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With the SS40 XPC, built around the SIS 740 chipset, Shuttle completes the series of their miniature cube systems. Featuring all integrated peripherals known from the SV24 and SS50, the SS40 pushes things a bit further by using heatpipe technology for cooling at reduced noise levels. The onboard graphics is the SIS 315 controller as used in the SIS 650 chipset and offers adequated but not spectacular performance. We have used the PCI version of the 3dfx VooDoo5 to look at performance issues that can probably best be described as frame buffer versus bandwidth. Can a lower power fan reduce the noise even further? We got something hot off the press to say about that, too.

If product inquiries and (misrouted) orders are any indication about how hot a given item is, then Mini-systems like the "SS and "SV" cubes from Shuttle certainly rank at the very top of the average consumer's wish list. Whatever they started with the FV24/SV24 has developed into almost its own brand or system genre and a "Shuttle Mini-Cube" is by now almost a household item, even though in most cases it still refers to the wish list rather than the actual item.

The above mentioned SV24 marked the beginning of a new concept by implementing a multitude of features, and it is fair to say that just the purchase of the add-on PCI cards for sound, IEEE1394 firewire, network and TV out could easily exceed the sum of roughly US$ 200.- for the total system including case and power supply. That there was further an actual chipset with integrated graphics and IDE interface etc. appears almost negligible in the overall grand scheme of what you got.

The third in the threesome of the Shuttle Mini Barebones systems comes with a Lucite front and brushed aluminum flanks in Mother of Pearl sheen

The main advantage of the SV24 was, that, equipped with a VIA C3 processor and passive heatsink, and a few mods on the PSU fan, this system would qualify as noiseless. The main drawback was that the performance was adequate for any office system as long as the display was running at low to medium resolution, but even moderate gaming requirements would bog down the system completely. At the same time, at higher resolutions the mediocre 2D quality put some strain on the eyes, thus negating some of the attraction as office machine.

Of course, these statements need to be viewed in the context of the VIA PL133 graphics chipset still being about twice as powerful as the Intel i810 or i815 using the 752 graphics chip. Nonetheless, it was clear that there was not only a marketing opportunity but also a need for something more powerful on the same footprint.

The SIS 650 chipset is offering such a power-booster for the Intel Pentium4 and we have just recently looked at the mini-barebones incarnation of this chipset in the form and shape of the Shuttle SS50 as well as the ECS iBuddie4. Both systems, in their own right set new standards and each of them has their own drawbacks, one of which, at least for the die-hard AMD community is the wrong processor brand.

Silicon Integrated Systems (SIS), in their non-nFinite wisdom had enough foresight to create not only the SIS 650 but also the SocketA counterpart in form of the SIS 740 chipset featuring the same integrated SIS 315 graphics adapter. If the SIS 650 chipset powered the FS50 mainboard or SS50 XPC mini cube, the appropriate name for any SIS 740-based mainboard would would be FS40 and by extension, the name of the box would be SS40 XPC.

Compared to the SV24, the SS50 XPC showed orders of magnitude more muscle and flexibility, however, it compensated with quite a bit more noise which is not necessarily amongst the most desired features either. Add the searchlights for LEDs and there were some beauty-marks that may be taken care of in the next generation of box. Add an AMD Athlon XP processor and heat issues might raise their ugly heads. But then, dim down the high beams and throw in a heat pipe design, would that be enough to make things fall into place? Read on ....

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