SFF Roundup, Socket 939 Systems

Conclusion

First, let's get this out of the way: even the cheapest of these units is relatively expensive. The Soltek runs at least $250 and the Shuttle SN95G5 runs about $280. You can buy a reasonable ATX case, power supply, and 939 motherboard for about $200, and less if you're willing to cut costs on the case and PSU. As we have said before, SFF targets a different mindset than the typical computing enthusiast. Many of you probably understand this well already, but when you consider the cost of furnishing the typical home or apartment and the considerations given to making the place look attractive, spending an extra $100 or even $300 on a stylish case is going to be a pittance. You also get S/PDIF Out and Firewire on every one of the units reviewed here, which means (comparing it to the ATX world) that you would need one of the nicer $110+ motherboards at the very least. Also worth mentioning is that the loudest of these systems is still quieter than your typical ATX setup unless you've spent some effort on creating a quiet system. Yes, they're expensive. No, it doesn't mean that they're a bad purchase; it's simply a matter of differing priorities.

We've already awarded the SN25P our Silver Editor's Choice award back when we first looked at it. That award was actually given with the knowledge of how several of these other systems performed, and it still stands (more or less). If you're looking for an all-around good performer, the SN25P packs features, performance, and overclocking support into an attractive design. The 24-bit VIA Envy sound also comes out of this roundup as the clear winner; it may not be "HD Azalia," but it's close enough, since it sounds better than a couple of the HD solutions that we've encountered. (Using digital out would of course eliminate the static on all of these systems.) Despite the complaints and concerns that we've listed earlier, the SN25P remains a very good SFF platform. Assuming Shuttle can get the X2 support fixed soon, the SN25P remains our pick of the 939 units. If you want to purchase an X2 processor right now, we'd downgrade the SN25P to an "Honorable Mention" until that is addressed, but the overclocking support, design, and features keep the SN25P at the head of the pack.

If you're looking for something a little smaller, the SN95G5 is still a great case. Had we reviewed the SN95G5 at launch, it would have almost certainly received an Editor's Choice award. Due to its age and somewhat outdated graphics port, we'll simply give it an Honorable Mention in this roundup. The follow-up ST20G5 seems like a logical successor to the G5 legacy at first glance, but a number of concerns prevent it from being the true successor. Overclocking support is the big problem, and while you may never overclock, the ability to run stably at overclocked speeds is often an indication of overall quality.

The rest of the systems in this roundup are all very good in different ways. Depending on what you want to do with your computer, the ST20G5 is a hit-or-miss proposition. You can purchase the nearly-identical SN95G5 and a higher performing Radeon 9600 Pro for about the same price as the ST20G5. If you don't need graphics performance at all, you could even get a cheap $40 AGP card with the SN95G5. The ST20G5 does offer multi-monitor support for up to four displays with an ATI card, and you get the newer and better PCI Express interface, but we're still not sold on the concept. The ST20G5 includes decent quality integrated graphics, but the high price and complete lack of (useable) overclocking capabilities are a definite penalty. Some might prefer the silver exterior of the ST20G5, and if so, it's not a bad system by any means. If you want an SFF that can run three or four displays, the ST20G5 is also worth consideration.

In direct comparison with the other models, the Soltek 3901P doesn't do all that well. It isn't ever at the back of the pack, but it also fails to excel in most areas. The saving grace is its low price. If you're willing to deal with the higher noise levels - or perhaps, mod the case to eliminate the major sources of noise - and if you can actually find the 3901 model that you want in stock, then some will still be happy with what it offers. Performance and expansion options are good, and it's the only case that can have two 5.25" drives installed. Some people would probably prefer to save $20 rather than get the backpack, but it can be useful.

Finally, we have the Biostar 330P, which is one of the cooler cases in regards to looks and expansion options, but falls short in noise levels and has some rough edges. Future BIOS updates ought to be able to help some items, and we'd really like to see the BIOS take over fan control so that we can get rid of the System Control software. That should help smooth out performance, but the noise levels and periodic instabilities may not get any better without a slight redesign of the interior. It generally works well and some will want it simply for the outward appearance. For now, though, we'd give the SN25P the edge over the 330P. Our wish list for Biostar is to make sure that the 330P can handle everything up through the 7800GTX and FX-57/X2 4800+, as well as clean up the cabling by changing power supplies. That would put it on the same level as the SN25P, but it's not there yet.

A pertinent question to ask yourself is whether you want AGP or PCIe graphics. If you already own an AGP card and you're looking at changing over to a SFF, but keeping your current graphics card, the SN95G5 is still a great design. If you're planning on building a new system from scratch, we'd definitely recommend going with a PCI Express setup. The ST20G5, SN25P and 330P are all viable PCIe 939 systems, and while we give the current round to the Shuttle SN25P, the other two are still worthy contenders. We're still waiting for a "perfect" 939 SFF case, however.

What would make a perfect 939 SFF? Actually, it's always a matter of balancing compromises, and the SN25P comes very close to being a perfect larger SFF. Something that we would really like to see with some of the larger units like the 330P, SN25P and 3901-300P would be the inclusion of a couple more RAM slots, but they have stuck with the traditional two DIMM slots typical of SFFs. Stability, low noise, ease of use, appearance, and features are all important aspects, and the SN25P comes very close in most of those areas. If it had four DIMM slots and the X2 support is corrected, we'd probably give it a Gold Editor's Choice. On the other hand, we also think that there will be some customers who prefer a smaller case like the G5, but they want an NVIDIA chipset and overclocking functionality along with PCIe graphics. A smaller design using the nForce4 Ultra chipset would probably win the hearts of the SN95G5 owners looking for an upgrade, as the ST20G5 isn't going to please everyone.

Going Forward

Next up for our Small Form Factor reviews: the socket 775 platform. Some newer designs using the 945/955 chipsets from Intel are coming out, and if you're going to go with a 775 platform at this point in time, we definitely recommend those over the older models. Still, there are a few creative designs that we have in our labs, so if you're more interested in an exotic-looking SFF rather than something performance-oriented, we'll be covering the segment in the near future. This will be our last full SFF roundup for a while, as it's more prudent to simply start reviewing other SFFs as quickly as possible rather than trying to write a single monolithic article. We'll be publishing socket 775 SFF reviews as well as some other SFF articles in a timelier manner going forward.

As we've noted, this is really part one of the 939 SFF reviews. We will be running some additional tests on these units in the near future, including testing with dual core processors and 90nm Venice chips. Note that our current batch of SFF tests likely wouldn't have even uncovered the USB2.0 problem with the SN25P, so we'll be adding a new test looking into Firewire and USB2.0 capabilities in future reviews (including the X2 support update that we have planned). We will also try to get a 7800GTX card to test the ability of the units to support the fastest single slot PCIe card available - our guess is that at least one of the PCIe capable units is going to have problems.

If you have any additional tests that you'd like performed, please let us know. As you may have noticed, there is also a ton of information to cover in this roundup, and while we tried to be thorough, we're sure to have forgotten a few items that may interest you. If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment or send an email and we'll be happy to respond. Also, if there are any specific SFF systems that you'd like reviewed, let me know. I can prioritize the order of reviews if there's a demand for information on a specific unit, and I do have a decent selection waiting for review.