Shuttle XPC SN27P2 - Review

Three-way SATA?

The manufacturer has made good use of the small amount of space inside the case. We find three spaces for 3.5 inch drives, of which one is suited for installation of a floppy drive or a card reader. the drives at the front are cooled by two small extra fans. There is also space for one optical drive. On the motherboard we find a PATA connection and three SATA connectors. The fourth connector is directed round the back by Shuttle to serve as an eSATA connection. The rear of the machine is not short of connectors, as apart from the external SATA connector we find six USB ports, Firewire and a gigabit network port.

If you're intending to use this barebone as a Media Center PC then you won't be limited by the amount of sound-related connectors. Next to plenty of analog connectors, there are no less than two optical and one coaxial digital connection on the back panel. These connectors are powered by a Realtek ALC882 HDA chip. For a quick connection, the front has a lot to offer as well. Here we find two USB ports more, mini-firewire and connectors for headphones and a microphone.

While we're on the topic of useful details of this device: there is one more that has gone unmentioned. Next to the connectors on the back end, there is one more, rather diminuitive button labelled "Clear CMOS". If something should go awry during overclocking, this button is your saviour! The SN27P is equipped with a 350 Watt power supply. 

Conclusion 

Shuttle offers a nice AM2 barebone based on the nVidia nForce 570 Ultra chipset with its XPC SN27P2. It's a powerful start for a nice workstation or a fast, though compact, gaming PC that can be taken to LAN parties.