Thursday, April 7, 2005

NVIDIA nForce4 Based SFF Reviewed. Shuttle SN25P XPC Barebone Examined

10:42 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

NVIDIA’s nForce4 core-logic based mainboards brought a number of impressive feature-set and strong performance to the desktop PCs running AMD Athlon 64 processors.  Now Shuttle is here to put one of the most advanced platforms in a small form-factor PC.

“While the “standard” nForce4 chip used in the SN25P cannot support SATA-II/300 disk connectivity, nor can it support dual PCI Express graphics card like the nForce4 SLI, it still provides the vast majority of the core nForce4 functions in an incredibly small system. Raw performance will not be much greater compared to the previous generation SN95G5, but the SN25P can use top of the line PCI Express graphics cards, which the SN95G5 cannot. With an Athlon64 FX-55 processor and a GeForce 6800 Ultra PCIe card in this box, performance will be far and above competing Intel XPC options. In gaming, at least,” writes GamePC.

“While the SN25P is probably the best Athlon64 based XPC, we can’t help but wonder if Shuttle went the extra mile or not. In our opinion, Shuttle should’ve used the chassis they did with the SB86i which is not only the more beautiful, but also very silent and offers identical expansion features. Sure, it’s based on a BTX design, but we really think that a little more effort from Shuttle might have helped in modifying that chassis for the Athlon64 based platform especially since they don’t run as hot as Pentium4s nowadays. Besides the design, there were three other things that the SN25P could’ve improved upon. First- it’s a bit noisy; second- it’s a bit hard to install a dual slot video solution which is certainly tempting- considering the awesome 350W PSU present inside and lastly, the choice of an x1 PCI-E over the standard 32-bit PCI slot which has a lot more expansion cards available for it,” concludes t-break.

• GamePC: Third Time’s The Charm  Shuttle’s SN25P nVidia nForce4 XPC.
• t-break: Shuttle SN25P XPC.

Enermax Wins 500W PSU Roundup. Leading PSUs Under Investigation

10:30 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

HardCOREware.net has issued a round-up of five high-end power supply units, in an attempt to find the best one in terms of quality, power stability, features and price among Enermax EG701P-VE (24P) 600W, CleverPower SPS-500 500W, Silverstone Zeus ST52F 520W, Ultra ULT-31638 500W and Skyhawk GM-620SC 570W.

“In terms of recommendations, the Enermax is the winner overall, although the Silverstone is not trailing far behind. Both power supplies offered a plethora of connectors, high current rails and an excellent MBF. Where the Silverstone fell short however, was with the one year warranty. It was however, the only power supply in this round up that was EPS12V compliant so those looking for a quality power supply for your dual CPU system need not look any further,” concludes hardCOREware.net.

• hardCOREware.net: 500 Watt+ Power Supply Comparison Q1 05.

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