XPC SS51G

also reported by:

PC World U.K.
www.pcw.co.uk/...
2. Oct. 2002

Conclusion:
"Simply astounding and well-worth the minimal effort involved"
+ Extremely compact design
+ Near-silent operation
+ AGP and PCI slots
+ Excellent manual
+ Soundly made and it looks great
+ Features: Ports-a-plenty

(...) with the new SS51, you can have all the power of a highend desktop PC in a case the size of a showbox. (...) Instead of a traditionally noisy processor cooler, the SS51 uses a clever 'heat pipe' design to keep the processor cool and this uses an ultra-quiet low-speed fan. Unless you fit a noisy hard disk or CD-ROM drive, you'll be hard-pressed to hear that this PC is actually running. (...) I f you fancy playing games, don't worry - the SS51 has one free PCI slot and an AGP slot, so you can fit the latest, greatest graphics card for truly spectacular gaming performance.

(...) the truth is, this box is something I'm planning to use for a long time. The design is beautiful, and there should be some credit directed to the engineers for packing so many features into such a small PCB. Everything you can possibly need (or not need) is here, making for a very complete package.

Other than the exterior aesthetics, the interior work is superb. It is a tight case, but not hard to work with. Wires are already routed properly, and the wires you need to install are explained in the installation guide.

I did knock the heatpipe earlier, but I can applaud Shuttle's attempt to make a servicable cooling solution that is relatively quiet. With a more powerful fan, cooling would be much improved, though your noise levels will increase.

Given it's small size, and robust features, the usefullness of the SS51 is almost limitless. It can be a great LAN rig (with the proper video card), a corporate PC, a router, fileserver, or even a TiVO. Really, even when it's served it's purpose as a performance gaming PC, it can do almost anything else you want with it.

Lest we forget, the inclusion of an AGP slot is a major boon for gamers. I know big, and fancy modded cases go garner most of the attention at LAN parties, but you'll have to break your back moving it around. I'm sure if you pick up a SS51, you'll probably shock a lot of people when they see how much kick-ass performance the XPC packs. It'll be up to you to bring the skillz though.

Pros: Good performance, AGP slot, solid and beautiful construction, stable platform. (...)

Final result: very good (Translation)
With the SS51G Shuttle has released a combination of a PC case and mainboard for Intel socket 478 cpu. The speacial feature: it is not really bigger than a box for shoes. Despite its tiny size you do not miss any feature.
Thanks AGP 4x slot you can add a graphics card. The integrated graphics of the SiS651 chipset is sufficient for the office use. A PCI slot is also available, however, all important functions are already onboard: four USB 2.0 ports, optical SPDIF input and output for digital 5.1 sound and firewire ports (IEEE1394). The performance of the recommendable SS51G XPC depends on what kind of cpu, memory and harddisk you use and it is not less powerful than big PCs. The system is certified for Pentium 4 processors up to 2.53GHz. The CPU cooling is done by a heatpipe, where a silent 80mm fan blows the heat out of the case.
+ compact dimensions
+ low noise
+ performance: very good
+ ergonomic: very good

Translation:
Editor's Choice
This award means, that a product is the best within its category, and all the competitors products must measure to it. But that is not all (...) The aluminum case of the system is not only compact and stylish, but also functional. (...) The system has only low noise. Only one fan is required for the cooling. In addition, the BIOS allows to enable the "Auto Guardian" function, which monitors the CPU temperature and slows down the fan. This works only with the enclosed CPU fan. The heat of the CPU  is led outside by a heatpipe and its fan. (...) This smart and well documented Barebone PC is an excellent choice when small dimensions and elegant design is important. It obtains the editor's choice award of ZDNet.

Es übertrifft die Konkurrenz sehr deutlich (...) noch mehr:  Es wurde tatsächlich eine Maschine, womit man alles machen kann, wenn man sie entsprechend ausstattet. (...) Der Markt ist noch jung und wird für viele Überraschungen sorgen, aber Shuttle hat soeben gezeigt, daß er das Konzept gut beherrscht (...) Dank AGP-Port ist es ziemlich zukunftssicher und es stellt außerdem eine der leisesten Lösungen in der PC-Welt dar, ohne den potentiellen Käufer zu ruinieren. (...) kann bezüglich Performance mit einem Standard ATX PC konkurrieren, wobei es den Vorteil hat, deutlich geräuschloser und transportabler zu sein ... ein PC, den man ins Wohnzimmer nehmen kann und die LAN-Party-Leute begeistern wird.

Translation: It´s better than the competition (...)  The market is still young and full of surprises, but Shuttle shows that he controls his plan. Thanks the AGP-Port its fairly certain and besides the quite solution of the PC-world, without ruin the potential customer(...) competes with the standard ATX PC, it has the advantage to be transportable and noiseless.... a PC, which you can take in your living-room and which you will inspire the LAN-party-visitors. 

Cubes with extras
From the conclusion: "The X-PC SS51G from Shuttle is more quiet [than CFI e-cube]. With its plain elegant design and moderate noise it is suitable for both, office and LAN-party."

• Processor cooling with heat-pipe and 80mm fan: only 2,3 Sone noise under normal conditions
• Very good application and gaming performance with GeForce4 Ti4200 and 2GHz P4 CPU.
• "All connections which the PC-user-heart desires, can be found at Shuttles SS51G" It offers USB 2.0, Firewire and optical digital input and output for audio.
• ACPI S3 support: only 4,7 watts in STR mode.

www.de.tomshardware.com/...
(German, 5. Aug. 2002)

www.tomshardware.com/...(English, 14. Aug. 2002)

www.thg.com.tw/...(Chinese, 20. Aug. 2002)

from the English newsletter:
Whoohoo! A Mini PC That Goes To The Max
The Word Is Out:Mini PCs Are Unstoppable
This Shuttle Mini PC is a beauty: P4 power coupled with GeForce 4 Ti and DDR333 just blaze away. And you can hear a pin drop over the noise (or the lack thereof) from this little baby - who could ask for anything more? (...) even die-hard big tower fans will have to give this baby a second look (...) At last, the case has quality written all over it, and the same goes for what's inside. (...) Ultimately, this is an outstanding product (...)