BTX is the Rodney Dangerfield of formfactors: It just doesn’t get any respect from power users. But the new formfactor finally gets some love from Shuttle in its SB86i bare-bones PC, which doesn’t just embrace BTX, it French-kisses the new spec. Theoretically, BTX sucks cool air in the front, blows it over the processor, and vents it over the chipset and videocard for a quieter, cooler PC experience. But does it?

Firing up the SB86i with a 3.8GHz Pentium 4 570 installed, we found it to be the quietest P4-based SFF box we’ve ever had in the Lab. Its acoustic signature was quite acceptable under all but the heaviest processor loads. It’s no Pentium M system, but it’s not bad—for a P4 SFF, that is.

Structurally, the SB86i is sturdy and doesn’t exhibit any of the flexing we’ve seen in other SFF boxes. (Shoot, some SFF machines give you all the confidence of trying to ride out a tornado inside an aluminum shed.) Styling on the SB86i is also quite smart, and Shuttle manages to keep the face of the unit free of button and port clutter. Shuttle even manages to tuck a multifunction memory-card reader on the right-hand side.

Our main beef with the SB86i is its sketchy PCI-E graphics support. Shuttle doesn’t spell out what add-in cards you can run but the box certainly can’t handle a GeForce 6800 GT-class card. We suspect it’s due to the 275-watt CFX power supply, which is probably good enough to run any graphics card that doesn’t require external power. Hardcore gaming, therefore, is definitely not an option with the SB86i.

The PC’s 915G chipset also eliminates the option of running dual-core processors; at least its integrated graphics core can support the 3D GUI in Microsoft’s next-gen OS, Vista.

So where does this leave the SB86i? In a tough spot. Yes, it’s nicely styled and mostly quiet. But it can’t support the latest cutting-edge components, which makes it of limited value to power users.
—Gordon Mah Ung

Month Reviewed: October 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.shuttle.com