Shuttle SK41G XPC

Conclusion and rating

The idea behind the Shuttle XPC Small Form Factor PCs is good. There is absolutely no denying that. The impressive chassis, the number of useful, value-adding features and quality of build are all excellent. The popularity of these Shuttles have soared to the extent that a number of PC-related forums have their own section devoted to Shuttle's babies. Other manufacturers have tried but Shuttle have been the first to succeed with mass appeal. Perhaps the biggest draw was the presence of an AGP slot that accommodates the most powerful cards without any problems.

Browsing through Shuttle's own catalogue tells you that the SFF XPC stable has now grown to six members. Whilst the Intel platform boasted three separate cubes with the all-important AGP slot (SS51G, SB51G, and SV51F), up until recently AMD's side featured only the non-AGP SS50G. With AMD's processors still delivering better performance for your pound and coupled with the fact that overclocking potential on XPCs was limited, it made perfect sense for a cube or two based on the S462 platform.

Considered in absolute isolation, the SK41G is a fine machine. It uses the base mould from the popular Intel shuttles to good effect. We see almost every feature carried over intact. The main difference, though, is probably beneficial. The inclusion of a S-Video-Out is arguably more useful than the S/PDIF-In featured on the two Intel XPCs that I've seen before. It all works well. The cooler is designed well and is relatively easy to mount. Further, the on-board video's 2D is pretty good for the most part.

Performance, when compared with desktop-based motherboards, is a little weak on both the on-board and dedicated AGP card fronts. We've seen the Intel XPCs put up a very good fight to leading desktop chipsets. Often the performance gap was within a percent or two. The VIA KM266A, though, is limited in specification. Only supporting 133FSB CPUs, DDR266 memory and 4x AGP speed, it falls some way behind the benchmarks set by the KT400 and nForce2 desktop platforms. That's not to say it's horrendous, it's just that I had slightly higher hopes of it. Performance is further diminished by the use of on-board video. It's obvious that the Savage8 cannot cope with modern games, but that can be excused on the grounds that its primarily role is in providing workable 2D. Still, the performance hit in non-gaming applications is a little worrying.

The main problem that I envisage for this particular Shuttle XPC is the release of another AMD AGP-powered cube based on the more powerful nForce2 solution. Supporting 166FSB XPs, integrated GeForce4 MX video, and 8x AGP support, it looks the better on paper. Indeed, looking at its benchmarks it appears as if it can more than rival desktop models once equipped with a separate AGP card.

Like every Shuttle, the SK41G can provide the base for a power PC. It's also around £45 cheaper than its nVidia rival. I, however, feel that VIA's choice of motherboard wasn't the most inspired. Often falling a little short of expectation in performance terms, and being a little limited in future-proofing stakes, I'd find it hard to recommend it over its technically advanced rival. If there was no nVidia XPC, I'd think of it in a more positive light. As it is, it's good but not great.

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