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Shuttle SDXi Water-Cooled SFF PC
MojoKid writes "Shuttle Computer single-handedly invented the SFF PC or Small Form-Factor PC a few years back. Their line of XPC mini-PC systems, no bigger than a toaster oven, has evolved nicely over the years. This article takes a look at the features and performance of a new XPC from Shuttle that is built on a i975X/Core 2 Duo platform and is designed with the PC enthusiast in mind. The SDXi features a number of unique features like a built-in water-cooler for Radeon GPU-based graphics cards and a slick, flamed-out paint job that you've just got to see." Update: 07/08 23:53 GMT by KD : Here is a link to the version split over 12 pages, in which the images are clickable thumbnails.
The article mentions a problem that I have had with Shuttle systems all along: Noise. Even though it's water cooled, they found noise to still be a problem.
If I could be choosy, this is what I want in my typical SFF system:
- One full size x16 PCI express slot for my big graphics card (that should fit and be adequately cooled)
- Space for two hard drives in the chassis, along with one optical drive
- Near silence except when doing something intense, like gaming or encoding
- Of course, small.
When will I get such a system!?
I was on an SFF kick a few years back, built several SFF systems for friends. I thought they were the greatest thing. Then I came across an SK43G that wouldn't be stable.
a d/50166/
Here's a long thread on Sudhian discussing it:
http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewthre
I've built lots of computers. I know there are quirks and problems. What really frustrated me is that shuttle did *nothing* to help an obvious design or manufacturing error. So, I was stuck with bad hardware. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me VERY leary to try another shuttle, or to recommened one to a friend.
For this friend, I ended up taking the system back, swapping out parts and getting him a different box. He LOVED the shuttle design, so it was a similar system. I have the SK43G around here somewhere, still not sure if I trust it.
Shuttle did well with their innovative heat pipe system, which is a rigid, sealed unit connecting a heat exchanger atop the CPU with one near an air outlet and fan. The case and motherboard were designed around the cooling system. That's what makes their small form factor PCs workable without overheating problems. We used those things outdoors in summer, while field testing robots, and they held up well. I've never had a Shuttle PC overheat, even at 105F ambient.
But the new graphics card cooling technology looks like a tacky afterthought. Big hoses all over the place. Too much plumbing. It comes with a paint job that might look good on a pickup with a lift job. So you get a sense of the target market.
If you like this sort of thing, go read "Soon, I Will be Invincible!", the fictional memoir of an evil mad scientist who tries to take over the world. It's the classic dweeb fantasy, with appropriate interior decoration.
Words cannot express how much a flame paintjob puts me off buying something. The computer could run off 16 cores and come with 2TB of HDD space pre-filled with porn, with a robotic arm that gives handjobs every hour on the hour and I still wouldn't want it with that fucking paintjob. I mean really, how big can the market be for "PC enthusiasts" who are 12 years old?
"Lastly, we set Windows XP's Visual Effects to "best performance," installed all of our benchmarking software, defragged the hard drives, and ran all of the tests."
Nice to note that the only non-UNIX based OS on the market continues to come from MS. Too bad such a nice little box is held back by such a stoic, muzzle-loading OS.
Not saying that it can't be done, but I think you underestimate the importance of that empty space for air. It is fairly easy to make a quiet system in a large case without resorting to fancy cooling by using larger but slower RPM fans. It works since there is a lot of airflow. When you compress the entire case, you put the three largest heat producers that much closer together (CPU, PSU, Video card). Without that space, you are stuck with either using smaller louder fans (with decreased efficiency due to the cramped conditions), or using basically laptop hardware, which is a different market segment altogether.
No sense mentioning one of my all-time favorite PCs, the Compaq Deskpro EN SFF. I've got a PII-350 which I think means it even predates Apple's Cube. (And, IIRC, they were available with classic (socket-7) Pentiums, which puts them even further in the past.) Tiny, with built-in 10-100 and two PCI slots. Very, very handy little boxes.
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