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| Shuttle SN45G Hi-C for nVidia/Shuttle | ||
| (Review by MS, June 26, 2003) |
What you get
Shuttle's XPCs are no strangers anymore when it comes to overall system configuration and neither are they with respect to the bundled hardware, installation CD and documentation. With respect to the overall layout, the SN45G is basically identical to the SN41G2, that is, instead of the brushed aluminum front plate, we have the return of the Lucite cover and layout SK41G-style (actually one of my favorites) with a few small variations. Those variations encompass the small IEEE 1394 port in the front. The SPDIF digital audio yas been abandoned from both back and front panel; instead, the three analog jacks for center/bass, front and rear speakers are on duty call and the SPDIF jacks are separately positioned in the top right corner of the rear panel.
Left: the Attansic "Overclock chip" and part of the VRM. Center: The ClearCMOS jumper is placed in an awward position, making it necessary to remove the AGP card in order to access it. Right: Firewire and Network Phyceivers are provided by Realtek.
The hardware included is identical to the one shipping with any other XPC except for the SB61G2. That is, there is the signature sliced IDE cable for the CDROM, the short UATA cable for the HDD and one floppy drive cable. A copper shim for the CPU, two additional feet for bottom clearance, a few double sticky pieces of tape and cable ties and that is basically it. All in all, the bundle is as Spartan as a survival kit and as self-sustained as well.
Enclosure and Mainboard Layout
Nothing except for the front plate has really changed from the SN41G we reviewed here and the overall case layout we have already covered in excess throughout a number of reviews (links). Therefore, we will simply skip that part and delve right into the areas where the SN45G really brings some new features to the table, that is the 400 MHz PSB and the performance that comes with the higher processor and memory bus speed.
BIOS
The BIOS is the standard Award v6.00PG with basically the same layout as what is found in all nForce2 boards including the diverse performance and memory latency templates that are not recommended too highly. Essentially, there is no point in running anything except for expert mode with the memory set to 100% bus speed in order to avoid asynchronism between the processor and the memory bus. It is still somewhat disappointing that nobody has yet taken the step towards streamlining the GUI and making those settings the default. However, it would be unfair to blame the manufacturers in an environment where the number of available settings is more important for the sake of sales arguments than the question of whether they really make sense.
This is approximately what the Advanced Chipset Features should look like. At 210 MHz external CPU speed we had to increase tRCD to 3 to keep the system running stable.
One thing we criticized in the case of the SN41G2 was the lack of multiplier settings in the BIOS. Installing an unlocked XP2400 had left us stranded with a 5.5 x multiplier that was interesting but not touching on the full potential, for the simple reason that there was no way of changing the setting except for hard-wiring the CPU. The SN45G BIOS features the option of changing the multiplier, at least in the GUI, in reality, however, we found that the option was not working. We discussed the issue with Shuttle Tech Support and were told that for reasons of recurrent BIOS corruptions, the multiplier selection was locked out in the production BIOS, which makes sense for most users.
Update
We just received a new beta BIOS for the SN45 with functional multiplier settings.
CPU core voltage can be adjusted from 1.1 to 1.85V at the normal settings and after activating the "Above 1.85V" tab, it can be increased to a total of 2.0 V which should suffice even for the hardcore overclockers. VDDR can be adjusted from default over 2.6 to 2.7V. The external CPU speed settings range from 100 to 250 MHz.
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