind keine Kabel oder hochragende Bauteile zu finden. Das erleichtert den Einbau (...)

Speicherdurchsatz mit Pentium 4 2,4GHz:
überzeugendes Ergebnis mit CHIP-Bench32: 680 MB/s

SB51G review now online:
www.pc-magazin.de/...

Overall full rating (very good) with 5 out of 5
Even beginners are able to install the system within few minutes with the enclosed manual. (...) In order to build a complete system for office, internet or multimedia, the Do-it-yourself-man needs just a processor, memory and drives. (...) The chipset supports even the Hyper-Threading function of the Pentium 4. The cooling is done by a centrically placed fan. This makes the system pretty silent despite its compact size.

The German "PC Games" magazine has tested a complete system based on Shuttle XPC (issue 4/03, page 176):
"Conclusion: A dream for every PC gamer! Small, handy and high-end inside.

It is very powerful in gaming. (...) We have compared its 3D performance with a desktop system and found no difference. The Shuttle X is unbeatable thanks to its outstanding equipment."

from page 106:
"Mini-PC: small systems, small prices"

page 111:
"From Barebone to an elegant PC system"

The Mini-PC as video recorder

With its small measurements and low noise development is not only the eyecatcher on LAN parties, but there is also no need to hide from the "boring" masses concering its high performance.(...) Convincing was on the one hand the innovative idea of packing a full functional computer system into such a small case, on the other hand protecting the option of upgrading and the aspect of user-friendliness. Due to that, numerous applications open up for the SB51G: use for home cinema in the living-room, or as an internet server in a exsisting network. Shuttles XPCs are easily suited even as office PCs.(...) The practical operations are wide spread and unlimited in any case, so Shuttle's midget can rise to a real allrounder by its numerous onboard features and ports on the front side. (...) A positive fact is Shuttle's especially for the XPCs developed cooling system that works efficiently and is quite calm all in all.
Due to these plenty positive aspects it makes us give a plain purchase recommendation, considering the price of 325 € for such an innovative system including a high quality case, a sufficient 200 Watt power supply unit, an efficient and calm cooling system as well as a mainboard equipped with a lot of onboard features. :-)
This is why we wish to award the Shuttle barebone SB51G our Editor's Choice Award, in regard to its great performance, the very innovative design and the whole appearance. Congratulations to Shuttle for this product!

Ganz klare Kaufempfehlung...

Mit den sehr geringen Abmessungen des Gehäuses und niedrigen Laufgeräuschen macht solch ein Barebone nicht nur als "Hingucker" auf LAN-Parties eine gute Figur, sondern brauch sich in seiner Leistungsfähigkeit keinesfalls hinter der "langweiligen" Masse zu verstecken. (...) Überzeugt hat uns zum einen die innovative Idee ein komplettes und dazu noch voll funktionsfähiges Computersystem in ein derart kleines Gehäuse zu bauen und trotzdem den Aspekt der Erweiterbarkeit und Benutzerfreundlichkeit zu wahren. Somit tuen sich zahlreiche Anwendungsgebiete für das SB51G auf, als Wohnzimmer-PC, der auch als Home-Cinema genutzt wird und dazu noch als Internetserver für ein bestehendes Netzwerk dient. Auch als Office-PCs sind die Shuttle XPCs ohne weiteres geeignet. (...) Die Einsatzgebiete des Barebones sind jedenfalls breit gefächert und sind keine Grenzen gesetzt, denn durch die vielen OnBoardfeatures und Frontanschlüsse anvanciert der Shuttle Zwerg zum absoluten Allrounder. (...) Positiv ist auch in jedem Fall noch das eigens von Shuttle für die Barebones entwickelte Kühlungssystem aufgefallen, das sehr effektiv arbeitet und dazu noch recht leise ist.
Aufgrund dieser vielen positiven Eindrücke können wir hier eine ganz klare Kaufempfehlung aussprechen, denn in Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass man für ca. 325 € eine innovatives System, sprich ein sehr gut verarbeitetes Gehäuse samt einem ausreichenden 200 Watt Netzteil, ein effektives und leises Kühlungsystem und ein mit vielen OnBoardfeatures ausgestattetes Mainboard erhält :-) 
Deshalb wollen wir gerade wegen der gebotenen Leistung, dem wirklich innovativen Design und dem rundum überzeugenden Auftritt in unserem Test, dem Shuttle SB51G Barebone unseren Editor's Choice Award verleihen. Glückwunsch an Shuttle zu diesem Produkt! 

Alienware Navigator Pro based on Shuttle SB51G was selected for the category "20 Products We Love" from PC World USA, the largest PC publication in the world, with a circulation of 6.3 million readers.

"The 20 winners here fulfill their missions elegantly, through skillful engineering and good industrial design. (...) Because we're passionate about these computing tools, we're calling them the Stuff We Love. (...) Alienware's first Windows XP Media Center Edition PC provides virtually every kind of expansion port or card slot up front, and it has hookups for cable TV, ports for digital and analog displays, and optical audio output in back. (...)"

Introduction

Small form factor PC's (commonly known as SFF's) have become one of the few new products in the computer industry which everyone seems to be excited about. Sure, the big stories like Intel vs. AMD and nVidia vs. ATI dominate the headlines, but SFF's are something everyone can enjoy. They're stylish, quiet, and they fit into nearly every nook and cranny of your office. The small size of the Shuttle XPC family has multiple benefits, and goes far beyond what this motherboard company originally wanted to sell, small desktop replacements.

The small size of the Shuttle XPC systems makes it easier for gamers to bring their own systems to LAN parties. Multimedia lovers can shove them in an entertainment center and have them work as a media PC. Business users who need powerful systems for presentations and off-site computing can also make use of the XPC. In some of the more extreme cases, we have seen entire shelves of rackmount systems replaced by Shuttle SFF boxes, as their use of off-the-shelf components and low-cost compared to rackmounts makes them overall a better value for clustered computing environments. The uses are truly endless. 

(...) We often get asked if we can recommend the "best" SFF box on the market right now. Of course, "best" is a loaded word, as this term could mean best performance, best features, or best value. In terms of performance and features, there are two of the Shuttle XPC boxes which really stand out from the rest for these areas. These two are the newly released SN41G2 for the Athlon XP and SB51G XIB for the Pentium 4. These two have instantly become the most popular XPC boxes in their respective fields, and with good reason, they're simply the best two XPC systems Shuttle has ever built. (...)

The Final Word

Both of these Shuttle boxes have sold fairly well, and really, anyone who has purchased one of these system can tell you first hand that they are quality boxes. Both are sturdy, stable, perform well, and are quite small and quiet to boot. (...)

When you look at overall performance with our high-end configurations, the numbers are fairly even comparing the SN41G2 with the Athlon XP 3000+ and the SB51G XIB with the Pentium 4 3.06 GHz. The Pentium 4 is a faster chip, but runs on a slower chipset. The Athlon XP isn't as fast as the Pentium 4, but its superb nForce2 chipset running with it allows it to achieve new levels of greatness. Each platform wins its fair share of benchmarks, neither is the clear winner. (...)

(...) For now though, the SN41G2 is the SFF to beat. For all the other motherboard manufacturers out there looking to get into the SFF market, take note, this is how a SFF should be made.

"Would you ever like to have a PC with the dimensions of a toaster? Then Shuttle X is the solution for you. The name "power-dwarf" is the absolutely correct name for it (...) Concerning the gaming benchmarks it behaves like a large one. (...) The glowing front panel is a real eye-catcher for each LAN party.
Conclusion: (...) is the perfect LAN party PC, because it is leight, compact and a racing machine."

Equippment: P4/3GHz, ATI Radeon 9700Pro, 512MB DDR333, 120GB HDD, DVD-R/W-CD-Combo, cordless mouse, mini-keyboard, TV card, glowing panel, card reader, carry bag, WinXP Pro

Small and good
(...) The front plate is made of smoke-tinted glass, so the usual computer-color looks pretty suitable in SB51G und black drives are not necessary. (...) The chipset supports Hyper-Threading, and so we treat it hard with a 3.06 GHz P4 with Hyper-Threading. Here you can notice the efficiency of the headpipe. Even under full load, when the CPU consumption is almost 100W, the fan speeds up to just 2700 rpm, which is acceptable. (...) We can recommend the XPC SB51G for those, who prefer P4 CPUs.

The current status of the project can be looked up at PC-max.de.

See more about the current state at the German forum of  PC-max.de 

"Inside this tiny Shuttle XPC Mini PC anyhow, a water cooling for the CPU (pentium 4/2,66GHz) and a graphics card is additionally built in. A "Black Ice"- Micro-Radiator adjusts heat removal, a Hydor-Pro-Pump - installed below the hard disk on the drive's frame - sees to flowing water. The header tank made of plexiglass-tube (5 cm diameter) is lighted by two ultrabright LEDs.  

Beim ersten CHIP-Modding-Wettbewerb hat Michael Herrmann aus Schwetzingen mit seinem Shuttle XPC SB51G den 10. Platz bekommen:

"In diesem ohnehin schon winzigen Shuttle-XPC-Mini-PC ist zusätzlich noch eine Wasserkühlung für Prozessor (Pentium 4/2,66 GHz) und Grafikkarte (Asus Geforce4 Ti-4600) untergebracht. Ein "Black Ice"-Micro-Radiator (Wärmetauscher) regelt die Wärmeabfuhr; eine Hydor-Pro-Pumpe - unter der Festplatte im abgeänderten Laufwerks-Rahmen montiert - sorgt für fließend Wasser. Der Ausgleichsbehälter aus Plexiglas-Rohr (5 cm Durchmesser) wird von zwei ultrahellen LEDs beleuchtet."

With AGP slot excellent for gaming
In the case of Shuttle you can mount without any problem the harddisk, CD-ROM drive and floppy drive. Extra feature is a special double ball-bearing cooling system. Thanks to the heatpipe it is sufficient to use only one fan to cool both, CPU and system. The heatpipe contains a special fluid what is used to transport heat from CPU to the fan. On the back side we have the full range of connectors, including optical connector (SPDIF) supported by built-in sound card. The performance of this computer when using the internal graphics and CPU Celeron 1700GHz is 1250 in 3DMark and 133 points in SysMark 2001. It's enough for many users. Beside the PCI slot you will also find an AGP slot. Here you can install another high-performance graphics card which make the system excellent for gaming.

English:
www6.tomshardware.com/...

Fazit: Ausbaufähiges PC-Konzept mit guter Verarbeitungsqualität 
Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen: Beide Mini-Systeme bieten eine hohe Performance, die durchaus mit gut konfigurierten konventionellen PCs vergleichbar ist. Während in der Vergangenheit besonders die 3D-Grafik-Leistung schwach ausfiel, bietet jetzt das Shuttle SN41G2 für die AMD-Plattform selbst bei 3D-Spielen akzeptable Bildwiederholraten. Wer auf Top-3D-Grafik wert legt, kann bei beiden Systemen eine Highend-AGP-Grafikkarte installieren. Unter dem Strich bieten die Shuttle-Barebone's auf äußerst knappen Abmessungen bei niedrigem Gewicht eine hohe Gesamtleistung. Zudem gibt es alle erdenklichen Schnittstellen von Firewire über USB 2.0 bis hin zu optischem SP/DIF. Nicht zuletzt sind die Systeme mit Aluminiumgehäuse ein optischer Blickfang im Umfeld der konventionellen Blechkisten im Kübel-Format. Beide Rechner bieten wesentliche Highlights: Während des Intel-System mit 845GE-Chipsatz die P4-CPUs mit Hyperthreading unterstützt, verfügt das AMD-System über zwei VGA-Ausgänge und Dual-Channel-DDR400. Allein diese Tatsache zeigt, dass ein PC mit äußerst kompakten Abmessungen keine Einschränkungen bei Hardwareausstattung mit sich bringen muss.

Two XPCs in comparision: SN41G2 and SB51G:

Conclusion: Upgradable PC concept with a good quality of workmanship
To sum it up it can be stated: Both mini systems present high performance that is quite comparible to well-configurated conventional PCs. While 

Mini-PCs auf der Überholspur: Mit schneller 3D-Grafik und potentem Speicherinterface machen sie den Standard-Rechnern bald ernsthaft Konkurrenz.

Mini-PCs on the passing lane: Equipped with fast 3D graphics and potent memory interface, XPCs enter into competition with standard PC systems very soon.