At first we would like to thank Shuttle Europe for offering a sample of their latest XPC Slim DS67U Barebone 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. Besides picture signal, DisplayPort cables can also lead digital sound 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.

 

Multiformat card reader

At last – no more searching for missing digital camera leads. Simply insert the memory card and you can access all stored photos and videos immediately.

 

Dual network connection

In this model two gigabit network controllers ensure maximum data transmission rates via load balancing and maximum availability via the failover function.

 

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.

 

Pre-assembled cabling saves time

The most important power and data cables are already routed and just have to inserted into the relevant components. This saves valuable time when setting up the system.

 

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.

 

Anti-theft protection

The Kensington Lock forms part of the anti-theft system. As with many other Notebooks, this Mini-PC can also be safely locked, ensuring long-term enjoyment from your Shuttle product.

 

You can rely on SSD

This is where an energy-saving "Solid State Drive" should be used. This drive technology guarantees extremely short access times, the highest data transmission rates and considerably lower energy consumption compared to conventional hard disks. SSDs have no mechanical components at all, are therefore subject to less wear and tear and consequently benefit from a longer service life.

 

Just 2.5" HDDs

An extremely compact PC housing offers less space for drives, that's why this Mini-PC uses slim line 2.5-inch hard disks. The advantage of this is that there's less noise, less heat generated and reduced power consumption. However small hard disks in a small housing does not have to mean less memory. Modern 2.5" HDDs are every bit as good as their 3.5" brothers.

 

Fan-less external power supply

A highly effective external power supply provides the Shuttle Mini-PC with its energy. And since it works without a fan, it is completely noise-free.

 

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.

 

Connections without all those annoying cables

Data is transferred by WLAN completely without cables. Accessing the Internet and local network resources (e.g. printers) is now child's play when within range of an access point/hotspot.

 

Fanless and whisper-quiet

The fanless technology used in this PC means it is incredibly quiet. Doing away with these mechanical components also reduces the number of wearing parts, making the machine more durable and stable.

 

Low energy consumption

Thrift is a virtue. In terms of power consumption this Mini-PC sets an example. It is not just good for the environment but for your pocket, too.

 

Fanless and Silent

Passive cooling, no fan noise at all

Perfect to be used in noise-sensitive environments

Fanless, dust-free and thus virtually maintenance-free

 

Low Power Consumption

Power consumption in idle mode: 10~12 W (depends on peripherals)

Power consumption under full load: 17 W / 25.5 W (CPU / CPU+graphics)

(measured with 2x 4 GB DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMMs and 500 GB 2.5" hard disk under Windows 10 64-bit)

 

24/7 Nonstop Operation

This device is approved for 24/7 permanent operation.

Requirements:

- Free circulation of air amongst the PC must be guaranteed.

- Ventilation holes must stay clear.

- If a hard disk is installed, this must also be approved for permanent operation by its manufacturer

 

Chassis

Slim-PC (Nettop) with black chassis made of steel

Without cooling fan, passive cooling only

The bays for memory, 2.5" drive and M.2 card

can be easily accessed by removing two cover plates.

Dimensions: 200 x 165 x 39.5 mm (LWH) = 1.3 litres

Weight: 1.43 kg net and 2.13 kg gross

Two holes for Kensington Lock and numerous

threaded holes (M3) at both sides of the chassis

 

Operation Position

1) Vertical: Usually operated in vertical position with the supplied feet (DisplayPort output facing up).

2) VESA-mounted: The device can also be mounted behind an appropriate monitor using the supplied VESA mount kit.

Note: From a thermal point of view horizontal operation is permitted, however, there are no rubber feet on the device. The maximum operating temperature is 35°C then.

Operation System

This barebone system comes without operating system.

It is compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Linux

Supports 64-bit operating systems

 

Processor

Model: Intel Celeron 3855U (ULV)

System-on-a-chip architecture (SoC): no chipset required

BGA1356 package - directly soldered onto the mainboard

Code name: Skylake-U (6th Generation Intel Core)

Cores / Threads: 2 / 2

Clock rate: 1.6 GHz

L1/L2/L3 Cache: 128 kB / 512 kB / 2048 kB

Memory controller: DDR3L-1600 Dual Channel (1.35V)

TDP wattage: 15 W maximum

Manufacturing process: 14 nm

Maximum Tjunction Temperature: 100°C

Supports 64-bit, VT-x (EPT), VT-d, Enhanced SpeedStep, NX bit, AES-NI, SSE 4.1/4.2

Integrated graphics engine

 

Integrated Graphics

Intel HD graphics 510 (Intel HD Gen. 9)

Two digital audio/video ports support two independent screens:

1) DisplayPort 1.2 [7] supports 4096x2304 @ 60Hz

2) HDMI 1.4 supports 4096x2304 @ 24Hz

Supports Ultra HD / 4K resolution

GPU clock rate: 300~900 MHz

Execution Units (EU): 12

Supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4

Supports full h264, h265 8/10 bit, VP8/9, VC-1, AVC hardware decoding

Supports Quick Sync Video and Clear Video HD technology

Supports HD video plus multi-channel digital audio via a single cable

Dynamic, shared memory: up to 1.7 GB

 

Mainboard / BIOS

Shuttle Mainboard FS67

All capacitors are high quality solid capacitors

Supports resume after power failure

Supports Wake on LAN (WOL)

Supports Power on by RTC Alarm

Supports boot from M.2 SSD cards, USB devices and SD card reader

AMI BIOS in 8 MByte EEPROM with SPI interface

Supports hardware monitoring and watch dog function

Supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

 

Power Adapter

External 65 W power adapter (fanless)

Input: 100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz, max. 1.6 A

Output: 19 V DC, max. 3.42 A, max. 65 W

DC Connector: 5.5/2.5mm (outer/inner diameter)

 

Memory support

2x SO-DIMM slots with 204 pins

Supports DDR3L-1600 (PC3-12800) SDRAM at 1.35V

Supports Dual Channel mode

Supports a maximum of 16 GB per DIMM, maximum total size: 32 GB

Supports two unbuffered DIMM modules (no ECC or registered)

Caution: This mainboard does only support 1.35V DDR3L memory modules.

DDR3L has a lower operation voltage compared to DDR3

 

Audio

Audio Realtek® ALC 662 High-Definition Audio

Two analog audio connectors (3.5mm) at the back panel:

1) 2 channel line out (headphones)

2) microphone input

Digital multi-channel audio output: via HDMI and DisplayPort

 

Dual Gigabit LAN

Dual network with two RJ45 ports

Used network chips:

1) Intel i211 Ethernet Controller with MAC, PHY and PCIe interface

2) 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)

Supports Teaming mode

 

Wireless Network (WLAN)

WLAN expansion card (M.2-2230-AE) with two external antennas

One antenna for WLAN, the second antenna is for Bluetooth (supplied)

Chip: Realtek RTL8821AE

Supports Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ac 1T1R, 2,4 GHz or 5 GHz

Max. speed: 150 Mbps (2.4 GHz) or 433 Mbps (5 GHz)

Supports Bluetooth 4.0

 

M.2 Slot for SSDs

The M.2 2242 BM slot provides the following interfaces:

- PCI-Express Gen. 2.0 X4 with up to 16 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 mm (type 2242)

Supports M.2 SATA SSDs (with B+M key) and M.2 PCIe SSDs (with M key)

 

2.5" Drive Bay with SATA connector

Supports one Serial ATA hard disk

or one SATA SSD drive in 6.35cm/2.5" format

Device height: 9.5 or 12.5 mm (max.)

Supports Serial-ATA III, 6 Gb/s (600 MB/s) bandwidth

Supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

Note: no Serial ATA cable is required

 

Card Reader

Integrated SD card reader

Supports SD, SDHC and SDXC memory flash cards

Supports booting from SD card

 

Front Panel connectors

2x USB 3.0

2x USB 2.0

2x RS232 serial ports (5V/12V, 1x switchable to RS422 / RS485)

covered with black plastic caps

SD card reader (supports SD, SDHC, SDXC)

Power button

Power LED (blue)

HDD LED (yellow)

 

Back Panel connectors

DisplayPort 1.2

HDMI 1.4

2x USB 2.0

2x Gigabit LAN (RJ45)

Microphone input

Audio Line-out (headphones)

DC-input connector for external power adapter

4-pin connector "SW2" (2.54 mm pitch) for power button, Clear CMOS and 5V DC

2x RP-SMA connectors for external Wireless LAN antennas (antennas are supplied)

 

Always-On Jumper

By removing Jumper J9 (please refer to the quick user guide)

the system will start unconditionally once power is applied.

 

Scope of Delivery

Multi-language user guide

Two metal feet with four screws M3 x 7

VESA mount for 75/100mm standard (two metal brackets)

Four thumbscrews M3 x 5 mm (screws together VESA mount and PC)

Four screws M4 x 10 mm (to fix the VESA mount to the external surface)

Rack (to mount a 2.5" storage in the bay) with two screws M3 x 4 mm

Two antennas for WLAN and Bluetooth

Driver DVD for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 (64-bit)

External power adapter with power cord

 

Environmental Specifications

Operating temperature range: 0~40 °C

Relative humidity, non-condensing: 10~90%

 

Conformity/Certifications

EMI: FCC, CE, BSMI, C-Tick

Safety: ETL, CB, BSMI

Other: RoHS, Energy Star, ErP

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

(1) 2004/108/EC relating to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC),

(2) 2006/95/EC relating to Electrical Equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (LVD),

(3) 2009/125/EC relating to ecodesign requirements for energy-related products (ErP),

(4) 1999/5/EC related to Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE)

 

Quite a bit of time ago we have covered the DS57U model from Shuttle, which did include a similar looking chassis, with the Intel Celeron 3205U (ULV) processor at its heart, completely fanless and offered good performances for its target users; at the same time, Shuttle was offering more powerful versions which included the Broadwell Core i3-5005U, Core i5-5200U and also the Core i7-5500U in order to cover more segments. The DS67U is meant to offer an improvement over the previous model, by using a Skylake processor; as we have seen with the DS57U, the DS67U is offered in four different variants:

 

-DS67U – Celeron 3855U CPU

-DS67U3 – Core i3-6100U CPU

-DS67U5 – Core i5-6200U CPU

-DS67U7 – Core i7-6500U CPU.

 

While the Celeron variant comes with two cores, each with its own thread, the Core i3,i5 and i7 variants do have HyperThreading, higher operating clock speeds and improved integrated graphics (HD 510 on the Celeron and HD 520 on the Core i series).

 

The product is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box with a familiar design:

 

 

 

If we do look on one of the sides, we will get to see a sticker which informs us on the product hardware specifications, but also a small warning regarding the SODIMM memory modules we need to use (1.35V DDR3L):

 

 

 

For ease of use, the box is also provided with a plastic handle:

 

 

 

The inside contents are carefully protected by foam material:

 

 

 

As a bundle, we will receive another plain cardboard box, along with the documentation in different languages, which is placed in a separate transparent re-sealable plastic bag:

 

 

 

 

Besides the necessary mounting screws, we will receive one power adapter, the free VESA mounts, the power lead, two Wi-Fi antennas, but also the aluminum stands:

 

 

 

From the power adapter sticker, we will learn that it can deliver on the output 19V at 3.42A:

 

 

 

The 75/100mm VESA mount is ready to go and allows us to mount the computer to a wall or on the back of a monitor (if applicable):

 

 

 

The aluminum stands are carefully packaged individually, so they won’t scratch from one another:

 

 

 

These fit the chassis design like a glove and feature multiple mounting holes:

 

 

 

On each we can also spot two rubber feet:

 

 

 

The supplied DVD comes with the necessary drivers along with the user manual in electronic format; these are also available on the Shuttle website for download:

 

 

 

Each step of the installation is documented inside the Quick Installation Guide and we also get to see some photos of the standalone motherboard on both sides and learn its components:

 

 

 

The VESA mount installation leaflet is available separately:

 

 

 

Built on the base of the DS57U, the DS67U presents itself with the same compact design, incorporating a huge heatsink on the side which allows 24/7 operation without active cooling:

 

 

 

A tiny sticker gives us more information regarding the product code name and power rating:

 

 

 

The opposite area houses two separate removable covers and three stickers: one with the product serial number, the other with the System ID and also one indicating the product operating position:

 

 

 

The first difference versus the DS57U can be seen in the front, where now on the DS67U there are two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 (instead of all 2.0), a Power LED, one HDD activity LED, the Power button, 2x RS232 serial ports (5V/12V, 1x switchable to RS422 / RS485), but also one card reader:

 

 

 

While the DS57U did have internal Wi-Fi antennas, now these have been converted to external (the golden ports can be clearly spotted in the back), while the other port arrangement remains the same with one exception (the USB 3.0 ports have been switched with USB 2.0). Here we do also have one DisplayPort, one HDMI, one headphone and a microphone jack, two LAN ports, but also the DC-IN port:

 

 

 

Under the left antenna we will also see a pin connector for external power button or CMOS button, or 5V DC Voltage Supply:

 

 

 

On the top, but also on the bottom areas of the chassis we will find ventilation grills and each of these also feature Kensington Lock ports:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The removal of the back covers does reveal the motherboard interfaces:

 

 

 

The wireless expansion card features two antenna ports (one is for WLAN, the second for Bluetooth), houses a Realtek RTL8821AE chip, and on wireless the supported speeds are 150Mbps on 2.4GHz and 433Mbps on 5GHz:

 

 

 

The 2.5’’ HDD/SSD drive bay comes with the usual Data/Power SATA connector:

 

 

 

As we have seen on the outside of the packaging, the 1.35V SODIMM recommendation is also present in the memory slots area (we can install up to 32GB of RAM on this system):

 

 

 

Versus the DS57U which did come with a mSATA port, the DS67U has an upgraded interface, M.2 2242 BM which supports M/2 storage with width of 22mm and length of 42mm:

 

 

 

The 2.5’’ HDD/SSD gets secured inside its bay with a specific bracket, which uses two screws for fixing to the drive and one for attaching to the chassis:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The memory can be installed in just a snap:

 

 

 

After the installation has been completed and the protective covers are placed back in, we can go ahead and install the aluminum stands, each which is secured with two screws:

 

 

 

Here is a photo with a finished DS67U installation, also containing the installed Wi-Fi antennas in the back:

 

 

 

For the DS67U Shuttle is still sticking with an Aptio Setup Utility interface, so no flashy UEFI effects here; the menus are available on the top area of the screen, beginning with Main and ending with Save & Exit. The Main area does show details regarding the currently flashed BIOS version, the installed processor, total memory quantity, while the system date/time can be fully adjusted:

 

 

 

The Advanced area comes with the following sub-sections:

 

-Hardware Health Configuration

-OnBoard Device Configuration

-Power Management Configuration

-CPU Configuration

-SATA Configuration

-USB Configuration

 

 

 

Hardware Health Configuration sub-menu does show the live CPU/System temperatures, but also the current voltage for the CPU package and DRAM:

 

 

 

OnBoard Device Configuration allows us to enable/disable certain motherboard interfaces, including the audio CODEC, LAN ports, choose a function for the M.2 slot, allocate a certain memory section for the IGP and more:

 

 

 

 

Power Management Configuration menu allows us to work with some usual PM settings, while others are greyed out:

 

 

 

 

CPU Configuration menu will give us detailed information about the installed processor and from here we will be also able to enable or disable some of its features:

 

 

 

 

 

SATA Configuration area only displays the currently connected drives into the respective slots:

 

 

 

Same thing goes for the USB Configuration area, which is only for informative purposes:

 

 

 

The Security menu allows the user to change current Supervisor/User passwords, set the Password Login Control area, but also enable/disable Flash Write Protection:

 

 

 

From the Boot area we ca set different specific options but also adjust the priorities:

 

 

 

Finally, the Save & Exit menu is here for us in order to save/discard or load factory defaults in case something goes south:

 

 

 

First hardware monitoring program we have fired up is CPU-Z, with its multiple information tabs:

 

CPU

 

 

Caches

 

 

Mainboard

 

 

Memory

 

 

SPD

 

 

GPU-Z will give us a summary on the integrated GPU:

 

 

We have also fired up the latest AIDA64 for finding out more details regarding the internal components:

 

CPU

 

 

 

Motherboard

 

 

 

CPU IMC

 

 

 

PCH

 

 

Integrated Graphics

 

 

 

 

 

3DMark 2001

 

3DMark 2003

 

3DMark 2005

 

3DMark 2006

 

PCMark 2005

 

PCMark 7

 

CrystalMark

 

SuperPI 1.5 XS 1M

 

CineBench R10

 

CineBench R11.5

 

x264 Encoding

 

Counterstrike Source

 

 

The new DS67U XPC Slim barebone from Shuttle is built on a chassis we have previously seen with the DS57U series quite some time ago and besides the updated platform we do also have some welcome modifications like the M.2 slot instead of mSATA or the external Wi-Fi antennas for extended storage instead of the internal ones which are more prone to interferences. While the model we have reviewed does feature the Skylake-U Celeron 3855U processor, there are also other versions to be taken into account which do feature the Core i3-6100U, Core i5-6200U or the Core i7-6500U processors for even higher performance needs.

 

By using the exact same test components, we have seen that the product is more power efficient than the Celeron-based DS57U, so the product was drawing from the wall 16.24W while in IDLE and only 36.72W while in Full Load (via the AIDA64 Stress Test utility).

 

Here is a table with a list of main differences between the two models:

 

 

 

On the temperatures side, this DS67U XPC Slim barebone also excels, meaning that the core temperatures are cooler than before, while using the same cooling system as on the DS57U:

 

 

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the product needs DDR3L SODIMM RAM in order to function properly, the manufacturer placing warnings on both the packaging and also near the RAM slots.

 

The device can be well installed behind the office monitor thanks to the VESA mounts, but it also takes very little space on the table if we decide to use the included feet in order to mount it vertically. Also, it is designed to operate 24/7 and besides usages like office PC, multimedia content playback the product can be also enabled for digital signage, POS, Kiosk, Thin Client, Cloud Computing applications.

 

We will also note as with the previous DS57U review, that we would have preferred to have more USB 3.0 ports than 2.0 in order to connect storage devices at higher speeds.

 

The recommended retail price of this product is 226 Euros excluding taxes; also make sure to also check out the memory compatibility list on the website right here.

 

Shuttle XPC Slim DS67U Barebone is Recommended For:

 

 

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