Construction
Click to enlarge.
We mentioned before the tool-less design of the chassis; this is a two-edged sword as far as construction goes. Tool- less designs are generally more difficult to make and require some additional R&D, but with the use of plastic clips for many of the snap-on devices, there is a greater potential for the parts to wear out. If you don't plan to upgrade frequently, this should not be a problem, but if you were to open the case on a weekly basis and move parts around or whatever, the plastic parts could wear out. Still, we'll take a well done, tool-less approach over screws any time! With the otherwise tool-less design, we would have liked to see them address the expansion card retention mechanism as well.
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| Click on images to enlarge. | |
The HSF of the SN25P is composed of a copper base with heatpipes connected to the radiator fins. Previous XPC cases have used a much longer heatpipe design located at the rear of the case. The new version consists of a smaller HSF with a "wind tunnel" located toward the front of the case. There are two fans directly cooling the HSF: one is attached to the HSF, and the other is a larger fan mounted on the chassis. With both being temperature controlled and powered by 4-pin connections, noise and cooling should be more than adequate. The overall design is rather reminiscent of some of the concepts that the BTX form factor is supposed to bring to desktop PCs.
We have a few last comments on the construction of the SN25P, focusing on the front panel. Overall, it is well done and shouldn't present any serious problems. The plastic covers are relatively thick and the optical drive door opens and closes as the tray goes in and out. The doors could be broken off by careless handling, of course, so pay attention to them if you're moving the case around. The plastic can also be scratched, especially with anything sharp, and such a mark would be very noticeable. Such concerns are common for most SFF designs, so as long as you pay attention to what you're doing, there shouldn't be any difficulties.
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CrystalBay - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
Nice review, 375.00 is that Shuttle's retail price ?I like the PSU is there any rating on the 12v line.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
8 - I didn't have any difficulty installing a DVD drive into the SN25P. The "button" has a fairly large range of movement, which allows it to work well. Also, the screw-less design of the CD worked well for me.As far as the graphs go, my intention is to actually go back and add in figures for the SN95G5 and Soltek 3901-300 Pro when I finish testing them, so in the future the charts will hopefully become more meaningful. Having only run one set of benchmarks for this particular configuration made the benchmarks somewhat superfluous for the time being. :|
Gioron - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
One thing that I noticed was that all the noise and heat graphs were on their own seperate scale. This might not be as big a deal when there are multiple cases on the chart, but when there is only one it makes it impossible to just run your eye down the chart and see what the range is. I'd really recommend picking the largest scale and sticking with it for all the charts (and preferably, do the same when there is more than one case on those graphs).Other than that minor layout glitch, a fairly good review. One thing I was wondering, however, was how well the cover over the CD drive works. I know my G5 series case takes a lot of tweaking to get the CD drive positioned just right so that the button will actually open the drive, have they improved that in the P series chasis?
OrSin - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
Not impressed at all.Case too big, and no PCI slot is huge turn off for me.
I think alot SSF users use thier system as HTPC and this system just will not work. I would perfer a wider case, than a taller one. And no PCI slot means no TV tuner or FTA cards.
Maybe I will wait for the one with the ATI motherboard, or the Biostar or just get a HTPC case and get a real motherboard in it.
Oh yeah $400 is little steap even for SFF cases.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
#5 - blame my camera. It's definitely NOT a high-end model. Most of the external shots were provided by Shuttle, so I used those as a better quality image. The front panel *does* have a speckled look to it. Maybe I'll see about upgrading to a better camera in the future. Right now, the originals are taken at 2048x1536 (the max of my 3 MP Fuji camera), but after cropping and misc. cleanup I resized them to a more manageable format.IceWindius - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
Ok, why do alot of these picture in their large format look very grainy like it was done in 640x480 mode?IceWindius - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
Well see how well this machine does in the reliable department as many people complained about the SN95g's issues.That and I want to see Creative make a PCI-E soundcard as well as onboard sucks period.
deathwalker - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
#1...for the most part i agree that overclocking wont be a issue with a lot of SFF buyers. One point of concern for me would be the absence of a PCI slot for standard PCI periphrials..such as a TV tuner card..which i have in my system and use frequently.This does look like an attractive device though with a little extra room than most SFF's and a Power Supply with some performance margin in it.
pbrain - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
Fantastic review. Now, where and when are they going be available?!segagenesis - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
And I thought my SN41G2 was expensive at $300 when it was new. Ouch!Good review, however. I dont think overclocking is a major selling point for a SFF when most people want one for noise/size/convenience.