Shuttle XPC ST61G4: Tiny Computer with Big Integrated Video
by Wesley Fink on January 23, 2004 12:23 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Shuttle XPC ST61G4: FT61 Motherboard
| Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket-478 |
| Chipset | ATI 9100IGP (ATI RS300 North Bridge ATI IXP150 South Bridge) |
| Bus Speeds | 100-233, 0-15 scale for Overclock |
| AGP/PCI Speeds | Disabled, Fixed at 66 |
| Core Voltages Supported | Auto, 0.825V-1.5875V |
| AGP Voltages Supported | Auto, 1.60V, 1.65V, 1.70V |
| DRAM Voltages Supported | Auto, 2.6V, 2.7V, 2.8V |
| Memory Slots | 2 x 184-pin Dual-Channel DDR DIMM Slots |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 1 PCI Slot |
| Onboard Graphics | ATI 9100IGP |
| Onboard RAID | Silicon Image 3512 (SATA RAID 0, 1) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | Six USB 2.0 supported through IXP150 Two VIA VT6307 1394a FireWire ports |
| Onboard LAN | Broadcom 4401 10/100 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC650 5.1 Digital Audio With SPDIF Optical IN/OUT |
| Onboard Serial ATA | Sil3512 with 2 SATA connectors |
Recent Shuttle SFF designs have made excellent use of the small real estate in the SFF chassis, and the ST61 motherboard continues that tradition. In general, layout is excellent and connectors are easy to reach. It is worth mentioning that Shuttle is now pre-wiring all the SFF cabling - including the hard drive connectors. This adds to the convenience for the SFF builder or end-user.
ATI's block diagram of the 9100IGP provides details of which features are actually implemented in the chipset. Shuttle has included additional chips for the missing features like SATA and IEEE 1394.
The small motherboard size, like other SFF, limits memory to 2 DIMMs, but the 2 DIMMs are dual-channel to compete with Intel's 865G chipset. Memory is limited to a maximum of 2GB, but that should be enough for most uses for this small system.
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Cygni - Sunday, January 25, 2004 - link
The IGP performance was stellar... if your going to be using the onboard graphics, this box looks like a good choice... but if your going to be using the AGP slot, the i865G looks better.sipc660 - Saturday, January 24, 2004 - link
i think my laptop is running the same ati igp chipset and apart from the crappy celery i noticed performance could be somewhat better..but i don't think that the memory timings are forced that slow..could it be that the shuttle wanted to keep off any possible temperature issues?
i noticed anything video and or memory intensive turns my rather quite laptop into a godzilla.
i reckon anyone purchasing SFF should still get the shuttle and wait for a bios update....that should close the resulting performance gap
why?
ban the freakin 3andHalf floppy drives...
sipc660 - Saturday, January 24, 2004 - link
gamara - Saturday, January 24, 2004 - link
The onboard nForce2 was tested in a previous review, and had better onboard video performance with a processor that cost $80(Athlon XP 2600+) instead of $260(P4 3.0). Not sure if the settings were the same, as the previous article did not list what settings it was tested with.ATI 98 FPS Q3, 50 UT 2003 Flyby, and 38 UT Bot
NForce2 129 Q3, 66 UT Flyby, and 38 UT Bot. Not bad for giving up 1 Ghz on the processor.
artifex - Friday, January 23, 2004 - link
this may sound stupid, but how do you install Windows to the onboard RAID without a floppy for the RAID driver? Not to mention... where does the other drive in the RAID go? :)Lonyo - Friday, January 23, 2004 - link
ATi - Pentium 4, Intel - Pentium 4. nVidia - AMD.Rako00 - Friday, January 23, 2004 - link
Why compare the ATI to intels intergreated graphics card only. At least include the Nforce 2 graphic card too.