Shuttle has become synonymous with small form factor systems. It all started with the original SV24 that won over the hearts of many followed by the short-lived C chassis and current G chassis. As users demanded greater expansion capabilities Shuttle listened and released the larger P-chassis with room to accommodate two hard drives and dual-slot cooled graphics cards. The original P chassis was well received and has been around for two years. After two years of being on the market Shuttle has found it necessary to refresh the P chassis to freshen up things a bit and stir up some controversy—enter the P2.
Intel has recently launched its first new desktop processor micro-architecture since the Pentium 4 was released in the fall of 2000 too. The problem with the new Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors is existing Socket T (LGA775) compatible motherboards are not compatible with the new processors due to different voltage requirements. This means the existing 945G Express based Shuttle SD31P is incompatible with new Core 2 processors. However in time for Intel’s recent processor launch Shuttle has a brand new toaster-sized small form factor system. Coupling the new P2 chassis with a Core 2 compatible motherboard Shuttle is unleashing the SD37P2 onto the world. The Specs
Shuttle’s latest small form factor has the specifications of a high end desktop with the Intel 975X Express and ICH7R as its foundation. With the Intel 975 Express chipset the SD37P2 will accommodate all Socket T (LGA775) including the recently released Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme and previously released Pentium D and Celeron D processors with 800 MHz and 1066 MHz front-side buses.
While previous Shuttle P-chassis based small form factor systems were limited to two memory slots, with the exception of the recently released SN27P2, the SD37P2 has four memory slots available. That’s right folks, four DIMM slots capable of accommodating 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM at 533 and 667 MHz. The dual-channel memory configuration can accommodate up to 8GB of memory. This gives users weary of taking the small form factor plunge another reason to make the switch.
High definition audio is provided by the usual Realtek ALC882 high definition audio codec for eight channels of 24-bit/192 KHz audio goodness. Five user assignable audio jacks are available for connectivity. This allows users to connect a 7.1-channel speaker system and still have an analog line input jack for ATI All-in-Wonder or TV tuner cards. Optical and coaxial audio outputs are available, though there is no support for Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. Optical S/PDIF input is available for two-channel PCM sources too.
Gigabit Ethernet is provided via a Broadcom BCM5789 PCI Express Gigabit controller. While high end motherboards typically have two Gigabit controllers onboard nowadays one Ethernet controller should be sufficient for most users.
As with all other 975X Express based motherboards there is only one PATA channel available for devices. This is perfectly fine as there is only one 5.25” drive bay anyways. Four SATAII ports are available from the ICH7R south bridge. Three internal SATAII ports are available as well as one e.SATA port. RAID 0, 1, 5 and Intel Matrix Storage Technology are supported with all four ports regardless of internal or external placement.
Expansion capabilities are a bit limited due to the toaster-sized foot print. Two PCI Express x16 slots are available for graphics cards and other PCI Express peripherals. When both PCI express slots are occupied each slot has eight PCI Express lanes to work with since PCI Express is coming off the 975X Express north bridge. This shouldn’t affect graphic performance too much. With two PCI Express x16 slots the SD37P2 is compatible with ATI’s CrossFire multi-GPU technology.
To accommodate two graphics cards Shuttle has beefed up the power supply a little bit. Shuttle has equipped the SD37P2 with a 400-watt power supply—plenty of power for Pentium D’s and X1900-series graphics cards.
Motherboard
Shuttle SD37P2
Processor
Intel Socket T (LGA775) - Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Pentium D 8xx, 9xx, Pentium 4 5xx, 6xx, Celeron D 3xx
Chipset
Intel 975X Express + ICH7R
Memory
4 x 240 pin DDR2 SDRAM at 533/667 MHz Dual channel DDR support up to 8GB
Audio
Realtek ALC882
LAN
1 x Broadcom BCM5789 PCI Express Gigabit Controller
2 x S/PDIF (Optical & Coaxial) output 1 x S/PDIF Optical Input 1 x RJ45 (LAN) 6 x USB 2.0 1 x line-in/line-out/mic (audio) Additional line-outs for 7.1 channel audio 1 x CMOS Reset button
Internal I/O
4 X Serial ATA II connectors 1 x UDMA ATA 100/66 Bus Master IDE connectors 1 x FDD connector 3 x cooling fan pin headers
Power Supply
400 Watt Proprietary Power Supply
Temperature & Noise
We switched over to our Core 2 Extreme X6800 for our temperature tests. The system was put under load by running two instances of Prime95 with manual affinities set. Temperatures for the SD37P2 are quite respectable. The CPU, case and hard drive temperatures are kept happy around 40 degrees Celsius. This isn’t too bad considering how tightly packed everything is. The load temperatures are occasionally lower than the idle temperatures simply because the system has a BIOS controlled SmartFan that adjusts the fan speed depending on temperature.
Noise
The Shuttle SD37P2 itself is very quiet and unnoticeable most of the time. However with a video card such as the ATI Radeon X1900XT installed the system is very noisy. We can’t hold this against Shuttle though. With a cooler and quieter video card such as the ATI X1600 Pro the system is nearly silent.
