Shuttle SB81P: Intel's 915G

Shuttle SB81P: FB81 Motherboard

Motherboard Specifications
CPU Interface	Socket LGA775 Prescott
Chipset	Intel 915G North Bridge (MCH) ICH6R South Bridge
CPU Ratios	None
Bus Speeds	up to 355MHz in 1MHz increments
PCI/PCI-e Speeds	Locked PCI bus Locked PCIe bus
Core Voltage	up to 1.5875V in 0.0125V increments
DRAM Voltage	up to 2.9V in 0.1V increments
Chipset Voltage	up to 1.8V in 0.1V increments
Memory Slots	2 X 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots	1 X PCI-e 16x slot 1 X PCI-e 1x slot 1 X PCI (32-bit) slot
Onboard SATA/RAID	4 X SATA150 connectors RAID 0, RAID 1
Onboard IDE	1 X ATA/100/66 connector
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	4 X USB 2.0 ports (2 rear, 2 internal) 2 X IEEE1394 FireWire (1 rear, 1 internal)
Onboard LAN	Broadcom BCM5751 GbE 10/100/1000 (via PCIe bus)
Onboard Audio	Intel AC'97 8-channel (Realtek ALC880)
BIOS	July 22

Shuttle's FB81 motherboard carries a Realtek ALC880 codec, which in conjunction with the ICH6R South Bridge, allows the SB81P to use up to 8-channel audio configurations. The ALC880 is the first HD Audio codec (developed by Intel) that we know of being widely implemented on board high-end motherboards. Our first experience with the ALC880 was in Monarch's Hornet Pro, and we are no less delighted about this audio solution today then we were 5 weeks ago. Anyway, the ALC880 is definitely one of the highest quality codecs around, with support for up to 24-bit/192KHz (sampling rate) audio. While it's still quite difficult to maintain close to interference-free audio in a computer case as small as today's modern SFFs, we did hear some static at higher volumes in the SB81P, as with the Hornet Pro. All in all, however, Realtek's latest codec is more than acceptable for everyday users and is, in fact, a very high quality solution when you get right down to it. Gamers will be quite pleased with this solution, especially considering the surround sound features that it supports, namely Dolby Surround EX originally introduced in Star Wards Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In the end, the SB81P's onboard sound is going to be just about as good as any onboard solution that you will find in an SFF or desktop motherboard.

We were pleased to see the inclusion of VIA's VT6307, which controls the IEEE1394 onboard the SB81P. There is one FireWire port at the rear of the SB81P and one internal FireWire port should you decide to expand your FireWire capability by plugging in more than one IEEE1394 device at a time. We were also quite delighted to see that Shuttle went with the Broadcom BCM5751 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) solution for the SB81P because it utilizes the higher bandwidth of the PCIe bus, improving throughput performance. This is an exceptional feature for SFF GbE users, few that there may be.

Many enthusiasts consider the chipset to be the most important part of any computer system. The SB81P's chipset consists of the Intel 915G North Bridge and ICH6R South Bridge. The 915G MCH isn't Intel's flagship Prescott North Bridge, but it isn't all that much slower than their 925X flagship. Besides, when you get right down to it, the performance difference between Intel's 915G and 925X is virtually nothing and certainly nearly impossible to detect during real world usage. However, Shuttle does include Intel's flagship South Bridge, the ICH6R, which we feel is a more important feature for most SFF users because it contains important additional RAID features and higher quality audio when combined with the right codec. Anyway, the 915G MCH houses an integrated graphics accelerator as well as the PCI-e and memory controllers.

As we talked about in a recent SFF review, one of the reasons why it's hard to come to any definitive conclusion about the Shuttle SB81P is due to the fact that Intel hasn't released anything faster than a 3.6GHz 800MHz FSB processor for Socket 775 platforms. As we explained in our original Prescott article last month, Prescott doesn't really reach its true potential until beyond 3.6GHz because of its vastly improved architecture over 0.13-micron Northwood Pentium 4. Therefore, with this type of motherboard socket, you probably aren't going to see significant performance advantages over competitive Athlon 64 processors until around 4GHz or so, and perhaps even higher.