SFF Roundup, Socket 939 Systems

Shuttle XPC SN95G5 (cont'd)

Construction

The construction of the Shuttle cases has always been very good, and the SN95G5 is no exception. The case is composed of a steel and aluminum frame. The cover is aluminum with a brushed finish, as are the covers on the front of the case. The front panel is constructed of plastic for the most part, but the aluminum covers help to make it more attractive. As a whole, the case is very light while maintaining a feeling of durability. It wouldn't stand up to a lot of abuse, but then, few computer users really plan to beat on their equipment.

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The internal construction is again of high quality. There are no sharp edges that we noticed; although, if you were really determined, you can still find a few ways to scrape your fingers on various pieces of the motherboard. A folded IDE cable comes pre-installed in Shuttle's "integrated cable management system" and helps to keep things tidy. For the HDD, SATA and/or IDE cables need to be installed, but the HDD sits right above the ports and the cables don't require much in the way of routing.

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Shuttle uses their ICE (Integrated Cooling Engine) design for the CPU as well as the case. A 92mm fan blows over the fins on the end of the heatpipe. It works very well in our tests, with low noise levels and the ability to run the CPU even at overclocked speeds without much trouble.

The only complaints that we have are pretty minor. The cover of the case can stick a bit when you remove or install it, though we'd say the same of almost every SFF that we've tested. We also had more issues with the screws Shuttle uses. The thumbscrews are fine, but the screws for the HDD, DVD, expansion slots, and drive tray all seem to be very fragile, as we mentioned in our review of the SB61G2. Even when being careful, it is possible to strip a screw after a couple of uses. Whatever material that Shuttle is using, it just doesn't hold up well when you install and remove hardware frequently. Luckily, plenty of extra screws are included.

Setup

The SN95G5 is very easy to work with. We actually feel that the ICE heatpipe solution of the G5 is more convenient than the new design in the P chassis, although cooling requirements for a loaded system are different. With the drive tray removed, accessing the CPU socket is straightforward, and getting everything back together presents few difficulties. Installing CPUs in the P chassis is more difficult, and the expansion cards still required a screwdriver, so they're not any easier to work with. Really, the only benefit of the P chassis other than expansion is that the HDD and DVD are installed with clip-on rails instead of screws.

After removing the drive cage and heatpipe, you install the RAM and CPU. The hard drive (or hard drives, if you install one in the external 3.5" bay) should be installed while the drive cage is removed. When installing the DVD, we found it easier to install the drive cage and then position the DVD so that the front buttons match up before fastening the screws. We should also mention that you will want to use a newer model optical drive, as they tend to be about an inch shorter in length. We did manage to fit an older 16X CD-RW into the case, so it is possible, but we definitely don't recommend it.

All told, it requires about 15 to 20 minutes to assemble the SN95G5, although taking longer just to be safe is never a bad idea. We would also like to mention that Shuttle is one of the best when it comes to installation instructions. All of the images are clearly taken with the exact system model that you're assembling. If you have even a moderate amount of skill with a toolset, following the Quick Installation Guide should present few, if any, problems. On the other hand, installing and configuring the software is a bit more complex.

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The BIOS configuration is similar to most motherboards, and we won't spend too much time on it. Depending on your RAM, you may or may not have to set the timings manually in order to get optimal performance. Even some high quality 2-2-2-5 RAM will default to 2.5-2-2-5 timings, and for socket 939 systems, our own memory guru Wesley has determined that a tRAS value of 7 or 8 is often fractionally faster. We ran our OCZ RAM at 2-2-2-7 timings in all of our tests with a 1T command rate where available. The SN95G5 has a "Normal" and "Performance" option for command rate, with "Performance" corresponding to a 1T rate. We had no difficulties using this setting. Overclocking options are also present in the BIOS, with a CPU bus speed of up to 280 MHz along with an assortment of voltage adjustments for the CPU, chipset, RAM, and AGP slot. Those interested in the remaining BIOS screens can find them in our SN95G5 image archive.

After setting up the BIOS and installing Windows XP, it's time to install the motherboard drivers. The Shuttle CD provides all of the necessary files accessible through an easy-to-use interface, though Aopen's EZinstall is still the best that we've encountered (read about it in our 478 roundup). Shuttle requires you to launch separate install utilities for the motherboard drivers and network drivers, with an option to install DirectX 9.0c as well. It's pretty simple, but a single-click installation like EZinstall is still better. We also had some issues with NVIDIA's IDE driver and our CD-RW drive, which could be avoided by not installing the software IDE driver. This isn't something that we've experienced much, and the problem was somehow related to the older drive that we were using at the time. The DVD-ROM drive that we used later didn't have any trouble with the IDE driver.

Noise, Heat and Performance

In our performance benchmarks, the SN95G5 still manages to hold its own against newer models like the SN25P. There are a few benchmarks (like HL2) where the PCI Express graphics interface seems to be slightly faster, but in most instances, the performance is close enough to call it a draw. The differences could also be caused by modified BIOS or RAM settings in the PowerColor X800Pro PCIe vs. the Sapphire X800Pro AGP - we don't have low level details for either card, so we can't say for sure.

The temperature and noise benchmarks are often more important considerations for SFF users, and there are a few differences worth mentioning. Comparing the SN95G5 with the SN25P, the noise levels of the G5 are generally lower than the newcomer. The lower noise output of the G5 isn't too surprising, given the presence of five fans (plus the GPU fan) in the P chassis. Particularly under stress testing, the G5 was noticeably quieter than the SN25P - retesting the SN25P showed substantially higher stress test numbers than when we tested in the winter/spring.

Temperatures also favored the G5 in most areas, with one notable exception: the hard drive temperature. We don't foresee any problems running the G5 with a 7200 RPM drive, and even a 10,000 RPM Raptor should be okay. We would definitely recommend that you not use two hotter drives in the G5 chassis, however, as their proximity to each other and the lower air circulation is almost certain to cause a premature hard drive failure. Two Seagate 7200.x would be our choice if you want to max out the storage options. (We should note that we don't know if the 240W power supply could actually handle the load of two high-end drives in the first place.)

Overclocking performance of the SN95G5 was very good. We managed to reach a bus speed of 275 MHz with a 9X multiplier and 280 MHz with an 8X multiplier. Going for the maximum CPU speed - which generally yields the best performance on Athlon 64 systems - we scored similarly to the other systems, with 12x120 and 11x229 both reaching a speed of 2520 MHz (plus or minus). The only problem with overclocking is if you want a Venice core - those can usually hit 2.6+ GHz. The 280 MHz bus will be a limiting factor with the 3000+ in all likelihood, and of course, you would need the SN95G5v3 in the first place according to current reports. If you can get a v3 as well as a 3200+ Venice, the maximum 10x280 setting should be more than sufficient.

Overall Impressions

Despite being one of the oldest 939 SFFs - slightly older than the Soltek 3901-300P - the SN95G5 still manages to impress. It's attractive and it's certainly a small form factor design. Expansion options are more limited than in some of the other cases, but as long as you're willing to live with the limitations, it shouldn't be a problem. The new ST20G5 is a reasonable alternative, but there are still areas where we prefer the nForce 3 Ultra chipset to the ATI Xpress 200. The ATI chipset does include integrated graphics of a decent quality, but many will still use a discrete graphics card, making it a minor point. If you purchased an SN95G5 right when it was released, there's little reason to upgrade at this moment. It remains one of the most attractive designs for a SFF that we've seen to date.