Shuttle KPC K45 Barebones System

Reviews: Hardware

Motherboards | Power Supplies | Memory | Systems | Video Cards

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Max Slowik
Beth
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Jun. 25, 2008

Specifications

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Introduction

I've had this KPC for a month now. Maybe longer, actually. This review has seen setback after setback: I've had entirely too grand a time playing with this little Linux wonder to really bother with writing. Sure, it's got drawbacks--big ones, to be honest--but it also has this charm not readily engendered by other boxes, no matter how small, elegant, or polished they may be. And, pretty soon, I'm going to have to take it apart and stick its silicon organs into another machine so I can report on my KPC's performance. I want to delay that. I want to keep playing.

By the way, if you're not familiar with the term barebones, it means any computer that's just a case, motherboard, and power supply. That is, it's missing hard drives, optical drives, a processor, and cooling. A video card isn't necessary for the KPC because the motherboard has onboard video. In this way, it means that you're not getting a computer for $100. But you can use pretty much any hardware you have lying around or can afford, so it works out.

As weird as this is to say, a lot of the charm comes from the price. It's a hundred-dollar barebones. A lot of features are missing, and, you know what? I like it because of that--it doesn't even have an optical drive. Without all the features it's easy to see what's so great about it. It's simple: take the focus off hardware, and you spend time having fun, knowing everything works, well, good enough.

You're not getting a high-end machine here, but, at the same time, it's not locked into low-power, low-performance hardware. It can run Vista, it can run SLAX. I tried both. And XP, Gentoo, and Ubuntu... and best of all, Linux Mint.

Why Mint? Because I couldn't get my CAOS Linux live CD to use the right DNS, so it wouldn't connect to the repositories. Also, it didn't seem to display at a sane refresh rate and that is the embodiment of every frustration that lurks so near just to prevent people from ever giving Linux a second chance. Mint just works, man. Kinda like this KPC.

First Looks

Along with the barebones is included: some screws, a single, short SATA cable, no IDE cable, a power cable, a hex/ Allen wrench for the faceplate, some manuals, and a driver CD.

This is smaller than any Shuttle you've ever handled. It's also shiny, and attracts both dust and prints like a crime scene--now that the silvered KPC is on the market, I know which I would have preferred. The front plate is thick Plexiglass with counter-sunk hex screws, and adding a photo or design is cake-walkly.

There are no front connectors of any kind; just a chromed plastic power button, a blue power LED, and a red hard drive activity LED. Inside, there're also one red and one green LED that don't seem to have any function but to be visible through the vents down the flanks.

The KPC also sacrifices USB connectivity in favor of legacy devices. There're PS/2 keyboard and mouse jacks, a serial connector, and a parallel printer port. There's a VGA connector, but no DVI, four USB sockets, an Ethernet jack, and three 3.5mm audio jacks. On the left side of the case is a single expansion slot, PCI, naturally.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Inside the Case & Settings Things Up
Page 3: In Use
Page 4: Conclusion

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6 User Comments

1 - Posted by afs on June 26, 2008 - 12:02 am

Imo the reason the KPC is missing features is so it doesn't cannibalize the sales of Shuttle's costlier barebones. They do sell models that have the "missing" options.

2 - Posted by Anthony on June 26, 2008 - 10:20 am

I have two XPCs - one is a W2k3 Server and the other is a WHS box. Both work really well and only consume about 50W of power.

3 - Posted by loz on June 26, 2008 - 2:05 pm

I agree the PSU a loud.
But I disagree on two things :
- there's room for a slim optical drive (take care to choose a short power adapter for it). You just need to remove or cut the front panel.
- Mine came with the 92 exhaust fan.

And by the way I didn't had any heat problem (with the exhaust fan, and all components chosen for being low-power consumption, though). But I had memory recognition problems with 800Mhz Kingstone sticks. I downgraded to 667Mhz and now it runs flawlessly.

4 - Posted by Kurtis on June 26, 2008 - 2:50 pm

afs: good point about the other models which come with the other stuff :-P

loz: I think he meant you can't just plop a drive in there, since most people wouldn't want or know how to modify the case.

5 - Posted by loz on June 27, 2008 - 3:19 am

You don't have to "modify the case".
- Remove the front panel (4 screws, tool included)
- Remove the metalic grid from the front of the case (no tool needed, just your fingers).
- "plop" the drive

If you want the (optional, it's just for the look) plastic panel back, and if you want a permanent access to the drive, you'll have to drill a hole in the plastic panel, indeed.

6 - Posted by cubiclegangsta on June 27, 2008 - 3:27 am

very nice article. in fact, it was one of the most relevant I have read on the kPC.

Regarding "kP2" there are some new variations coming out "soon":

global.shuttle.com/awards_de tail.jsp?award_id=848

No idea on price or actual release though. I don't know if I can/want to wait.... damn it.

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