PC Format: "Small, stylish and potentially powerful barebones system at a quality price"
 A "glamour-puss" recently paid a visit to the labs of the British IT magazine PC Format "gracing [the editors] with its presence." In other words, the Shuttle XPC Barebone SG33G6 Deluxe had to prove itself and convinced its testers when they conclude it makes for "an excellent, tiny, very quiet media centre."
The Shuttle XPC Barebone SG33G6 Deluxe is built around Intel's G33 chipset which "allows you to use practically any socket 775 CPU, from 65 to 45nm, and in 800, 1,066 and 1,333MHz FSB flavours," explain the editors of PC Format the barebones that is designed for use in the home environment.
"The internal design of the chassis is excellent," the editors state having just taken off the black G5 case to explore internal musings. There's "enough space" to fit in the components that won't be held by the drive cage such as CPU and memory. CPU cooling heatpipes leading towards the rear side of the case ensure "all the heat gets blown out the back." The Shuttle XPC Barebone SG33G6 Deluxe which is "mouse-quiet," makes for a "powerful lounge PC and would not look out of place among the trendiest of home entertainment equipment," according to PC Format. That said, the SG33G6 Deluxe also has room for a TV tuner card thanks to its PCI-E and PCI slot while the onboard graphics will "quite happily churn through 1,080p movies" provided that a "decent CPU" is installed. All in all the XPC Barebone SG33G6 Deluxe is an "excellent, tiny, very quiet media centre," when processor, RAM and hard drive are installed.
Overall score: 85 %
+ Powerful chipset
+ Miniscule and mouse-quiet |