At first we would like to thank Shuttle Europe for offering a sample of their latest XPC Cube Barebone SZ170R8 for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Shuttle:

 

"Shuttle Inc, founded in Taiwan in 1983, is specialised in development and production of innovative mini PCs. The joint-stock company is represented worldwide by a network of branch offices in Germany, the US and Japan. Since 2001 the attractive cube-shaped PCs have conquered nearly any field of application and have become the core business of the company headquartered in Taipei / Taiwan. Widely acclaimed by customers and press across the globe, Shuttle founds its success on effective management and long-term experience in making mainboards of highest quality standards. Since years Shuttle's mini PC barebones and fully-configured systems are the first choice of many system integrators, VARs, OEMs and ODMs banking on the high reliability and build quality. With appealing mini PC solutions Shuttle meets the requirements of consumers excellently and seeks to provide further user-friendly solutions of consumer electronics for the digital home environment."

 

High-resolution DisplayPort

The DisplayPort connector allows for connections with digital high-resolution displays. Depending on processor and display model resolutions of up to 4K/Ultra HD (3840x2160) can be achieved. Besides picture signal, DisplayPort cables can also lead digital sounds signals in excellent quality.

 

HDMI interface

Goodbye cable spaghetti! Modern flat-screen TVs and large-format TFT screens can be connected to this Mini-PC with just a single thin cable. Often the audio output is also transferred in brilliant quality via the HDMI cable.

 

Dual-slot graphic cards? No problem!

The creative engineers at Shuttle have worked out how to fit large and incredibly powerful dual-slot graphics cards into this compact PC. The special dimensions of the cards and the unusual fan size cause no problems at all in this Mini-PC.

 

Intelligent cooling

Shuttle's patented Heatpipe Cooling technology with variable speed control automatically ensures maximum system stability and quiet operation in this aluminium Shuttle Mini-PC. Instead of swirling around the chassis, as is the case with conventional solutions, the warm air is specifically transferred out of the chassis.

 

Cleverly hidden

In this model the ports and drives are hidden behind moveable panels that offer ideal protection from dust and ensure a clean, harmonious look. Not everyone needs to be able to see just what your Mini-PC can do.

 

Optimal air flow

Warm air is transported out of the chassis by means of cleverly arranged components, which enables a large number of parts to be cooled simultaneously in the air flow. At no time can heat build up and adversely affect the stability of the system.

 

Communication in the fast lane

The integrated gigabit LAN chipset opens up completely new possibilities for communication with no restriction on the speed of data transfer. Say goodbye to information bottlenecks, whether in the company network or for home Internet access.

 

PCI Express technology

A fast X16-PCI-E slot enables the use of modern 3D graphics cards and other expansion cards that have to transfer huge amounts of data at ultra-rapid speeds.

 

External eSATA port

With this interface external hard drives can reach the same speeds as inbuilt versions. Just give it a try.

 

For a longer life and more system stability

All the components of the highly integrated mainboard of this PC are fitted with modern solid capacitors, which offer six times the lifespan of normal capacitors.

 

Shuttle opts for lightweight aluminium

The use of aluminium in Mini-PCs has significant advantages. Aluminium has an ideal balance between weight and strength, does not rust and is not sensitive to magnetism. Its thermal conductivity is four times higher than steel. All in all, it's a perfect material for Mini-PCs.

 

Intel chipset inside

Play it safe with the reliable chipsets from the world's largest chip manufacturer. Intel chipsets have proven themselves over many years, have been presented with awards by the trade press and offer the best possible degree of compatibility.

 

The interface for the fastest of memory media

Internal drives to be used inside this Mini-PC can transfer data at a speed of up to 6 Gbit/s. Hard drives thus run significantly faster and brand-new media technologies such as SSDs can use their full potential. Be sure to look for SATA 6 Gbit/s.

 

The fastest connection to external peripheral devices available to date

The USB 3.0 connectors of this model allow for data transfer of up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s). This enables external devices such as USB hard disks to be connected and run at nearly the same speed as their internal siblings. USB 3.0 is downward compatible so that also devices of previous USB generations can be hooked up.

 

Intelligent fan control

The Smart Fan system promises low operating noise with its large, slowly rotating fans, which generate a very large airflow and have automatic variable speed control.

 

Generous supply of USB ports

You can never have enough of those versatile USB ports. This Shuttle Mini-PC offers 8 ports, with further ports for internal expansions located on the mainboard.

 

8-channel HD audio

The superior high-definition sound not only gives that perfect cinema feeling at home, it also offers optimal sound quality for your Skype VOIP telephone conferencing. Conveniently located ports ensure ultimate user friendliness.

 

Chassis

Black aluminium chassis

Front panel: brushed aluminium

Front doors for USB ports

Kensington Security Slot at the back panel (also called K-Slot or Kensington lock) as a part of an anti-theft system

Dimensions: 33.2 x 21,6 x 19.8 cm (LWH), 14.2 litre

Weight: 3.5 kg net / 5.0 kg gross

 

Storage bays

Storage bays: 4x 3.5" (internal)

Using the optional accessory PHD3 two 2.5" drives can be installed into one 3.5" bay.

 

Mainboard / Chipset

Shuttle "FZ170", Shuttle Form Factor proprietary design for XPC cube Barebone SZ170R8

Dimensions: 270 x 195 mm

Chipset: Intel® Z170 Chipset

(Intel® GL82Z170 PCH, code name "Sunrise Point")

Platform Controller Hub (PCH) as Single-Chip-Solution

Solid Capacitors for sensitive areas provide excellent heat resistance for enhanced system durability

 

BIOS

AMI BIOS, SPI Interface, 32 MBit Flash-ROM with SPI interface

Supports PnP, ACPI 3.0, Hardware Monitoring

Supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

Supports boot up from external USB flash memory

 

Power supply

Built in 500 Watt mini switching power supply (PC63J)

AC input voltage: supports 100~240V, 50~60 Hz

80 PLUS Silver [9] compliant: the PSU provides at least 85/89/85% of efficiency at 20/50/100% of load.

Active PFC circuit (Power Factor Correction)

ATX main power connectors: 2x10 and 2x2 pins

Graphics power connector: 6 pins and 8 pins

Other connectors: 4x SATA, 2x Molex, 1x Floppy

 

Operation System

This system comes without operating system.

It is compatible with Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 and Linux - 64 bit.

 

Processor support

Socket LGA 1151 (H4) supports the sixth generation of Intel Core i7 / i5 / i3, Pentium and Celeron processors

Maximum supported processor power consumption (TDP) = 95W

Codename "Skylake", 14nm process technology, up to 8 MB of L3 cache

Not compatible with Intel Xeon E3 V5 processors with Socket LGA1151 and processors with the older Socket LGA 1150.

Supports the unlock-function of Intel K-Series processors.

The processor integrates PCI-Express, memory controller and the graphics engine on the same die (performance features depending on processor type)

Please refer to the support list for detailed processor support information at global.shuttle.com.

 

Processor cooling

Shuttle I.C.E. (Integrated Cooling Engine)

Advanced I.C.E. Heatpipe technology with 3 pipes

Temperature controlled 92 mm fan

SilentX cooling and noise reduction technology with Active Airflow

 

Memory support

4 x 288-pin slots

Supports DDR4-2133 memory (PC4-17066) at 1.2V

Supports 2+2 Dual Channel mode

Supports max. 16 GB per DIMM, maximum total size of 64 GB

 

Integrated Graphics

The features of the integrated Intel HD graphics function

depend on the processor type used.

Supports DirectX 12, OGL 5.x, OCL 2.x

The PC features three digital video outputs [6]:

- HDMI v1.4 (supports 1080p/60 and 2160p/30)

- 2x DisplayPort v1.2 (support 1080p/60 and 2160p/60)

Supports displays with 4K Ultra HD resolution at 3840 x 2160 [3]

Supports three independent FullHD displays with the integrated graphics function

Supports more displays in combination with a discrete graphics card [2]

Supports Blu-ray (BD) playback with HDCP content protection

Supports multi-channel digital audio over the same cable

Maximum shared memory of 512 MB

 

PCIe Expansion Slots

1x PCI-Express x16 v3.0 slot (PEG, for graphics cards only)

1x PCI-Express x4 v3.0 slot

This XPC supports dual-slot (double-width) graphics cards - in this case the second PCI-Express slot will be occupied.

Graphics power connector: 6-pin

 

M.2 SSD slot

The M.2 2280 BM slot provides the following interfaces:

- PCI-Express Gen. 3.0 X4 with up to 32 Gbps Data Transfer Speed

- SATA v3.0 (max. 6 Gbps)

It supports M.2 cards with a width of 22 mm and a length of 42, 60 or 80 mm (type 2242, 2260, 2280).

Supports M.2 SSDs with SATA or PCI-Express interface

 

Mini PCIe Slot

Mini-PCIe Half-Size slot

with PCIe 2.0 and USB 2.0 interface supports one optional Wireless Network (WLAN) card

 

7.1-Channel HD audio

7.1 channel High Definition Audio with Realtek ALC892 codec

Analog: line-out (7.1-ch), line-in, microphone, AUX input (onboard)

Digital Audio via HDMI and DisplayPort outputs

 

Gigabit LAN

Intel i219LM PHY connected to the MAC of the processor

Supports 10 / 100 / 1.000 MBit/s operation

Supports WAKE ON LAN (WOL)

Supports network boot by Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE)

 

SATA connectors

The mainboard provides six Serial-ATA 3.0 interfaces, max. 6 Gbps supported

4x Serial ATA connector onboard

1x External Serial ATA (eSATA) connector at the back panel

1x M.2 slot onboard for flash memory cards

Supports Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST, Raid 0/1/5/10, JBOD)

 

Front Panel Connectors and Buttons

Microphone input

Headphone output (line-out)

2x USB 3.0

Power button

Power indicator (blue LED)

Hard disk drive indicator (yellow LED)

 

Back Panel Connectors

HDMI v1.4

2x DisplayPort v1.2 [5]

6x USB 3.0

GigaBit LAN (RJ45)

External Serial ATA (eSATA 6 Gb/s)

7.1-ch Audio line-out (2x rear/front, bass/center, surround/back)

Audio Line-in

Clear CMOS button

Optional: serial port RS-232 (Accessory: H-RS232)

3x perforation for optional WLAN antennas

 

Other Onboard Connectors

2x USB 2.0 (2x 5-pin)

1x RS232 (2x 5-pin) for optional accessory H-RS232

2x fan connectors (4 pin), one connector is occupied

Low Pin Count header (LPC, 2x 10 pin, 2 mm pitch size)

Occupied front connectors: USB 3.0, USB2.0, audio, power buttons, LEDs

 

Included Accessories

Multi-language XPC Installation Guide (EN, DE, FR, ES, JP, KR, SC, TC)

32/64 bit driver disk for Windows

4x Serial ATA cables

AC Power Cord (with protective-earth contacts)

Heatsink Compound

Protector cap for the CPU socket (do not use if heat-pipe or fan is mounted)

Bag with screws

 

Optional Accessories

PHD3: 3.5" to 2.5" adapter

H-RS232: Backpanel COM port adapter for RS232 serial interface

WLN-C: Wireless LAN 802.11n module with two external antennas

WLN-P: Wireless LAN 802.11ac + BT4.0 module with two external antennas

 

Environmental Spec

Operating temperature range: 0~35°C

Relative humidity range: 10~90% (non-condensing)

 

Certifications / Compliance

EMI: FCC, CE, BSMI, C-Tick

Safety: ETL, CB, BSMI

Other: RoHS, ErP 2013 Lot 3, Energy Star 5.2

 

Conformity

This device is classed as a technical information equipment (ITE) in class B and is intended for use in the living room or office. The CE-mark approves the conformity by the EU-guidelines:

- EMV-guideline 89/336/EWG electromagnetic tolerance

- LVD-guideline 73/23/EWG use of electric devices within certain voltage-limits

 

Last time we did take a look at an XPC Cube Barebone from Shuttle, it was the case of the SH170R6 which impressed us with the iconic design on the inside and modern look on the outside, so the computer could be placed in our living room by blending in with the rest of the high-tech hardware stuff.

This time around it is the case of the SZ170R8 chassis, which comes with novelty elements like the ability to accommodate up to four 3.5’’ HDDs which also implies a slightly modified enclosure. The aspect of the outside packaging has been kept the same as before, sporting the Shuttle artwork:

 

 

 

The box is also provided with a plastic handle so customers could manipulate this one easier:

 

 

 

The main product highlights can be also seen on the opposite box lateral, written in many languages:

 

 

 

If more technical specifications are required, Shuttle has placed these on a separate sticker:

 

 

 

Besides the usual product serial numbers, we will also get to see a warning message telling us that the mainboard only supports 1.2V DDR4 memory modules, so overclocking versions are excluded (which are usually rated at 1.35V):

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will get to see that the main product is sitting between foam material, along with the documentation and the rest of the bundle:

 

 

 

The installation manual is supplied in different languages and shows us the installation procedure step-by-step:

 

 

 

Besides that, we will get an extra plain cardboard box with the rest of the product bundle but also a power lead:

 

 

 

In more detail, the manufacturer is supplying mounting screws, three SATA cables, the installation CD, one plastic LGA1151 shield but also a syringe of thermal compound:

 

 

 

On a first look, the new XPC Cube may look similar to the previous version:

 

 

 

The frontal area has been simplified, meaning that we no longer get that middle compartment and on the lower side Shuttle has provided an opening in order to allow proper intake airflow; the optical drive compartment is gone too since not a lot of people use them nowadays:

 

 

 

 

In the top left corner, we do have a subtle Shuttle logo:

 

 

 

In the opposite corner, Shuttle has placed the HDD activity LED, the Power LED but also a chromed Power button:

 

 

 

On the bottom right side, we do get to see an XPC logo along with a three-dot button which must be pressed in order to release the door:

 

 

 

Here we do find two USB 3.0 ports along with the microphone and headphone jacks:

 

 

 

On the side of the XPC Cube we will get to see a ventilation grill in order to provide more air for the intake in case we do install a dedicated single or dual-slot VGA card:

 

 

 

The back area of the SZ170R8 is similar to what we have seen with its H170 counterpart, including the perforations for the Wi-Fi antennas in case we decide to purchase the optional Wi-Fi module, but let’s take a closer look:

 

 

 

First we have the integrated power supply with its dedicated fan and power connector:

 

 

 

Further down we do have the prepared cutouts for the optional COM port along with one S/PDIF Optical out, but also one Kensington lock port:

 

 

 

Next we will get to see two DisplayPort outputs, no less than six USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, an USB 3.0/ESATA combo port, one LAN port, a CMOS reset button, but also the usual audio ports:

 

 

 

Here is also the area where the expansion cards can get mounted:

 

 

 

The bottom area includes four silicone feet and also one sticker with more product details:

 

 

 

Here we will also get to see the frontal extra ventilation cutouts:

 

 

 

The top cover of the unit is easy to remove, since we only have to work with three thumbscrews:

 

 

 

The main component which has been redesigned is the frontal drive tray, which can hold no less than four 3.5’’ units:

 

 

 

 

Holes have been cut on the bottom of the drive tray in order to allow proper ventilation for the last drive:

 

 

 

In order to assure proper ventilation for all these drives, a frontal 80mm fan has been pre-installed:

 

 

 

The frontal USB 3.0 ports along with the headphone/microphone jacks are placed on a separate daughter-board:

 

 

 

Near the CPU socket we do have the memory slots which are color-coded:

 

 

 

The main board does come with one PCI-E x16 slot but also one PCI-E x4 slot:

 

 

 

A mini-PCIe slot is located on the right, while on the left we do have a M.2/2280 slot:

 

 

 

The audio interface is provided by the well-known ALC892 CODEC from Realtek:

 

 

 

Between the PCI-E x16 slot and the PCH we do have the CPU 4-pin PWM fan connector:

 

 

 

The cooling system does feature an aluminum shroud and a fan guard so the airflow is redirected properly to the heatsink:

 

 

 

This XPS Cube is equipped with a beefy 500W power supply from the start, rated 80 PLUS Silver:

 

 

 

The power supply does come with 2x10 and 2x4-pin ATX main power connectors, one 6-pin and one 8-pin graphics power connectors, but we could also remind of the 4xSATA, 2xMOLEX and 1xFloppy power connectors:

 

 

 

On this motherboard, only one 4-pin ATX power connector is used:

 

 

 

Since the cooling system does use push-pins it is quite easy to remove:

 

 

 

The four heatpipes travel to the copper CPU plate for evacuating the heat:

 

 

 

These will eventually reach the radiator which gets cooled with the included fan:

 

 

 

On the laterals of the radiator we do have two rubber tapes so it won’t get into resonance with the outer aluminum housing:

 

 

 

Here is a close look at the manufacturer and code name of the CPU fan:

 

 

 

Between the fan and the chassis, we will get to see some plastic spacers:

 

 

 

With the heatsink removed, it is easier to see the CPU VRM, which is cooled with a tiny aluminum heatsink:

 

 

 

Nearby we have the CMOS battery:

 

 

 

The Z170 PCH is also cooled by a tiny aluminum radiator:

 

 

 

Near the I/O interface we will be able to spot one ASMedia ASM1442K high-speed TMDS level shift IC for HDMI:

 

 

 

Also, we can spot one USB 2.0 header in the vicinity of the CPU fan header:

 

 

 

The USB 3.0 header is placed between the CPU socket and the PCH:

 

 

 

In order to protect the CPU socket and pins prior to installation, Shuttle has placed a transparent plastic film on top, which must be removed:

 

 

 

In the vicinity of the CPU socket we can find a secondary populated 4-pin PWM fan connector (with the frontal fan), four blue SATA ports but also one LPC header:

 

 

 

The COM port resides near the frontal area of the case:

 

 

 

The CPU PWM is controlled by the Richtek multi-phase PWM controller:

 

 

 

The area near the CPU PWM is also populated by a secondary USB 2.0 header:

 

 

 

The CPU installation can be performed quite easily and after applying thermal compound we can mount the heatsink:

 

 

 

The fan and aluminum shroud come next; do not forget to plug in the fan connector into the header!

 

 

 

The memory installation follows:

 

 

 

For the sake of comparison purposes, we have used our trusty OCZ Vector 150 SSD instead of mechanical drives:

 

 

 

The HIS R7 360 video card seems to fit perfectly and quite a bit of space also remains behind it:

 

 

 

Shuttle does not yet jump on a regular UEFI interface BIOS so we are stuck with a simple-looking Aptio Setup Utility, where the main menus can be spotted on top. The Main section does show us the current BIOS information, installed CPU type and speed, but also installed memory quantity; here we can adjust the current date/time:

 

 

 

The Advanced menu has the following sub-sections:

 

-Power Management Configuration

-Hardware Health Configuration

-CPU Configuration

-SATA Configuration

-USB Configuration

-Onboard Device Configuration

-Frequency & Voltage Configuration

 

 

 

 

The Power Management Configuration menu comes with some usual PM options:

 

 

 

Hardware Health Configuration menu shows the live temperatures, fan speeds, voltages but also here we can work with the FAN1 header speed control:

 

 

 

CPU Configuration menu gives us a full rundown regarding the supported CPU features and here we can also enable/disable some of them:

 

 

 

 

From the SATA Configuration menu we are able to set the current controller operation mode, see the connected device and enable or disable the Hot Plug feature:

 

 

 

The USB Configuration menu does not have any options we can really set:

 

 

 

From the Onboard Device Configuration menu, we are able to disable or enable some of the board interfaces like audio, LAN, adjust PCIE speeds, enable or disable Intel integrated graphics and so on:

 

 

 

The Overclocking feature which was missing with the H170 chipset is preset here, to some extents (in order to protect the system from overheating or damaging other components):

 

 

 

After enabling the actual Overclocking option, some more options will appear in order to allow us set the multiplier or work with the power limits overrides. We have worked with the limits high and low and no matter what values we did set, after reboot we always ended with an 800MHz maximum core speed so currently there is no way of going over the Intel SPEC regarding power when overclocking. Actually this is a good thing because the included CPU cooler has certain limitations regarding maximum CPU wattage it can cool so you won’t damage the system if staying under these specs:

 

 

 

Next, we can select and enable the memory XMP profile:

 

 

 

Voltages per different components can be only adjusted by small increments:

 

VCore

 

 

 

VDRAM

 

 

 

VCCSA

 

 

 

VCCST

 

 

 

VCCIO

 

 

 

Next we do have the Security menu where we can change default passwords or enable Flash Write Protection:

 

 

 

Boot menu allows the user to set the priorities but also choose the boot type (UEFI/Legacy):

 

 

 

The last menu allows us to discard/save or load BIOS factory defaults in case something goes south:

 

 

 

In order to start testing the SZ170R8 Barebone from Shuttle, we equipped it with a Intel I5 6600K Retail CPU, Patriot Viper 2x4GB DDR4 2400MHz @ 2133MHz memory kit, but also an OCZ Vector 150 SSD; as we have mentioned before, a HIS R7 360 was also installed in the supplied PCI-Express x16 3.0 slot. We installed the latest Windows 7 x64 from scratch and got the tests going. As we have mentioned before, overclocking can be done on the included motherboard with some restraints, meaning that we cannot bypass the Intel power limits. When we have tested the CPU with the default voltage setting at  4.6GHz we did get a crash during load, while with +50mV the system booted fine; CPU went into throttling though after 30 seconds of Prime95 so we were forced to downgrade the multiplier one step down at 4.5GHz. The throttling continued to show signs even at this speed, while having +50mV CPU voltage set inside the BIOS, since with the stock voltage system, the benchmark was not stable. We have reached full stability and zero throttling at default voltage while using the 44 multiplier, which is still a noticeable overclock versus stock speeds.

 

Prime95 Test Run

 

 

CPU-Z Online Validation

 

 

CPU-Z CPU Information Tab

 

 

CPU-Z CPU Caches Tab

 

 

CPU-Z Mainboard Tab

 

 

CPU-Z Memory Tab

 

 

GPU-Z Graphics Card Info Tab

 

 

AIDA64 gives us even some more details regarding the computer components:

 

CPU Information

 

 

Motherboard Information

 

 

 

 

IMC

 

 

 

 

Z170 PCH

 

 

More in-depth information regarding the HIS R7 360 video card can be explored with the help of AIDA64:

 

 

Temperature tests

 

To test the computer thermals, we have first left the computer in IDLE for about 30 minutes and then we fired up the AIDA64 stress testing module, for an additional 11 minutes, basically till the temperatures did stabilize. The minimum and maximum temperatures of all internal components were recorded by the latest HWINFO utility. During the time of testing, the ambient temperature was 22.9 degrees Celsius:

 

 

Power consumption test results

System Full Load measurement was also recorded while running the AIDA64 System Stability Test and checking on Stress CPU, Stress FPU, Stress Cache, Stress System Memory, Stress GPUs.

In IDLE, we have recorded a value of 36.45W, while in Full Load about 186.61W.

Noise test results

With the system built in the stated configuration and with an ambient of 28.7dBA, we have recorded in IDLE about 35.5dBA and in Full Load after the AIDA64 Stress Test run the sound meter has recorded 42.2dBA.

Synthetic Benchmarks

 

AIDA64

 

Memory

 

CPU Queen

 

CPU PhotoWorxx

 

CPU Zlib

 

CPU AES

 

CPU Hash

 

FPU VP8

 

FPU Julia

 

FPU Mandel

 

FPU SinJulia

 

Cinebench R11.5

 

Cinebench R15

 

Crystalmark

 

PCMark Vantage

 

PCMark 7

 

PCMark 8

 

SuperPI XS

 

Wprime

 

X264 Benchmark 5.01

 

3DMark 2006

3DMark Vantage

3DMark 11

3DMark 2013

Games

 

Crysis 2

F1 2012

Metro Last Light

 

 

With the SZ170R8, Shuttle has eliminated some of the compatibility with somewhat unused hardware nowadays like optical drives and made some serious space for installing no less than four 3.5’’ drives inside the 14.2 litre chassis. A fan was also added in front in order to cool these but also for facilitating a more fluent airflow from the front to the back of the case; the case does support installation of up to 64GB of RAM (DDR4, 2133MHz), a dual-slot video card (which can be powered by one 6-pin and one 8-pin PSU connector), a M.2 SSD, an optional Wireless LAN card, a COM-port for special applications but also 2.5’’ drives with an extra adapter.

 

This time the manufacturer has included a beefy 500W power supply in order for the XPC Cube to handle even higher-specced video cards and as it could have been seen from the testing stage, we could obtain a healthy overclock without the need of raising the stock voltage.

 

As a negative point, we could remind the same we did say with the SH170R6: the video cards which evacuate the hot air inside the case won’t work too well because of the limited space between the heatsink and the top cover. It is another story if we do have a VGA card which can evacuate the heat at the back of the case because cold air will be always sucked in from the perforated lateral.

 

The recommended price for this barebone is 322 Euros excluding VAT, which makes it an ideal purchase when considering building a home-made NAS, a multimedia machine or a multimedia and gaming machine combined.

Shuttle XPC Cube Barebone SZ170R8 is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Shuttle Europe for making this review possible!