Shuttle XPC SN95G5 nForce3 Ultra SFF Review

The SN95G5 is a 64-bit workhorse in a sexy black box built with whatever components you want to throw in it. So if you want to throw an AthlonFX CPU, 2GB of PC3200, AGP Geforce 6800GT, 74GB WD Raptor (10,000rpm) HDD, and a 16x DVD burner in there, no one is stopping you from building such a speed demon. How does it compare to a regular PC? For one, it takes up a fraction of the space of a regular PC. Did we mention it’s quiet? Oh yeah, you can barely hear this thing running. Well, that’s assuming that you don’t install some insane video card with massive fan or blower on it.

Which leads to another point. The AGP slot only allows room for a single-slot video card. Not that many of us can afford dual-slot hogging AGP cards, but that’s the reality of the situation. Even if Shuttle had left room to install a two-slotter, the power supply would likely not be able to power the system since it is limited to 240 watts. That aside, it really is a kick-ass workstation. Sure, the SN95G5 only has one PCI slot, but the reality is that pretty much every extra you could ever want or need is already built onto the motherboard.

…All in all, this PC very much fits the bill for pretty much any role you throw at it. The only place where it may come up short is if you need a heavy video rendering workstation. As mentioned before, the room for only a single slot AGP and 240 watt PSU prevents choosing the really high-end video cards.

Pros:
Small and quiet
AMD Socket 939 supports Athlon64 and FX CPUs
NVidia nForce 3 Ultra chipset
SATA support and RAID 0 and 1
Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, SPDIF in/out
Cons:
Tight space and 240 watt PSU might limit video card choice
Expandability limited by one PCI slot and two DIMM slots

Shuttle XPC SN95G5
Ars Technica