Shuttle SB51G

Well, let’s start with the classical solution. The first SFF system to appear in the market, which was designed as a “cube”, was produced by Shuttle Company. Today Shuttle offers systems built with all the newest chipsets. One of them, SB51G, is based on i845GE. Here are its specifications:

• Supports Socket478 Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Celeron processors with 533MHz and 400MHz system bus;
• Supports Hyper-Threading technology;
• i845GE ñchipset with ICH4 South Bridge;
• 2 DDR DIMM slots supporting up to 2GB DDR200/DDR266/DDR333 SDRAM;
• AGP 4x slot and 1 PCI slot;
• Integrated graphics core: 256-bit Intel Extreme Graphics;
• 6-channel AC97 sound codec: Realtek ALC 650 with SPDIF In and Out support;
• Integrated IEEE1394 controller: VIA VT6306;
• One 3.5" internal bay for ATA/100 hard disk drive, one 3.5" external bay for a standard 1.44MB floppy disk drive, one 5.25" external bay for an external ATA/100 optical drive;
• Integrated 10/100Mbit Ethernet controller: Realtek 8100B;
• 200W power supply unit from Achme;
• Four USB 2.0 ports (two on the front panel and two on the back panel of the case);
• Three IEEE1394 ports (one on the front panel and two on the back panel of the case);
• Dimensions: 200mm (length) x 185mm (height) x 300mm (depth).

As we see, SB51G barebone system is intended for solutions with Intel Pentium 4 or Celeron processors compatible with Socket478 interface. The system supports all the newest CPUs with Hyper-Threading technology and 533MHz system bus. With the i845GE chipset inside, SB51G features an integrated graphics core, however, it also allows using add-on graphics cards, as it is equipped with an AGP 4x slot. The memory subsystem of Shuttle SB51G works with DDR SDRAM and supports both: DDR266 as well as the more up-to-date DDR333. ICH4 South Bridge used with i845GE adds the support of USB 2.0, ATA/100 and 6-channel sound. The additional onboard controllers integrated onto the mainboard PCB prove Shuttle SB51G with IEEE1394 ports and 10/100Mbit Ethernet support.

SB51G system features very typical appearance of a SFF PC from Shuttle. The system is assembled in a “cube”-shaped case, which is about 2.5 times lower than a standard minitower case. The case is made of anodized aluminum, and the front panel is covered with a thick piece of toned plexiglas.

SFF PC from Shuttle includes a PC case with a power supply unit, cooling solution and a mainboard. Unlike many other barebone manufacturers, Shuttle doesn’t bundle its systems with any drives. That is why you will have to buy a CPU, memory, a HDD, an optical drive and, maybe, a floppy drive and an add-on graphics card.

Let’s take a closer look at Shuttle SB51G now.

The front panel of Shuttle SB51G features the traditional LEDs indicating power and HDD addressing, as well as the Power and Reset buttons. Note that the power indicator is made of a very bright blue LED, which is not that common for regular PC case owners. Also the front panel of Shuttle SB51G is equipped with a few ports for easy connection of additional equipment. Among them there are 2 USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE1394 port, and optical SPDIF audio Out, headset and Mic jacks.

Besides the ports on the front panel of the case we have just mentioned, there are some ports at the back panel as well.

Here we can find two serial ports, D-Sub Out for the monitor, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2 IEEE1394 ports, one RJ45 network connector, PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, an optical SPDIF In, and a set of sound ports for the 6-channel sound system. This way, Shuttle SB51G allows connecting a lot of different peripheral devices. The only thing that we wish were there is the parallel port.