Pleasant Surprises in Small Packages

The new Shuttle small form-factor (SFF) XPC SB77G5 offers an interesting option for the 925X chipset since, besides accommodating the i875/Canterwood, the device can also support the Pentium 4/Prescott for Socket 775.

Among its advantages, the duo-socket combination allows upgraders to continue using their AGP graphics card instead of investing another extra wad of cash in PCI Express. And, of course, users can still make do with an older 875P/Canterwood chipset until prices come down or they have another reason to go with the latest Pentium-4 processor. Considering that the old Socket 478 currently maxes out at 3.4 GHz, a PC that can accommodate Socket 775 allows you to future proof your PC for subsequent needs when you want a Prescott CPU to pump out 3.8 GHz - with no upper limit in sight.

Meanwhile, the XPC SB77G5 still uses the old AGP 4/8x card as a graphics interface. It can also handle two SD/DDR memory modules (DDR400). That means that switching to the SB77G5 is not as expensive as buying everything new. You'll have to dig a bit deeper in your pocket, however, if you want to take advantage of the benefits of the fast CPU in conjunction with new chipsets and PCI Express. These higher-end Shuttle models go by the names of XPC SB81P and XPC SP95P, the latter of which works with the newer and pricier DDR-II memory.

A card reader for a second 3.5" drive bay is optional

The front connections are located behind a small plastic panel

A parallel interface is available only as an option