14 DAY TRIAL // The founding father of user barebone PCs, Taiwanese company Shuttle, has some new and powerful mini PCs featuring Intel’s Z77 and X79 chipsets presented on its official website.
These are ready for 3rd generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors in the LGA1155 socket, with the normal support for every LGA1155 "Sandy Bridge" processor launched until today in the Z77 model and "Sandy Bridge-E" processor support in the X79 model.
The Z77-based barebone is called SZ77R5 and comes with four DDR3 DIMM slots for up to a total 32 GB RAM support. The maximum DDR3 frequency is 1600MHz.
On the expansion side, the SZ77R5 features one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one PCI-Express 2.0 x4 and one mPCIe slot.
Storage will be connected through two SATA 6 Gb/s, two SATA 3 Gb/s ports, one eSATA 3 Gb/s, and one mSATA connector.
Additional connectivity is offered by four USB 3.0 ports and one gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port together with 8-channel HD audio jacks.
The SZ77R5 chassis features two 5.25" and one 3.5" drive bays and a front-panel that includes two of the four USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port with "fast charging" (high current) for smartphones or tablets, and the usual front-panel HD audio connectors.
500W 80 Plus-compliant PSU is powering the SZ77R5 and comes included in the price.
The SZ77R5 measures 332 by 216 by 198 mm. That is 13” by 8.5” by 7.7” in imperial.
The X79-based barebone is called SX79R5, its case is just as big as that of the Z77 model, with the same chassis features. The motherboard is what makes them different.
The LGA2011 socket is connected to four DDR3 DIMM slots, for up to 32 GB of quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, and also wired to two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and one mPCIe slots.
On the storage side, we have two SATA 6 Gb/s, two SATA 3 Gb/s, one eSATA 3 Gb/s, and one mSATA port.
Networking is handled by two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, while audio is 8-channel HD.
Other connectivity options include four USB 3.0 ports; two on the front panel and the others in the back I/O ports.
Surprisingly, both barebones will feature the same price of 465 USD. That is around 350 EUR for European buyers.
