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Enter Shuttle’s second Athlon 64 cube, the SK83G. Thanks to VIA’s K8M800 chipset, the SK83G sports a 16-bit, 800MHz Hyper-Transport link, a south bridge Serial ATA RAID controller, and an integrated graphics core that should intrigue those with little need for blistering frame rates or dazzling shader effects. And just because the SK83G has integrated graphics doesn’t mean you can’t pop in a high-end gaming card and tear up a local LAN party, either.
What else does the SK83G have to offer? Can it keep up with full-sized Athlon 64 platforms? Keep reading to find out.
The specs
As always, let’s kick things off with a look at the SK83G’s spec sheet.
CPU support | Socket 754-based Athlon 64 processors |
Form factor | ATX |
Chipset | VIA K8M800 |
North bridge | VIA K8M800 |
South bridge | VIA VT8237 |
Interconnect | V-Link (533MB/sec) |
PCI slots | 1 32-bit/33MHz |
AGP slots | 1 AGP 4X/8X (1.5V only) |
Memory | 2 184-pin DIMM sockets Maximum of 2GB of DDR266/333/400 SDRAM |
Storage I/O | Floppy disk 2 channels ATA/133 2 channels Serial ATA 150 via VT8237 south bridge with RAID 0,1 support |
Audio | 6-channel audio via VT8237 integrated audio and ALC650 codec |
Ports |
1 PS/2 keyboard 1 PS/2 mouse 1 serial 1 VGA 1 composite/S-video 4 USB 2.0 (rear), 2 USB 2.0 (front) with headers for 2 more 1 Firewire (front), 1 Firewire (rear) 1 RJ45 10/100 Fast Ethernet via VIA VT8237/VT6103 1 analog front out (rear) |
BIOS | Phoenix AwardBIOS |
Bus speeds | CPU: 200-232MHz in 1MHz increments DRAM: 100, 133, 166, 200MHz |
Bus dividers | None |
Voltages | CPU: 0.8-1.7V in 0.025V increments AGP: 1.6-1.8V in 0.1V increments DRAM: 2.6-2.8V in 0.1V increments HT: 1.3-1.5V in 0.1V increments |
Monitoring | Voltage, fan status, and temperature monitoring |
The SK83G’s list of features and peripherals doesn’t contain any surprises, but the cube’s lack of Gigabit Ethernet is a little conspicuous. Nearly every mid- to high-end Athlon 64 motherboard features at least PCI-based GigE and it’s a little disappointing to see this feature missing from the SK83G. Otherwise, the SK83G’s spec sheet is stacked with features, including Serial ATA RAID, Firewire, digital audio ports, and an all-important AGP slot.
We’ll dive into more detail on the SK83G’s integrated features over the following pages, but first, behold the money shot:
Face first
Shuttle has been selling artistic XPC face plate upgrades for a while now, and they’ve finally put one on a new cube model. The SK83G’s face features a faux-grill backdrop that adds a little industrial flash to the otherwise buttoned-down black cube.
Unfortunately, all it takes is a beige optical drive to completely ruin the case’s aesthetic. Despite my incessant whining about the lack of drive bay covers on numerous XPC cubes, the SK83G’s external 5.25″ and 3.5″ bays can easily house discolored drives that clash with the cube’s industrial appearance. Of course, black drives will match the cube’s aluminum skin and front panel trim, so it’s possible to avoid a fashion disaster. However, I still find it bizarre that Shuttle hasn’t stealthed the external drive bays on all its new XPC models. Sliding or spring-loaded drive bay covers haven’t been difficult for Antec, Biostar, and MSI to implement in their cubes. Heck, Shuttle even offers one on its own SB75S.
Ok, I’ll stop ranting now.
Moving along, note that the SK83G has an external 3.5″ drive bay. Some of Shuttle’s more recent cubes, including the SN85G4 and ST61G4, have ditched external 3.5″ drive bays in favor of integrated memory card readers. The SK83G is more floppy-friendly than those cubes, but I think we’d all rather have an integrated card reader.
Around the rear, the SK83G looks like just about every other XPC, but pay special attention to the grills that cover the cube’s main exhaust port and power supply.
The SK83G exhaust port’s honeycomb pattern looks cool, but the small, widely-spaced holes don’t leave a lot of room for air flow. Contrast that with the power supply’s open honeycomb grill, and you might be tempted to break out a Dremel or drill to help the SK83G breathe.
Although its exhaust grill could use some work, the SK83G’s port cluster is loaded with everything you’ll need, including VGA and S-Video outputs for the cube’s integrated graphics. Shuttle also ships the SK83G with an S-Video-to-composite video adapter.
In addition to its video outputs, the SK83G’s port cluster yields a trio of analog audio ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, Firewire, Ethernet, four USB ports, and even a serial port. The cluster also has a handy Clear CMOS button, which will save you from having to dig around inside the cube to reset the BIOS.
They’re not pictured above, but the SK83G also comes equipped with digital S/PDIF audio input and output ports. These ports are located at the rear of the cube just above the AGP and PCI expansion slots.
The SK83G complements its rear port cluster with an assortment of front-mounted ports, including three more audio jacks, a couple of USB ports, and a Firewire port.
Peeling back the SK83G’s aluminum shell reveals the belly of the beast.
At first, the SK83G’s internals look a little too crowded for comfort. However, as with other XPCs, the SK83G’s drive bay cage pops out to open things up.
Without a removable drive bay cage, the SK83G would be all but impossible to work on. Thankfully, the cage can easily be removed by loosening a couple of screws. The cage has one external 5.25″ bay, an external 3.5″ bay, and an internal 3.5″ bay. However, I wouldn’t recommend running two hard drives directly on top of each other. There’s not much air flow around the front of the case, and the prospect of running two high-speed drives that close to each other makes me a little nervous.
Popping the drive bay cage reveals a surprisingly spacious interior, including plenty of room to work around the CPU socket. It’s a little odd to see AMD’s 754-pin Athlon 64 socket surrounded by a heat sink retention bracket designed for Intel’s Socket 478, though. More on the cube’s cooling in a moment.
As our tour of the SK83G’s internals continues, you’ll find all the storage-related ports clustered together towards the front of the case. The cube’s Serial ATA ports are of the locking variety, which is a huge plus if you’re going to be moving the case around a lot. For all their thin, flexible goodness, Serial ATA cables tend to come loose if they’re not plugged into locking ports. Shuttle also ships the SK83G with shortened IDE and SATA cables to ensure that the cube’s internals aren’t dominated by bundles of excess cable.
Moving to memory, the SK83G has a couple of DIMM slots and supports up to 2GB of DDR400. Since the 754-pin Athlon 64’s memory controller is a single-channel design, you can run the system with only one DIMM and still achieve optimal performance.
Shuttle’s XPC form factor doesn’t leave enough board real estate for more than two DIMM slots, but that’s hardly a crushing blow to the SK83G. It’s not uncommon to see full ATX Athlon 64 platforms with only two DIMM slots, so the SK83G isn’t much worse off than the rest of the Athlon 64 world in that respect.
Shuttle’s XPC expansion slot organization puts AGP on the outer edge of the motherboard, making the cubes incompatible with double-wide graphics cards like NVIDIA’s latest GeForce 6800 Ultra. Of course, the 6800 Ultra would probably choke the SK83G’s 240W power supply, so the cube’s slot configuration might not be a huge issue.
While we’re looking at the AGP slot, notice the bright yellow CMOS reset jumper. In addition to having a handy Clear CMOS button in the rear port cluster, the SK83G’s CMOS reset jumper is also easily accessible.
Snapping pictures of the SK83G’s internals was surprisingly easy thanks to Shuttle’s careful cable routing and liberal use of zip ties. The cube even comes with a couple of extra zip ties so you can clean up the wiring once drives and expansion cards are installed.
And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the obligatory glamour shot of Shuttle’s ICE cooler.
The basic shape and design of the ICE cooler hasn’t changed much over the years, but the SK83G’s incarnation has been tweaked a little here and there.
For starters, the cooler’s base has been redesigned. The copper contact surface remains relatively unchanged, but the base itself is much beefier than previous models. The new cooler’s array of fins is also thicker than the ICE of old, although the old cooler had no problem keeping the Athlon 64 cool in the SN85G4.
One ICE component that hasn’t changed is the cooler’s retention clip, which remains one of simplest heat sink retention mechanisms around. The retention clip was perfect when it was introduced years ago, and Shuttle hasn’t messed with a good thing.
Shuttle has messed with the SK83G’s cooling fan, though. With 11 curved blades, the new fan looks like something straight out of the Bat Cave. The fan’s speed is still temperature-controlled; more on that when we tackle the BIOS.
Attention to detail has always been one of Shuttle’s strengths, and the SK83G is no exception. The cube’s cooling fan is mounted on rubber washers to dampen noisy vibrations, and Shuttle even goes through the trouble of sheathing the power supply cable, although it’s only a couple of inches long. These little touches are great, but they also leave me wanting more. For example, it would be nice if Shuttle also included damping washers for the cube’s optical and hard drive mounts.
While we’re admiring that sheathed power cable, it’s worth taking a moment to highlight the SK83G’s power supply. With a total output wattage of 240W, the SK83G’s PSU is probably not beefy enough to take on a GeForce 6800 Ultra, whose double-wide cooler wouldn’t fit in the cube anyway. I’ve had no problems with my test system, which includes an Athlon 64 3200+, Raptor WD360GD hard drive, and Radeon 9800 XT graphics card.
Unlike many of Shuttle’s XPC power supplies, the SK83G’s PSU relies on a single internal cooling fan. This fan is temperature-controlled and hopefully less prone to the high-pitched whine that tends to plague Shuttle’s smaller PSU fans over time. Don’t let those four screws fool you, though. You’ll have to open up the power supply, voiding its warranty in the process, to swap out or gain access to the cooling fan.
The SK83G uses Shuttle’s FX83 motherboard, which is built around VIA’s K8M800 Athlon 64 chipset.
With the Athlon 64’s memory controller on the processor die, the K8M800 north bridge chip is dominated by an integrated UniChrome Pro graphics core. The UniChrome Pro features dual pixel pipelines running at 200MHz and support for up to 64MB of shared memory, so don’t expect much in the performance department. The K8M800’s integrated graphics should be more than powerful enough for 2D applications, but it’s a little disappointing that the cube doesn’t support dual monitor outputs.
In addition to its integrated graphics core, the K8M800 north bridge also sports a 16-bit, 800MHz HyperTransport processor link and AGP 8X slot for discrete graphics cards The north bridge hooks into the chipset’s VT8237 south bridge with a V-Link interconnect that boasts 533MB/sec of bandwidth. 533MB/sec is hardly impressive these days, but given the SK83G’s limited expansion capabilities, there should be more than enough bandwidth for whatever you can realistically cram into the cube.
On the storage front, the VT8237 serves up a couple of ATA/133 IDE channels and two Serial ATA RAID ports with support for RAID 0 and 1 arrays. RAID certainly isn’t out of the question, but you’ll have to stack drives directly on top of each other to fit two of them into the cube along with a 5.25″ optical drive. Given the SK83G’s cramped quarters and lack of air flow around the drive bays, I wouldn’t recommend it.
On the audio front, the VT8237’s integrated six-channel audio controller pairs up with Realtek’s venerable ALC650 codec. The audio implementation is certainly capable, but don’t expect exceptional sound quality or stunning performance with 3D audio. After all, we’re talking about integrated audio here; the VT8237 ain’t no Envy24.
Moving to networking, the SK83G ignores a recent trend towards PCI-based Gigabit Ethernet controllers and relies on the VT8237 south bridge’s 10/100 Fast Ethernet controller and VIA’s VT1603 Ethernet PHY. Most users don’t need GigE, so it’s easy to see why Shuttle is going with plain old Fast Ethernet. Still, a solid GigE controller would have made the SK83G that much more attractive for forward-looking business environments and potentially even cluster applications.
VIA’s VT1622AM video decoder and VT6307 Firewire chip round out our look at the SK83G’s silicon goodies. The VT1622AM powers the cube’s composite and S-Video outputs, while the VT6307 serves the cube’s Firewire ports.
The BIOS
Despite its integrated graphics and value branding, the SK83G is starting to look like an intriguing option for power users. Does the cube’s BIOS hold up to enthusiast scrutiny?
On the memory front, so far so good. The SK83G’s BIOS doesn’t give you control over ever memory timing under the sun, but the most common latencies and timings are there.
The BIOS also yields control over the cube’s HyperTransport link, though tweaking is limited to lower bus widths and frequencies rather than higher ones.
On the AGP front, we have all the usual suspects, including control over how much memory is dedicated to the integrated graphics core. Unlike Intel’s recent integrated graphics controllers, which are able to dynamically allocate system memory, the Unichrome Pro requires a fixed chunk of memory.
If stock speeds just don’t do it for you, the SK83G’s BIOS offers CPU bus speeds up to 232Mhz in 1MHz increments. When coupled with the BIOS’s voltage options, which go up to 1.7V for the processor and 2.8V for memory, it should be possible to wring a little extra speed from an Athlon 64. However, without a locked AGP/PCI bus, the SK83G isn’t well-suited for extreme overclocking.
Finally, the SK83G’s BIOS gives users control over the cube’s cooling fan. Fan speeds ramp up when the processor’s temperature hits a user-defined threshold, nicely balancing low noise levels with adequate cooling. Depending on your tolerance for high CPU temperatures, you can configure the cube for ultra-low, low, or mid noise levels in addition to running the cooling fan at full speed all the time.
Our testing methods
All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.
Processor | Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz | |||||
Front-side bus | HT 16-bit/800MHz downstream HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream |
HT 16-bit/1GHz downstream HT 16-bit/1GHz upstream |
HT 16-bit/600MHz downstream HT 8-bit/600MHz upstream |
HT 16-bit/800MHz downstream HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream |
HT 16-bit/800MHz downstream HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream |
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Motherboard | Shuttle SK83G | Abit KV8-MAX3 | Abit KV8 Pro | Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 | NVIDIA reference | Foxconn 755A01 |
North bridge | VIA K8M800 | VIA K8T800 | VIA K8T800 Pro | NVIDIA nForce3 150 | NVIDIA nForce3 250GB | SiS755 |
South bridge | VIA VT8237 | SiS964 | ||||
Chipset drivers | VIA Hyperion 4.51 | NVIDIA ForceWare 3.13 | NVIDIA 4.08 | AGP 7.2.0.1170 SATA 5.1.1039.1050 IDE 5.1.1039.2041 |
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Memory size | 512MB (1 DIMM) | |||||
Memory type | Corsair XMS3500 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz and 2-7-3-3 timings | |||||
Hard drive |
Western Digital Raptor WD360GD Serial ATA hard drive |
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Audio | VT8237/VALC650 | VT8237/VT1616 | VT8237/ALC658 | Envy24PT/VT1616 | nForce3 250GB/ALC655 | SiS964/ALC655 |
Graphics | ATI Radeon 9800 XT with Catalyst 4.3 drivers | |||||
OS | Microsoft Windows XP Professional | |||||
OS updates | Service Pack 1, DirectX 9.0b |
The SK83G’s application performance was tested with the integrated graphics core enabled using 64MB of system memory, and with a discrete Radeon 9800 XT graphics card. Peripheral tests, including disk controller, USB, Firewire, audio, and Ethernet performance were conducted exclusively with the 9800 XT installed. Overclocking tests were also limited to our discrete graphics configuration.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- SiSoft Sandra Standard 2004
- PC Magazine Business Winstone 2004 1.0.1
- PC Magazine Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004
- TCD Labs HD Tach v2.61
- Futuremark 3DMark03 Patch 340
- Quake III Arena v1.32
- Unreal Tournament 2003 demo
- RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.3
- RightMark 3D Sound 1.01
- NTttcp
- Cinebench 2003
- Sphinx 3.3
The test systems’ Windows desktop was set at 1024×768 in 32-bit color at a 75Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests. Most of the 3D gaming tests used the high detail image quality settings, with the exception that the resolution was set to 640×480 in 32-bit color.
All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.
Memory performance
Its integrated graphics core erodes the SK83G’s performance in our memory bandwidth and latency tests, but with a Radeon 9800 XT under the hood, the cube is competitive with other Athlon 64 platforms.
Disk controller performance
Our disk controller performance tests use a Maxtor 740X-6L 7,200RPM hard drive for “parallel” ATA (PATA) and a Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 10,000RPM hard drive for Serial ATA (SATA). Because we use different drives for PATA and SATA, scores aren’t comparable between the two. PATA scores should only be compared with each other. The same goes for SATA scores.
The SK83G’s performance in HD Tach’s read and write tests is right in the middle of the pack.
But access times and CPU utilization are less impressive. The SK83G’s relatively high CPU utilization is at least competitive with other VIA-based Athlon 64 platforms. You can thank the VT8237 south bridge for that.
Office productivity
The SK83G leads the pack in the Winstone tests, but using the integrated graphics drops performance in both the Business and Multimedia Content Creation tests. However, even with the IGP in use, the SK83G isn’t far off the pace.
Gaming
Of course, gaming is another story. VIA’s dated UniChrome Pro graphics core is all but useless unless you’re fond of playing games at extremely low resolutions. The IGP couldn’t render Unreal Tournament 2003’s sky properly, and it only ran one of 3DMark03’s game tests. Heck, the IGP couldn’t even run 3DMark03’s CPU tests. Fortunately, swapping the IGP for a Radeon 9800 XT improves performance dramatically. With a discrete graphics card installed, the SK83G looks like a competitive gaming platform.
Cinebench rendering
The cube’s rendering performance is right up there, too, just as long as you don’t use the IGP with any OpenGL apps.
Sphinx speech recognition
The SK83G turns in one of the fastest and slowest scores in Sphinx, depending on whether we’re using the integrated graphics or not.
Audio performance
The SK83G’s audio performance is about what you’d expect from VIA’s south bridge audio controller. Curiously, the cube crashed out of RightMark 3D Sound’s 32-buffer DirectSound 3D Hardware test. We observerd similar behavior with the Foxconn 755A01-6EKRS, which also uses a Realtek codec.
Audio quality
For RightMark’s audio quality tests, I used a Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96 for recording. Analog output ports were used on all systems. To keep things simple, I’ve translated RightMark’s word-based quality scale to numbers. Higher scores reflect better audio quality, and the scale tops out at 6, which corresponds to an “Excellent” rating in RightMark.
Because our nForce3 250Gb reference board is an engineering sample that may use a different codec and audio components than retail products, we’ve left it out of audio quality tests.
For integrated audio, the SK83G sounds pretty good. However, “pretty good” for integrated audio is barely average when compared with true 24-bit audio implementations like M-Audio’s Revolution 7.1 and Creative’s Audigy2.
USB performance
Our USB and Firewire transfer speed tests were conducted with a USB 2.0/Firewire external hard drive enclosure connected to a 7200RPM Maxtor 740X-6L hard drive.
The SK83G’s USB transfer rates are good, but nothing special.
CPU utilization during USB transfers is a little higher than the competition, but not high enough to get worked up about.
Firewire performance
Neither the KV8 Pro nor the nForce3 250Gb reference board has Firewire, so I’ve excluded them from this test.
The SK83G’s Firewire transfer rates are impressive indeed.
And best of all, the cube’s CPU utilization during those transfers is under 20%.
Ethernet performance
We evaluated Ethernet performance using the NTttcp tool from the Microsoft’s Windows DDK. The docs say this program “provides the customer with a multi-threaded, asynchronous performance benchmark for measuring achievable data transfer rate”. Sounds like what we’re after.
We used the following command line options on the server machine:
ntttcps -m 4,0,192.168.1.25 -a
..and the same basic thing on each of our test systems acting as clients:
ntttcpr -m 4,0,192.168.1.25 -a
Our server was a Windows XP Pro system based on Chaintech’s Zenith 9CJS motherboard with a Pentium 4 2.4GHz (800MHz front-side bus, Hyper-Threading enabled) and CSA-attached Gigabit Ethernet. A crossover CAT6 cable was used to connect the server to each system.
Here’s where the SK83G really misses Gigabit Ethernet. Even PCI-based GigE solutions muster five times the throughput of the cube’s lowly 10/100 Fast Ethernet controller.
Update 6/13/2005 — We recently discovered that the ntttcp CPU utilization results included in this review were incorrect. The CPU utilization results have been removed, but they didn’t factor prominently into our overall conclusion, so that remains unchanged. A full explanation can be found here.
Overclocking
With a rather large box fan keeping the Benchmarking Sweatshop less steamy than usual, I was able to get the SK83G stable with a CPU bus speed of 215MHz. At this speed, the SK83G ran the AGP and PCI bus at 66 and 33MHz, respectively. Keep in mind, though, that the BIOS offers no direct control over bus dividers.
As always, remember that overclocking success can depend as much on the individual characteristics of system components as it can on ambient temperatures, pure luck, and a pact I made with the devil to ensure that my PIII 700s would run at 933MHz. Your mileage may vary.
An extra 150Mhz is good for a respectable performance boost in Unreal Tournament 2003, but don’t expect to wring a more extreme overclock from the SK83G. Without higher voltage options and an AGP/PCI bus lock, the cube’s overclocking potential is somewhat limited.
Conclusions
Shuttle’s web site claims that the SK83G delivers “64-bit value,” but I think that sells the cube a little short. The value is no doubt there, especially considering that the UniChrome Pro integrated graphics doesn’t significantly impede 2D application performance. However, given the SK83G’s competitive benchmark scores with a Radeon 9800 XT, the cube’s south bridge Serial ATA RAID controller, and its 16-bit/800MHz HyperTransport link, the SK83G is also a capable option for performance-oriented gamers and enthusiasts.
Of course, as much as I like the SK83G, there are a few things I have to gripe about. The first is the cube’s lack of Gigabit Ethernet, which could make it a tantalizing option for inexpensive Athlon 64 clusters. The benefits of GigE would probably be lost on value markets, but it would be a nice forward-looking feature for corporate applications and bandwidth-hungry enthusiasts. Second, the external 3.5″ drive bay seems like a waste. At the very least, Shuttle could bundle the SK83G with its PC12 USB card reader to give users a more complete package out of the box. Finally, there’s the drive bay cover, or lack thereof. If XPCs weren’t so darn attractive, I wouldn’t mind marring their exterior with a beige optical drive. However, the more visually appealing XPCs get, the worse they look with beige.
In the grand scheme of things, those are minor complaints. As is, the SK83G still offers compelling performance and features for budget-conscious consumers, businesses, and even gamers and enthusiasts looking to pack an Athlon 64 into a toaster-sized form factor. With a street price hovering around $310—about as much as an SN85G4—the SK83G might just render Shuttle’s first Athlon 64 cube obsolete.