* Assembly
Shuttle returns with everything you need, so that you still have to buy extra no cables or adapters. The barebone has a so-called. "Heatpipe" That is, instead of the CPU fan is a construction on the CPU, which is the heat conducted away by a heat pipe and blown out at the side by two silent fans. For this is a thermal grease that is deleted on the CPU before the heat pipe is moored.
The assembly is very simple, you should only care procedure, read through once in peace the well-illustrated instructions and, especially if one uses the CPU or interference of contacts, be careful that you are not statically charged (charging occurs, for example when you walk through a synthetic fiber carpet and then to a latch almost and receives a shock. Since high voltages can arise and destroy sensitive digital or electronic components. I take precaution for example to the computer casing and at the same time after a heating and put on thin gloves when I fiddle with Elektronibauteilen as a CPU. Appropriate warnings against static discharges are everywhere imprinted on the packaging). Much tool you do not need even a normal screwdriver (Phillips) and rich a very small Phillips screwdriver for the drive screws.
As I said, the fittings, but I have cursed at the beginning because he just had to not see the SSD. Until I have the plate then connected to the middle of the connections SATA cable, and not to the end. The middle connector on Windows 7 has then recognized the drive, I was able to install and it went pretty fast from there also (for Windows), it took half an hour.
* Graphics
I'm counting on reviews do not like all the features on, or write them simply because the manufacturer from the user better see this on the manufacturer's site, but the shuttle has been quite a lot of connections that would actually fulfill all wishes. The monitor comes with a HDMI cable (2 display ports are available) connected and recognized immediately. Theoretically and practically, you can connect 3 monitors, but is sufficient for normal use of the graphic is completely ok. For games and first person shooters you will probably buy anyway a computer with a special and powerful graphics card. The performance of the graphics controller is hanging on CPU, in my case, the Intel i3 4130T with an Intel HD Grafics 4400 Controller. Thus one can, according to various forums, still very good play "normal" games. Therefore one must, as I said, mentioning that the graphics performance is highly dependent on the integrated graphics engine of the CPU, an Intel Core i5-4440 comes already with a HD Graphics 4600, which is slightly more powerful again. But, as I said, this computer is provided as an office and computer work and not as a gaming station (I would then probably equal to a console prefer).
* Booting
An established connection booted this computer, thanks to SSD, quite fast, Windows 7, he starts in this configuration, in about 20-25 seconds (depending on how fast you log in with the user, the login is active after about 10 seconds ).
* Interfaces
The shuttle XH97V has noticed quite a few interfaces:
among other things back:
- Gigabit network (RJ45)
- 2x USB 2.0
- HDMI video output
- RS232 serial interface (COM)
- 2x DisplayPort video output
- 2x USB 3.0
- External Serial ATA
- Microphone input
- Headphone / Line-out
- Audio Line-in input
- External Serial ATA
Front, inter alia:
- 2x USB 3.0 ports
- 2x USB 2.0 ports
- Microphone input
- Headphone output
(Although I personally find remarkable the RS232 interface, which is now more available in almost any computer, but just for technically interested or savvy, but she is also sometimes important, many devices have but still an RS232 port.)
* Preliminary Conclusions
The me of earlier known shuttle quality is also reflected here, the motherboard is tidy, compact and the components seem to be very high (eg shuttle wrote on their site that are installed as capacitors only "quality solid capacitors"). The speed is indeed of the installed components depend (memory, CPU and SSD), but these components must be supported by the Board. (On the board in turn are even more interfaces, almost one might think that this little box can also be used as servers or home Streamer / Server: 3 USB 2.0 ports (one occupied), 3x SATA (I have 2 of them occupied) an LPC slot, SATA Power 5V and 12V, half-size mini PCIe.) The system of the heat pipe and the heat dissipation has my girlfriend an absolutely silent, small, compact and (powerful by the components) system. From the appearance of black computer on the shelf can not be seen, is so small and compact like him, he has the size of a hardcover book and still looks quite good, not that night storage look conventional PCs. I find the quality and value for money as well and forgive at the first attempt, 5 stars.
Let's see how successful the shuttle in everyday use, then I will eventually have to adjust my review and share the experiences here.