Review: Shuttle XPC P2 3700G small form factor PC

Shuttle made a name for itself producing small boxes with no performance compromises, and at first glance the XPC P2 3700G fits the bill perfectly.

It's attractively designed and light enough to pick up should you need to relocate it, although as a barebones system it lacks a monitor, keyboard or mouse, so you'll need to factor this into the price.

A top-end dual core Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, accompanied by a whopping 4GB of DDR2 677MHz Ram that occupies all four Ram slots, powered the system to 390 in our Sysmark 2004 SE test. This is among the best we've seen.

For quad-core buffs, Intel's lower clocked QX6700 processor is available for £10 more online, but the X6800 that comes as standard is better suited to gamers. This is because games are not yet optimised from quad core CPUs.

The Nvidia Geforce 7950GX2 is a dual-GPU card (read a review of MSI's 7950GX2) and was responsible for the fast 126fps (frames per second) in Far Cry and 14,404 score in 3Dmark05, making gaming at high resolutions a great experience. We would have liked a DirectX 10 Geforce 8800GTS or GTX (such as ECS's offering) at this price, but these cards are simply too long to fit in the diminutive Shuttle case.

The case has a high-quality, smooth finish. Bizarrely, the DVD drive's eject button sits beside the 5.25in hot-swap bay (designed for an extra hard disk) instead of the DVD drive itself.

Upon opening the case you're greeted by a 400GB Samsung Serial-ATA II hard disk. This sits on top of the other components for relatively easy access, with a space next to it for a second hard disk.

The 350W power supply sits internally and is the very smallest that can power such a highly specified system. A lot of hot air is blown out of the chassis, but it remains quiet even under full load for prolonged periods of time.

If you buy the components individually we think you could quite easily build an identically specified machine for £400 less, albeit without Shuttle's two-year collect and return warranty.

We've also seen similarly performing full-sized tower systems from Hi-Grade and Chillblast that are cheaper and perform just as well.

Pricing issues aside, the thought gone into designing the layout and choice of components means the overall package is very good.

See all PC performance results

Also consider:
Dell Dimension C521
AMD-based PC that's small and compact with enough power to suit undemanding users

Evesham Solar XK
If you’re not bothered about speed, the Evesham is a consistent performer

Apple iMac 17in
A good entry-level machine, but the lack of DVD burner is a puzzling omission

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