While many Icrontic members avoid OEM boxes, there’s just something magical about the voodoo that Shuttle do. Inadvertently visiting company that all but pioneered the SFF PC, we were astounded by some of the technology they’ve prepared for 2009 in that same, familiar form factor that started it all.
In our wandering we stumbled upon the Shuttle Carbon SDX1 bitchbeating Crysis on three displays. Our wonder brought us to Shuttle’s Technical Product Specialist Nicolas Villalobos who was kind enough to give us a tour.
It was armed with a Matrox TripleHead2Go, but a triple-monitor SFF PC owning on Crysis is srs bsns.
More about our awesome time at the Shuttle booth can be found just beyond the jump.
The Shuttle SDX1 Carbon is a flagship model expected during the early spring months of this year. It arrives with a spiffy paint job and arrives armed with some compelling hardware that make it an amazing LAN box. Check it out:
Shuttle SDX1 Carbon
- Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650
- Intel G45
- 4GB DDR2
- 150GB 10K RPM HDD
- Blu-Ray Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX295
- 7.1 Channel HD Audio
- Liquid Cooling
After we were done oggling at what they had done with the Carbon, we moved to the Shuttle H7 5800 which will be one of their first production models to arrive with a 500W power supply. While it’s light on RAM, the rest of the specs are nothing to sneeze at:
500W crammed into this thing? Outrageous.
Shuttle H7 5800
- Intel Core i7
- Intel X58
- 2GB DDR3
- 80GB HD
- DVD/CD-ROM/RW
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX
- 7.1 Channel HD Audio
- 500w PSU, 80%+ efficiency
Last but not least, we got to take a peek at the H9 5800, the next evolution in Shuttle’s chassis designs. We couldn’t pin down when this chassis style would be finished, but it was certainly a prototype as the case was unfinished behind the bezel.
We accidentally shut the unit down when we learned the power button was touch-sensitive. Oops.
Shuttle H9 5800
- Intel Core i7 965 EE
- Intel X58
- 4GB DDR3
- 150GB 10K RPM HDD
- DVD Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
- 7.1 Channel HD Audio
- 500W PSU, 80%+ efficiency
As you can see, the unfinished H9 5800 has more memory and a stronger CPU than the H7 5800, though it is bound to lose to the Carbon in video performance. Shuttle has obviously stratified their product offerings and is preparing to deliver models that satisfy the needs of different types of gamers.
When asked about any experimental shenanigans the boys at Shuttle were up to, Nicolas told us that he himself is currently working on a water cooling solution that will accomodate CrossFire or SLI and some form of an Intel quad. We’re just boggling over the feat of engineering that it’ll take to cram water into an SFF PC with one GPU, much less two.
Nicolas also informed us that Shuttle is getting into the business of supporting their production models with upgrades after their introduction. While Shuttle’s prior strategy was to simply offer new rigs with the advent of new hardware, their newer products will be eligible for manufacturer-certified upgrades throughout the lifetime of the product.
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