Shuttle SB81P: Intel's 915G

Final Words

There's a lot about the SB81P to talk about. Firstly, its exterior is beautifully crafted and simply looks great. It's not as flashy as Monarch's Hornet Pro, perhaps, but it is more sleek and professional looking. The side panels and rear case design are also very attractive and complement the SB81P's front quite nicely.

The SB81P's interior is also quite exceptional. The combination of tie-offs, screwless drive bay design, and neatly routed and well placed cables and components make the interior of this case a joy to work with. Enthusiasts will go "ga-ga" over this level of organization and thoughtfulness. Of course, this is nothing new for Shuttle, being the creator of the SFF.

Thirdly, we were pleased to see that Shuttle dealt with the Prescott heat issue very well. They placed two rather large fans at the sides of the ICE heatpipe for maximum airflow to lower temperatures. The two rear exhaust fans at the top of the case provide the necessary air flow to hard/optical drives without trapping hot air down below on the CPU and motherboard. The addition of a South Bridge heatsink isn't surprising, but is actually unnecessary given its already low temperature during maximum load. Clearly, though, the South Bridge heatsink is a nice addition for precautionary purposes.

All in all, if you're the type of user who can live with an SFF that's an "average" high end performer with just above average noise levels, but is feature-rich and very good looking, then the SB81P is probably your best bet. On the other hand, if you're looking for an SFF with the absolute best performance in its class, whisper quiet operation, basic features, and a lower price tag, you'll definitely want to look elsewhere. In fact, we're currently in the middle of testing an SFF just like that. We'll let you know how that SFF turns out later this week.
As always, you can read our previous reviews for more information on all types of SFFs by clicking the "Systems" tab at the top of this page.