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The internals of the chassis are relatively similar to the SN25P, but then you can't really do a great deal inside a case the size of this. The PCI-Express x16 video card slot is located (unusually)on the right of the case, meaning that there is room for video cards with dual slot cooling solutions - top marks. However, we encountered problems when we installed our GeForce 6800 GT, because one of the cables in the case was stopping the fan from moving - be careful to check that you've not blocked the fan, otherwise you will encounter the same problems that we did.
Length wise, there is room for a GeForce 6800 GT, but we don't believe that there will be room for the latest GeForce 7800 GTX - it's about 10mm longer than the GeForce 6800 GT, and there's only about 5-7mm between the end of the video card and the fan duct for the ICE processor cooling system.
The power supply is a custom made SilentX unit rated at 350W. There are several custom power connectors on the FD31 motherboard, so you will not be able to change the power supply or make use of the motherboard in a different chassis without either taking the PSU with you, or modifying your existing power supply to provide the correct power to the two proprietary power connectors that the board uses.
The CPU is located at the front of the chassis, and the ICE cooling system passes air through the case from left to right. We found that the 'Ultra Quiet' setting - the default setting on this Shuttle - was more than adequate to keep our Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz for those who don't understand Intel's crazy model numbers...) reasonably cool.
There are a lot of components located around the two PCI-Express slots, with three SATA connectors, a fan header, the IEEE1394 header and the floppy drive connector. These are all routed past the power supply, along with the IDE connector for the CD/DVD ROM drive.
You can see the cables right next to the power supply unit that caused our initial problems - make sure you pull these tight to ensure that they don't get caught up in your video card fan. We didn't have a PCI-Express x1 add-in card to test-fit, but we feel that it will be a pretty tight fit, along with a video card. However, yesterday's announcement from Matrox might interest some people here - add their G550 in to the fray and you've got the possibility of four digital monitors from a small form factor PC.
Both the north and south bridges are cooled passively, meaning that there are very few components in this case that will make a great deal of noise. In fact, the loudest thing was our video card fan and that was barely audible through the case once the video card drivers had been installed. We also test fitted a Radeon X800 XL - that was even quieter still.
The most impressive thing about the P-series chassis' is the way that everything - bar the ICE cooling system - is completely screw-less and can be installed or uninstalled without the need for a screwdriver. The hard drives just clip in to the top, the CD drive is on rails, and the drive cage literally pulls out.
Length wise, there is room for a GeForce 6800 GT, but we don't believe that there will be room for the latest GeForce 7800 GTX - it's about 10mm longer than the GeForce 6800 GT, and there's only about 5-7mm between the end of the video card and the fan duct for the ICE processor cooling system.
The CPU is located at the front of the chassis, and the ICE cooling system passes air through the case from left to right. We found that the 'Ultra Quiet' setting - the default setting on this Shuttle - was more than adequate to keep our Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz for those who don't understand Intel's crazy model numbers...) reasonably cool.
There are a lot of components located around the two PCI-Express slots, with three SATA connectors, a fan header, the IEEE1394 header and the floppy drive connector. These are all routed past the power supply, along with the IDE connector for the CD/DVD ROM drive.
You can see the cables right next to the power supply unit that caused our initial problems - make sure you pull these tight to ensure that they don't get caught up in your video card fan. We didn't have a PCI-Express x1 add-in card to test-fit, but we feel that it will be a pretty tight fit, along with a video card. However, yesterday's announcement from Matrox might interest some people here - add their G550 in to the fray and you've got the possibility of four digital monitors from a small form factor PC.
The most impressive thing about the P-series chassis' is the way that everything - bar the ICE cooling system - is completely screw-less and can be installed or uninstalled without the need for a screwdriver. The hard drives just clip in to the top, the CD drive is on rails, and the drive cage literally pulls out.
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