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LOSTCIRCUITS		SHORTCUTS: A Spring-loaded XPC At One Glance Features Mainboard Details BIOS, Test Configuration Memory I: Sandra Memory II: Cachemem I/O performance Winstones 3D Performance Overclocking, Conclusion Flame Us Shuttle Mainboards and SFF Online
Shuttle SB61G2 "Spring(dale)-Loaded"
(Review by MS, May 27, 2003)

The PCB layout is almost identical to that of other P4 XPCs, there is not much variation possible anyway. Interesting is the use of VIA's VT6307 USB controller and the Realtek RTL8100B fast Ethernet controller which is PCI bus-based, rather than using Intel's communication streaming architecture (CSA) solution with its direct link into the memory controller. The point is, though, that not everybody needs Gigabit connectivity and without Gigabit LAN, there is no incentive for the use of CSA either.

      

Two different perspectives of the FB61. The active cooling of the graphics and memory control hub (GMCH) is a concession to the thermal disspation of the eXtreme Graphics2. The SATA connectors are at the right front edge of the PCB, directly adjacent to the ICH5

Another deviation from Intel's reference design favors of the RealTek ALC650 AC'97 over Analog Devices' ADI1985 audio CODEC. In principle, it really does not matter which CODEC is used as long as the supporting software is in place. Considering the fact that Shuttle has been one of the major promoters of the RealTek AC'97 and the first to also include the setup and test utility for the different audio configurations, it is not surprising that the SB61G2 sticks with the established. In addition, some licensing issues may be at stake as well here. Along these lines, one of the new additions to the SB61G2 is the optical input and output for the S/PDIF located at the top right corner of the case back panel.

      

Parallel port header, VIA VT6307 IEEE1394 controller chip and RealTek RTL8100B Ethernet controller (left); I/O panel (right)

Dual Channel Memory Interface

Granite Bay uses two adjacent DIMM slots for dual channel operation, Springdale and Canterwood use an interleave scheme and it is easy enough to get mixed up. Not so with the SB61G2, the trick Shuttle came up with is to use two DIMM slots only which means that populating one slot will give single channel operation and populating both slots will result in dual channel mode. Keep in mind that DIMMs of identical configuration need to be used.

SATA and PATA

The ICH5 supports both legacy Parallel ATA and Serial ATA for a total of four (primary and secondary Master and Slave) parallel devices plus 2 serial devices. In absence of the availability of serial optical drives, at least for the time being, this is just what is needed and reasonable. The support for a total of six ATA devices may appear overkill in view of the space restrictions in the case but it allows for enough flexibility to run any system configuration thinkable. Keep in mind that the number of devices supported is dependent on the operating system and requires the appropriate setting in the BIOS (see below).

Else, there is not much to report, everything is pre-configured with the two USB 2.0 ports and the small firewire port along with power and reset in the front of the case. The only additional variations possible are the use of a parallel port module that can be plugged into a mainboard header next to the serial port / VGA and the possible use of a wireless module.

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