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1 2 3 4 5 6 NextApril 3, 2005 by Devon
Cooke and Mike Chin
Intel's BTX form factor has been around since Fall 2003, but its adoption by
the PC industry has been slow, and it is only now, in early 2005, that BTX systems
are beginning to appear on the market. One of the reasons for developing BTX
was to create a standard that could be used in the SFF market; unlike the ATX
standard, BTX was conceived from the start to be scalable down in size.
Shuttle's SB86i — in particular, the "i" chassis that it is
based on — is the first SFF system that is fully BTX compliant. One feature of this BTX-based design is that only two fans are needed to cool
the entire case: The heatsink fan and the PSU fan. The warmest components on the motherboard are meant receive adequate cooling
using just the airflow provided by the heatsink fan.
Apart from being designed in accordance with BTX, the SB86i is also sold as
a quiet system, with a number of features designed specifically
with noise-related concerns in mind. Foremost among these is the steel construction
of the case, making this the first (and only) steel SFF system that we know
of. Other noise-related features include rubber-grommeted hard drives and intake
vents that are open but do not provide a direct noise path to the user.
Only a single optical drive bay disrupts the smooth white finish of the
front bezel.
The rear panel is very well vented.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
The SB86i should have no problems keeping up with its competitors;
the FB86 motherboard that it ships with is based on the Intel 915G chipset and
comes with both integrated video and eight channel audio. If Intel's integrated
graphics chip won't run the latest games to your satisfaction, you're free to
add your own PCIe card to soup up graphics performance even more. The motherboard
is Socket T, so it supports all the latest (and hottest) Intel CPUs.
One feature that we haven't seen before in a SFF system is Intel's
Matrix Storage Technology, which allows both RAID striping and mirroring across
only two drives. Because the SB86i has only two 3.5" drive bays, this feature
helps the system keep up to its larger, more fully-featured desktop brethren.
However, this feature is only for those comfortable with learning as they go;
installation requires an external USB floppy drive, and no documentation is
included. There is a separate RAID manual to help set up the system in standard
RAID 0/1 configurations, but the Matrix Storage feature is not mentioned in
this manual.
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Shuttle SB86i Specifications
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Processor
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Intel Socket T Pentium 4 / Celeron
|
|
Memory
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Dual-channel DDR 400/333
(2) DIMM slots (2 GB Max)
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Motherboard
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FB86
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| Intel 915G + ICH6-R chipset |
| 800/533 MHz FSB |
| 1 x 32-bit PCI slot |
|
Graphics
|
x16 PCI Express slot
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| Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 |
| DVMT memory architecture |
|
Audio
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8-channel audio
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| Digital (SPDIF) audio ports |
| Analog audio ports |
|
Network
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Gigabit LAN
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Storage
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(1) ATA100 header
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| (4) Serial ATA 150 headers |
| (1) 5.25" storage bay |
| (2) 3.5" storage bays |
|
Front-panel I/O
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8-in-1 card reader
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(2) USB 2.0 ports |
| FireWire port |
| Microphone port |
| Headphone port |
| Power button |
Rear-panel I/O
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PS/2 Keyboard port
|
| PS/2 Mouse port |
| (2) USB 2.0 ports |
| FireWire 400 port |
| VGA-out |
| Gigabit LAN (RJ-45) |
| 8-channel audio out |
| SPDIF I/O ports |
| Coaxial Audio port |
| Serial port |
| CMOS reset button |
| Optional parallel port |
Power Supply
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275W PSU
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Dimensions (L x W x H, mm)
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375 x 240 x 195
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Weight (net / gross; kg)
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4.2 / 8.1
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The influence of BTX is evident throughout the SB86i. Unlike any other SFF
that we've seen, the included power supply conforms to a standard form factor:
CFX, a standard designed in parallel with BTX that is designed for use in SFF
systems. This means that replacing the stock power supply with a quieter one
should be viable once more BTX products become available on the market.
Another BTX feature is the use of a standard Intel "Thermal Module"
to cool the CPU. Since the dimensions of the Thermal Module are defined by Intel,
it is likely that a market for aftermarket Thermal Modules, including quieter
models, could develop as BTX gains wider adoption. As with
the PSU, this should make it easier to mod this particular SFF system for silence.
Furthermore, Intel's Thermal Module is quite large already, so many smaller
heatsinks that are already on the market may fit the SB86i without requiring
modification.
One component that isn't quite typical of BTX is the motherboard. All BTX motherboards
are required to be 266.70mm deep with width ranging from 203.20mm to 325.12mm.
However, most motherboards are assumed to follow one of three "typical"
sizes: BTX with seven expansion slots, microBTX with four, or picoBTX with one.
The FB86 motherboard falls somewhere in between micro and pico BTX with two
expansion slots and a width of 227mm.
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