SFF: 'Silversttone Sugo SG01-F' vs 'Shuttle XPC SG31G2

I bought a Silverstone sugo SG01-F and a Shuttle SG31G2. There are some similarities in the Spec and form factor. I did some comparisons and they are as follows:-

1. The price of the Sugo with a 780G motherboard & a decent PS is about the same as the Shuttle which comes with a motherboard and PS.

2. Sugo is bigger and more flexible and it offers plenty of space for your stuff, but you can also fit in two hard disks & a PCI-E card in the Shuttle!

3. Sugo is solid and heavy and with thicker steel materials, but its dimensions lack of accuracy - the case is with a noticeable gap when you close it. Shuttle is light and easy to handle and it's so neat when you close the case.

4. Sugo's front panel is made of solid aluminum, while the full exterior enclosure of Shuttle is of aluminum. The interiors of both are built with steel plates.

5. Sugo can take any typical MATX board you throw in and it would outperform a typical Shuttle's.

6. Shuttle is an absolute silent system if compared with Sugo which has 4 fans inside (including the one for the processor)

silverstone sugo SG01-F

I have got my HTPC replaced recently, it's a silverstone sugo SG01-F with a Gigabyte 780GM-S2H board and a AMD5600+ processor. No complaint so far, perfectly output to my SONY (1366 x 768 resolution) including direct sound via HDMI. (the old 690G has problem with sound via HDMI, even Gigabyte support team could not figure it out and fit it)

The old 690G is also with a new suit now, I changed the case.

More Shuttle Pics!

These are the pics I took from the Shuttle official web site.

Shuttle SG31G2 as HTPC?

I just bought a Shuttle SG31G2 for my sister. It's a Shuttle barebone system came with a good looking case, a tiny mobo and a power supply, all together US$200, not bad, considering it's a Intel G31 chip system and does come with dual output (VGA & DVI). I added a E7400, a Pioneer DVDRW and a WD500GB Green Power and 4GB of RAM, so the total cost was US$450. Still quite worth it considering it's a small form factor system (300L x 200W x 185H) and the decent hardware. The processor runs at 2.80Ghz which is about 1Ghz faster than the Intel system I built for my brother 2 years ago and the new chip is even cheaper.

My only complaint is that Intel 'still' does not suppot 1360 x 768 resolution, it would be a problem for me as I am using my TV as a monitor. But it shouldn't be any problem for my syster. In summary, the shortfalls, as far as HTPC is concerned, are as follows:

1. No HDMI output,
2. No optical output,
3. Can't support 1360 x 768 resolution; bad for those who have a 1366 x 768 tv, and
4. The power supply is marked with 250w max, maybe a problem if you pop in a graphics card.


But, the good things are:

1. You can add in a PCI-E card if you want, plenty of space there for your card,
2. Two Hard Disk slots, should be enough for those who have a lot of HD contents,
3. An absolute quiet system, the CPU is cooled by pipes and heat sink, no fan,
4. Two DDR2 slots, supports up to 4GB of RAM,
5. Steel flush finish, looks so nice you may even mistake it as a aluminum case, and
6. The case is solid, cables inside are neatly arranged and clean.

That's ALL!