ZDNet.co.uk: Editors' Rating: 8.0 - Excellent

"A barebones PC isn’t for everyone," know the editors of ZDNET.co.uk. This because is comes with mainboard, case, cooling solution and power supply only. The Shuttle XPC Barebone SD39P2 designed for power users is ready to take the "best components on the market" and only needs a processor, memory, hard disk and graphics card to make it a fully-working PC.
Boasting the "well-tried" P2 chassis design, the "all-aluminum SD39P2PC has a compact footprint and looks relatively unassuming, but under the surface it supports Intel quad-core processors, up to 8GB of DDR2 800MHz memory and the GeForce 8800GTX," outline the editors the specifications.

"The system supports Intel’s most powerful Socket 775 processors (Intel 975X chipset), such as the Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme," they add. So there is "plenty for demanding video and graphics-editing duties." "Easy-to-reach" USB 2.0 and 4-pin FireWire 400 ports, microphone-in and headphone-out ports sit behind a flip-down panel at the front, while the rear panel reveils RJ45 Gigabit LAN, six USB 2.0, FireWire 400, line-in, front-out port, side surround-out port, rear surround-out port, center/bass port, S/PDIF coaxial-out port, S/PDIF optical-in port. For "effortless sharing and transfer of digital media," an eSATA port is available at the rear, too. "Upgrade slots include a single PCI-E x16 slot (SLI and Crossfire are out the windows) and one PCI slot," the editors notice.

	Conclusion: "A barebone PC isn't for everyone, but Shuttle has made the SD39P2 almost foolproof by supporting good components." That said, "Shuttle has produced the most powerful and configurable small-form-factor barebone system (…) to date."
	Source: ZDnet.co.uk

Though bearing performance inside that even makes "3D games fly," the Shuttle XPC Barebone SD39P2 is "surprisingly quiet when running, thanks to the system’s intelligent management of its five fans," the editors state about the low noise level.

Moreover, there is plenty of room for storage, "so it's equally suited to network storage and media server duties," because the "system can accommodate up to three SATA 300 hard disks."

Rounding things off, the editors believe "you’ll have a unique piece of kit that packs a punch while consuming minimal desk space — about 1/7th the volume of a typical desktop PC, in fact."

Pros:

• Supports Intel LGA775 processors
• Intel 975X chipset
• Up to 8GB 800MHz memory
• Three HDD bays (RAID supported)
• Overclocking functions

Service and support	8.0
Design	8.0
Features	8.0
Editors' Rating	8.0