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After conquering the desktop world in a "Tour De Force", Shuttle's XPCs are out after the big guys, that is, the entry server market. The latest secret weapon, that is, the SB52G2 features dual LAN, one of which is of the Gigabit class for easy clustering and redundancy configurations. A minor face-lift also helps to distinguish the SB52G2 from its predecessors and any other XPC knock-off on the market.

In this review, we'll mostly look at the LAN capabilities of the SB52G2 and compare the standard 100 Mbit/sec controller with the Gigabit controller in both raw speed and sustained throughput. The latter appears limited mostly by the client - server infrastructure, particularly the I/O configuration on both ends rather than by the actual LAN capabilities. Overall, the SB52G2 seems to have what it takes to become a severe menace for everybody else in the entry server market.

Way back when we got our hands for the first time on an XPC in form of the FV24 (even though the name XPC had not been coined yet), one of the potential roles we suggested was a remote file server. The idea was picked up shortly thereafter by Unibrain (or probably, it was just the GMTA phenomenon striking again) with their remote NAS servers featuring up to 640 Gigabytes of storage space in the form of four 160 GB hard disk drives in whichever RAID configuration it was that the clients desired.

Los Alamos National Laboratories cluster of 300 Shuttle SS51G using 2.53 GHz P4s to replace 128 1GHz Athlon systems in the same space.

For some time, it appeared as if the main focus of the XPC development continued to center on the personal / entertainment PC rather than on a role as remote file server / mainframe substitute, however, there were exceptions, most notably the cluster in Los Alamos consisting of 300 SS51G XPCs. Keep in mind that the requirements for any server are different from whatever one might cherish in even an office PC.

AGP, for once, doesn't matter, likewise, there is no need for any elaborate audio setup. Wireless capabilities in a cluster could spell disaster right there, Bluetooth appears utterly useless. Even the importance of firewire, as powerful as it is in terms of its protocol and bandwidth is dwarfed compared to most gigabit Ethernet solutions. Dual NIC capabilities are a definite plus in that it allows for the necessary clustering and redundancy, at least on the server side of things. Combine the Ethernet capabilities with the small form factor and noiseless operation of the XPC and there is a perfect solution for any small business to have a cluster of servers even if there is no dedicated room. With respect to the chipset, the probably hottest candidate, on a price/performance/stability basis for a role in this kind of workstation environment is the i845GV.

Intel i845 Chipset Versions At One Glance

Chipset	i845	i845D	i845G	i845GL	i845GE	i845GV	i845E	i845PE
Memory	PC100/133 SDRAM	DDR200/266	PC133, DDR200/266	PC133, DDR200/266	DDR266/333	PC133, DDR200/266	DDR200/266	DDR266/333
Memory Banks	6	4	6/4	6/4	4	6/4	4	4
Max Open Pages	24	16	24 / 16	24 / 16	16	24 / 16	16	16
Integrated Graphics	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no
AGP Slot	4X	4X	4X	n/a	4X	n/a	4X	4X

What about Infiniband? We haven't heard much about it lately and also, keep in mind that the usefulness of Infiniband is restricted to mostly the mass storage area on the back-plane of server farms with massive RAID configurations. A server version of the XPC on the other hand is more like a substitute for the entry-level Dell and Compaq servers at approximately 1/5 of the price and, depending on the choice of components, equal or possibly even better performance.

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