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LOSTCIRCUITS		SHORTCUTS: XPC sans Graphics At One Glance Features Test Setup Memory Winstones Gaming 1 Gaming 2 Overclocking Conclusion Flame Us SN45G Online Pricing
Shuttle SN45G Hi-C for nVidia/Shuttle
(Review by MS, June 26, 2003)

Overclocking the nForce2 chipset is in many respects a matter of luck. We have seen boards that would crap at 175 or 190 MHz, others would run up to 230 MHz bus speed. In so far, the SN45G or rather the FN45G is no exceptional overclocker but rock solid performance at up to 210 MHz system bus deserve a merit mentioning at least. Besides, we did not try too hard, the goal was rather to do the opposite and get the most PERFORMANCE out of the lowest clock speed at the lowest voltage and the lowest heat dissipation requiring the lowest amount of cooling and, therefore, the lowest amount of noise. I think, we accomplished exactly that. The fact that we were actually abusing an Athlon XP3200 for our purposes is irrelevant, the XP3000 or, to that avail, the XP2500 would have generated the same benchmark results.

Conclusion

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it still make a noise? We are back to the initial question which is: Can an XPC serve as a no-compromise performance machine or else be adapted to reflect what we would circumscribe as smart performance, that is low power, low heat, high performance. We think the answer is yes and yes and yes. The third yes answered the question whether the system is running quiet, a point we mentioned but did not list specifically above.

To stick with more riddles, the next question is whether the omission of the integrated graphics was something that was forced by the lack of nForce2-C (nForce2 Ultra 400) revision versions of the IGP? In other words, is the higher speed grade of the chipset even available as IGP?

Seriously, it does not matter, whoever wants the ultimate performance will not resort to the IGP, as much as we love the GF4 MX and its magically doubled performance compared to the GF2, for the kind of setup targeted for the SN45G, it would be in the wrong place.

Overall, the verdict is that there are more ways to play or fool around with the XPC than what was ever intended and so far, we liked all of them. Needless to say that the SN45G is another big step towards the full acceptance of the SFF as substitute for the big clutzy beige boxes. Let the moddings begin.....

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