Benchmarks III & thoughts
UT2003's demo (2206) flyby isn't as card limited as it may at first seem.
And Quake III
The Shuttle has finished near the bottom in most of our gaming benchmarks. Bottom doesn't mean slow in this case. We've said it before and we'll say it again; one cannot tell the difference between the fastest and slowest in the majority of benchmarks. We can further say that the Shuttle AN35N is generally slower than the comparison EPoX due to the lack of low latency timings. We really do hope Shuttle manage to resolve this issue.
Shuttle usually impress us with stability. We've not yet had a single Shuttle product through the labs. that hasn't booted and operated first time. It's also a little difficult to define who Shuttle are. We've seen many boards come and go, and it seems that Shuttle are a hybrid of ABIT and EPoX boards. The BIOSes are remarkably similar, the layout of components is startlingly similar at times, and one just gets the feeling that you could slap an EPoX or ABIT sticker on any Shuttle board. That's not a criticism of their products, rather it's an endorsement of just how highly regarded they are.
So many times in the past we've been disappointed by manufacturers who specify all kinds of features and then let themselves down by providing a barren bundle. Shuttle are culprits here. Sure, they want to produce cheap boards, everyone is concerned about cost. Why not add in a bracket or two to maximise your board's usage ?. That question seems to fall on deaf ears.
Bar the odd latency issue, the AN35N is another solid if unexciting board. The trouble for Shuttle is that most of the major players have excellent boards already, so a 'lesser known' manufacturer has to work that much harder to establish themselves amongst the usual suspects. The AN35N is much like an accountant; it's dependable and a little boring.
